Ball State University Athletics
Ball State Football Postgame News Conference Quotes, September 19: Game 3 at Liberty
Mike Uremovich: All right, all right, guys. Disappointing the result. Disappointing the coaching starts with me, ends with me. I didn't have the team obviously ready to perform because we didn't perform very well today in any of the aspects.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, after a pretty solid start there, in the first quarter only being down 6, why do you think the game got away so quickly from you guys?
Mike Uremovich: Well, I can tell you why we, we lost the game and why I got away was the penalties, first of all, was missed assignments on defense. Things that we pride ourselves in not doing, we did today, and that's ultimately my fault. So, if you're looking for somebody to blame, it's me. I'm the guy in charge of the whole thing. All those penalties we got to get out. Whatever we're doing in practice obviously didn't work this past week, so we got to evaluate that. And defensively, you know, they're running the same plays and, and, and they wore us down some because offensively we couldn't do much, but, you know, there's some misfits there at the end of the game that led to big runs. But we got, we, we, the Cardinals can't beat the Cardinals, and, and that happened today. That was a good football team. Their quarterback played the best game of his life today and got hot. But we let them get hot because we we had too many unforced errors.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Yeah, coach, we've talked about the defense struggling to finish this season. It felt like today they never really got started. What do you think kind of just went wrong with some of those missed assignments?
Mike Uremovich: Well, what they do is, is, difficult to defend run game wise, and I think we had, I know we had bad eyes on defense and the speed at which they were hitting us with those plays, you know, you just got to have one guy in a wrong gap and you got somebody chasing the quarterback in the pitch and that guy's got to make that tackle or at least fit that gap. So, you know, like I said, at the end of the day, all this boils down to coaching and, and, and I'm the one in charge of it. So I got to get it right and we got to get it going as we go into Mac play this week.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, TJ Horton now has over 200 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns today. What have you seen the growth out of him from last year to this year?
Mike Uremovich: You know, he's always been a good running back, but now he's, I should say that he's always been very good with the ball in his hands. Now he's a good running back. We can put him in there to protect, we can put him in there, as a decoy, we can put him in there for the jet game. He, he's explosive, and we're gonna need him the rest of the season.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Yeah, as far as the, the passing offenses, it felt like they really had a lid on, the explosive plays for the offense. Didn't feel like Keldrick could really get anything going today. What did you kind of make of that? How did they kind of just frustrate you guys as far as,
Mike Uremovich: Well, we're behind the sticks all day and everybody in the stadium knows we got to pass the freaking ball. It's not that hard to play defense against it. I mean, they got a sack at the end when they rushed 3 people and dropped 8. He had nowhere to go with the football, and we can't be giving up sacks against a three-man rush.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, obviously you still have Northwestern ahead, but how would you assess the non-conference play in these first three games before you take on Kent State next week?
Mike Uremovich: Well, we, we know what we got to work on this week. Obviously, we're excited to go get into Mac play now, and it's another road game, and we got to figure out how to play better on the road. You know, we don't have the fortune of having a bunch of home games early, and we got to figure this out right now because we didn't play very well today and we got a bunch more road ones coming up as well as some big home ones, obviously, but, we got to get back to work tomorrow and get this film watched and then move on.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, what are some specific things you want to work on with the team this week?
Mike Uremovich: I want us to stop beating ourselves, with penalties, and missed assignments, and misfit and runs. And at the end of the day, that's all coaching.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Did you feel like the team was maybe lacking some energy today, especially on the defensive side of the ball?
Mike Uremovich: Did not
Mike Uremovich: Our guys played hard. Didn't mean we played smart, but they played hard. There's no way they quit out there and everybody ran to the football. I didn't feel that on the sideline.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: I did want to ask about some injury updates. Obviously, Gabe Aramboles is the big one there, but I did also want to ask about DJ Fields and how he's feeling, because his injury looked pretty serious as well, I don't think.
Mike Uremovich: I don't have any updates for you on the injuries right now.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Okay, all good.
Kyle Stout: That's all I've got.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Kyle, I'm alright if you are, too.
Kyle Stout: I'm good.
Mike Uremovich: Okay, thank you, gentlemen.
Mike Uremovich: All right, all right, guys. Disappointing the result. Disappointing the coaching starts with me, ends with me. I didn't have the team obviously ready to perform because we didn't perform very well today in any of the aspects.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, after a pretty solid start there, in the first quarter only being down 6, why do you think the game got away so quickly from you guys?
Mike Uremovich: Well, I can tell you why we, we lost the game and why I got away was the penalties, first of all, was missed assignments on defense. Things that we pride ourselves in not doing, we did today, and that's ultimately my fault. So, if you're looking for somebody to blame, it's me. I'm the guy in charge of the whole thing. All those penalties we got to get out. Whatever we're doing in practice obviously didn't work this past week, so we got to evaluate that. And defensively, you know, they're running the same plays and, and, and they wore us down some because offensively we couldn't do much, but, you know, there's some misfits there at the end of the game that led to big runs. But we got, we, we, the Cardinals can't beat the Cardinals, and, and that happened today. That was a good football team. Their quarterback played the best game of his life today and got hot. But we let them get hot because we we had too many unforced errors.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Yeah, coach, we've talked about the defense struggling to finish this season. It felt like today they never really got started. What do you think kind of just went wrong with some of those missed assignments?
Mike Uremovich: Well, what they do is, is, difficult to defend run game wise, and I think we had, I know we had bad eyes on defense and the speed at which they were hitting us with those plays, you know, you just got to have one guy in a wrong gap and you got somebody chasing the quarterback in the pitch and that guy's got to make that tackle or at least fit that gap. So, you know, like I said, at the end of the day, all this boils down to coaching and, and, and I'm the one in charge of it. So I got to get it right and we got to get it going as we go into Mac play this week.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, TJ Horton now has over 200 rushing yards, 2 touchdowns today. What have you seen the growth out of him from last year to this year?
Mike Uremovich: You know, he's always been a good running back, but now he's, I should say that he's always been very good with the ball in his hands. Now he's a good running back. We can put him in there to protect, we can put him in there, as a decoy, we can put him in there for the jet game. He, he's explosive, and we're gonna need him the rest of the season.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Yeah, as far as the, the passing offenses, it felt like they really had a lid on, the explosive plays for the offense. Didn't feel like Keldrick could really get anything going today. What did you kind of make of that? How did they kind of just frustrate you guys as far as,
Mike Uremovich: Well, we're behind the sticks all day and everybody in the stadium knows we got to pass the freaking ball. It's not that hard to play defense against it. I mean, they got a sack at the end when they rushed 3 people and dropped 8. He had nowhere to go with the football, and we can't be giving up sacks against a three-man rush.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, obviously you still have Northwestern ahead, but how would you assess the non-conference play in these first three games before you take on Kent State next week?
Mike Uremovich: Well, we, we know what we got to work on this week. Obviously, we're excited to go get into Mac play now, and it's another road game, and we got to figure out how to play better on the road. You know, we don't have the fortune of having a bunch of home games early, and we got to figure this out right now because we didn't play very well today and we got a bunch more road ones coming up as well as some big home ones, obviously, but, we got to get back to work tomorrow and get this film watched and then move on.
Kyle Stout: Yeah, what are some specific things you want to work on with the team this week?
Mike Uremovich: I want us to stop beating ourselves, with penalties, and missed assignments, and misfit and runs. And at the end of the day, that's all coaching.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Did you feel like the team was maybe lacking some energy today, especially on the defensive side of the ball?
Mike Uremovich: Did not
Mike Uremovich: Our guys played hard. Didn't mean we played smart, but they played hard. There's no way they quit out there and everybody ran to the football. I didn't feel that on the sideline.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: I did want to ask about some injury updates. Obviously, Gabe Aramboles is the big one there, but I did also want to ask about DJ Fields and how he's feeling, because his injury looked pretty serious as well, I don't think.
Mike Uremovich: I don't have any updates for you on the injuries right now.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Okay, all good.
Kyle Stout: That's all I've got.
Cade Hampton - The Star Press: Kyle, I'm alright if you are, too.
Kyle Stout: I'm good.
Mike Uremovich: Okay, thank you, gentlemen.