Phil Bennett's Weekly Press Conference
Oct 6 | Football
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SMU head coach Phil Bennett held his weekly press conference Monday as the team prepares to travel to San Jose State Saturday for a contest against the Spartans. Kick-off is slated for 9:00 P.M. central time. The following are quotes from Bennett's press conference.
Recapping the UTEP Game
?This was our third loss by three points or less, there were three turnovers for SMU, zero for UTEP. That was the difference in the game.?
?You can look at it two different ways. One, that was bad luck, or more realistically, that we have to protect the ball better to win, and that?s what we have to do.?
?These kids are resilient, they know we are close. You look at those three games, take one play out of each of them and we are sitting here talking about how we are 3-2, but it hasn?t happened.?
?We got hurt in the secondary and it hurt us. It was a very frustrating second half. Some of things we were able to do on defense we couldn?t do. We were limited on what we could do because of the injuries to the secondary.?
?190 yards on special teams was phenomenal. Jonas was great, Blake Warren did a great job back there as well. Warren can be a threat for us back there.?
?I think our kids played hard. I was very disappointed in how we played defensively. I think we tackled poorly in crucial situations.?
?Richard played better within the system. He stills needs to play better for us to win. He had four or five dropped balls, we have to improve on that.?
Previewing the San Jose State Game
?It?s going to be a tough job going to San Jose. Offensively, they have a good quarterback and good receivers. They run good screens. They have struggled defensively, and are still searching for their identity. They have a new defensive coordinator, and have changed their scheme from last year.?
?They have a lot of firepower on offense, and they are playing at home. It?s going to be a challenge for us.?
What does the team need to do to improve this week?
?We have to solidify all phases of our special teams. Looking around the nation this year, there are lots of breakdowns on the special teams, and we have to get better in that area.?
?Right now, we are ?7 in the turnover ratio, and minus ? 3 in that game (UTEP). That is absolutely a killer. Turnovers have been our demise. ?
?We have to get better not just in the red-zone, but in the plus-zone. This is two weeks in a row we haven?t gotten positive yardage in the plus-zone.
Comments on the quarterback situation
?Right now, we don?t have plans to play Tate, and unless Richard doesn?t produce, we are going to go with Richard.?
General comments
?This class really has a chance to be something special. We?ve got some guys that can really help us.?
?Regardless of what some people think, we are not far from being a team that can contend in this league.?
