** The entirety of Bill Snyder’s press conference can be viewed here: http://www.kstatesports.com/video/55f6e3c5e4b0f7b31ef8f671 **K-State Weekly Football Press Conference
September 15, 2015
Head Coach Bill SnyderOn red zone field goals…
“Well it is a major concern; it was after the first game and certainly after the last game. It is very concerning and we have to do a heck of a lot better job than what we are doing right now.”
On running the ball in the red zone…
“I do not necessarily think that is the mentality. I think it is, from a coaching standpoint, trying to put the best possible schemes on the field for that particular positioning on the field. Then, being able to execute them and we probably failed at both, I would guess.”
On Justin Silmon’s performance…
“He is doing well. Like I said last week, there are things to become a complete player that he has to do, but he is doing as well, if not better, than anyone else that we have. He is making progress. He learns well. He played well. Yeah, he is doing fine.”
On if he would like to start seeing one running back take a majority of the snaps…
“I would like to see that – yes – I would like to see that, and I would like to see us be more productive in the running game. Part of that is having running backs run well and part of it is a lot of other stuff.”
On having a faster start on defense than anticipated…
“I would not say at a faster rate. I do not think that can happen, but when I say I do not think that can happen, I do not think they could move fast enough to meet my expectations. But, I am pleased with the progress that we have made and how well we are playing. I think there is still a lot out there, I would say. Also, it gets tougher, tougher and tougher now. Here is a team that has over 1,100 yards of total offense in two games, and they can throw it in. We are getting into more complex times right now. I think before we pass judgment, we want to see how we play right now. Up to this point in time, I am happy about them.”
On putting an emphasis on pass rushing this season …
“Well, it is always an emphasis for us – a very prolific emphasis for us. They (Travis Britz and Will Geary) have done a nice job inside – both of them – in a lot of different ways. You know, it is not inordinate. We truly want to enhance our pass rush, and it is not about putting more emphasis on it because we have always put a great emphasis on it; just sometimes we are successful and sometimes we are not. I was probably even more pleased with it this week. They (UTSA), schematically, get rid of the ball pretty quickly, so you do not have a great deal of opportunities to sack, so to speak. But, they disrupted some throws, got their hands up and tipped some throws and did some other things to create a little bit better pass rush. It is not always about sacks, I guess. That is an important number, but there are other elements of pass rush that can create problems for a quarterback other than just sacks.”
On the problems that Louisiana Tech presents…
“Well, there are a multitude of things. I think number one, the transfer quarterback that they have is getting ingrained in the system, and you can see him getting better and better in only two games, but you can see the improvements being made. He is comfortable in the offense, and he throws the ball well. He can get it from here to there in a heartbeat. They throw the short game, but they throw the ball vertical down the field. They have wide receivers – these are not the real big guys, but tall guys – they play like they are tall. They have good speed to them. They get up in the air and they compete for the football. In the two games that they have played, they have made some really outstanding catches – one-handed catches – just a lot of nice receptions.
“Their running back, (Kenneth) Dixon, has half a million yards or whatever it is. Obviously, he is a very, very fine player. He can make that cut and make you miss, so getting him out in space makes him a difficult guy to tackle, and he can run hard to go along with it. As we played last week, they are kind of an upperclassmen-filled team. They got a couple of freshmen that will be in starting roles, but by in large, they are a junior and senior-laden team. So, they have experience in the system.
“Defensively, I know their secondary, the returners, three of four are starters in their secondary. That group has a total 23 interceptions in their career, which is the most of all teams in the world. They have the third-highest returning interceptions – that is a heck of a statistic. It caught my eye. You can see that they play that way. They make some nice plays in the secondary and they trust those guys. They play a decent amount of man-to-man type coverage, so you have a great deal of faith in the guys that can do that. They are not afraid to do it as well. Up front, they have those guys – the defensive end, the defensive lineman, who is supposed to return this week who was out for a couple weeks – and they are very high profile players. They have excellent quickness for a big defensive line.
“You look through some of the material, I think there were 15 – do not quote me on the number – young guys in their program who had received some type of preseason recognition. Some of it was all-conference recognition, some of it was national recognition. So, they are a talented football team and it shows up statistically and in the numbers. They lost to Western Kentucky. I was impressed with Western Kentucky when I saw them. Western Kentucky is an awfully good football team, so the projection is they will win whatever side of the conference they are on and Louisiana Tech will probably win the other one. They are good teams.”
September 15, 2015
Head Coach Bill SnyderOn red zone field goals…
“Well it is a major concern; it was after the first game and certainly after the last game. It is very concerning and we have to do a heck of a lot better job than what we are doing right now.”
On running the ball in the red zone…
“I do not necessarily think that is the mentality. I think it is, from a coaching standpoint, trying to put the best possible schemes on the field for that particular positioning on the field. Then, being able to execute them and we probably failed at both, I would guess.”
On Justin Silmon’s performance…
“He is doing well. Like I said last week, there are things to become a complete player that he has to do, but he is doing as well, if not better, than anyone else that we have. He is making progress. He learns well. He played well. Yeah, he is doing fine.”
On if he would like to start seeing one running back take a majority of the snaps…
“I would like to see that – yes – I would like to see that, and I would like to see us be more productive in the running game. Part of that is having running backs run well and part of it is a lot of other stuff.”
On having a faster start on defense than anticipated…
“I would not say at a faster rate. I do not think that can happen, but when I say I do not think that can happen, I do not think they could move fast enough to meet my expectations. But, I am pleased with the progress that we have made and how well we are playing. I think there is still a lot out there, I would say. Also, it gets tougher, tougher and tougher now. Here is a team that has over 1,100 yards of total offense in two games, and they can throw it in. We are getting into more complex times right now. I think before we pass judgment, we want to see how we play right now. Up to this point in time, I am happy about them.”
On putting an emphasis on pass rushing this season …
“Well, it is always an emphasis for us – a very prolific emphasis for us. They (Travis Britz and Will Geary) have done a nice job inside – both of them – in a lot of different ways. You know, it is not inordinate. We truly want to enhance our pass rush, and it is not about putting more emphasis on it because we have always put a great emphasis on it; just sometimes we are successful and sometimes we are not. I was probably even more pleased with it this week. They (UTSA), schematically, get rid of the ball pretty quickly, so you do not have a great deal of opportunities to sack, so to speak. But, they disrupted some throws, got their hands up and tipped some throws and did some other things to create a little bit better pass rush. It is not always about sacks, I guess. That is an important number, but there are other elements of pass rush that can create problems for a quarterback other than just sacks.”
On the problems that Louisiana Tech presents…
“Well, there are a multitude of things. I think number one, the transfer quarterback that they have is getting ingrained in the system, and you can see him getting better and better in only two games, but you can see the improvements being made. He is comfortable in the offense, and he throws the ball well. He can get it from here to there in a heartbeat. They throw the short game, but they throw the ball vertical down the field. They have wide receivers – these are not the real big guys, but tall guys – they play like they are tall. They have good speed to them. They get up in the air and they compete for the football. In the two games that they have played, they have made some really outstanding catches – one-handed catches – just a lot of nice receptions.
“Their running back, (Kenneth) Dixon, has half a million yards or whatever it is. Obviously, he is a very, very fine player. He can make that cut and make you miss, so getting him out in space makes him a difficult guy to tackle, and he can run hard to go along with it. As we played last week, they are kind of an upperclassmen-filled team. They got a couple of freshmen that will be in starting roles, but by in large, they are a junior and senior-laden team. So, they have experience in the system.
“Defensively, I know their secondary, the returners, three of four are starters in their secondary. That group has a total 23 interceptions in their career, which is the most of all teams in the world. They have the third-highest returning interceptions – that is a heck of a statistic. It caught my eye. You can see that they play that way. They make some nice plays in the secondary and they trust those guys. They play a decent amount of man-to-man type coverage, so you have a great deal of faith in the guys that can do that. They are not afraid to do it as well. Up front, they have those guys – the defensive end, the defensive lineman, who is supposed to return this week who was out for a couple weeks – and they are very high profile players. They have excellent quickness for a big defensive line.
“You look through some of the material, I think there were 15 – do not quote me on the number – young guys in their program who had received some type of preseason recognition. Some of it was all-conference recognition, some of it was national recognition. So, they are a talented football team and it shows up statistically and in the numbers. They lost to Western Kentucky. I was impressed with Western Kentucky when I saw them. Western Kentucky is an awfully good football team, so the projection is they will win whatever side of the conference they are on and Louisiana Tech will probably win the other one. They are good teams.”
