Head Coaches Q&A On SHSU-SFA
10/6/2011 9:47:00 PM | Football
Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin meet in the 86th "Battle of the Piney Woods" presented by YP.com Saturday at 2 p.m. at Reliant Stadium in Houston.
Following is a question and answer session with both head coaches about the upcoming big game:
Sam Houston State Head Coach Willie Fritz
On Sam Houston's win over UTSA last weekend
"We really played a very well-coached Texas-San Antonio team. They play extremely hard, don't get out of position very much, especially defensively and in the kicking game. They've got a lot of young kids. Most of the players have been in their program at least two years. They played with a few upper classmen, but primarily used first-, second- and third-year players.
But it was a very tough ballgame for us. We didn't play with our quarterback, Brian Bell, and our backup, Greg Sprowls, came in and they did a very good job of limiting our effectiveness running the football.
Offensively, (WR) Torrance Williams had an outstanding game for us; he had two carries for over 90 yards. (RB) Tim Flanders had near 90 yards rushing and had close to 90 yards in receptions. Offensive lineman Kaleb Hopson had his best game since he's been here at Sam Houston. Then defensively, (FS) Kenneth Jenkins had a forced fumble and two interceptions from his safety position, and our linebacker Will Henry had another outstanding game for us."
Looking ahead to playing the Lumberjacks
"Going down to Reliant Stadium to play Stephen F. Austin in the second edition of the Piney Woods Battle, they're doing very similar things to what they did last year. They spread you out offensively and throw the ball all over the place.
They have played a very tough schedule so far this year. We're looking forward to it. It was a great atmosphere last year and I'm sure we're going to have another great atmosphere on Saturday and a great ballgame on Saturday against SFA as well on Saturday."
On The Importance of the Bearkats being able to run the ball well
"I've really got an outstanding coaching staff, number one, and all the coaches on the line are very proud of their staffs and I certainly am of the staff we've got here. It's no secret when you don't turn the ball over and you get some takeaways and you're in the plus margin, you're going to have an outstanding chance to win.
As a matter of fact, as a head coach, I've won over 90 percent of the games I've been a head coach when we've been plus-one or better. The same thing with rushing: if you can rush for more than your opponent, we've won over 90 percent of our ballgames during that time as well. We did a very good job defensively; when we go in and game plan,
Coach (Defensive Coordinator Scott) Stoker and the defensive staff, that's our number-one priority is to limit their effectiveness running the football; it doesn't matter if it's a passing team or not. And then the same thing with our run game - we want to be able to control the clock. We're doing a nice job in time of possession and not turning the ball over very much, and when you can do those two things, you've got a good opportunity to win the ballgame."
On contrast Stephen F Austin's and Sam Houston's styles of play
"Well, there's a lot of ways to skin a cat, and there's a lot of different ways to win ballgames and a lot of different philosophies. Really, if you watch Stephen F., they'll run the ball conventional run plays, but they'll also throw a lot of screens and those kind of like pitch sweeps to them. Those are run plays for them.
They're very high-percentage completion rate on those plays and just kind of a longer hand-off is really what it is. I think both teams, you've got to have a philosophy with your program and how you want to do things, and obviously being the back-to-back conference champions, they've had a lot of success with their philosophy."
What is the status of Quarterback Brian Bell
"I think he could have played last week. We chose to hold him, and that was what our decision was with our training staff. One of the things that all of the coaches are concerned about is you want to make 100 percent sure, especially when you have anything that has to do with the young man's future and those kind of different things. But we felt like he could have played last week; and we almost played him, but we decided at the last moment to go ahead and hold him out and luckily enough for us, we were able to come through with the W."
How has playing at Reliant Stadium changed the rivalry with SFA
"I thought it was a very unique setting for teams at the FCS level. (Stephen F. Austin Head Coach) J.C. (Harper) and I visited about it a little bit this summer and it's just a win-win for your program, for your university, our kids. This is a game that you can kind of recruit to, also, if you're a part of it. It's just, I think, a great situation for both schools. I thought it was a very clean ballgame last year and the kids left it all out there on the field, and I expect both teams to do the same on Saturday."
SFA HEAD COACH J. C. HARPER
What are you expecting for this week's game
"Going into the Sam Houston game, I echo what (Sam Houston Head Coach) Willie (Fritz) said, this is a great venue. This is a great event. This is great for both schools. This is great for college football to have such a rivalry in Reliant Stadium, NFL stadium and I'm really looking forward to it. It's going to be a lot of fun. Our players are really excited about it and it's going to be a tremendous task for us to be able to play with Sam Houston.
Right now, Sam Houston is really playing well, really physical, run the ball really, really well, create problems with running the option offensively. Both quarterbacks do a tremendous job and their defense really impressed. Their defense is very physical, do a great job of doing what they do and playing man.
It's just really kind of fun to watch them play because I think I'm the only coach at the beginning of the season, there was only one vote, so I know it had to be me, I picked Sam Houston to win the conference, preseason pick to win. The reason why I did that is because I think Willie Fritz and his staff do such a tremendous job. You can tell they were getting better and better as the year went on last year and that's carried over to this year. They got great continuity. They're a little bit older this year and they're doing a tremendous job, so we got a really tough task."
What will the Jacks have to do to score against Sam Houston?
"It's going to come down to Brady (Attaway), just like it does every weekend. Our quarterback has to be able to complete balls and our receivers are going to have to get open and they're going to have to fight to get open because they get after you on defense man-free. There's no disguise. There's no illusion there. It is what it is. They're going to put six in the box and play man or free or just straight man and bring some pressure with those six guys. Truly it comes down to Brady and those receivers making plays."
Is this a game that can turn the season around for SFA?
"Not really, I look at every game as the next game and this is the next game. It's the next game. It's fun because it's in Reliant Stadium. It's great for these kids. It's great for Stephen F. Austin. To me, it's great for Sam Houston. If you didn't go last year, we're so lucky to have this opportunity and our players, it makes it just so special. It was really really, really fun. Obviously it was fun, we won, but I mean it was a great game. I don't know where we were at the time in rankings, what they were, what we were, but it didn't matter. It was just a great game and two teams that competed and heck, they onside kicked and they faked a punt. They did a great job on punt returns. Their defense played tough and heck, we had the Walter Payton Award winner back there and we didn't know it and he had a heck of a game. It's just a great competitive game, so for us it's the next game that's competitive. It's fun so we're looking forward to it."
On having more than 20,000 fans attend the game on Saturday
"Boy, isn't that something? That just speaks volumes for SFA, Sam Houston and the Southland Conference. It's just phenomenal how college football and how these rivalries are. I'm just so thankful to be able to be a part of it this year and I'm going to enjoy every minute and really looking forward to it. I hope everybody comes out and fills it up even more because it is fun. It's fun to see these guys play and what a great challenge for us against such a great Sam Houston football team right now."
Tickets for the Sam Houston vs. SFA battle at Reliant Stadium are available now online at www.gobearkats.com/tickets or at the Sam Houston athletic ticket office. The ticket office telephone is (936) 294-1729.
Ticket sales at Reliant Stadium will begin at 12 noon. A few thousand tickets for walkup sales still remain.
