Sept. 7, 2010
VIDEO
FORT WORTH, Texas -- TCU football coach
Gary Patterson held his weekly media luncheon and news conference Tuesday in the Meyer-Martin Athletic Complex.
The fourth-ranked Horned Frogs host Tennessee Tech Saturday at 6 p.m. in the 2010 home opener at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
Included below are excerpts from Patterson's meeting with the media.
On moving past the Oregon State game ...
"As you can see on the pyramid, we've got a little bit more purple. That's where we ought to be right now. We've got 11 more ballgames. This week is Tennessee Tech, and we're trying to make sure we aren't one of the people they're talking about with upsets."
On the differences in preparation for game two compared to the season opener ...
"In the second game week, you're coming off where you've had a week-and-a-half to prepare. You now go back to getting only three or four days. You've got to get yourself ready as a coach. The coach has to be in a quicker mode. The players have to also be quicker in doing all the things we need to do. We'll see how we do this week."
On the upsets recorded by FCS teams on the opening weekend ...
"I told them at the Sunday meeting that we didn't need to be the next Ole Miss losing to another Ohio Valley Conference school."
On what he learned in the season opener about his team ...
"We played hard, but we can't turn the ball over. I thought we were more physical with the run game, but we still have a ways to go with pass protection. Even though we did a nice job against them, we've got to be better. Defensively, we need to play the deep ball better. We have to break on the ball better. We dropped an interception. We didn't have any takeaways. You need to get turnovers to win ballgames."
On the performance of some of the younger players on defense ...
"When we just played, they played great. As far as assignments in our zone blitz and man-blitz schemes, where they had to cover people and do other things, we didn't play so well. As far as understanding and being able to do the whole package, we still have a ways to go. They did play awfully hard."
On finding another running back for the rotation ...
"We've got two or three. The biggest thing with the other guys is being able to handle the whole package. Anybody can carry the football. It's about protection, checking, doing all the footwork and all the other things that go along with being that guy."
On what he expects from Tennessee Tech ...
"I expect them to play at a very high level. If you watched their Arkansas game and the Georgia game at the end of last year, they didn't back down to any of those people. This group will not quit for 60 minutes. They held Arkansas scoreless in the first quarter. They just saw what Jacksonville State did to Ole Miss. You better be ready to play."
On what he expects to see from his team this week ...
"This week is about bringing in the same things we saw last week and getting better. We've got to improve as a football team. We've got to grow as a team. You can't be about 22 or 24 starters. You need to be somewhere between 40 and 50 players."
