Nov. 22, 2005
On how his players are working this week:
I have been out of town, but obviously with Thanksgiving coming up the players have time to get back on their feet, especially with their family. But when they come back, we will get ready and regroup on Sunday.
On Mike Walker's injury status:
I do not know (the status), I have not seen the trainer yet, but from all indications I have received on the phone, both he and Glenroy Watkins have knee injuries. The extent we do not know yet, but I would say they are doubtful for the championship game.
On UCF's recent success:
I think the people that deserve the most credit are the players. I think everybody else is along for a ride. However, I think the players bought into what was going on here and understand the program is more important than any one individual. It goes back to the feel of preseason when I took their names off jerseys and the only name on any jersey is "team." That is the only jersey with a name that we have and it hangs in the locker room. I feel the kids bought into that. We have had our ups and down on offense, defense and special teams, but I think overall they have given great effort and finished everything and played well as a team.
On potentially playing without Mike Walker:
I am going to sit down wit the staff first thing in the morning (Wednesday) and decide where we are. I am going to have a final word on the injury report tomorrow morning. If that is the case and we do lose a couple guys due to injury, then we have to adjust. Some other guys will have to step-up, but you are not about to change what you have done at this stage of the season. I think there are ways we can help ourselves out and we will discuss that Wednesday. I gave the staff off Thursday and Friday and we will be back to work on Saturday. The players will be back in on Sunday to get ready for the championship week.
On Rocky Ross and Kenny Jackson filling in for Walker:
I think one of them will have to step-up, but I think we have some other players who have the ability we just have to continue to practice with them. Someone has to step-up and get the job done.
On Glenroy Watkins' injury status:
Glenroy is a senior and after watching what I saw with him on film, he is definitely out. I was told Mike Walker may be in the same situation. But since Glenroy is a senior, we will do whatever we can for him as soon as possible. I think both will be operated on if that is what it calls for. I know for Glenroy they said there is no question about taking some MRIs as soon as the swelling went down on both of them, just to make sure they are both in the same situation.
On who will replace Glenroy on the field:
We have eight guys there, but I think the guy that has to step up is Clarence Howard, a freshman. He is about due. I hope something has sunk in after the first 11 games. That is his job and he is the fourth man in.
On studying Tulsa and UTEP this week:
We will do game plans on both. We have already broken down UTEP and now we are working on Tulsa. We will just watch what happens Saturday and be ready to go Sunday so we are not caught off-guard. I think we need both games broken down and that is what we plan on doing.
On his knowledge of Tulsa and UTEP:
I think they have a lot of good-skilled athletes, they throw the ball very well and they have a lot of speed. It will be an interesting match-up, but I have to do a lot more work on them myself as far as looking at tape. The staff was involved (in film) Monday and Tuesday. I will get with the staff Wednesday, Friday and Saturday to discuss game plans and what we want to do stop the team and attack them as well.
On playing at home for the Conference USA Championship title:
It is amazing. I was just talking to the athletic director on the plane (back from Rice) about how far El Paso was and when we were going to leave to go there. All of a sudden at about 37,000 feet, it was announced that UAB had just defeated UTEP, which gave us home-field advantage. It is really great for the fans since we only had four home games this season. We hope we get the turnout the players deserve. We just hope everyone recognizes we need fans, not just supporters. Fans come to games