LA Tech Weekly Football Press Conference Transcript: Oct. 12
RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz, junior offensive lineman Joshua Mote and freshman defensive back Cedric Woods spoke to the media ahead of LA Tech’s game at UTEP on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m. CT.
Head Coach Skip Holtz:
On the bye week:
“Having the open date last week was really necessary for us. We talked a lot during camp that we need to get through the first five games and get a good feel and see where we are. We used those first five games a little bit as a preseason on where we are right now when you talk about all the new faces we have. What are the transfers going to be like? How are they going to meld into the team? How are we going to jive together in all pulling the rope in the same direction? We talked about some of the challenges we’ve had.
“We had an opportunity to take two days this week and really take a hard look at ourselves in a self-scout as far as watching the whole season from a field position standpoint, down and distance, formation tendencies, what we do out of what formations. We really took a hard look at ourselves in getting ready for the second half of the season. It was a productive week where we really had an opportunity to evaluate ourselves. Then, we spent one day getting ahead on UTEP and one day getting ahead on UTSA. Then, we had the entire staff out recruiting on Friday. For the staff, it was a really productive week from that standpoint. With the team, we said going into the week that we needed some guys to get a lot of team reps. We did about a 40-50 minute team period every day last week and really got some of our depth guys and some of our younger guys a lot of reps as we tried to get them ready if we were to need them in the second half of the season. We felt like we needed to get some of the guys healthy. When you look at the number of reps the starting five o-linemen were getting, the defensive linemen, etc., we tried to take some of the pounding off of them. There were a lot of things we tried to get done during this open date. It was really productive for us. It really showed up on Sunday. When we came back and practiced on Sunday night, it was very energetic. This team is really excited to get into this second half of the season knowing we can correct some things and try to finish up a couple of these close games we’ve been in. The team is really excited to get into conference play and to get these last seven games going.”
On the UTEP game:
“There’s a lot of excitement right now. We know we have a great challenge this week in UTEP. They’re playing really well right now. Dana (Dimel) has done a great job with that program. The last three years, they won one, one and three. So, they’ve won five games in the last three years and they’re 5-1 right now. They’re one game away from bowl eligibility. They’re playing with a lot of confidence. They’re playing with a lot of excitement and a lot of energy.”
RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz, junior offensive lineman Joshua Mote and freshman defensive back Cedric Woods spoke to the media ahead of LA Tech’s game at UTEP on Saturday, Oct. 16, at 8 p.m. CT.
Head Coach Skip Holtz:
On the bye week:
“Having the open date last week was really necessary for us. We talked a lot during camp that we need to get through the first five games and get a good feel and see where we are. We used those first five games a little bit as a preseason on where we are right now when you talk about all the new faces we have. What are the transfers going to be like? How are they going to meld into the team? How are we going to jive together in all pulling the rope in the same direction? We talked about some of the challenges we’ve had.
“We had an opportunity to take two days this week and really take a hard look at ourselves in a self-scout as far as watching the whole season from a field position standpoint, down and distance, formation tendencies, what we do out of what formations. We really took a hard look at ourselves in getting ready for the second half of the season. It was a productive week where we really had an opportunity to evaluate ourselves. Then, we spent one day getting ahead on UTEP and one day getting ahead on UTSA. Then, we had the entire staff out recruiting on Friday. For the staff, it was a really productive week from that standpoint. With the team, we said going into the week that we needed some guys to get a lot of team reps. We did about a 40-50 minute team period every day last week and really got some of our depth guys and some of our younger guys a lot of reps as we tried to get them ready if we were to need them in the second half of the season. We felt like we needed to get some of the guys healthy. When you look at the number of reps the starting five o-linemen were getting, the defensive linemen, etc., we tried to take some of the pounding off of them. There were a lot of things we tried to get done during this open date. It was really productive for us. It really showed up on Sunday. When we came back and practiced on Sunday night, it was very energetic. This team is really excited to get into this second half of the season knowing we can correct some things and try to finish up a couple of these close games we’ve been in. The team is really excited to get into conference play and to get these last seven games going.”
On the UTEP game:
“There’s a lot of excitement right now. We know we have a great challenge this week in UTEP. They’re playing really well right now. Dana (Dimel) has done a great job with that program. The last three years, they won one, one and three. So, they’ve won five games in the last three years and they’re 5-1 right now. They’re one game away from bowl eligibility. They’re playing with a lot of confidence. They’re playing with a lot of excitement and a lot of energy.”
