UB Football Postgame Press Conference after Lafayette

opening statement on the game and questions sure well uh really really happy for our players uh they have uh absolutely been on board I feel like since the first day I got here and uh we have been working very hard to come together and we've talked a lot about the unity and how being together playing together believing in each other trus in each other will help us overcome adversity and and almost felt like that first half um things might have gone a little bit too much our way I mean we knew we were playing a really good football team we knew they were going to respond in the second half and uh even though we played so cleanly in the first half you know you try to go out there with that z00 mindset uh but you you know deep down there's still going to be growing pains as a coach and there certainly were in that third quarter um but the fact that there was no Panic and the fact that uh we kept playing our game defense stepping up getting stops the stop after the Muff kickoff was just absolutely humongous and then Shawn's interception we worked tirelessly on on what we call matchin hands which is when you can't get home get your hands up and we knew this quarterback sometimes would let that ball come out a little bit low and what an incredible play by him and then obviously the uh the Run run by bark to to basically put the game away after that but um I'm I'm glad we had to deal with some adversity um because there's certainly going to be more of that coming um but it's a good group of kids and uh they've they've definitely earned this in more ways than one you know the kids that stuck around after you know a tough season last year um Shawn coming back and uh having such a wonderful game in in his debut um thought we tackled really well tonight uh we didn't give up a lot of explosive plays and then on offense we took care of the football we ran the ball well and then we knew we'd have to take some shots because they were packing the box packing the box packing the box and it was great to see CJ and and some of our receivers connect on those on the outside so um please pleased pleased with the the performance on on defense especially certainly on offense and uh I guess what goes around comes around on special teams the last time I got a punt blocked was against Cincinnati in 2019 so that one that one was will uh will sting for a long time but uh but to to have a punt blocked and to still win the game convincingly uh that just says all that much more about the defense and and uh and the offense's ability to to grind it out out there in the fourth quarter so good stuff to build on there for sure CJ made his first start since 2021 how did you really see the chemistry between him and his receivers come together particularly in the last 10 days yeah really good um you know we we have a lot of really really good kids and and there's not there's no like selfishness there's no well you know this was the quarterback and this was the rece we just kind of go out there and do what we do and I'd like to think I'm sort of that way but especially Dave patod is um so comfortable with himself and and never gets you know he gets fiery once in a while like any coach will but but he's very even keeled and and he's really gotten these guys to just be very comfortable with themselves so you know whether it's CJ or or one of the other quarterbacks I I don't think there's going to be a lot of you know why this guy why that guy why me um I don't I don't I don't feel any of those vibes whatsoever I think our guys are just happy to be here happy to have the opportunity to go out and play and play together and they'll support whoever is in there there uh together in the gameat Sean's game tonight when he got back to campus how quickly did you tell could you tell that he's going to be yeah he handled himself so well when he came back because he knew what he was capable of but he also knew that there's a lot of new faces in that locker room and these guys had already gone through four months of of changing a culture together and to to step in there on Memorial Day or the day after Memorial day and just say hey I'm the alpha in the locker room and this is the way it's going to be I don't know if that would have been so well received um so the way he managed the summer re- earning trust building relationships re acclimating himself the time that he spent around the building um making sure that people were comfortable with him and that he was comfortable with all the new faces um he's just invested so much in such a short period of time and you could just tell probably by after the Fourth of July if I had to pick a date that okay you know this this guy is really making a difference around here and and people are feeding off him and um his his level of prepar pration and his attention to detail and and his chemistry with Joe Bowen it's it's really special you talk a little bit sorry about that can you talk a little bit about the impact that Sean makes on a defense obviously today the interception two tackles for loss 11 tackles total uh just everything he does out on the field just go a little bit deep about how that yeah well you have you have the maturity and the intelligence the football IQ which is really really high level uh but then he's because of those things and the fact that he plays so hard he's a really efficient mover out there on the field so he's able to put his body in really really good position um because the combination of preparation and Instinct um and so you saw not only the interception and a couple tfls tonight there were some open field tackles that were legit week one tackles and I thought overall we tackled well as a defense I don't feel like there were a lot of yards after contact tonight uh you know what they got they got and um there were maybe one or two balls out there on our Corners um that that uh got some extra yards but for the most part tonight if they caught it we tackled it if they ran it you know and there was a little crease you know we we fit it up pretty good you didn't see a lot of explosive runs right so that's that's a pretty darn good job by our kids and really good job by our staff emphasizing the fundamentals throughout the preseason because you you don't want preseason to become uh you know just a a super physical where you get to your first game and you're not fresh and we made a very conscientious decision early in preseason that you know we trust these guys are going to play hard and we want to make sure they're coming in this game with with their legs underneath them and feeling good and go out there and fly around and I don't think there's any question they did that tonight you hadn't been a run out in the field as a head coach for about nine years I know I'm Rusty did you have any emot extra emotions I knew you knew it was coming but still to actually yeah I really like these kids you know I I just think they're they're a really good bunch and uh you know we're probably going to have some cardiac moments this year um but I was just really happy for them that uh they could feel good about it and for our staff um to feel good about it and uh yeah I'm just as I've said many times I'm grateful to be here and I think there's a lot of people that probably needed this one tonight so that's good Jack is barale third running back on the roster yeah another another let me just say this man I am Rusty cuz if I knew he had 99 yards would have left him in there for one of those runs at the end of the game to get over a 100 so who's My medor Relations guy anyway can can he get down there and tell me that in the fourth quarter so we don't put the freshman in there and let him run it seven times in a row holy at a time when the offense in the second half really needed a spark I agreee how why was that important to the team what did what kind of O did he give to the team needed it so it's it's definitely running back by committee and Ray Pickering does a great job of rotating those guys and and uh you know Bark's been telling me since the spring coach I'm I'm going to be ready for for games you know he's had a long career he's had some bumps and bruises in his career and I think coming out of spring um he just really wanted to to to get to this moment and and feel healthy in this moment and um so proud of him and um you know great job of of Rey getting him in the game at the right time uh where we needed you know they're packing the box and uh we still needed to run the ball we needed to give our defense a break they were out there way too much at at some points there in the third quarter and uh so we got some some really critical first downs with with the yards after contact so really proud of bark having some a group of alumni on the sidelines and some NFL players among them cam Lewis Joe Andre what did that kind of mean to have that Connection to the Past out there tonight yeah you know we've been uh we've been working really hard uh to communicate with our football alums and and to make those guys feel welcome here and so I didn't even know that because I'll be honest with you I didn't even look back in the stands I could kind of see across the field looked like we had a pretty good student turnout which I'm grateful for but um you know when you get in the zone you don't even really know who all is around you there but that's great to hear that all those guys were here and uh they're certainly welcome here anytime and I think our football alums know that whether they're playing in the NFL or they're working in a bank in New York or you know working for Fanny May and DC or whatever the case may be um you know we want those guys to feel like they're an intimate part of what's going on so we've been communicating with them regularly and uh I sense that they appreciate that earlier in the week you said te yeah the best part was handling the adversity that's that's really I mean to me you in the long run having to go through the ups and downs particularly in the second half that we did tonight will help us more so than if if this game was lopsided in the second half which I'm not saying it couldn't have been it wasn't and I I deal with reality not with the wha ifs and and the reality was this felt like a tight game right up until that interception and and the subsequent touchdown um so I I think being in those adverse situations and having some bad things happen as much as as it pains me um in the long run will probably be good for us because we're going to be in a lot of games with ups and downs in them throughout the year I'm sure special teams I think some of us thought watching your practice that would be maybe one of the strengths of this team emphasiz that why do you think maybe there were some issues in those plays tonight yeah I'll take full responsibility for that so ultimately it's it's me and and preparing the team and uh you know the block punt was was a missed one-on-one by the personal protector he gave up the inside on it so we got to do a better job preparing him there to to keep his leverage and then uh the muffed kickoff return we should have had the primary returner up a lot further than he was knowing that that guy had to kick it into the wind so I'll take full responsibility for that stuff and um I've got to be um more proactive and in getting that stuff done whether it's in practice during the week or on game day you got couple defens yeah I'm not overly concerned about that I I thought the officiating crew did a really nice job they were um I I thought they communicated really well with me um I thought they let the kids play um you know the one the one um uh late hit on their sideline you saw that coming from 53 and a third away so I I thought that was uh there wasn't anything controversial about that I would say if there was any one call that was controver IAL to me we got a DPI on a ball that I thought we were going to intercept and the guy kind of draped over our shoulders I thought it was a no-brainer offensive pass interference we'd actually seen Lafayette have a few of those uh last year where an underthrown ball and their receivers were pulling the DB down um but look we made some first game uh errors and I'm I'm sure the officials will go back they'll watch the film they'll probably critique themselves as well but overall I thought those guys did a really nice job letting us play they they used the replay when they were supposed to use the replay um you know taj's taj's touchdown catch you know they came over and told me they said coach we think we need to review that and um and sure enough um you know he he had the foot in so I made a Mist I thought one of lafayette's catches was clearly out of bounds and they're like no coach we watched it he's in so if anybody was Rusty it was probably me all right appreciate you guys have a great night okay to left CG Sean dolak and Nick McMillan they're available for questions start asking Cay question uh over the last 10 days how you know you made your first start since 2021 but how did you really see the chemistry and the timing and the Rhythm with your receivers come together over the last 10 days um I'll say it's a long process it's been not just this year last year most of the receivers that I'm throwing with now we like who I was throwing with when I was a two so our connection has been strong and we just been getting better every day like just extra extra work and just extra preparation Sean your first game in a while but know back here after your off seon what the emotions throughout the night of being back on this field yeah no it was just a great great um game first day first game back obviously and um just the emotions were were controlled because they have to be you know football has to be a controlled emotional game and that's what they were you know I'm I was excited to get back just to play with my teammates um and you know it showed all over the field tonight um offensively and defensively you know we were flying around all night and um I'm just grateful we got to one and0 take me through the interception yeah um we we we were working on this play kind of throughout the whole whole week um you know coach Bowen does a great job in scouting uh Lafayette and the opponents and we know what they're a heavy RPO team um and specifically this play um we know there's going to be a window um and you know I just went back in my training you know coach coach bow did a great job uh coaching us us linebackers and you know it just always Instinct all training and that's what happened I just uh felt flow flowed with the um the facts that we call it the the why going across and then you know I knew the quarterback kept it so I popped out to the window and it was right there Nick what was it like to really kind of see the past pass game open up again for this offense you know it kind of a little bit of an identity crisis last year for this team but this year to really get that flow in yeah uh it was definitely a good thing to see coming from a receiver standpoint uh you know we want to get the ball so throwing the ball was definitely uh something that we talked about this whole offseason saying we didn't throw enough last year so seeing it all come together today was definitely definitely excit to see now uh that touchdown how did that un full for you yeah it was a little stutter rout uh CJ threw a great ball and I would have and got it made a play yeah right and why is it important now you know for everyone to really be on the same page offensively and on the past game especially with you know you got to turn the page and for Missouri I true we in season so we we got be on the same page every week now uh weeks we in the same page we going to lose simple as that CJ you said last week that it was a dream of yours to one day be a starting quarterback at the FPS level now that you got your first start at this level how was it out there tonight on the field it was really fun and exciting just having the defense playing well and offense clicking it just felt fun to get back out there Jaz how were you able to kind of be the spark for this offense in the second half um I just went out there and played hard honestly I just got behind my pads and lowered my shoulder and um I appreciate my old line for blocking for me it starts with them up front and I just they just made hold for me and I hit them you think that the fact that you're a bit of a different style than the other two running backs they had seen might have been something they weren't entirely ready for um there probably some part has something to do with it probably yes Sean you mentioned the team Morale on Tuesday how do you think that played a role in the way you guys performed tonight yeah I think the morale of the team was great like I told you the other day um you know there was some adversity that happened to us but you know we have to respond and I think we did just that um you know we had a block punt defense had to go out um stuff happens but you know we have to go out and you know be better for our offense you know if if they need a hand we got to help them out if we need a hand they're going to help us out and just having that trust in them um having the faith that they're going to they're going to do their job we're going to do our job you know that's how we we win games Sean Pete talked about that block punt as kind of a critical moment in the game and you've been here in times when that was the critical moment what do you think is the difference that allowed this team not to kind of get out of itself after a tough play like that yeah it's just I think staying poised and staying focused to the end goal you know the end goal is to win the game and you know when that block punt happened I think we're still up but and they didn't score so it's like as long for defensively as long as we don't let them in they can't win you know um and that's just having that mindset defensively and I know offensively you know we want to score and just having the faith and having the belief that the offense is going to do their job defense is going to do their job and speci teams will do their job I guarantee you coming up this week we're going to make Corrections and we're going to get that that stuff right running backs uh P said you know it's running back by Committee in you know on in this offense but you saw depth and production from this group why is that beneficial but how do you build on that individually and as a unit you to prepair for Missouri um I feel like we have a a lot of backs that can do a lot of different things as me I'd consider myself a power back and we have other great backs that have different abilities and I feel like that would help us versus Missouri coming in and showing them a few different things how did that to you said what I did hurt him um yes I honestly did I came off the sideline the ne like the previous drive and said um cuz they went for my legs and I was like I'm going to hurdle the next guy that um comes after me else for you guys thanks so much thanks guys thank you thank you guys have a good night