Butch Jones
photo by File/Dennis Norwood
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Tennessee football kicked off Arkansas week with the weekly press conference with embattled coach Butch Jones and select players.
(Opening Statement)
"Reviewing the Florida video, I thought we played well enough to win the football game.
We played well in all three phases: offense, defense, special teams. It comes down, again, to closing games out, which we're all aware of, and we had many opportunities to do that.
"I thought there were a lot of positive things coming from the game. Unfortunately we came up one play short. As we know, winning is fragile and inches make the champion, which we talk about. There were a lot of plays where there were inches, but when you just look at our offensive performance, we only had three three-and-outs the entire day. We had a 16-play touchdown drive, a nine-play scoring drive, an eight-play scoring drive. We were 7 out of 16 on third downs, and we were 4 out of 5 on third down conversions in the fourth quarter. We had 250-plus rushing yards against a defense that was giving up 53 yards per game and [ranked] top one or two in every statistical category in this great football conference.
"Defensively, [our players] did a great job on third down. We were off the field 80 percent of the time, so they were 20 percent on third down conversions. 65 percent on first down efficiency defensively, six tackles for loss and three sacks, but as we know, it came down to fourth down conversions. Again, we have to get off the field, but [we're] very proud of our players [and] their resiliency. [They] had all that adversity occur, and then came back at the end of the game in a one-minute offensive situation, and got us in position to win the football game, so a lot of [positive] things to move forward.
"Nobody's going to feel sorry for us. We're playing a very, very talented Arkansas football team. [They're] very physical, very big. [They have] the ability to control the clock. I think they have one of the best quarterbacks in the country. He's a three-year starter. He's managing their offense. Bret [Bielema] has done a phenomenal job of building that program. They're basically in the same situation as we are. They've had some gut-wrenching losses where they could've won the football game, and it's a play here, it's a play there.
"I'll answer any questions you may have."
(On confusion in the last 1:21 in the game only getting four plays off)
"I thought we did great job of managing the game and getting it down there and giving us an opportunity. There (were) some moments with some communication problems from the officiating crew to the coaching staff in terms of clock stoppage. There's a number (of) times where we thought the clock should have been stopped on first downs. I think there was some of that going on, but again we put ourselves in position to where we had to go win the football game. It's a very difficult kick. We understand that. Aaron does a great job. He's made those in practice and he will make those in his career, but you know I think there was some things from a communicative standpoint of: stopping the clock, is he out of bounds was he in bounds? Some things like that."
(On how he reacts to criticism)
"It's not about me. It's about our players and everyone in our football organization. I am the head football coach, and I am responsible for anything and everything. I would say put it all on my shoulders. I want it all on my shoulders. I want to free up our coaching staff to coach. I want to free up our players to play. That is part of the responsibility here. We have been through this, but I see our progress. I am responsible; put it all on me, so our players can go play and our coaches can coach. That's the responsibility of being the head football coach."
(On if he thinks the coaching staff coached well enough to win)
"I do. I think we all did. Again, it's one or two plays. We are two plays, or 10 seconds, away from being 4-0, but we are 2-2. We can't let two plays or 10 seconds define who we are. We have to continue to work and grind. I thought our coaching staff had a great plan going in. If you look how we limited them offensively, if you look at what we did offensively, it just comes down to one or two plays. I hurt for the kids because it's all about them."
(On the illegal substitution call on the final drive)
"There were obviously a lot of instances that occurred, and we obviously had to burn a timeout early on to avoid the 10-second runoff. It was just a communicative aspect. Did they rule him inbounds or out-of-bounds? We have addressed that situation and the situation where they had 12 individuals on the field for the attempted field goal. We have reviewed all that, and that is all part of learning from it and moving on."
(On third-down play call on offensive possession up 27-21)
"We have what we call a four-minute offense and within that, we are trying to protect the lead and gain some field position. It was a situation in which we felt very comfortable running the clock. If you throw the ball and it's an incomplete pass, now it stops the clock. We wanted them to use their timeout so that when they gained the ball back, they had very few timeouts left. There is a lot that goes into that. We had great confidence in our run game if you look at what we were able to do. Unfortunately, we had three-and-out and had to punt the football."
(On whether coaching is different in the SEC as opposed to the Big East or MAC)
"It's not. I think the difference is level of scrutiny. Everyone second guesses everything that you do. That's the nature of the game. I understand that. But football is football. Everyone has a right to an opinion. I think we’re putting ourselves in positions to win the football game. I tell you this, if I worried about scrutiny and all that, I wouldn't have went for a jump pass fourth-and-2. You can never allow that to dictate. As a coach, you’re always trying to put your players in positions to succeed. I believe we've played aggressively. I think the first half is an indicator of that. Those aren't trick plays. Those are momentum plays. Those are plays that we carry in our offense week-to-week and our players did a great job of really executing them. But you can't worry about the outside clutter and the outside distractions. You just have to keep grinding your way through it and that's the only way I know. I understand that's part of the game. I welcome that. I have big shoulders. Put that all on my shoulders so our players can go out and perform on Saturday."
QB Joshua Dobbs
(On confidence in the offense)
"I always feel confident in our offense and the game plan we have. It all just comes down to execution. We had a productive day, obviously we didn't have the outcome we wanted."
(On throwing down field)
"Florida is known for their secondary. They were playing man coverage. When the plays were out there we were able to convert. We had a big on a 3rd and 12 conversion on the 18 play drive that we had that put us in position to score a touchdown and we completed a ball downfield on the one minute drill. We still put ourselves in position to win the game, we just didn't have the outcome we wanted."
DB Brian Randolph
(On keeping guys in check as an upperclassmen)
"We can definitely get stronger. We need to work on not being bigheaded, but at the same time, we know we could be 4-0 with a couple of plays here or there. It gives us a little bit of positive things to look at how the season could be different. We still have a lot ahead of us. We have eight mores games and could still go 10-2. We look forward to that."
(On playing an old school offense in Arkansas)
"It's just like backyard old school football. There will be a lot of runs, but they have the passing game too. We know it's going to be smash mouth, but that is something that we all enjoy on defense. We look forward to it."
(E-mail Larry Fleming at larryfleming44@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter @larryfleming44)