Excerpts From Coach Watson Brown's Comments At His Weekly Media Conference

Oct. 1, 2001

ON THE `DEFENSIVE' BATTLE WITH SOUTHERN MISS LAST WEEK:

"Football's crazy sometimes.? It's what happens when you go on the road and play a good defensive team - they don't turn it over, both punters punt the fool out of the ball, neither one of us really had good field position all night.? Both teams got the ball inside the 30 three times - drove it down there - they didn't `get' it down there.? We got no points and they got three out of three shots apiece.? So it was a defensive game, a field position game, and there weren't turnovers that created points for either side.? We got a couple of turnovers, but they weren't `point' turnovers - they weren't major field position swings.? When that happens, you don't see a lot of points scored.? It was two really good defenses playing each other.

Our offense really didn't play as bad as the scoreboard indicated.? Our major breakdowns were on special teams, with three missed field goals and a fumble on a punt return.? You can't do those kind of things and expect to win in a close game, especially on the road."

ON THE PERFORMANCE OF THE "STEEL SHIELD" vs. SOUTHERN MISS:

"That was the most dominant performance by our defensive front since I've been here.? I think their (Southern Miss) total defense was dominant, but our front line was dominant.? He (USM QB Jeff Kelly) had receivers open, but he had a lot of low throws, quick throws.? He was running for his life.? We didn't realty blitz all that much - our linemen were just running by them and getting to the quarterback (UAB had five sacks in the game and put tremendous pressure on Kelly most of the evening).

When they tried to run right at us, they couldn't do that.? They did get on the flanks a couple of times, but they kind of put a new set on us on those plays, we got it under control pretty quickly.? But when he (Kelly) dropped back to throw, there were a lot of people around him."?

ON THE SIGNIFICANCE OF THE LOSS TO SOUTHERN MISS:

"I said before the game that it was a big game, but we didn't go down there saying to ourselves `this is the season.'? I felt that if we had won, we would have a leg up, but if we lost we wouldn't be dead in the water, either.? I really don't believe anybody in this league will go undefeated.? Louisville and Southern Miss play in two weeks, so one of them is going down, no matter what - it can't end in a tie.? So we've just got to keep playing.? But it was a tough loss."

ON BOUNCING BACK EMOTIONALLY:

We've had the gamut in the last two weeks - we beat a conference team (Army) that hasn't been beaten badly by anyone 55-3, and then come back and lose a 3-0 heartbreaker.? We've gone up and down in two weeks, and we've got to try and stay on an even keel.? There wasn't a major mood swing between the Army week and last week's game vs. Southern Miss, and I hope there won't be one this week - there better not be, because we're playing a good football team (UCF).

Good football teams don't magnify highs like we had vs. Army two weeks ago, or lows like we had vs. Southern Miss.? They just keep going."

ON UCF:
"They're a really good team - I think they're a lot like Southern Miss.? They have nine returning defensive starters, the were 23^rd in the country in total defense last year - eight of those nine are redshirt seniors - they've been there five years.? They have a wide-open passing offense that's ranked in the top 20 right now. They very well could have beaten Syracuse or Clemson, did beat Tulane in New Orleans, and played Virginia Tech tough for a half.? This is their first home game of the year.? This is a very good football team.? Our defense will have much more of a challenge, in my opinion, this week than last week.? Our offense has got to face another tough defense."

ON PLAYING ON THE ROAD AGAIN:

?It's the third road game for our offense and the third tough defense on the road.? We've got to get better on the road, we just haven't been as consistent on the road yet - it comes and goes.? Of course, our defense has been more consistent , mainly because they're older kids - we've got 10 returning starters.? But we need to be a more consistent road team, and have a little more poise and confidence on offense.? We seem to have run into emotional swings in the two road games (at Florida? State, at Southern Miss), we've got to learn to calm down better and hang in there, not go `up and down' as much.? I haven't noticed our offense doing that as much at home. In the road games, we've had too many emotional swings on offense. We've got about half as many yards in the two road games as we have at home, but of course, we've played Army and Montana State at home and Florida State and Southern Miss on the road, so stats can be very misleading."