Fourth-year East Carolina Head Football Coach Mike Houston addressed members of the media Tuesday prior to Saturday’s American Athletic Conference contest against UCF. The following are selected comments:
Opening Statement
“It was an exciting weekend with Homecoming, and everything went along with that. It was a game to remember probably for a lot of our alumni and fans, with a four-overtime win over a very good Memphis football team. They were every bit of what we thought they would be and just really pleased with being able to get the victory. Obviously, it was not easy. Our kids had to come back time and time again. Just really pleased with the way we stuck together. Pleased with the kind of toughness, resiliency, and effort that we played with. Just the way we won it just makes it one, you have certain games in your career that you’ll never forget. I think that’s one of them that you’ll never forget – some of the big plays in that one and the way we won it in the end. Big win for the season, big win for our program. Short memory though because we’ve got another very challenging game coming up against a very talented UCF team who is off to a great start this year. Just watching a little bit of their game against Georgia Tech before I came up here and just seeing how they match up against an ACC team and you saw him against Louisville and obviously they’ve had a couple of big wins here the last two weeks over SMU and Temple. We have quite a challenge. Thank goodness we’re at home. Excited to be back in Dowdy-Ficklen Stadium. Another 7:30 kickoff due to TV and playing on ESPN again this week. It’s a great opportunity for our program and one that I’m sure our kids are going to be ready to go. We really need our crowd back in it. I think they were a big part the other night, especially in overtime with the atmosphere in the stadium. We need that kind of 12th man again this Saturday night because it should be a great matchup.”
On facing John Rhys Plumlee and UCF’s offense
“I’ve seen too much of him already. He played baseball and football at Ole Miss. He was the starting quarterback there and lost out in that competition and transferred to UCF. He’s a big kid, probably 6-1, 200 pounds 4.4 or 4.5 speed. He has breakaway speed and does a really good job in the quarterback run game. When your quarterback is also your leading rusher and you’re not running the triple option, that says something about his ability to run the football. He has over 500 yards gained in rushing this year, he’s thrown for 1,500 yards and he doesn’t turn the ball over. You put him with some of those skill kids that UCF has, and it just makes it a very dangerous offense. You look at the game against Temple last week and it’s 14-13 with five minutes to go in the first half. UCF scores the next 56 points, 21 before halftime, and Temple didn’t turn the ball over. They didn’t turn the ball over, didn’t get a kick blocked and UCF didn’t return a punt or a kickoff for a touchdown. That’s how explosive UCF’s offense is with Plumlee and his surrounding cast there. It’s probably our biggest challenge of the year so far.”
On UCF’s speed on both sides of the ball
“Well, I thought they were pretty fast last year too. I do think the quarterback with Johnny (Richardson) and Ryan (O’Keefe) and then they’ve got a couple of transfers, one from Alabama and one from Auburn at the wide receiver position. I think you put a quarterback like Plumlee with those kinds of skilled kids, that’s what makes them so much more explosive offensively. They were very good defensively last year, they’re very good again. They’ve given up 20 points or less in every game and the 20 points was to a very talented Louisville team. The speed on the defensive side of the ball stands out too but I just I think that they’re a really solid football team in all three phases.”
On Andrew Conrad starting at kicker
“I think he earned that opportunity last week with his performance in practice. I think he backed that up with his performance in the game. So naturally, he’s going to be listed as the starter on the depth chart. It’s a thing where he’s going to have to compete every week just like everybody else is. I was very pleased with the way he responded. I was confident after the week before. I didn’t feel like he was quite there just yet, but I thought he made a big jump last week. I would anticipate him making continued improvement this week.”
On the impact of Shaundre Mims and Chad Stephens getting into the backfield
“They’re being impactful. You look at the two-point conversion and the third overtime, we had a line stunt on, and Chad just knifes through and hits the running back for no gain or a loss there. You look at would he have got in if Chad hadn’t made that play. I don’t know, but certainly it’s a huge play that nobody’s really talked about. You look at Shaundre and he had at least one sack, a couple of other ones may have been labeled as a quarterback run but he’s obviously been a huge impact, both in the run game and the pass game. I think that how disruptive our defensive linemen were the other night was a factor in the ballgame. We collected four sacks. We had several quarterback pressures. We harassed Seth (Henigan) all night and I think that was a factor in both interceptions. I think that was a factor on the last play of the game. I think it was a big piece to us winning the ballgame. It’s great to get production from those guys in addition to the other defensive lineman.”
On stopping UCF’s league leading rush offense
Well, you have a dual-threat quarterback, and then you have all those other players. I didn’t even mention him in the opening remarks but Isaiah (Bowser), who was their starting tailback last year. He and Richardson are kind of co-starters this year, but they have multiple quality running backs. RJ Harvey is going to play a lot. Their backup quarterback Thomas (Castellanos), a true freshman, maybe faster than Plumlee. He had three long touchdowns against Temple the other night. I think that you’ve got a lot of challenges with the weapons that they have. At offensive line I think they’re very solid, a transfer from Virginia and a transfer from Jacksonville State at the two tackle spots. Their centers are returning, all-conference caliber players so I think they’re a very solid running football team. We’re going to have to play very well up front, linebacker, box level this week to be able to slow them down. The combination of their ability and their scheme that they run is a huge challenge.”
On Julius Wood’s impact on defense
“We really felt he was going to kind of blossom into this type of player this year. What a game he had the other night, 11 tackles total, six were solo. The interception was just a great play. I thought we had solid coverage underneath which forced a little bit of a high throw, Henigan again was harassed on the throws. He overthrew the dig route and Julius made a great break on the ball and what a job he did to not only make the interception but to return it 47 yards for a touchdown. I had several of our guys work the interception return drill each week, but our guys did a great job executing it and not getting a block in the back, which can happen sometimes. Chad had a couple of big blocks on the return. Gerard (Stringer) had what’s now become a drive by block to kind of screen that player but just a great couple of moves to get into the endzone right there. It was a huge play in the ballgame, tied the game at 20 and kind of got the momentum back headed our way there in the second half. It was a big play by a really talented player.”
On Aapri Washington’s increased role last Saturday
“Well, I think number one for Aapri is the stage wasn’t too big for him. He’s played a lot of ball, he’s a savvy ballplayer and I thought he was very solid. I think he is probably the most critical person of his performance. He texted me around like 12:30 on Sunday morning, I’m driving home and I’m getting texts from him saying, ‘Coach I’ve got to play better. I should have made that tackle on the route right there.’ I just respect the fact that he’s excited about getting his most significant time but not happy with his performance and wants to play better, but it’s good to have him on our squad, outstanding young man.”
On Gus Malzahn not knowing about barbecue in Eastern North Carolina
“I’m sure he’ll enjoy it. I’m a fan of barbecue. I love Eastern North Carolina barbecue. I don’t know what the delicatessen is the down there in Orlando, so we’ll make sure he gets a plate. Might have an argument over which place it comes from – Parker’s, B’s or Sam Jones. They’ve got an argument of which one is the best and then we’ve got Mission BBQ here in town too. So, we’ve got a lot to choose from.”
On Ryan Jones blocking more on offense
“Well, he’s got to be a solid blocker at his position. That was a big play where (Keaton) Mitchell was able to break a run off the right side. Ryan had the block on the perimeter defender right there. Keaton didn’t quite score but it got us close to the red zone. I think maybe inside the 20-yard line or the 15-yard line, we’re able to score a few plays later to take the lead with a minute and some change left. Big block. I’ve really challenged Ryan to continue to improve his blocking on the perimeter and his blocking in the run game and in the box. He’s a hybrid tight end. His future is going to be that. He’s got to continue to improve on that and build on that but surely that was a big play in the ballgame.”
Media Release per Chip Welch/ECU Athletics