Mike Cavan Addresses Media at Weekly Luncheon
Sep 8 | Football
The SMU Mustangs (0-1, 0-0 WAC) hit the road for their first road game of the year on Saturday and will face Tulane (0-1, 0-0 Conference USA) at the Superdome in New Orleans.
The game will be televised locally in the Dallas area on KLDT-Channel 55. Kickoff is set for 5:00 PM Central time.
SMU head coach Mike Cavan and Mustang players Josh McCown and Markus Pratt addressed the media at the school's weekly press luncheon Wednesday afternoon:
Head Football Coach Mike Cavan
On the Arkansas game:
"Arkansas is a good football team. They're a quality team that I feel will probably end up in the top 10 in the country before it's over with.
"We made some mistakes on defense on the long run. We mis-aligned up front and they hit us right where we mis-aligned. That's what good football teams do. Then on a couple of long passes we had some secondary busts. We were in different coverages and we didn't get it done. The other touchdown pass they had I thought Tracy (Hart) had the guy covered well, and that's what a number one pick does, he makes plays like that. I'm talking about Lucas. That's probably the hardest ball to defend there is.
"It's like saying that except for the iceberg, the Titanic had a good sail. But besides the big plays, I really thought our defense played pretty well. They played hard and that's what we learned somethings about ourselves. That's what you've got to do in the opening ball game, on both sides of the ball.
"Offensively, I thought early on in the ball game we were sharp and got some things accomplished. I think the thing that showed up immediately and continued all night is we didn't have the continuity up front we need to sustain the long drives and score. We'd make good plays, we'd make first downs, we'd make good passes, good catches, good runs or whatever and then we'd have a bad play and it would throw us all out of whack and we couldn't make it up.
"Our receivers played well except for a few dropped balls. Cardwell had a chance to really make a big play in the first quarter and possibly go all the way if he catches the ball. He got hurt early in the game, hurt his wrist, and that had something to do with it because he usually doesn't drop passes like that.
"I think Kris Briggs came in and competed well at runningback. I thought Jeff Woods did. I thought Josh McCown early on played well and made some good decisions.
"I think Arkansas got to the point where the whole offense, they wore us down a little bit and you could tell it. We weren't quite as sharp coming out of the huddle. We weren't quite as sharp running around as we need to be against a team like that. They wore us down and took advantage of our youth and our mistakes.
"We played 26 guys who had never played in a college game before. And believe me, you could tell it on the sidelines. They were wide-eyed. That's a big step for a guy who's never played college ball before to step into an arena like that against a team like Arkansas. It showed we did some crazy things.
"(QB Kelan) Luker got in in the fourth quarter. I think we've got to play him from the standpoint of getting some experience because if something happens to Josh (McCown), he's got to play. We've got to get him some experience. That's why we did it. He's got a strong arm and he competes well."
On the Tulane game:
"I think we and Tulane had very comparable starts. I think both of us played pretty good football teams.
"Tulane is a good football team. They're like us. They're young and inexperienced but they'll get better each week. I think the key this week in this ballgame is who's going to make the most improvement and who's going to make the least amount of mistakes. I think that will be the difference in this football game.
"Tulane, offensively, they miss their great quarterback (Shaun King) who I think is one of the best ones I've seen in college in a long time. They've got a two-headed monster now. They've got the guy that throws, No. 7 (Patrick Ramsey), and they've got No. 11 (Derrick Joseph) that's a runner/thrower type guy. We've got to be prepared for both. I think they've got three or four really good receivers. JaJuan Dawson is real good. They've got a running back, Toney Converse, that can hurt you, so we've got to be ready for that. They've got a lot of formations, a lot to look at. They don't go into the huddle the whole night, they call everything from the sidelines, so we've got to be prepared for that.
"Defensively, they lost a lot of people on defense but they've replaced them with young talent. They'll get after you. They play a multiple front. They'll play eight or nine people in the box and gamble with it. We've got to be able to take advantage of that and do some of the things that Southern Miss did to them. Their linebackers are very active. Jerry Phillips, the middle linebacker, is a real good player. Noel Ellis, the outside back, is really a great athlete."
Quarterback Josh McCown
"They're a different team (from last year). They have a new coach, so the defense is going to be a little bit different. Last year's game was a good game, but we still lost. It helps my confidence to know I played well against them last year. But I don't pay attention to last year's game very much.
"I'm not going to take anything away from Arkansas' defense because they were real good. We just have to pick up our intensity level a little bit. And play polishing and learning our assignments better so we can go out and execute better. If you know your assignments and know what you are going to do then you don't have to think about it as much and you can worry about the physical part of it and being real intense."
Defensive End Markus Pratt
"Last week the coaches asked if I could get two sacks. And I saud I was going to get one for (injured senior OL) Trey Bandy and one for (injured OL) Jerry Chavira and I'll point to the press box when I get them. I'm going to try to get one apiece for them again and I'll point to the press box when I get them.
"We knew they were going to attack our secondary and our young freshmen. But I feel that we should do better this week because Tulane runs a lot of two-minute offense, and we've been doing a lot of two-minute drills in practice this week to get in shape so we won't get burnt on the deep passes. As far as the running game goes we gave up not even 100 yards so the coaches were pleased about that.
"Tulane has a different coach but the team is still bascially the same. The quarterback is not as good as Shaun King was, so without him back running the offense I think we should win the game on offense, I hope.
"I started off the whole two-a-days as a backup, but I kept getting better and better so they moved me to the starting role. When you're given the chance you just have to try to exploit it. I figured if I do well against Arkansas I solidify the position. Those positions are still up for grabs. Nobody's actually a starter. He chooses during the week.
"Our defensive line only has one starter who's a senior and that's Luke (Johnson). He's actually our role model on defense. He picks the whole (defensive) line up. He tells us whe've got to do this or we've got to that. When we're slacking he gets on us. The people that made me a better player were Luke (Johnson) and Mercury (Hall) because I would always slack and they would get on me. Coach wouldn't even say anything. He would let the players. They've been through it. They have better experience for that. All of the inside guys are so young. Everybody's trying to learn. Everybody watches Luke. He's basically like our coach. He's been there. He's been through it. We listen to what he has to say. He tries to tell us to pick up our stuff. We're all still nervous. I'm still nervous to play, butterflies in the stomach, but he tries to tell us that it's natural to have that.
"We (the defense) work together. We're depending on each other, not just one player. We meet all day. We hang out together, even off the field. I think we really are becoming real close, like a little family."
