Post-bye, Aggies take new mindset into ULM

Kevin Sumlin

On the bye week...

"We laid out on Tuesday what the philosophy was, which was about us ... this week it's back to game-planning. There's guys who accepted the challenge; guys who felt like they deserved a chance to play, we gave them a chance last week to kind of demonstrate where they are. We're back in full pads today and tomorrow. I can give you a depth chart, but you've known me long enough to know that doesn't mean anything.

"We don't just change for change's sake. Sometimes there's something coaches see in practice — we give guys the opportunity in practice to demonstrate to the coaches and other players that they understand what we're trying to do and are proficient in what we're doing. At the same time, you have the opportunity to show you can't do that. The more you're able to, the better your opportunity is to play. That's where we are right now. That hasn't changed from last Tuesday. That was the emphasis last week. This week we're on to game-planning for Monroe."

On whether he saw what he wanted...

"A lot of times things get generalized — 'This team is this, this team is that.' What I saw was you had some players who didn't play smart, some who didn't play hard, and some who didn't play physical. I don't think it's a general thing. There weren't 40 or 50 guys all in one category. So you address those things. Our goal was to address as many things as a program as we could. You have time at the end of the year to fine-comb; when you're in week 9, I try to address as many things as I can possibly address with the intent of winning next week — schematically and personnel-wise."

On his starting quarterback...

"They've both gotten reps over the last week and will  both continue to get reps. Nothing's changed from last Tuesday when I said, 'We're going to go through this thing just like every other position.' We're playing football. With what's happened, you heard me say after the game there was nothing off the table at that point. Change for change's sake is impractical; what you have to do is have a reason for change. Is that reason your ability to be efficient and prove to people that you can handle what's going on, or disprove that you're ready to play in those practice situations?

"Credibility amongst the coaching staff and players is at a premium, particularly where we are right now."

On whether the team is angry...

"I've never talked about an 'angry' team. I don't know that they're angry. I don't understand what you're trying to say."

On the team's health...

"Looking back and evaluating where we are and where we were, I probably underestimated the eight-game stretch. How we handled it, we didn't handle it the right way. That's something that, somebody told me there were 126 schools that had a bye week in that week and we didn't. The end of that stretch, in particular, being the hardest part of it. So we had a substantial amount of guys who were beat up and, I would say, mentally tired.

"That's something we tried to address last week. When you lose, particularly the way we lost, it's the worst time for the bye week to happen. But for us it was good, we had time to look within and heal up — mentally as much as from the physical stress. It's never a good time in any program for a loss like that, but there are good times for bye weeks. I think our bye week came at the best time for us, and how we've taken care of it from a practice-standpoint. We've been able to take some pressure off our guys mentally from that grind with the practice plan. I liked our attitude coming out to practice yesterday and we'll see today.

"The key is going to be sustaining. Anybody can do something once. Now what? Are we going to go back to where we were three or four weeks ago, or are we going to move on to the team we used to be? Based on how we practiced yesterday, I'd say the latter would be the case."

On ULM...

"Coach Berry has done a great job wherever he's been. They have a number of players from the state of Texas. It means they'll have a lot of guys here who have been to Kyle Field officially or unofficially, they know what it's like. Having played two other SEC teams, they won't be intimidated. We talk about the number of sacks we have, but they have more than us coming into this game. We'll have to protect the passer and be able to create things offensively against their 3-3 stack, which is different than what you see normally. It's a blitzing style that creates negative plays, which they're famous for, and they play man-to-man. They move the ball offensively and they have an outstanding kicker. They won't be intimidated."

On any new vocal leaders stepping up...

(Pause.) "You know, that's an interesting question. I don't know that last week that was something we were looking for. We were looking for improvement across the board. At this point it isn't time for talking, yelling, screaming. It's time for action. That's what the message was last week. In this business, what pays off is results. Not talk."

On honoring the 1939 team and the players understanding A&M's tradition...

"That's a good question. It is good. Our guys have a real sense of the history of the program. There's an old saying: 'You should never confuse history for tradition.' That is, history is playing; tradition is things surrounding the program, like Midnight Yell. And winning is part of that tradition. Those two things are very different. We spend time with our players talking about history, and trying to be a part of both — there's a sign in there that says, 'Leave your jersey in a better place.' You owe it as an Aggie to leave your jersey in a better place for the next guy to wear it. That's part of the history we want our players to be part of, but also respect the people who came before you.

"Unfortunately we don't have a lot of national championships. One of the great things about being able to respect that history is the national championship team we have, we'll pay honor to. It's a big deal to our players. But it's also important to be a part of that history and tradition. It gives our guys an opportunity to be a part of those types of things; like the first year we were here, that was one of four or five (A&M) teams to win 11 games. That's a big deal to these guys currently, but it's also a big deal to look back at the teams that were successful and respect the guys who played here and what they accomplished. Particularly in a Kyle Field that's changing.

"Back in 1939 no one would imagine Kyle Field would look the way it does now or will next year. You have to have respect for that and our guys do."

On his answer about the eight-week opening stretch...

"What I said was, I think the eight-game stretch took a bigger toll than we thought, and I didn't handle that properly, particularly with the toughest stretch at the end. Our situation was different than most in the country — that's not an excuse, that's something we need to manage better. For some it's catastrophic, if you let it continue. But that's not who we are, who we've been. For me it starts with how can you do better in those situations? That's all part of the evaluation process. You have to recognize it not as an excuse, but as something that happened. Now what? That's what last week was about from a physical and a mental approach the rest of the year."

On whether he's been getting unsolicited input from fans around town, as he's alluded to before...

"No, nobody talks to me right now. (Laughter.) I haven't gotten a lot of No. 1 signals yet though. That's when it gets bad."

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Jake Spavital

On how the QB battle has gone and how open it is...

"We opened it back up and we've had some good experiences throughout last week in live-scrimmage situations and going through scripted plays as well, challenging them in different situations. It's wide open today and we'll split the reps, and tomorrow, then we should have a starter declared and have them take the reps in that Thursday practice." 

On Kenny Hill's status...

"It's tough to be in that situation where you start for eight games and your job is on the line, but he's motivated and I see that his leadership is building up even more with him having the opportunity to run with the 2s. ... He's handled it and he's still got the opportunity to take that job."

On Kyle Allen...

"Kyle came into my office and asked me if this is for real and I said, 'Yeah, it is.' He said, 'Good, because I'm going to try to go get it.' I'm pleased with how he's handled it all to this point; he shows up early and gets extra work in and he's showing he's really trying to go and get this job."

On Hill's reaction to the news...

"Kenny is a competitive kid. When we said we'd rep Kyle this week as well and they'd split reps accordingly, he understood. You could see his approach and pep in his step was a little different when he went out there that day. It's not the greatest news to give a kid, but he's responded and he's competing well."

On the benefits of running plays with the 2s...

"It's always good to go with the 2s. It's the best way to learn at times because you'll have protection issues at times and you can create and extend the play, figure out what to do on the perimeter when the run game isn't working ... it's good when you don't have the comfort of your No. 1 offensive line out there."

On what was addressed on the O-line...

"A lot of it is physicality, effort and energy, and emotion. Those are the four things we talked about on a consistent basis with everybody. This is a physical league and you've got to compete each week. All five positions are open and we've been giving guys opportunities to compete. The main thing is being physical."

On ULM's 3-3-5 defense...

"It's a unique scheme. A very aggressive scheme. It's probably the most aggressive we'll see all year. They play man-free and blitz on almost every snap. Teams have struggled to run against them, especially in spread sets because it's a 3-3-5 and you're outnumbered in the box. You've got to get creative in the run game and hope that with the games they play they don't always hit the right gap. We've been getting some quality reps at it, we're a day ahead on it, and it'll be a good challenge with how aggressive they are and how they force so many turnovers."

On whether they had to remind the team what's left to play for...

"They know what they have left to play for, just with the bowl seedings and getting back into the top-25 and the discussion. Kids know what's at stake. The opportunities to play in this venues as well and compete for pride and compete for Texas A&M."

On Mike Matthews' job at center and any cause for concern with his snapping...

"There's no cause for concern. Mike is a great player for us; he's one of our vocal leaders. I appreciate the intensity he plays with. It's tough in the trenches in the SEC. They always say it's like going to a street fight every week. You've got to play with physicality and sometimes when you're getting beat up the snap may sail. But I haven't seen them affect any plays really except for that one in the Alabama game."

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Mark Snyder

On what he's learned over the past week and a half...

"Nothing we didn't already know. This past week was a matter of getting better. Each person had to get better in a certain way; we feel like, coming out of the week, we were able to get that accomplished."

On ULM having already played two SEC schools this year...

"They've got a number of guys from Texas on their team, they've been in some good environments already, and played pretty well in those games. I don't think they'll be intimidated and they'll be ready to go."

On whether the team has practiced with more intensity...

"I think Coach Sumlin has gotten his message across. We had a good week of practice. There were things guys needed to improve on, and we challenged them to do that and they got it done."

On how physical practices were and the work on tackling...

"We tackled quite a bit. Again, not having a game this weekend, not having to go out and play, definitely helped us be able to go out and play and accomplish some things we wanted to accomplish. We feel like we got that done."

On the depth chart...

"We'll see. We'll go out to practice today and a lot of spots are still open. Healthy competition is always good and we've got healthy competition especially on our side of the ball."

On the interior DL's health and performance in practice...

"We'll see, again. We'll go out today and — those two (Ivan Robinson and Alonzo Williams) didn't particularly have a lot of deficiencies — so we had other guys we were gearing things to this past week."

On his confidence in the issues being fixed...

"What problems are you talking about specifically?" (Reporter: "Teams moving up and down the field with little resistance, 59 points...") "I agree with you 100 percent. They played extremely well. We can go back and rehash two weeks ago if you'd like. But we've moved on to the next opponent."

On how he could've handled the eight-game stretch better, as Sumlin said...

"It's a learning experience. I don't know that we'd do a whole lot different. The last three teams were really good football teams. It's something we've discussed and it doesn't need to be discussed in this forum, and it'll be looked at at the end of the year."

On whether the competition will spill into Saturday...

"I would say that's a fair statement."