ARANDA: Going into this game, this is probably the most anxious I’ve been about a game. For us, the struggle has always been, it doesn’t matter, focus on what you can control. I think this week was a strong test of that, and I think the game you all just saw was a testament to where it’s at. So, there’s for sure to room to improve in that space, whether it was battling through. I look back at myself and the schedule, it being different with no school this week, should practices and meetings have been in the morning. We got hit by the flu, had about 20 guys down at some point during the week. So, Thursday was kind of their first day back. We battled through that. We’d be on bus rides and just hearing the (coughing) noises, we weren’t past it, necessarily. Then with Thanksgiving, the message from us has been, hey, eyes on the front side, the front side is the target. I’m sure families are going to be intrigued about the outcome of tonight’s game and everything that’s the opposite of what we’re saying. I think all of that is just part of it, and it’s a great lesson and it’s a great picture of what you put into it is what you get out of it. I’m thankful on the other end of it that we fought through. We had guys get knocked around and fight back. We had guys playing through sickness. I’m proud of the senior class, man. All of these guys. You think about the ups they’ve been through and the downs they’ve been through. You think about their parents, and who are these new coaches again? And you think about after last year having the ability to leave and deciding to stay. Just very appreciative of them. I love our senior class. Love what they stand for, and their ability to really believe and trust and be open to those things. I think it’s a great lesson for them.
(What was going through your mind at the end) I was interested to see the push that we would get. I know we had talked about something like that early in the week. Last year field goals versus us was like 12 to nothing. Something like that. Last year we did not affect anything. A lot of times when you have those types of field goals, there’s a momentum swing, there’s an intentionality of what we’re trying to get done here. Are you focused in the present or are you lagging in the past? And I think we’ve had great improvement in that area. In the last couple of weeks we really affected those things, so in a way it was strength on strength. So, I was looking at our push and hoping we weren’t going to jump off-sides or anything like that.
(How emotionally invested will you be in Bedlam) Really not. What I told the team was, last night we have a team meeting prior to our curfew. I showed a power point from January ’19. That was the first team meeting that we had, we were recognizing our top GPA position groups from the semester prior. That was when we introduced new coaches. That was when we put forth ‘Win With Character’, some of the things we really believe in. I look at that, and one of the deals was our linemen, and it had a big arrow pointing like that, with a whole bunch of little arrows going all types of different ways, which was 2020 for us. Then it had another big arrow, with a bunch of little arrows all pointing that way. Just going through all of that just brought it back for me, from where it was to I wish this was cleaner and better and all of it, to where we are now. You look at that growth, and what the guys are going to remember. You think about the 10 wins, and I don’t know if there’s any particular win (that stands out) or just the growth part of it. Maybe them just accepting change. Maybe accepting that there’s different ways to do things. Maybe that after you’ve been hurt, it’s hard but it’s OK to trust somebody. I think of those things. In that way, we’re a winner. All of this other stuff’s going to be extra. I know that my girls are probably going to be more excited about watching it. I do understand the ramifications of it for us, but I’ve always, stuff you can’t control you can’t control.
(On fourth down philosophy, going for it late) We partner with a company, CAI, and there’s a former coach there, Coach Ash, and he’s the main piece of that. We meet with him every Thursday – this past week we met with him on Wednesday – and he’ll go over our situations and our calls. It’s a Zoom meeting. But he’ll also pull up the previous week, all different types of situations. Here’s good decisions and here’s bad decisions and here’s what-do-you-think decisions. For me, pulling all the way back on that, that has never really been a strength of mine prior to this. This has always been a purely defense (mindset) and managing game, managing timeouts and all of it has been new for me. So, I knew coming in it was something I was going to have to learn a lot. I had to work with the best people and kind of pick their brains through all of it. Rob is one of them. I think from that side of it, once you get into what’s the best practice, logically, to go for it on fourth down, for me it’s the best practice because of the added confidence it gives your offense and then the possessions you could gain. I can go back to last year, for example, and we’d get to a 4th-and-1 or 4th-and-2 and we’d punt. Now we’re going for it, and if we don’t get it a lot of times they’re in backed-up situations, but if we do get it it’s seven points. I think for us, we were settling for some field goals where you’d like to have seven points, and how the game was is a good argument for going for touchdowns and not field goals. I think of those things. I also think about when I was a defensive coordinator and it was 4th-and-1 or 4th-and-2 and I would want to see the punt team come out. I never wanted to see an offense come out, or a skill guy, or big people, 13 personnel. I think of those things. And I think at the end of the game it’s just part of our DNA. Our kids would expect nothing less. If you have a philosophy, the idea is you’re going to live that out.
(Terrel saying it’s not nerve-racking, does that speak to the growth on this team) I think so. You’d like for more positive stuff on our end and a little bit less of the negative stuff on our end, for sure. But, when you think about things you can control, and you think about if something bad happens, that doesn’t define you. That’s just something that you did, here’s how we can get better at it. And then, you look at the next opportunities as opportunities to learn and grow. I think all those lend to kind of being future-focused and not looking back at the past. I think the anxiety comes when you’re looking back on what could have been.
(Something you saw on Tech film that you liked about throwing to Ebner) Yeah, they have struggled with some of that in their tape. And then I think, just having Blake in there, having Trestan and the matchup we had was one of our best matchups. The Iowa State and Kansas State games, we call it U coverage, where there’s a three-man rush and all those guys in the back. Tech had some of that today. Early in the game, there was a lot of U-2 coverage, Cover-2, eight-man drop, three-man rush. And then once the game got tighter, they got in more man coverage. Well, the thing that works best versus both of those was primary receivers going this way (point across to the left) and Eb going that way (across to the right). So, we were able to sneak him out on perimeter and then also line him up in some slot positions and throw corner routes to him, and find the dead spots in those Cover-2 zones, knowing that we have the time to throw those because of the three-man rush that was happening. I thought that was a great plan by (OC Jeff Grimes, QB coach Shawn Bell and WR coach Chansi Stuckey).
(On watching Shapen today) There were times that Blake would throw a pass, and immediately as he threw it, in my head and maybe my mouth, I’m going, ‘Oh, no!’ So, for Blake to come from ‘Oh, no!’ to a really strong ‘Yes!’ on the very next play, I think, is a great statement about him. I look at just Blake’s parents, just his dad and his mom, both of those people are just very proud, confident people, and I know they’ve instilled that into Blake. And when you’re around them, it radiates off of them. That is something he carries with him, and you need it in times like that when it’s tough and it’s competitive and something doesn’t go the way you want it to go, to be able to come on back. So, after those ‘Oh, no!’ plays, there may be a timeout or something, and Shawn is upstairs in the box, and he goes, ‘Hey, someone go to Blake.’ And Gerry (Bohanon) might try to get to Blake, and Blake’s like, ‘Oh, I’m f’ng all right, leave me alone.’ So, it was good. That’s what you want to see.
(On the decisions of seniors possibly coming back) I think there’s a lot of pieces to that. That is one thing that is pretty strongly affected by tonight’s game, on how soon do we get to those conversations? I think some of those have already occurred. I think some guys didn’t walk against their parents’ wishes, because they want to keep things close to the vest and private. And I think there’s other guys that really still don’t know yet what they want to do. I think for me, it’s connecting with their parents and with the certain players at the right time to see the best course for them. For, some of these guys, there’s some time invested here. They’ve been here for a while, and you’d love to have them back. Then, I think for some of them, their eyes are purely on what’s next, and I can appreciate that, too.
(Facing a team that was inside your program, is that part of you being anxious) It is weird. I didn’t really think too much about that in terms of
the game. I think we went through signals and went through all of it. We’re going to have some coaches, some younger guys that are on our staff now, that tomorrow are going to be on that staff. So, all that stuff is happening. I think being a young coach myself, you have an opportunity to be a full-time guy and to do all those things, I’m all for them. And I think at the very beginning of the week, it was, how do you handle the signals or how you handle just guys that are here that are going to be here. A lot of those guys came to me and were like, ‘Coach, I know this is kind of weird. This is what Coach and I talked about. And this is what I want to do.’ My message was I’m all for you. There’s a great amount of trust here. I trust you, I feel like I know you. I put the friendship and trust in that space. I think the anxiety was just, there is a piece of me when the game gets tight or gets closer to the start of the game, where it’s just getting ready for a fight in all of it. And I think you feel that or you don’t. And I think just this week, with whatever it was we were fighting through, I had never felt it. We’ve been through something like that already, just a couple weeks ago. So, I was nervous about that happening again.
(May be losing some more guys?) There will be some younger coaches that move on, yeah.
