Michigan State coach Jonathan Smith on Week 1 win over FAU

[Music] oh thank you so coach after all this buildup what's the feeling getting your first win at home game one well yeah obviously you're trying to win the game and we got that done so pleased with that I do think the crowd was awesome and actually impacted the game I look at us defensively some of those stops third down fourth down crowd noise the energy into it so really appreciate kind of everybody coming out and helping us there you know game ones you're going to learn a lot about your team and we've got a lot to to work on what I did learn and was pleased with is that there's a response in this group we are going to play for four quarters you win the game in the fourth quarter and um we were able to do that but uh again it's game one we got a lot lot to learn slash now work to to clean up I look at us offensively obviously some things that we want to do a whole lot better uh first taking care of the ball I mean we got three opportunities really in the red zone that we turn the thing over don't get a fourth down conversion that's you know we're feeling quite a bit different if that's 21 points want to say too I'll give some credit to fa FAU I thought those guys played really hard that defense contested especially on the back end the quarterback extended played with great effort um he was a challenge back there and so there was you know two teams playing really really hard that that we came out on top coach again I want to Echo congratulations on your first win uh talk about managing expectations right now for the fan faithful and also Aiden really kind of taken so much on itself how do you manage that with the relationship you guys already have want to have some expectation in regards to like people excited about it that you know we we got opportunity to play well and win a bunch of games and all of that and that's what we sign up to do I think on Aiden's end yeah he he wants to play better well I think the other 10 guys on offense want to play better we got to we got to help the guy out we were hit and miss there whether we're missing a blocking scheme route and they to challenge FAU those guys contested in the back end or run game's not where we wanted it to and that's going to help a quarterback so there's a lot that we can do to u to help him out and I know he'll be back to work and and looking to improve in week two two questions can you share your thoughts on uh going for it instead of uh kicking a short field goal to go up nine and what were you told on the uh play where they TR it over on downs but one was a roughing the passer and you got 30 yards but you got kept the ball what you told there uh obviously we'd love to uh have gotten that fourth in I think it was about a yard and a half um and some of that's going to be a little bit of mentality and you know I preach it to the team that the difference between 73 points is huge and so that opportunity arose uh that was probably overly aggressive because you do you kick the field goal if you make the thing yeah you're up two scores so hindsight 20 20 probably would gone the other direction on the uh kind of late all of a sudden we got the ball my finally got the explanation after review quarterback goes to slide where he gives himself up he's then declared short of the line to gain we hit him late well it's already it's a dead ball foul so the line of gain has not been gained so we hit him late that's 15 and then all of a sudden we got some emotion which I love our guys playing with emotion but we got some emotion there's another 15 so it's all after the play so that's how it chocks off 30 yards and and we got the ball coach uh I was going to ask you about the field goal but Larry beat me to it but you just brought up the uh the 15 yard penalties how do you what do you account for the amount of personal fou penalties that you too many without question again we want to play with some aggression but we got to have some technique at the same time so it's not just oh it was a late hit we got you know horse caller here we got to be smart around the sideline we knew going into the game the quarterback was going to be athletic and aggressive get out but he likes to slide we got to be aware when that's taking place I will say that's not easy because as you're going to go tackle a guy it's really proper technique you want to go low you want to tackle low and then all of a sudden he's coming down right in that SL it's not easy but we got to coach it better and get better at it yeah coach you just touched on it a little now but obviously that ferociousness is kind of what led you guys to have some success on defense but at the same time it led you to some trouble what do you tell the guys to kind of keep them coming with that energy but more smartly yeah we just got to keep coaching it and how we finish plays and you know just again gaining some uh awareness we need them playing with energy but at the same time not such out of whack that they can't have some awareness when how we're finishing plays whether we're talking the sideline on the quarterback sliding we got to be great with our hands we got legal hands to the face we got it on the like I said the horse caller so a lot to tighten up hey Jonathan I was Wonder real quick do you have an update on Dylan and um Antonio I'm sorry I got a quick briefing there's going to be further you know take a look at them so I don't have anything definite as far as the Red Zone I think you guys were the number one red zone offense in the country last year and then I think it was one four tonight I I mean is there anything you can attribute to that overall well you you turn the thing over we got to run the ball better down there I'll know that you know on Aiden's interception on third down we can hand the ball off twice we get pretty much nothing we've got to be able to run the ball and make thing physical that will help red zone offense what do you say to Aiden um when on the first play you know it looks like you guys were going along maybe trying to find some momentum just get excitement going yeah that's I give that a little credit to FAU like we had that lined up for what we wanted to do he's looking at Belling if not he's going over the top we went over the top got one-on-one picture guy made a better play um and again I I'm sure watching the tap a little bit more we can detail the route more we need to stair step to be able to separate more more and then he we got a little bit of pre pressure where he's moving his feet so the timing's not quite right that comes with a lot of the detail but but in the moment you know just I know you want to have that like next play and stacking play mentality but what do you tell him just to kind of settle him down I didn't really talk to him after that yeah you know he went out you know first play whatnot he regrouped and I didn't I didn't have a ton to say to him two questions John um the uh the play of Aiden I mean what how would you assess the good and the bad there yeah you know I think he saw the field decent out there you know in coverage recognition uh could have been accurate a little bit on a couple easier throws that he he do I do think he competed out there ran with the ball showed up a little bit we got to keep keep the thing locked up cuz he put it on the on the ground I think he got confused on the interception he thought it was one coverage and it it wasn't and that's again first game there's a bunch of learning out there and I know he'll learn from it now I know the uh early on I me and I don't know if that was a play call and that was the specific you know first option but it seemed like he was throwing a lot of you know a lot of deep shots early I mean would you have liked to see him maybe maybe have more Rhythm throws early on I mean and because it seemed like when he did have success there was those you know play action roll outs um yeah yeah we have a couple different facets of our play action game early on we did have an emphasis cuz we felt like the coverage was going to allow us to kind of put the ball up stretch the field and early on that's what what we called Jonathan uh the the defense obviously you're playing a quarterback is a little bit one-dimensional but pretty dangerous there how do you assess the defense after week one given that you know they didn't maybe face some of the coverage challenges you will down the road but with what you saw in terms of getting after it and I I I do think the effort was there I think we played multiple guys we talked about it coming into the game we were rotating the D line secondary a couple of guys going down next guy up inside linebackers we got a third down package we're you're seeing about six new guys come on the field loved that we played a lot of guys in play played with some great effort we had some communication misses that opened up a couple of things we're going to play athletic quarterbacks we got to do a great job trying to learn to how to contain that um but overall this ain't a game of perfect and those guys played really really hard for four quarters kind of going back to Aiden for a minute um you've played the position I I guess first of all how much there how much of a difference is there for a kid like that going from playing a series of game to a full game and then after a game like this from a mental standpoint when he takes the accountability and everything else and he's still left with the bad plays that he feels like how do you kind of direct him towards the positive and try and direct him to what he needs to do well you know that even that that question just I think about myself my first start we're playing at home I had five turnovers I think I thw threw three pck and fumbled the ball twice five and we lost the game by one and so you know it goes back to the response and this thing ain't easy um and again it ain't all on him and he knows this I mean we're going to see this route running our splits the protection here there uh I love the kid that he's competitive he did some good things enough good things for us to win the game U and he's 1 and0 undefeated as a starting quarterback uh coach did you see anything in Florida Atlantic's game plan on either side of the ball that maybe you weren't expecting and if so how did you adjust for that yeah they gave us a little couple pressures that we didn't anticipate seeing as much that they kept on showing up U can get kind of technical on you we got some tight split stuff that you know that that gave us some issues in the Run game because they added some SEC secondary players um so we needed to adjust to that a little bit Jonathan right here I'm wondering uh so this is your seventh game one as a head coach I'm wondering what have you learned about deciphering or noticing sort of what's just game one sort of sloppiness or or nerves or whatever things you can attribute to game one versus these might be issues for the season you know well you're going to you have some urgency to address them to get them cleaned up in game one I think doing this now like you're saying seven seven years I do think a little bit about week one's kind of overreaction Saturday you know the first impression right this is the first time that team's out there well then you begin to label oh they're good on this side they're not good on this side these guys can go the playoffs these guys are out like it's overreaction Saturday we go back to work like we knew it was going to be perfect there's going to be approach this was good this wasn't let's work on this Sunday get ready for the next week and that's what I believe in time for a couple more Jack J Jonathan someone had told you this afternoon you were going to have 12 penalties for 140 would you have believed it and with that and the three turnovers you feel a little bit fortunate yeah you feel you know cuz again I give FAU some credit those guys battled they gave us some issues we did not play clean really on both phases offensively left a bunch of points out there and then the penalty side too it's really was a bunch of 15 yers too we're not just talking about like off sides so um fortunate that way cuz there's a lot of SL happiness in those numbers the pass rush seven sacks might have been eight the last one was an incompletion did you anticipate that type of impact from the pass rush and I imagine that's a positive we're going to get him seven times um but the way the game was playing out and those guys kept on coming I do think it helped us that our rotation first quarter second quarter third quarter allowed us to finish really well in the fourth cuz guys we're pseudo fresh up front yeah tally coming off the bench and creating some heat and Bogle is the new Rush end y does that demonstrate not only that new position but also that depth that you're talking about yeah cuz you got multiple guys of those two you mentioned but you know Anthony Jones is in there you know Jaylen Thompson did some good things and then you got the interior guys rotating then all of a sudden Jordan Hall is down at the line of scrimmage not just playing he played a decent amount of inside backer as well today we've got multiple guys we feel confident to put in the game yeah Jonathan how much do you want to over here how much do you want to emphasize a downfield game and what's the key to getting that right timing wise obviously a lot of overthrows tonight yeah we got to get we want to be efficient but in this game you got to find ways to be explosive whether you know today our longest play I think was on counter under the center reverse out and give the guy the ball um but if we can get the Run game going action pass off of it um we we just got to be more efficient offensively and then finish like I'm getting that in in the Red Zone piece you get 21 points versus zero this thing's totally different thanks coach appreciate it thank you thanks that'll be it 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