Chris Klieman Postgame Press Conference | Kansas State vs UT Martin

good win um told the guys it's our last time we get to prepare 30 days for a team and and maybe over prepare and um now we get into the flow of of the season I was not particularly pleased with with the first half offensively um just didn't get into a rhythm didn't think we had a lot of uh energy and juice challenge the guys at halftime um because I thought we were better than that um and then we responded and played really well in the second half um as I told you guys when I sat up here whatever the first day I got hired football is football and I told the guys that on Monday um I think Tennessee Martin has a legit defense um they got about eight or nine starters that are older kids uh some grad kids I know coach pretty well he's got a bunch of kids that came back for their sixth year um they know how to win and when you get a team that you give them a little bit of life um they're going to believe it and those guys believed they had a chance and and they did and so uh we went at halftime and and and had to make some adjustments and had to challenge some guys and then sure enough we um make a mistake on the opening kickoff and and I thought the defense did a great job of stepping up holding them to three and then I thought we kind of imposed our will a little bit uh from there on and made some explosive plays uh defense I thought was really good all night gave up one play that they probably want back but uh um about what I thought you're going to make a lot of mistakes in the first game and we've got to clean those things up cuz we've got to um put this one behind us quickly so we had a tough road road game next week about your quter um I thought he did some really good things the second half um I know he probably wanted the one back that he threw in the first half but as we talked uh in Fall Camp um this is his second start and um he he made a mistake and and rather than sulk on it worry about it he went on to the next play and thought he made some big time throws in the in the second half um and then I thought he used his leg a couple of times that really open some things up uh and so uh first first real start at home I I know this he's going to continue to improve and get better as we will on offense I just think we just didn't weren't in sync um we we had struggled with running the ball against some some different not different looks but some aggressive those kids came off the football and um I I knew they were good up front I mean CU it was they played Georgia and it was 17 to three at half at Georgia this is a good football team and um we just we just couldn't get out of our own way a little bit and luckily on defense it we were we were holding our own and then Tai Bowman makes uh a big time play which I expect out of Tai and Tai expects and and as a team we expect because Tai is one of our best special teams guys and creates a big turnover to get us up two scores but uh we were just struggling a little bit I'm glad we got some things squared away but we got some work to do absolutely it did but you still you go in the half you're saying man we've scored 10 points and they've scored three we we've got to turn some things around because we had probably good enough field position at times to do some things and we just we just didn't get it done and and um give those guys credit I thought they played really well on defense you think yeah I I was excited for Dylan to get this one over with get it behind him I knew he was probably had some anxiety and was a little anxious about uh coming back and playing at home um we all know what kind of talent this kid has and I was so excited to see him cut it loose and I think getting that first touch on the first play um and feeling okay this is home I'm ready and I thought he ran extremely hard with the football um and broke some tackles and ran through some arm tackles he's electric as we see and then and then he made that we had the Rous made a great call on the Red Zone play where we got the easy touchdown pass but I I was excited for Dylan I know Dylan loved his his opportunity and experience here Brendan Mt and Toby ens Sami played their tail off and got after the quarterback and thank heavens they did because I thought they had a couple really good wide outs number seven I thought was a really good player um four was a good player and uh I thought we just did a good job of of continuing to put pressure on them you know they didn't run the ball very well um which helped us get into some third and Longs um which we were able to get off the field we had one um busted coverage in in a third and long that that resulted in a in a field goal but uh um I was I was pleased with how we played on defense did you brierson say anything we talked to him about a lot of different things but nothing in particular Scott I I don't know D Scott it was just um we we kept encouraging him and um we knew we had to get him some touches and and uh I was really glad and he probably should have made a fair catch but I was really glad that he ran up and caught the punt and said Okay I I can do this because we've bombed a bunch of punts to him Sterling as well um and you know your first first game at home and and you know you you got to make a play and and he finally made a few plays but um no um Dylan's going to be fine I'm I'm glad and I'm sure he's glad this first one's done no I guess what I meant was he had two outstanding he was excited I know he was excited he came up gave me a big smile a couple times and I told him I love him and and appreciate him and he said coach thank you so much for this opportunity man this is what I dreamed of it's cool stuff I mean this kid um grew up with Avery and uh grew up watching Kate football and and now he got to play at the bill and make some big time plays so I think it's going to continue to get better and better yeah uh yes and I've been telling you guys that that uh he's continuing to get better and better and he's gaining more confidence and uh um maybe it was an easy easy throw and catch and it was an easy touchdown um but you still have to execute and he did some other things and caught a couple balls and and I'm excited because Braden gives us another element there and he's not just a receiving tight end he's a good point of attack tight end so um as he continues to get better that's going to uh open up some more things and when we're in that 12 Personnel say that doesn't one of your best yeah Desmond's a stud I mean that that kid is such he's a he's a great football player um probably gets uh not the recognition that uh he deserves um from outside but inside our walls and you guys when you guys have seen that kid that kid's a freaking great football player man does he play hard he plays physical he runs through contact doesn't miss tackles um you know um we're we're so excited that we have Dez and and uh the way playing and last year he was nicked up late and uh got healthy in the off season and now he's going to have a huge season going back to thatt return yeah it was a huge play and we had not seen them rugby um yet we didn't think they were going to rugby but they had a different punter I'm assuming that they were a little nervous about or we going to have set up a big return or we going going to come after a block and and uh tide tide did an unbelievable job because he split uh the garden center and then split the shield and and reached out I mean it was a big time play and that was something that was critical for us because we were sputtering a little bit offensively um and I was glad we were able to get that one to get up 14 football never to walk out well I I'm I'm happy we won I don't know if relieves the right right word um so I've been on that other side um I'm happy we won but I know we're going to learn and grow from this and we needed a game like this we didn't need a 65 to3 game or something we needed to be challenged and we were challenged and our starters went into the fourth quarter and and it was all those things were important for us so that we realized that we've got some work to do and that have not arrived or not been been a complete football team we got a lot of stuff to get fixed and straightened out yeah that's what we were hoping um and I appreciate you noticing that because you know when when Jack fabers came in it he made some plays um we brought Kendra in for Seagull and and kendre made a big time pass break up up and made a couple of nice tackles and um Colby and and VJ are interchangeable a little bit at strong safety and Rex van y came in and stepped up and made some plays and all those defensive linemen I mean we had guys um flying around at dline and making plays and um you know everybody knows about M and stuff but uh to get Toby and to get cheaty and to get Ryan Davis and and some of those other guys uh some snaps was really good it's important to us it's a really good football there we've got some really good ties Taylor Brat's the best in the business at uh recruiting his home area down there and uh couldn't do it without Taylor brat that's for sure yeah that was something that I when when the time came and we didn't know what what kind of the rotation was I wanted to get both quarterbacks in uh if we could and uh I wanted to get Joe and Le James I think those two guys are really good running backs and people got to see Joe Jackson with some burst and running through some people and they got to see the quickness of Le James uh I was really pleased with Jacob canth uh to come in and and make some plays and uh we needed we threw some easy easy quick game stuff um and then he scrambled out one time um we weren't trying to run the score up and I talked to Coach about that we just needed to see what some of these other quarterbacks and young guys can do so we were pleased on all fronts did you like what you saw with initial of your defens feel like you didn't really yeah it was really good like we said all those guys contributed and played well yeah I I think it it gives us some versatility because both of them could Flex out and be wide receivers they both uh can block pretty well I thought our Jet Sweep game was really good and those sometime sometimes those guys LED through for like J Jack and and Keegan and stuff and um you know there's going to be a lot more people that are going to get their hands on the ball um and that's what I'm excited about because we got a lot of really good depth at wide receiver in as well as running back