I'm listening live at 34,000 feet. As the show starts, I'm approaching the coast of Louisiana near New Orleans. Thank goodness it's on TuneIn, iHeartRadio is blocked.
"We are back at it, no question about that," GOL begins. "Disappointing game on Thursday. A lot of the new kids were very tentative, not making good decisions. All you can do is keep coaching and get better. Disappointed in blocking, tackling, we didn't get it done on Thursday night. We'll replace some that didn't get it done and continue to work."
More:
"The're all correctable. Indecisiveness instead of running through guys, and blocking. All coachable stuff. That's a game, even as bad as I think we played, we had an opportunity at the end. You can't make the mistakes. We didn't take advantage offensively. Defensively we didn't tackle well. The one plus was the passing game, it's ahead of where it usually is for a first game. We did some good things there. You can't win without running the ball. Defensively, that's the culture of the program. We've got to play better."
Could he tell the team was "off" early?
"I thought we had some kids out there that sholdn't have bene out there. They'll be replaced this week. They didn't bring the toughness you want on either side of the ball. When you have a lot of young kids, who can do it when the lights go on? This week we've had a real good week of practice. Stanford is a very good football team."
Thoughts at half?
"It was 0-0 as far as I was concerned. First drive of second half is a key indicator, need to make a stop. Third down we have a chance to make plays and we don't make them. Offensively, the holding call that was behind the play. Some missed third downs on short yardage. You can't do that."
Marc asks about the non-safety, but GOL talks about the blocked kick and the FIU celebration.
"The one call that I thought was bad, we had the ball tipped by the right guard, but that ball went over and was still a live ball when they came charging on the field with 25 seconds left. That should have been a call. I called the conference office. I've been in football a while. It's a live ball. I question what should have been called at that time."
But was the other play grounding?
"I turned it in. He said he was out of the box which was the only answer he could give. If he was he was by the thin of his hair. Should have been a safety. That wasn't the difference in the game. The difference is we've got to play better."
On playing young players:
"Some of them played very well. More so the kids back I was concerned about didn't play as well as you'd like. Those are ones where if they can't get it done, you have to look at younger players. It's a long season."
FIU got rid of the ball quickly, not much of a pass rush.
"We didn't rush with any sense of urgency. I was disappointed with the rush and not getting in his face. That's not the part that has to be fixed, it's other areas, tackling, continuity on offense. Kicking game for the most part was good except for the end of the game. Punt return, kick return. He's going to be a good kick returner for us.
Commercial break.
"We are back at it, no question about that," GOL begins. "Disappointing game on Thursday. A lot of the new kids were very tentative, not making good decisions. All you can do is keep coaching and get better. Disappointed in blocking, tackling, we didn't get it done on Thursday night. We'll replace some that didn't get it done and continue to work."
More:
"The're all correctable. Indecisiveness instead of running through guys, and blocking. All coachable stuff. That's a game, even as bad as I think we played, we had an opportunity at the end. You can't make the mistakes. We didn't take advantage offensively. Defensively we didn't tackle well. The one plus was the passing game, it's ahead of where it usually is for a first game. We did some good things there. You can't win without running the ball. Defensively, that's the culture of the program. We've got to play better."
Could he tell the team was "off" early?
"I thought we had some kids out there that sholdn't have bene out there. They'll be replaced this week. They didn't bring the toughness you want on either side of the ball. When you have a lot of young kids, who can do it when the lights go on? This week we've had a real good week of practice. Stanford is a very good football team."
Thoughts at half?
"It was 0-0 as far as I was concerned. First drive of second half is a key indicator, need to make a stop. Third down we have a chance to make plays and we don't make them. Offensively, the holding call that was behind the play. Some missed third downs on short yardage. You can't do that."
Marc asks about the non-safety, but GOL talks about the blocked kick and the FIU celebration.
"The one call that I thought was bad, we had the ball tipped by the right guard, but that ball went over and was still a live ball when they came charging on the field with 25 seconds left. That should have been a call. I called the conference office. I've been in football a while. It's a live ball. I question what should have been called at that time."
But was the other play grounding?
"I turned it in. He said he was out of the box which was the only answer he could give. If he was he was by the thin of his hair. Should have been a safety. That wasn't the difference in the game. The difference is we've got to play better."
On playing young players:
"Some of them played very well. More so the kids back I was concerned about didn't play as well as you'd like. Those are ones where if they can't get it done, you have to look at younger players. It's a long season."
FIU got rid of the ball quickly, not much of a pass rush.
"We didn't rush with any sense of urgency. I was disappointed with the rush and not getting in his face. That's not the part that has to be fixed, it's other areas, tackling, continuity on offense. Kicking game for the most part was good except for the end of the game. Punt return, kick return. He's going to be a good kick returner for us.
Commercial break.
