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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Press Conference: 10.27
10/27/2014 | Football
Ole Miss football head coach Hugh Freeze and senior quarterback Bo Wallace met with the media Monday to discuss the seventh-ranked Rebels' upcoming SEC West showdown with No. 4 Auburn on Saturday (ESPN, 6 p.m. CT).
Head Coach Hugh Freeze
Opening statement...
"It was obviously disappointing to not get it done on the road with LSU. Anytime the game is that close and competitive, when you watch the film, everything is magnified. We did not play our best game. I certainly don't mean that to take anything away from LSU. They played with great passion and played a really, really physical brand of football. Coach (Les) Miles had his guys ready. They deserve credit. From watching the film, we did not play our best game. That's always disappointing. However, that's life in the SEC. The great thing is we have an opportunity to bounce back this week at home and get our kids ready for another very difficult task with Auburn coming. They're a special team. They're as good or better interior defensively as anyone we've seen. No one has rushed the ball on them, other than one team, for 150 yards. They're very athletic on the backend. Offensively, their receiving core is one of the top in the nation. The quarterback and running backs do an excellent job of reading their zone game. They're dangerous when they pull it at quarterback. They're physical, and they get it at running back. Their offensive line is solid. They're a solid team all the way around. Gus (Malzahn) and his staff have done a wonderful job. We have our hands full. We have to hopefully get healthy and get ready to go at home. We'll need our crowd here. We'll need them to give us a little extra energy. The stretch that we have is a difficult stretch without a break. We can't control that. We can control being ready to play Saturday. That's our job. We'll have them ready."
On the team handling adversity...
"I felt like they responded very well. It's still early in the week, but it sure seemed like they were not pleased with the way they performed. They're more hungry to get back out and play again."
On Bo Wallace's lower completion percentage...
"I would say this for our entire team, not just Bo, our demeanor was a bit different in that environment. We let things get to us that have not bothered us earlier in the season. It seemed to rattle us a little bit. He missed some open guys. He also made some really good throws. It just seemed that our demeanor was a little bit different as a team. I haven't noticed any mechanical things that are any different. He had some pressure on him. We had three critical possessions there in the second half and we stopped them. We had Laremy (Tunsil) out with an injury and had to go with Daronte (Bouldin) because Robert (Conyers) was at center, which Robert would normally be in that spot. Those three possessions hurt us because we had good field position. Daronte's was not physical as much as it was playing in that environment on a solid count. He was very, very late off of the ball all three possessions. That caused us some negative plays. We have to prepare him better and hopefully get some kids healthy where we can play kids who have been in those environments before."
On injuries...
"Ben (Still) came out of his brace yesterday. He'll start moving around. It's still day-to-day. Laremy will be day-to-day. Cody Prewitt is day-to-day. Robert is day-to-day. Denzel is unfortunately out for the year. He had surgery yesterday on his broken ankle. We always hate to lose kids and certainly hate to lose him. He's a good player on our defense."
On the defense playing well slowing down the offense...
"It could contribute to it. I still think it comes down to you have to make plays, whether it's tempo or not. We have to call the right stuff. We have to get them in the right looks. It's probably a combination of things. The plan that we had certainly gave us a chance to win. We had two touchdowns called back. We had chances to score more points and either we didn't make the right call, we didn't execute properly at times or LSU made good plays. Should we speed it up more? Maybe. I still say that we had a chance to win in a hostile environment against a very good football team that's playing really well right now."
On injury concerns...
"I think they'll all give it a go. Ben would be the biggest concern. The others are just going to be a pain tolerance issue. None of them are dealing with feet and legs. That means they can run. It's just a matter of what the pain tolerance is like."
On the possibility of Ryan Aplin helping Auburn...
"After he left, we changed everything. It's still a concern because he was with me so long and on staff here. It's a concern. We knew that when he left. We've taken every precaution we can. He still can probably contribute something to the staff that will be helpful to them. I don't know that he can within the course of the game because we've changed everything. Preparing for it, I would think he would be helpful."
On the defense being ideal to handle today's offenses...
"It depends on what offense you're playing typically. Ours did OK the other night against about as much power as you can face and a team that's truly committed to it. We're really close to being ideal for a team that wants to be a bit spread. We probably need to be a little bit bigger to handle the teams we're getting ready to face. It would be nice if we had some more physical girth. We can run. That's the first thing I would say. We've gotten more length on our front. We're able to cover on the backend. Dave (Wommack) and them have done a great job game planning each week and putting us in good position. They make plays and create turnovers. I wish we had a couple of guys that had more girth."
On defensive rotations...
"Defensively, we're playing 32 kids a game. When I get the grade sheets, very few people, with the exception of Cody (Prewitt) and Robert (Nkemdiche) are playing significant snaps more than others. I think that's a good thing. We've got a lot of kids that are getting 20-25 snaps a game. I've been really pleased with our rotation. It has kept us somewhat fresh. That's critical going into the stretch run here so you're not totally fatigued at a lot of spots."
On slowing down Nick Marshall...
"Tackling, having your assignments down and being in the right spot are important. Last year, we were in the right spots sometimes and didn't get it done. He's that talented. We're going to have to tackle extremely well."
On having a similar offensive philosophy with Gus Malzahn...
"Gus and I could be identical if we chose to within the game plan. We can also look quite different probably. We're extremely similar in run game. Pass game, probably more different than the run game. We could make them look very, very similar if we chose to. It would look very similar."
On Auburn's red zone offense...
"The quarterback runs, which are difficult, and they have big receivers that are making plays on the offensive side. Defensively, they believe strongly in their man coverage. They're athletic enough to get up and challenge you and make it very difficult. They're so big and physical in their front, interior guys that they're able to stop most people's runs. They've created quite a few turnovers on the defensive side, sort of like how we have down there. They're a good team with good players."
On South Carolina having success against Auburn...
"They went for it on fourth down quite a few times. They threw it. They didn't have any success running, but they did throw for quite a few yards. They just went in with that as their philosophy and that's what they decided they were going to do. They were going to try to win a shootout with them and go for it on fourth down under five yards in a lot of areas of the field. They had success doing that. Give Coach (Steve) Spurrier credit. He felt like he could roll the dice early in he game and often and he did and it paid off for him. They did throw and catch it well."
On Gary Wunderlich's range...
"I'm comfortable with 50-52. He has the leg for it. We tried a 52-yarder here at the end of the half against Tennessee. He had the distance. He does not like anything plus 40 or 43. He really prefers the left hash because he has to swing it. Just like that 52-yarder, it was the right hash. He pulled it just a little. He feels a lot more comfortable at the left hash. That's what we were trying to get done the other night for him. His leg strength is plenty from 50-52."
On Cody Core...
"He's been one of our more consistent performers. He's a guy that understands different positions. We can move him around and know that he's going to understand what we're trying to get accomplished. He's played extremely solid. I'm extremely proud for him. He's such a good kid and obviously it's well documented some of the heartbreak he's gone through. To see him have great success is tremendous. He's not only a good player he's a tremendous kid. He has an opportunity to have a big game against Auburn Saturday. He'll be ready."
On what he saw recruiting Cody Core...
"I saw length and athleticism. I wasn't sure if he was going to play defensive back or receiver. We had a very limited time to recruit. He was one of the kids that jumped off the film at me as fitting the size-speed ratio that we kind of wanted and athletic bodies that we wanted in the secondary and at receiver."
On the final offensive play against LSU...
"I've got to communicate better to him (Bo). We didn't get done what we hoped to get done on that play, obviously. That's something in critical moments you have to get done. I've got to coach and communicate with him better and make sure there's no doubt in his mind what we're trying to get accomplished."
On struggles in the run game...
"It's a number of factors. We've had several decent games where we've rushed fairly well. It is a challenge and continues to be. There are a lot of factors. We could sit here and talk about losing one-on-one battles or they have the right call at the right time and we have a bad call at the wrong time. Some of it is we've had some negative plays. That take away from what may have been a decent night. It is a struggle and something we have to keep working on. We've played some really good rush defenses, too, the last few weeks."
On running backs...
"We go with the guys that we think are the best prepared for whatever the environment and plan is. Jaylen (Walton) and I'Tavius (Mathers) are the ones that have been in those arenas. We felt the best with them going in there. It's that simple. The other two are quality players, also. I have no idea what this week will show in regards to that."
Senior QB Bo Wallace
On handling adversity after loss to LSU...
"We have another week. It's going to be a tough game. They're the No. 4 team in the country coming to our place with a lot on the line. The guys are going to come in and we're going to have to go to work. We'll have the game plan ready to go and hopefully go out and hopefully perform well."
On his completion percentage being lower the last two games...
"A lot of times when we're throwing right now it's third down. We're staying in third and long so much. People get in their defenses and it's hard in this league to convert third downs as well as people play third down defense. We have to get back to throwing the ball on first and second down and making plays like we did earlier in the season."
On if the offense playing to the defense against LSU was detrimental...
"It's hard to say if it hurt us. I want to be more aggressive. That's up to the coaches and what they call. Hopefully we can be more aggressive this week. I'm going to run the plays that are call and that's all I can do."
On confidence in Gary Wunderlich...
"He's here to kick a football. We trust him to do that. He has a great leg, strong leg. He was one of the best kickers in the country coming out of high school. We have trust in Gary. It's not that we don't have trust in him. That was the decision that was called. As an offense we have to go out and execute what was called."
On the how playing in Death Valley affected the team...
"I think it definitely affected us. I have to protection set right. The biggest thing was we let the atmosphere dictate how we played. As a quarterback, I've really prided myself on keeping guys calm and being calm. I didn't do a great job of that and our offense didn't do a great job. This week I really have to talk to myself and do like I've been doing the whole year in making sure guys are calm and I'm calm and being a leader out there."
On play calling...
"We talk every day about it. I know that we're going to have a good plan. We're on the same page. We're both ready to go and start preparation for this week so we can move on and get away from the LSU game."
On Cody Core...
"He's a phenomenal athlete. He's one of the best athletes on the team. He's a lot better after the catch than I thought he was going to be. Since he's been here, we really thought he could be a great player for us. He's been a huge asset to our offense this year."
On Ryan Aplin...
"I'm really close with Ap. I talk to Ap last week. He was the guy that hosted me on my visit to Arkansas State. We've always stayed in touch and through junior college and when he was here. I'm sure their staff will try to get anything they can from him. The biggest thing is our terminology and the way we call plays is totally different than when he was here. I don't know how much he can actually give them."
On Cody Core focusing on football...
"That's been huge. Anytime that something happens like that, it's great to have teammates to come back to. That happened right during camp. I'm sure it hurt him bad. We have great teammates in this locker room. He knows that he can lean on us and we'll provide the best support we can for him. I'm just so proud that he came out and really had a phenomenal year."
