UTEP head coach Scotty Walden speaks to the media after loss to Nebraska I HuskerOnline I GBR

obviously you know you know braska's a great football team but disappointed um you know in the outcome for sure you know certainly uh felt like U through preparation and you know through what I've seen in Paul camp and you know things of that nature uh you know you know definitely thought we played better you know definitely thought we played better um but you know I thought offensively you know we we can't we can't you know do that to our defense you know they they obviously had uh double the time of possession which you know normally is a stat I don't care about but if you're not scoring points then it matters a lot right so um you know I think they had uh you know close to 80 plays me to our 40 plays or 38 plays or whatever it was and that's that's uh maybe as uh you know as bad as I've ever seen but uh you know as it just got done talking with the team and as a head football coach you got to sit back and you got to look at it all and um you know I I saw a lot of really good things today that you know lead me uh to believe things that we can build on you know that Goan stop you know holding to a field goal there late I thought was crucial I thought we started uh playing better against the run in the second half um you know but offensively uh we've got to execute in a higher level to help our defense out certainly thought you know just off the cup I'll look at the tape but certainly thought that you know guys played hard um you know wasn't uh coming off the field field like our guys didn't expect to win I told our team just now I think everybody in that room expected to win but when you play a great team like Nebraska you play great teams that are going to be in Conference USA you got to execute you know and we did not execute but I think you saw climes of some of the Playmakers we have um I've got to do a better job of uh getting them the ball I've got to do a better job of managing our defense better um and I've got to have a better plan for our offense um in terms of Simplicity uh to be able to um execute at a higher level certainly felt like with playing a team the caliber of Nebraska we couldn't just go out there and um 10 and 11 personnel and just run base plays felt like we were going to have to um be unique with with our approach um and that that leads to your guys um you having to think a little more and and and uh that's okay but when you have too much of it and that hurts you and that's that's what I think I did today and I didn't manage it well as a head football coach but um you know I'm very proud of the way we travel I'm proud of the young men that expected to win on this trip and I do think there's a lot of things we can build off of but we got to get to the tape and see it and I want to give a shout out to minor Nation I want to thank our fans I want to thank uh you know our donor base and and those people that came along the trip for this first game it really meant a lot to us and uh you know we're going to be able to build off this and uh and go forward but congrats to Nebraska and coach on a great game well played and um they deserve the win today that all been up how would you evaluate your quarterback play yeah I think um I think we got to be better on third Downs decision making on third Downs um you know I feel like uh you know when we're in Rhythm I felt pretty good about it you know I felt good about the way that's getting distributed but it's just you know I think Skyler and Kate both came in and did some really good things um even Shay came in there late did did a few really good things you know wanted to get him some reps just with the way the game was um you know felt like it was it was uh good to get him in the game and get him get his feet wet a little bit as a freshman um but no I thought scyler extended the play in the second half they gave us a chance um I thought Cate was riing that ball around you know obviously we want the interception back there we kind of had a misread by a receiver as well on that you know it's got to be on the same page with with all the uh you know all the options we give our receivers and and the quarterback's got to be on the same page but I love the fight of all of them you know I thought I thought both quarterbacks fought I thought they fought the tail off I thought they um you know they had good command um I think we could you know in an environment like this it's hard to have great command but I think they had good command um but we we'll shake back next week and do better Coach how's Jaylen R doing yeah he's got a r body injury we're going to we're going to get that evaluated um you know certainly uh he was in a lot of pain on the field um our doctors are looking at him right now it's a lower body injury and we we'll get an update for you guys when we uh get it clear but we we want to get some clarity on it first but he wasn't able to return to the game um and we we'll see what the the extent of that injury is was your defense just out on the field too much too much yeah I mean you know I again I I think there's some things still that we could be better at of course I thought early in the game we got him in a second and 30 uh whenever you know they had you know we had penalties and had them backed up we can't let him convert that that's not that's not winning football right um and I think that that's all me um because I didn't have the right Personnel on the field we we had a package in that we wanted to uh put pressure on on 15 and um we we didn't have the right guys on the field so that starts with me making sure that we have the right players in the right position you know this game is going to be huge evaluation for us you know we had you know 60 new players I think we traveled 16 true freshman on the trip and a lot of those guys played or at least you know played on special teams and uh we fense and U you know mixed in there uh we got to make sure we're right as coaches you know we got to make sure I got to make sure that our staff has got the right people on the field um so so that we can execute but uh you know but certainly I thought our defensive uh front played Stout man I know we gave I know the yards aren going to tell that but when you're on the field that long it's hard to evaluate defensively how good we were but I think if we limit those snaps there were some plays we made we tackled physical um you know again I would rather just play physical in the secondary and and risk be ey calls rather than play soft and give up touchdowns um gave up the one deep ball on the go route and the endzone the the go route before half is the one that hurts you know I don't like that one when we have two guys in coverage there but uh overall defensively it's hard to evaluate because we had them on the field so long offense can't go three and out offense can't not convert third downs we got to be better to third down defensively as well but we have the one take back um but it's hard to evaluate the amount of time that play one more drive that culminated and touchdown working for you guys it all starts with a b and 10 great B and 10 playing you know there was nothing about you know uh there was nothing about those plays that was game planning that's our base offense and I started out with that PN play with slanty Goodman that he caught it for about 12 and then we go back to the to the Zone play with Javon got a big gain and then we're able to get in Rhythm and then we we we caught him in man coverage and and Scot threw a heck of a ball cam Thomas made a heck of a play on that ball man and um you know when this offense is in a rhythm and we have our pace and we get the first first down that we're really hard to stop um and I and I think that that was the the best Showcase of our Tempo and our rhythm in all 11 executing synonymously I I can't wait to watch the I want to see you know how many misassignments we have you know that goes back to me I I I have to narrow in this game plan better for our guys so we can execute but I I don't know that besides that Drive Parker if we had a drive where we didn't have at least one miss you know I mean that that's unexcusable and that starts with me it's not the players it's me because they got to know what they're doing first in order to give them a chance to succeed and so um we're going to get back on that we're a young offense um you know we we we've got to be able to give these guys and when I say young you may have seniors Juniors but inexperienced playing while it's more so what I'm talking about and we have to be able to give them Chance by uh being great with the game plan was the Run game a little bit of a problem trying to get that going well you know I'll be honest with you it it was but I don't think I gave it enough chance you know and that t me um when when when we couldn't get those drives established it was really hard um to stay to stay in a rhythm running the ball you know I felt like we had to get it the game plan was to come in and get zero and N running right 0 and9 are you know some of the most prominent D lineman in this league and in the country and if we just try to line up and run straight at them that's not going to be advantageous for us so we wanted to get those guys moving and running and then go to the Run game but the problem is we couldn't establish the tempo in the Rhythm right um I thought the Run game in the second half you saw some glimpses where we started popping some runs with Javon and I should I should have fed him more should have got him going they did a great job with their defensive ends the way they played their ends made it difficult um in in in some of the things that we were trying to do and so uh again we got to have a better plan for that and and we were going forward thanks coach hey thanks for your time guys I appreciate it I got