I was able to speak with Keenon Ward, Le’Raven Clark and Mike Smith after practice today. Nobody’s sprits were too high, but they all understand it is a long season and very good things are still in store for this team. Those thoughts are echoed a lot in the comments below.
Mike Smith
-First up is Mike Smith. I asked him what he saw on the field from his defensive line unit on Saturday.
“Just some mental mistakes. We knew they were going to be up-tempo, hurry up. They average 4 to 7 seconds between each snap which is pretty dang fast, and we panicked a little bit. We can’t go back and do things that we aren’t teaching. It wasn’t every snap, but there were ample snaps that hurt us. We just got to stay calm and trust the process and trust the technique and not panic.”
-Coach Smith elaborated on some of the mistakes that stood out to him on Saturday. Smith isn’t making any excuses but the up-tempo offense of Baylor really seemed to give them fits when it came to getting lined up and ready to go.
“Not getting in our alignment or into our stance because they were going fast, just stuff like that. It wasn’t the whole game but there were times that that happened which was disappointing. I expect a lot more out of my group because the majority of them are seniors. Right now I feel like we improved on some things and then there were some things we went back to. I’m moving off of Baylor and getting ready for Iowa State.”
-Baylor rolled up 368 yards on the ground against the Texas Tech defense, so there weren’t a lot of positives to point to from Smith’s DL performance on Saturday. There were a few good things that his DL did on Saturday that he hopes will carry into their game against Iowa State.
“Not a lot of (positive) things to be honest with you. I thought Pete and B-Jack did well. I thought Breiden did well. They just didn’t give us time to get to the quarterback; they did a great job with play-actions. When you can’t stop the run and then with the play action, it is hard for your ends to get there. They are worried about staying in for the run and then the one time where you do clear your hips, you get to the quarterback and the ball is already thrown. I thought that they played hard and again for 3 weeks in a row, I though B-Jack played the best out of the group. I don’t like to point out individual effort when we lose, but we are all a group and need to continue to get better every week.”
-Branden Jackson had 5 solo tackles and a tackle for loss and Pete Robertson had 6 tackles, 4 solo and a tackle for loss .
-Gary Moore wasn’t feeling well this week and didn’t practice a lot. Smith said that when a guy doesn’t practice a lot for whatever reason, he usually doesn’t play. Moore was sick but Smith expects him to be available to play this week.
-A lot of people have wonder about the pass rush of the DL so far this season. Smith addressed that issue some with me. While the defense isn’t getting a lot of ‘sexy’ sacks, they are more-or-less doing their job up front according to Smith. Sacks do not always paint the whole picture.
“We have to worry about stopping the run and if you watch the game, there weren’t many times where they set the tackles back and dropped back to throw it. Everything was off of play-action. Every run they had marries off of play-action. You can be like the old Minnesota Vikings and no matter what go rush the quarterback and try to create a sack on running plays but really you’re just creating running lanes for those guys to run through. They did a great job and when they did pass they were chipping Pete with big #80 so he had two guys on him and then by the time you get there, the ball is already thrown. There weren’t a lot of dropbacks, 7 step drops. They did a good job, credit to them, that is who they are. We got some quarterback hits. Everybody thinks that if you aren’t getting sacks, you aren’t getting to the quarterback, and I look at it a different way. Are you getting quarterback hits, is the quarterback throwing the ball earlier than he should, is there bad throws? There is a lot of things that go into it and right now we aren’t getting the sack totals that we want.”
-Smith said that the team had about 4 QB hits in the game against Baylor. The numbers aren’t there right now because teams are running down their throat, according to Smith. Pete almost had a sack and Smith said it is important to take care of business on every opportunity since they don’t get a lot of them. “I’m okay with the process right now.”
-What are Smith’s thoughts on the upcoming Iowa State game?
“Another running quarterback type of kid, not as good as we have seen the past couple weeks. Some big skill guys, they have some big receivers, good running back, the majority of the offensive line is back from last year and the QB is a five-year starter. We just have to continue to do our job. They are going to be a little bit more up tempo, probably not as bad as last week, but we just have to stay the process and continue to get better.”
-There are 7 games left in the season and Smith whole-heartedly believes that this Tech team has nothing to worry about. It is time to move on to Iowa State. He also feels like this team has the potential to still accomplish some very big things.
“It is time to move on to Iowa State but the guys are disappointed. We have a very competitive team just like the coaches. If you come out here and didn’t feel upset about the game then something is wrong with you. The biggest thing is that we have to move on and get ready for Iowa State. There is a lot of football left, there is 7 games left, so let’s take care of business and get better and still have a great season and do something that Tech hasn’t done in a long time. They are a little down but they should be.”
Le’Raven Clark
-Clark had a very big day on Saturday as he was one of the few bright spots for the whole team . While th individual praise was nice, getting the win was much more important.
“I don’t think we did really great seeing how the outcome in the end was a loss. My personal outcome doesn’t matter too much since we didn’t get the win.”
-One play that was extremely satisfying for Tech fans was when Le’Raven Clark made a bone-crushing block on Baylor DE Shawn Oakman. Clark was also able to hold ‘the standard of defensive ends’ to 3 tackles on the day. Clark shared his thoughts on the monster block.
“I was just playing football. Whatever happens happens. I was just trying to make a play, get someone free so that we could make a touchdown or something like that. He didn’t say anything, I didn’t say anything. I just went back to the huddle, and I think he went out of the game. I just went back to the huddle and try and play the next play. They tried to throw a flag, and I don’t know why.”
-Unfortunately Tech lost offensive guard Justin Murphy during the 2nd quarter. His injury could put him out for awhile. Murphy’s backup, Tony Morales, had a very shaky game but Clark is very confident in Morales’ abilities to step up and keep the offense rolling.
“Next man up. We have great confidence in Tony. He showed a little bit on Saturday, but we are going to put in a lot of preparation this week to get him ready, and we won’t miss a beat.”
-Clark says Hays didn’t say too much after the game and was very disappointed. It is not back to the drawing board for the OL, however, as Clark says the unit will work to clean up some minor details for Saturday.
-Clark shared his thoughts on the team’s attitude after the game and heading into these upcoming games.
“Everyone took it pretty hard after the game, but we had yesterday to get over it. Then we went back to work today and have all this week to get prepared for the next one. That is two very good teams that we lost to, and we should’ve won that TCU game. They made some plays at the end and credit to them and then what happened on Saturday happened and that is over with. We still have a chance to win out the rest of the season; we have 7 more games left.”
Mike Smith
-First up is Mike Smith. I asked him what he saw on the field from his defensive line unit on Saturday.
“Just some mental mistakes. We knew they were going to be up-tempo, hurry up. They average 4 to 7 seconds between each snap which is pretty dang fast, and we panicked a little bit. We can’t go back and do things that we aren’t teaching. It wasn’t every snap, but there were ample snaps that hurt us. We just got to stay calm and trust the process and trust the technique and not panic.”
-Coach Smith elaborated on some of the mistakes that stood out to him on Saturday. Smith isn’t making any excuses but the up-tempo offense of Baylor really seemed to give them fits when it came to getting lined up and ready to go.
“Not getting in our alignment or into our stance because they were going fast, just stuff like that. It wasn’t the whole game but there were times that that happened which was disappointing. I expect a lot more out of my group because the majority of them are seniors. Right now I feel like we improved on some things and then there were some things we went back to. I’m moving off of Baylor and getting ready for Iowa State.”
-Baylor rolled up 368 yards on the ground against the Texas Tech defense, so there weren’t a lot of positives to point to from Smith’s DL performance on Saturday. There were a few good things that his DL did on Saturday that he hopes will carry into their game against Iowa State.
“Not a lot of (positive) things to be honest with you. I thought Pete and B-Jack did well. I thought Breiden did well. They just didn’t give us time to get to the quarterback; they did a great job with play-actions. When you can’t stop the run and then with the play action, it is hard for your ends to get there. They are worried about staying in for the run and then the one time where you do clear your hips, you get to the quarterback and the ball is already thrown. I thought that they played hard and again for 3 weeks in a row, I though B-Jack played the best out of the group. I don’t like to point out individual effort when we lose, but we are all a group and need to continue to get better every week.”
-Branden Jackson had 5 solo tackles and a tackle for loss and Pete Robertson had 6 tackles, 4 solo and a tackle for loss .
-Gary Moore wasn’t feeling well this week and didn’t practice a lot. Smith said that when a guy doesn’t practice a lot for whatever reason, he usually doesn’t play. Moore was sick but Smith expects him to be available to play this week.
-A lot of people have wonder about the pass rush of the DL so far this season. Smith addressed that issue some with me. While the defense isn’t getting a lot of ‘sexy’ sacks, they are more-or-less doing their job up front according to Smith. Sacks do not always paint the whole picture.
“We have to worry about stopping the run and if you watch the game, there weren’t many times where they set the tackles back and dropped back to throw it. Everything was off of play-action. Every run they had marries off of play-action. You can be like the old Minnesota Vikings and no matter what go rush the quarterback and try to create a sack on running plays but really you’re just creating running lanes for those guys to run through. They did a great job and when they did pass they were chipping Pete with big #80 so he had two guys on him and then by the time you get there, the ball is already thrown. There weren’t a lot of dropbacks, 7 step drops. They did a good job, credit to them, that is who they are. We got some quarterback hits. Everybody thinks that if you aren’t getting sacks, you aren’t getting to the quarterback, and I look at it a different way. Are you getting quarterback hits, is the quarterback throwing the ball earlier than he should, is there bad throws? There is a lot of things that go into it and right now we aren’t getting the sack totals that we want.”
-Smith said that the team had about 4 QB hits in the game against Baylor. The numbers aren’t there right now because teams are running down their throat, according to Smith. Pete almost had a sack and Smith said it is important to take care of business on every opportunity since they don’t get a lot of them. “I’m okay with the process right now.”
-What are Smith’s thoughts on the upcoming Iowa State game?
“Another running quarterback type of kid, not as good as we have seen the past couple weeks. Some big skill guys, they have some big receivers, good running back, the majority of the offensive line is back from last year and the QB is a five-year starter. We just have to continue to do our job. They are going to be a little bit more up tempo, probably not as bad as last week, but we just have to stay the process and continue to get better.”
-There are 7 games left in the season and Smith whole-heartedly believes that this Tech team has nothing to worry about. It is time to move on to Iowa State. He also feels like this team has the potential to still accomplish some very big things.
“It is time to move on to Iowa State but the guys are disappointed. We have a very competitive team just like the coaches. If you come out here and didn’t feel upset about the game then something is wrong with you. The biggest thing is that we have to move on and get ready for Iowa State. There is a lot of football left, there is 7 games left, so let’s take care of business and get better and still have a great season and do something that Tech hasn’t done in a long time. They are a little down but they should be.”
Le’Raven Clark
-Clark had a very big day on Saturday as he was one of the few bright spots for the whole team . While th individual praise was nice, getting the win was much more important.
“I don’t think we did really great seeing how the outcome in the end was a loss. My personal outcome doesn’t matter too much since we didn’t get the win.”
-One play that was extremely satisfying for Tech fans was when Le’Raven Clark made a bone-crushing block on Baylor DE Shawn Oakman. Clark was also able to hold ‘the standard of defensive ends’ to 3 tackles on the day. Clark shared his thoughts on the monster block.
“I was just playing football. Whatever happens happens. I was just trying to make a play, get someone free so that we could make a touchdown or something like that. He didn’t say anything, I didn’t say anything. I just went back to the huddle, and I think he went out of the game. I just went back to the huddle and try and play the next play. They tried to throw a flag, and I don’t know why.”
-Unfortunately Tech lost offensive guard Justin Murphy during the 2nd quarter. His injury could put him out for awhile. Murphy’s backup, Tony Morales, had a very shaky game but Clark is very confident in Morales’ abilities to step up and keep the offense rolling.
“Next man up. We have great confidence in Tony. He showed a little bit on Saturday, but we are going to put in a lot of preparation this week to get him ready, and we won’t miss a beat.”
-Clark says Hays didn’t say too much after the game and was very disappointed. It is not back to the drawing board for the OL, however, as Clark says the unit will work to clean up some minor details for Saturday.
-Clark shared his thoughts on the team’s attitude after the game and heading into these upcoming games.
“Everyone took it pretty hard after the game, but we had yesterday to get over it. Then we went back to work today and have all this week to get prepared for the next one. That is two very good teams that we lost to, and we should’ve won that TCU game. They made some plays at the end and credit to them and then what happened on Saturday happened and that is over with. We still have a chance to win out the rest of the season; we have 7 more games left.”
