Head Coach Gary Pinkel met with the media to discuss Saturday’s win at Texas A & M and offer a look ahead to this Saturday evening’s game at Baylor which is set for a 6 p.m. kick. “Our kids are working hard in preparation for this game, as our staff is also. Baylor is an excellent football team; Art [Briles] has done an excellent job with that program. Robert Griffin III is a great player. He’s a phenomenal talent. He has remarkable accuracy and judgement. He can run, he can buy team, he can extend plays. He’s just matured into a really good football player. He has some great receivers around him, good skill people. They’ve stocked it up; a lot of people can make a lot of plays.
Their numbers are staggering. We have so many great offensive football teams and great quarterbacks in our league. As I’ve mentioned in the past, it reminds me a lot of 2007-2008, and most of those guys are playing in the NFL right now. We’ve got our hands full. They play good defense, they keep everything in front of them and they don’t give up big plays. I think when you have an offense that scores like that it enables you to do some of those things. So we’ve got a lot of challenges, but I think our team is looking forward to the opportunity.”
Injury Report…
“Travis Ruth got rolled on somewhere at the end of the second quarter. He went a little bit in the third quarter and then we put [Jayson] Palmgren in at center. Right now, we have him down as questionable. I’m not sure if he’ll practice tomorrow, and if not, it will be Wednesday or Thursday and we’ll see where it goes.
Jerrell Jackson, I thought it was on kickoff return that he tweaked his hamstring again, but actually it was a couple plays later when he was running a route and he felt it a little bit. I saw him earlier and he said he was feeling pretty good. He’s going to be optimistic like he always is. We all know how sensitive hamstrings are. Other than that, bumps and bruises as you get into November that you’re going to have.”
On James Franklin’s touchdown run against Texas A&M…
“I don’t think there is any question it [set the tone]. You saw a player that said he was going to do everything he could to win the game. It was a pretty amazing run. He had a third and five or six later in the game right in front of our bench that did exactly the same thing. He had to break two or three tackles to get the first down. When you have a player like that that is your leader, and he’s throwing his body up a little bit, I think there is no question it has a huge impact on your team. I know our players responded in a very positive way.”
On Franklin taking hits in the run game…
“He’s a competitor, a big athlete, so we aren’t dealing with a frail guy that weighs 205 lbs. We are talking about a guy that is 223-224 lbs and is 6’3”. I think a guy like that can take a little bit more. It’s all about judgement. If it’s a third down and you’re next to the goal line, I don’t have a problem with [him taking hits]. I just don’t want to see him taking on safeties when we are in the middle of the field and there is no value in doing it. It’s hard to tell a competitor, whether it is Chase Daniel, Brad Smith or any of those guys, if it’s third and three, slide in. They are not going to do it. We just have to talk to him about that and try to keep him healthy.
Of his runs, I think ten of them were called passes. We had very few that were quarterback sneaks and such. He pulled it down and got some good yardage. There were a few teams we had some players open, he didn’t feel comfortable with the throw and he used his feet.”
On Henry Josey’s running abilities…
“He’s pretty fast. He can get five yards pretty fast; he can accelerate. Some people, it takes them awhile to get going, his burst right off the bat is why you see him get to the secondary so fast or you see him get six or seven yards when it looks like there is nothing in there. He’s also a north-south player. Very rarely do you see him go sideways. He’s a vertical runner. He’ll pick his moments to all of a sudden make a decision and he’ll get three of four more yards like that. I think his running style will define itself as he goes. He’s a young player. I think he is getting better and that’s the most important thing.”
On stopping Texas A&M in the second half…
“I think a lot things happened in the second half. Jacquies Smith stood up and said some things to the defense, kind of challenging the guys in a positive way. You know you are playing against a really good offensive team and their quarterback was playing well. We also had a bunch of three and outs that fed into momentum on their part.
I think in the second half we started making some plays. Randy Ponder strips the ball out and Luke Lambert gets it. He stripped the ball out technique wise. All those turnovers were not luck in any way. They did it because of the fundamentals they work on defense. That got us out of some third down drives. The three turnovers, by themselves, stopped drives and gave us field position. Whereas, if they punt it, we might get the ball on the 15-yard line. Well now we get the ball on the 38 with the interception. What happens is, when you start making all those plays, your confidence level grows, your intensity level gets that much higher and all that momentum feeds off itself.”
On Baylor’s vertical passing game…
“The efficiency of their passing game is staggering to watch. Their completion percentage, their short passing game is absolutely outstanding. [Robert Griffin III] is very accurate. It is very well designed. As you are struggling with the short passing game, all of a sudden, they go upfield and go vertical a lot. They have guys that can run and make plays.”
