University of Memphis Athletics
Memphis - UT Martin Postgame Quotes
Sep 19, 2009 | Football
Sept. 19, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Memphis 41, UT Martin 14
Postgame Quotes
September 19, 2009
Memphis Head Coach Tommy West
Opening Statements
COACH WEST: I thought that Tyler (Bass) played adequately in the game. He executed well in our option game. He executed pretty good in our play action game. He struggled in our drop back game. We have to get him better right now. I left him in once the game was won because he needs to get all of the reps he can get. That is why I left him in the game. We have to keep trying to get him better and take what the defense gives us.
I thought overall for his first complete game, I thought he played well. I am really pleased that some of our older guys stepped up. Duke (Calhoun), Carlos (Singleton), those guys stepped up for us.
I really feel better about our offense right now. I felt that we looked more like us. We used some tempo tonight. We took what the defense gave us some. We spread them out and did more of what we do.
Defensively, I was disappointed. I thought we played soft in the secondary. We played way too soft in the secondary. We didn’t challenge people. We better get better in a hurry there. I am disappointed defensively in that performance. The effort was good. We played hard. It is mostly the secondary, I thought our run defense was okay for the most part.
COACH WEST: Both his touchdowns were quicks. Those were quick game throws. He struggled in the drop back game, and I expected him too. We saw him hold the ball some in the true drop back game where we are trying to get the ball downfield. We struggled there. He (Tyler Bass) just held on to the ball is what he did. He didn’t want to make a mistake. That is natural for a first time starter.
Overall I thought he performed well. I was very pleased with how he performed. And you see now the dimension that he gives you. When that quarterback can run, it is hard. They made a nice adjustment and kind of jumped to a 50 defense and got two men outside over there and gave us the inside running game. I thought he played good.
Q: How needed was this performance?
COACH WEST: Like I told our guys, we needed to play well. We needed do some things well, in particular offensively. We needed to go out and we needed to look like ourselves. (We needed) to use some tempo, try to speed the game up some. We needed to take the screens when they gave them to us. We’ve gotten away to taking those screens and I know our fans don’t like them all, but they liked the one that went for 80 (yards) for a touchdown. They liked that one. When they give you those things (screens), take them. It was much needed.
Now we get into our conference, the opponents will get better now. I give credit to UT-Martin. Man, they have some good looking players for a (FBS) team. They didn’t look like what I wanted them to look like before the game. Their quarterback (Cade Thompson) is a good player. Now we get into our leagues, so we will have to play better than we did today.
Q: Was there a little bit of a hangover from the Middle Tennessee game, defensively?
COACH WEST: I thought we played soft in the secondary. I thought our corners played poorly. I thought our safeties played poorly. We didn’t tackle well at safety. We had a bust on the touchdown, the first touchdown. I didn’t like how we played in the secondary. I thought we were soft.
UT-Martin Head Coach Jason Simpson
Q: Talk about how the penalties affected you, especially early in the game.
COACH SIMPSON: Well, I talked about playing with passion, and I think we did that. But it has to be a controlled passion. There were just too many late hits; procedure penalties. We definitely have some things to work on. Luckily, we start conference play next week, and the season starts for real, as far as the conference championship.
Q: Do you think you can attribute the penalties to pre-game jitters?
COACH SIMPSON: Yeah, I mean you’re playing in a little bit different environment. Without (Michael) Hicks and Brandyn Young in there, you’ve got some young guys playing some different positions. It just looks a little different when you line up, whether you’re six inches too far in front or in the back. But, it’s a penalty, and you’ve got to get it fixed. You can’t always start with first and 15. You just can’t do it.
Q: How did Michael Hicks’s absence affect your game plan?
COACH SIMPSON: Well, the biggest thing is that you don’t have your spark, and you don’t have your leader. You don’t have the guy on third down that you can trust to go and get it. I thought that our receivers stepped up and made a couple plays. But he’s a difference maker, and I thought we played with good effort. We just have to play smarter.
Q: Can you take any positives from this?
COACH SIMPSON: Sure you can. Like I said, we played physical. That team is just better than us. Like I said, we didn’t have all our bullets, and when you compound that with a silly mistake, that’s why it was 41-14. But we’re still a good football team. It’s going to take a couple more weeks for people to realize that. But we’ll reel off a couple wins in a row and start feeling a little bit better about ourselves.
Senior Running Back Miguel Barnes
Q: Talk about becoming the main option at running back tonight.
BARNES: It feels great. I’ve been through a lot. But I busted my butt during the summer. It’s a new and better opportunity for me. I’m stronger, better, faster and I’m just ready to go through the season the best I can.
Q: Talk about the O-line. You seemed to wear them down as the game went on.
BARNES: Yeah, that’s exactly what happened. We wore them down as the game went on. Everybody stayed poised. I was telling the O-line to stay poised and we are going to dominate in the second half, and that’s what we did.
Q: Talk about how you ended up at Martin from Memphis.
BARNES: In some situations, I just had some bad luck. When I was at Memphis, I was just struggling with consistency and I couldn’t get much playing time. It’s just bad luck. But I feel like I have become a lot more mature this year.
