Mike Jacobs press conference transcript

Mike Jacobs Press Conference Transcript (UMass)

Mike Jacobs: Obviously, it’s a Wednesday night, but it’s Veterans Day. And so, certainly appreciative of all those who give their lives to serve us. I have a handful of family members, and I’m just really appreciative of all that those folks do. We get to do fun stuff like this.

And so just really a tremendous effort by our whole team tonight. But defensively, we were dominant from start to finish in this game. We held them under 200 total yards on the day. They were under 100 yards rushing. I thought we affected the passer. We had a defensive touchdown, and obviously earned the shutout. So, really, really excited about how that side of the ball played.

I thought special teams, we were really good. Markus was tremendous punting the ball again. Pinned them down there on the half-inch line on their last series. Put them in a bad, bad spot. And then, offensively, we were really clicking in the first half. We continue to be a little banged up on the offensive line, so as we continue to have to shuffle the deck there, we’ve just got work to be a little more consistent.

But we ran the ball extremely well. We moved the ball. We got to finish drives. But I was excited about the offensive game plan we had. I thought Cris called a great game. We’ve got to continue just to execute at a high level. But start to finish on a Wednesday night, on a MACtion night, against what I view as a really good football team in UMass.

I’m really excited about the way our kids came out and responded and played tonight.

Question: Two hundred and ninety total yards last week at Sac State, you surpassed that tonight in the first half. What was the difference in execution that you saw from the group and just the way they were able to get off to that fast start, scoring on three of their first five drives?

Jacobs: I thought our kids did a good job just with the game plan. Again, Coach Reisert, our offensive staff, I thought he was pretty dialed into some of the looks that we were going to get. JAR was on target early, and when we had the blend of the run and the pass, and again, you hear me talk a lot about being on rhythm, that’s such a big piece for us. We were much more successful on early downs, Emma, and I think that was probably the biggest thing to attribute to our early success.

Question: Dabbs was held without a catch last week, but he comes out with a season-high 144 yards tonight. Just how important was it to get him more involved in this game and just what can you say about the connection he has with John Alan?

Jacobs: Again, that goes way back to when he first decided to come here. Adjatay has been with us for a long time, two years at Mercer and then here, and he’s been a playmaker the entirety of his time, and for him to get involved early, to have that confidence. The thing that’s crazy is he makes so many contested plays, and I think that's what’s special about him.

You know, he’ll go up and get some of those back-shoulder balls, and they always seem to be at a critical moment, whether it’s a big first down, to get a big first down or whatnot. It was good to have him back in the mix and to see him play his best football. I’m pretty sure his mom was in town tonight, so that was awesome.

Question: How has this secondary in particular been able to really just fly around to the football? I think your longest play allowed was only 20-something yards.

Jacobs: Credit to Coach Foster and Coach Brown, the work that they’ve done. Coach Daniels, our defense analyst with that group. I think you’ve seen us as the week’s gone on, we’ve been in much better position at the end of the pass plays. We had a number of PBUs tonight. Listen, we really affect the quarterback, and when you can affect the quarterback, even if it’s just altered throwing motion or tips, certainly, then it allows the secondary to be super aggressive.

It’s complimentary defense, and I thought Julian Fox played extremely well again tonight as well. He’s quietly had just an unbelievable season for us.

Question: You don’t get any extra wins for shutting teams out, but obviously that’s hard to do in this conference. For you guys able to finish, especially in the second half when it was such a slugfest, what impressed you most about your team’s willingness to stay on their P’s and Q’s?

Jacobs: Listen, their helmets were on. They were locked in, right? It was just all about the execution standpoint. Sometimes that’s when it takes one play for them to get back into it. And we just didn’t give them any life, right? Even when they had a little bit of positive momentum, we had a few massive fourth-down stops.

They were 3 of 15 on third down and 1 of 4 on fourth down. That’s 4 of 19, so just a tremendous night on critical downs, and that starts by being really effective versus the run on first and second down. I just thought we tackled well. I thought we ran to the football exceptionally. Again, that was just a really well-executed start-to-finish night by our defense.

Question: One of the guys you get back is Connor. What can you say about him?

Jacobs: Just the spark, the leadership. I mean, he’s a captain, right? So having that leadership in the huddle, you saw him. Listen, we did a good job on that long touchdown run. We washed the side down, but the free hitter was right there at the line of scrimmage about a yard, and he made the guy miss, bounced off a second guy, and made an explosive play early in the game that really gave us a bunch of momentum.

We see him do that quite a bit. He had a big touchdown catch, so he just adds a different element. And then the combination of just all three of those guys. CJ was on point. Ison had some critical yards, had a couple big runs that got called back on a hold.
And so, really, just that group in particular, Fred Jones has done a tremendous job. And again, Connor, the leadership factor is a big piece of everything.

Question: You guys have faced an unusual number of backup quarterbacks, but it almost seems like you guys prepared to play against the QB2. What does that say about your preparation, that no matter who's in the game, you guys still are being tagged in with some unusual skill sets?

Jacobs: I think with kind of the transient nature of what’s going on, I think depth’s an issue across college football right now, and certainly in the quarterback room because there’s not a lot of time to develop kids because, what happens, there’s only one of them that play, and if they’re not playing, they typically leave.

So that piece of it’s really hard. When we’ve gotten some second QBs, obviously had a little bit of an advantage because there was a couple-game stretch there where Pop Watson either didn’t play or was a little beat up and was really limited.

We had seen the backup a little bit and had an opportunity to just see how they changed some of those things.

Question: When you have not a makeshift offensive line, but just a different set of guys up front, do you rely on your running backs more?

Jacobs: No, it changed throughout the course of the game. I think if we had had the five that started the game, we’d probably been all right, but it goes to the communication piece. The good news is we get a couple extra days off to get healthy, hopefully, going into the big game next week. We’ll utilize that time to try to get as healthy as we can and try to get a few more of these guys back. There were a few guys who were kind of questionable throughout the week and just weren’t quite ready enough to go. But I think we’ll be in better shape going into this next one.

Question: How do you teach, maybe not hate, but the spirit of this rivalry?

Jacobs: It’s everything. Anytime there’s a trophy involved. How unique is it that there are two schools separated by 20 miles on one road? We’ll make certain they understand the history. We’ll make certain they understand the recent history of what that game’s been.

We’ve got to prepare, though, right? You can't get yourself all riled up on the Friday before the game. We’ve got to be really purposeful in how we prepare this week. We’ve got to recognize that it’s a big game.

Here’s the thing: rivalry aside, Friday night, technically, I guess it’s still MACtion because it’s not on a Saturday. I don’t know how we determine that, but we have an opportunity to, hopefully, be a full house. I encourage, I implore, I beg folks to show up for this football team. They’re playing really good football. It’s two local teams. There are a bunch of local kids. We really need people to show out next Friday if they’re not at one of the few high school games that's left.

We’d love to see the Glass Bowl packed for the first time this season. We’re looking forward to a great game.

Question: To piggyback off that, Mike, just how would you describe the excitement of playing to make some noise?

Jacobs: It’s been step by step. If you’re in a position where the games are really important in November, it’s every week. There’s so much on the line week to week.
I thought we had one of our better weeks of preparation. Our kids were really locked in.

We’ve adjusted the schedule some because of the days. Our biggest work days when we’re playing Wednesday night games happen on Saturday and Sunday, and so because there are no classes, what that does is we’ve actually transitioned to practicing at night some just to get used to being under the lights, to get used to activating our bodies a little bit later because early in the year, we kind of function before noon in the practice world.

So I think that piece has helped us. I look forward to our guys having a great week.

Question: Did you like the night game tonight?

Jacobs: Listen, I won’t tell you what I really think. [laughs] I know the fans love the night games, but in the coaching world, you’ve got to understand Notre Dame College didn't have lights. So by 3.30 every Saturday of every home game, you were like a normal person.

So there’s something to be said for that. You get a half day up on rest and restoration coming out of it for guys. But I understand that it’s a lot easier for our fans, and there’s something to be said for playing under the lights, especially here in the Glass Bowl.

Question: John Alan was included on the Davey O’Brien Watch List. Just wanted to get your thoughts on what you’ve seen from him and his maturation?

Jacobs: Again, we’re in this position to be in really meaningful games late in November with two left, and the biggest reason for our success is how our quarterback’s played.
We’ve had so few sacks because our offensive line has done a great job.

JAR’s ability to understand what defenses are trying to do to him, to make adjustments, to get the ball out quickly, just his leadership, too. He is such a steady hand in this building. That maturity piece has been great, and I'm super proud of him.

There’s certainly no one in our building more deserving of all the accolades. I’m excited about what he’s got left in the tank still for this season. We’ve got a lot of good games left.

Thank you all. I appreciate you guys.

Footer