GOL again reiterated he thought the FG from there was a "chip shot" but he also added that he didn't like the way the team had performed in red zone offense so that influenced his decision as well. He thought FIU should have been penalized since most of their bench ran on to the field after the blocked kick, while it was a live ball, which should have given UCF 15 yards and an automatic first down. He complained to Aresco about it.
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Opening statement:
"I'm very disappointed as far as overall. Really the two words I keep coming up with when I watched the game tape was indecisiveness and tentativeness on the new players' part. Missed tackles, grabbing at people, late coming off the ball, offensive line. That has to improve obviously. As bad as I thought we played, we still had an opportunity at the end there. You just can't commit penalties. You've got to do what you're supposed to do. Two young freshmen made mistakes. Got to move on.
"Got a big game this week with Stanford. They had a tough loss with Northwestern. They're a very good football team, watching them offensive line wise they're probably as good as anybody in the country, line wise. I think they've got an experienced fifth-year quarterback. (Running back Christian) McCaffrey, No. 5, who they do a lot of things with, very versatile player. They've got real rangy tall receivers, 6-4, 6-5 guys whether tight end or receiver. We're going to have our work cut out for us obviously.
"It's the first time traveling cross country for a lot of these kids on a plane. We have to have a great week of practice this week and correct the mistakes obviously. Get more confidence in some of the kids we're playing out there. That's what I see missing. That's what was missing Thursday.
"The positive though is we probably for a first game we probably threw the ball better than we've thrown it for any first game. I thought (Holman) spread it around well. You have to establish somewhat of a run game. We never did that. You were sort of playing left-handed a little bit.
"Defensively, I never thought we were in sync the whole game, from poor tackling to missed assignments with a lot of the young players that were out there. I thought they'd play better, but they need more confidence and experience in what they're doing. I saw tentativeness out there as far as tackling, getting off blocks, unsure of themselves somewhat. They didn't do anything we hadn't practiced against either. You have to be able to play the game speed and we didn't get that done. I've got to do a better job coaching them I guess."
On the final drive against FIU and his decision to stop throwing, run three times for a loss and attempt a long field goal:
"It was a 1:45 left. We haven't been good down in the red zone area. They had three timeouts left. To me, that's a chip shot with your kicker and stuff. I didn't expect to jump offsides and didn't expect to lose a couple yards there on the down. They had three timeouts left. I didn't want to leave anything on the clock for them because we weren't stopping them very well on defense as far as chunk plays. That was the thought-process behind it.
"I wrote a question in because they blocked a kick, the jumper didn't get it, the guy up front got it, the right guard. It was high and soft, the young freshman kid. That ball was still in play. That clock was moving. That's a live ball and they came flying on to the field. That's a live ball, dead ball foul. They could have picked it up and ran with it, they really could have. That ball never made the end zone. I'm interested in the feedback on that. I know if it goes into the end zone what it is. That was a dead ball on the field of play. Once they came charging off the sideline there were still 25 seconds left on that clock. I want an answer on that. It'll be interesting. In ally my years coaching, I've never see them come charging out. Usually there's no time left on the clock so it doesn't make a difference. That's still a live ball, clock was moving on that block. They could have picked it up and returned it. I want to see the answer on that.
"It's a learning situation there. But that was my thought behind it. We hadn't been good down in the red zone. I was more worried about a deflected pass and not having an opportunity to win the game. Plus, they were sending seven guys in the pass rush. I was worried about getting out of field goal range with a sack of something like that. I wanted to make sure they utilized some of their timeouts and they didn't get it back with a minute-something left and three timeouts left and all they needed was a field goal to win. That was the thought-process behind it."
Whether he thought FIU should have been charged with a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down for UCF since they charged on to the field:
"I want an explanation on it. It'll be interesting. When I asked the conference commissioner about it he said he was going to get back to me, which unnerves me a little bit. I'll be interested for my own benefit. Normally when you kick that there's no time on the block and everybody comes charging on, but that ball didn't make the end zone. It's a live ball really. They came running out. You watch the official he's saying, he's signaling live ball. They came out. I don't know what their interpretation is on that. That's not the reason we lost the game. I'm just saying I'd like it for my own benefit to know what is that situation for future reference."
On his disappointment in the running game:
"30 carries for 46 yards, you can't live like that in football season. Just as I spoke about defense, I thought it was happening up front a little bit. I thought the backs missed some cuts. You look at all the games over the weekend and you watch it, there's guys unblocked all over the place but the back is making them miss. Our backs didn't make anybody miss. That's part of their job too. It's not just the line. It's a lot of people involved in that. You've got to continue to work on it. I thought when Dontravious was playing before he got hurt, I thought he was finding some yards. I thought we took a step back after that."
Whether Wilson had outperformed Stanback:
"He really has been and stuff in practice and everything else. I leave that up to the position coaches. Unless I think it's a mistake. From what I could see of practice tape and looking at it, I thought Wilson had earned the right to start the game."
Whether Taj McGowan gets an opportunity at RB:
"I think he has to help there. You're hoping that Stanback comes on like he's supposed to. Sometimes some guys are better coming off the bench. They can't handle that role yet of the No. 1 back. I think he's a great kid. He just needs to understand that there's competition on the field. Nobody is going to be anointed. I thought Wilson just played better than him. I'm always going to play the guys who perform in practice. That's what he did."
On the concerns of cross-country travel:
"It'll be 10:30 for us. To be honest, that's the time most of the kids are going out so they should be fine I would think. I think the big thing is we get out there and we get accustomed to the meals. We're eating a little bit later and all that and stuff. I think we'll be fine. It's a long trip. We don't get back until early, I think 9:30 or so Sunday morning. That's getting out of there. Normally when a game is over, from the start of the game until the game is over, you give it five hours until you're on the plane. It makes it tougher with the screening processes now. We were going into San Jose to begin with and they have a curfew, so you can't fly after 11 o'clock, so we've got to go into San Francisco to fly out. It's a lot of things. Those are my problems, no one else's.
"We're looking to the game. I'm sure they're going to put their A game up there. I'm sure they didn't think they played as well as they probably can. They have a talented team. They're ranked in the top 25 in the country. You can see it on film. I thought Northwestern did a great job of being opportunistic as far as taking advantage of situations when they occurred."
On Northwestern's success against Stanford:
"I've never been a copy-cat. I think everybody has their own system and what they need to do to stop it. I think it's awful hard to look at film and say, 'Let's do this,' meanwhile it's not in your system. We pretty much play multiple eight-man, seven-man fronts so we could play anything you want. We'll have to bone up and man up, they're basically a power team that will be in tight with two tight ends, a wing and I-Backs. That's on first down. That's not short yardage goal line. Then they'll have receivers that can hurt you. I think what hurt them were the two receivers that didn't play in the first half, No. 3 and 89. They're the go-to guys in the routes, the deep routes. They didn't play until the second half. I think they based their game plan on those two guys' not in the game plan. They played it close to the vest, but that's not what you see on cut-ups. I think 3 and 89 coming in will be a difference in that game."
On correcting "tentativeness:"
"You just got to keep working in practice. We pretty much went after it today. A lot of drills where they have to react to things and there's contact involved. I didn't see a lack of, what I saw was tentativeness and their backs were quick enough to make you miss once you grinded your feet. Offensively, they've got to come off and sustain blocks. There's too many hit and gets out there as far as what I saw. I think it's a constant work. It's something we met all day Friday, all day Saturday, Sunday, trying to do what's best for these kids and help them out. Give them an opportunity to do things on offense and defense. I thought special teams we kept their punt returner corralled, did a good job there. But again, we had some opportunities in punt return where he's fair catching. You've got to return those and get 10 yards. He's a good return guy. I thought the kick return was good. Kickoff cover I think needs to improve. I thought we were too tentativeness with too many missed tackles, leaving your feet, lunging. Those are things that are all correctable."
On OL Chavis Dickey and his status:
"I bring his name up all the time with the offense. He's in the two deep. It's just basically he has to win a job. That's what it amounts to right now. I asked the same question. He started last year. Again, I think there's probably eight guys that are rolling which is like most teams do. Chavis needs to basically, I think him getting sick early in the preseason, I think basically where he had pneumonia. I think that set him back a little bit, it really did from a standpoint of attacking the job because it was his job to have. He had pneumonia, lost weight and lost strength. I think he's getting back into his own now."
On players "overlooking" FIU:
"It didn't come from me. I told them midweek that we can't keep practicing this way if we're going to be successful. I made it very clear to them in meetings. I was concerned about the stuff that took place. Indecisiveness. Again, I spoke last week about how every team is a new team. You can't base your laurels on what happened last year or the year before. You've got to base on what you're doing this year. That's been addressed. The players probably repeated it because I had mentioned it. I think you've got to, basically we have players that need to make plays on both sides of the ball. They're not young kids. They're older guys. We need to get a rush going defensively as far as sacks. I thought we were very sluggish there as far as getting off blocks and getting the pass rush lanes contained on the quarterback which you can't do. Not with experience at defensive line."
On the defensive line:
"I thought they come out and weren't getting off blocks. I don't want to hear about holding and all that stuff. Kids watch too much TV. There's guys that want to officiate and put their hand up like this. Come on, let the officials officiate. That stuff is on TV all the time. I addressed that with our squad. Play the game, let our officials officiate. If you have time to do that, you're not doing what you're supposed to be doing. The big thing with them all is they need to understand you're as good as your last play and our last play wasn't very good. We have a lot to get better at."
On playing a team in California:
"I just haven't. At Georgia Tech I didn't. Played in Arizona, played in Texas. Haven't played one out there. San Diego I played in the pros. I haven't played out there. I don't know if I've ever had a California team come East to play either whether at Georgia Tech, Syracuse or here. We're getting a return game with them. I'm looking forward to the trip. I don't think either team expected to be 0-2, but somebody is going to be 0-2 Saturday night. I want to make sure we give ourselves the best opportunity so it's not us."
On the confidence of the younger players:
"I think last year's team was a quiet confidence. This team I think is trying to talk themselves into stuff which I question somewhat. I want to see it done on the field, not with the media, not with their parents or anybody else. Talk on the field. Do it with your pads and your feet."
On tackling issues:
"Drills, full speed drills. You can't teach tackling. All that form tackling, that goes to waste when the ball is snapped. To me, it's a want-to. How bad do you want to block? How bad do you want to tackle? That's what it really comes down to. Make sure you're teaching the right techniques in getting those things done. That's where we need to spend the time and emphasis."
On the comparison of playing a game in Ireland or the second game far away in California, which is more challenging:
"I think this year because of the youth. We have to get them playing better to their athletic ability. Like everything else, winning is contagious. So is losing. Especially when you have young kids. That's what you've got to be aware of and watch. Last year we had older guys. I think they understand the game and that it's a long season. Young kids, they sometimes don't understand that each game is a new season. This is a new season coming up. Second season. We've got to go after that one just like it's the 12th game. That's what you have to impress upon the kids."
On Stanford's offensive philosophy:
"I think they do a lot of things. They're a power team that runs finesse also. I think obviously they don't make a lot of mistakes. I think the kind of kids they get. I think they have talent. You don't win without talent. I think right now we're going to get their best effort come Saturday night and they need to get our best effort. I thought Northwestern played very well, but I think when you look at it, I think Stanford was a couple touchdown favorite for a reason. I'm sure they have to correct their mistakes, like we have to correct ours."
On Taylor Oldham and Jordan Franks:
"(Oldham) stars running in October. We hope to have him back sometime in middle of October. Franks is right now has a cast on, a half cast. We'll probably pad that and give him an opportunity. His fingers are still exposed so he can do some things. We've played with a lot of kids in that position. I'm not sure he'll help us at receiver, but he could probably help us at special teams."
On the running backs and what they need to do:
"Better vision and accelerate. Too much indecisiveness. The great backs I've been around, they cut in the hole, not before. They get in the hole and then make the cut. You start cutting before the hole, the linebackers are scraping and making plays. You've got to get in the hole and then hit the jets."
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