. . . And the post game interview with John L. Smith
JLS: After assessing it a little bit, again, you go back to that first half, there were several things you can pick out we have to do better. Number one, the penalties, there were far too many of them. We had procedure penalties, motion penalties, things we really have to clear up because we really can't afford to start at first and fifteen rather than first and ten. The holding concerns me. There were two of them coming from the running back position and you can't have that, on crucial plays. That's starting at first and twenty-five now, uh, first and twenty, which is even worse. But as you look at it, that first half I thought we played well defensively. I thought we ran around pretty decently. We did a good job of holding them at times, we kept them out of the end zone, particularly on the one turnover that was big. There were some positives there. Again, we turned the ball over. The bottom line of the football game comes down to if they get more, you have to understand, the people we're playing are every bit as good as we are. I mean, they're equal. And if you give them extra shots, extra turns with the ball, you're going to lose nine times out of ten. And we gave them extra shots with the ball. We didn't get any turnovers, we gave two to them, I believe it was two, wasn't it? And then one of them was a pick six, where they pick up the fumble and run it in. So anyway, that's kind of the bottom story line of the game and there were some big plays along the way to set that up that were crucial plays. The second half, defensively I was real concerned. Probably the play of the game was when we let the wheel come out of the backfield and take it in on a third and ten situation. That was probably the play of the game from a defensive standpoint. We didn't execute, lost our eyes, and that comes back to a senior. You know, you have to get your job done.
Reporter: In the past you have turned the ball over but still managed to win the game.
JLS: Yeah. You take a look at how we turn the ball over, and have turned the ball over in the last couple of years, as compared to how we are turning it over this year, and the ratio. I mean, that's the bottom line. Like I said any time you're playing someone like you, you just can't give them extra shots, because again they're coming in here and they're looking for you and they're hungry, and they're athletically everything that you are, and they get extra turns with the football. We have not created extra turns for us. Those games that we have, of course, were in good shape.
Reporter: Has this team lost the need to win?
JLS: Yeah, the hunger. The hunger is not there. I think we are not as hungry as we have been and I think that is as a team.There is a group that still is, but overall, I think, maybe it came too fast, too soon, and too much. Championship after championship and then, gosh, it's going to happen again. And we don't understand how we have to defend that on them. Everybody is going to come in here and you can't think you're better than them because you're not. Maybe you're good, but if you don't really go out and play as hard as you can play, and give everything you've got in practice, then you're not going to defend it. Then you beat a Florida State and that's another feather in everyone's cap. Not only being the conference champion, but we beat Florida State, and if we can beat them, we can't defend that yet. We're not able to. Does that make any sense to you? It's a combination. We're strugling right now. We have to come out and prove that we are a decent football team and right now we're not. We're not playing anywhere where we should. We're making mistakes. We're not creating any turnovers. If it means simplifying some things, then we'll have to simplify some things, I guess.
Reporter: When guys say we have to quit fighting amongst ourselves, is that just a function of losses in general?
JLS: Well, I think it's more to do with reason than the result of losing, personally. We have to find out, we have to pull together, and we have not done that as a unit yet. If you're like this (intertwining fingers) and you play together, then you're going to win some games. You watch a team like Colorado State, for instance, I'm just using them as an example. They look like they're a fist. They're all playing together, they all really care about each other and are on the same page. We're not there yet. We have to start caring about each other more, committing to each other more. Just giving to one another.
Reporter: That has to be frustrating because it's like trying to get the pretty girl in school to fall in love with you. If she don't love you, she don't love you. How do you force guys to do that?
JLS: I always found that very simple (laughing). You know, a suave and debonair, that I am...right.(joking)
Reporter: I mean last night, I was talking to the other guys, and you were ashy, you looked crestfallen. That's the first time I had seen that. I mean, you looked like you didn't have an answer.
JLS: I don't. If it is not important then what we have to do is either make it important or maybe eliminate you. So it's got to become important. Right now, it's not as important as it should be. I hate to say it. Gosh, you don't need to be experienced and have been on the football field all your life to put your arms around each other, give to each other, come out to the practice field and play for one another. Make it important to you. If it's not then go somewhere else. It's got to become very, very important, and we just have to make it that way.
Reporter: In the beginning of your first year, you told the players to get in the boat or get out of the boat. Is this a team you can do that with?
JLS: These guys are going to be in the boat, they just don't have the oars in the water. They need to get the oars in the water and start pulling with the rest of the guys. That's kind of like we have one guy rowing one way and another guy rowing another way. They're going to have to commit, you know get up early in the morning and do all of those things and we just have to start caring about each other more. We do. We're squabbling amongst each other.
Reporter: Do you think this squabbling is a result of guys caring more about themselves than the team?
JLS: Well, I think that's part of it. Yeah, I think that's part of it. We have to learn how to handle that. We have not done that yet. We're learning, at least I hope we're learning. So, what we have to do at this point is, as a staff, we have to come together as well. We have to get on the same page and go to the field. It's the only thing we can do because that one's over. We need to see if we can get a win, and send the seniors out as winners and get to a bowl game. My goodness, there are still some good things that can happen to us.
Reporter: You say you need to come together as a staff. What do you mean by that comment?
JLS: I mean, moreso, me getting together with them and them, in turn coming up with a plan that we all believe in. There's always going to be a little bit there, but I think we just have to have more contribution from everybody on the staff. Everybody can contribute a little bit more. So, what you have to do is ask everybody to give a little bit more, including yourself. So I mean it that way more than anything else. So, if you're asking the kids to commit, to contribute more, then I think it's only fair to ask that of ourselves in turn.
Reporter: Henry was running the ball so well in the middle of the first and second quarter. What did they do different, or why didn't you guys go back to that?
JLS: They gave us some things inside that helped take a few things away. I think we were still capable of doing some of that. Then, all of a sudden, they hit us with, I don't know, there was just nothing sustained there. They had a pretty good clue that we were going to run some of the stuff that we did. And David, to be honest with you, there was nothing to sustain in the second half. There was just no continuity with the run, the pass. How many dropped balls did we have? Like three that I remember. This is not an excuse, but Dave's arm is hurting and he's throwing the ball in the dirt and that's as poorly as I have seen him play, and that was really bothering him. But he would NEVER say that to anybody, and would never bring that up. It wasn't all there. You can look at several things and say that's why it wasn't there. We just all have to play better.
Reporter: How is his arm?
JLS: He's gonna be okay. The one thing about it is that you'll never know if he isn't until you go to the field. He's never going to tell you.
Reporter: What is the status of the injuries?
JLS: Bobby doesn't look good. I was just down in the training room to see him. He doesn't look good at this point. I would assume he is probably going to end up missing this week. Dewayne should be fine. Jonathon, I didn't get a report on Jonathon, but we missed him for the entire game. He had to go out early and get that thing X-rayed.
Reporter: When he was in there, what has he been showing you?
JLS: A lot of things. In fact, he's been doing a real good job. We practiced him, pretty much the entire week. He does a good job then and he does a good job on special teams. So we couldn't do some of the things we had plan to do on special teams because he wasn't there. We hadn't prepared with his backup as much as we would have liked. He was prepared, but it was kind of those things where he went through it thinking, I'm not going to do that, just because he's not here to do it.
