Babers Presser: No Orange Juice. No Gatorade.

So, Coach did his presser.  No fireworks this week.  Coach was his usual upbeat self and there were no death rays shot across the media room.

Could have happened.

At one point, he said something along the lines that the team "didn't need to change much" on the defense.

He was challenged on that right away, but this week he did not take the bait.  Instead he said that it isn't that the team needs to change much, they need to be better at what they do.  He says that guys--who are now moving into their 4-5 start--need to make better plays.  More tackles.  "One or two less mistakes a game."

He went on to say that he had personally broken down the first half of the Buffalo game and said that Licata was 10 of 11 in the first half, and 9 of the completions were less than 10 yards from the line with a BG defender in position to make the tackle.  And, whether it was a missed tackle or a bad angle, the tackle was missed.

So, we need to get better.  Guys are in position, they just don't make the tackles.

I have been saying this for a while.  I don't believe there is evidence to conclude that the team has an incompetent scheme or that we spend too much time on the offense.  In fact, evidence suggests that BG's coaches were successful with the defense at EIU and that Babers wants to have a good defense.  Rather, I think it has been an issue of our defenders losing the battle too often with the other team's players in space.

I felt the team was very unprepared for the WKU game and that there was a lot of soft coverage and a wide open middle for the whole game, but I think that the primary issue now with the defense is that our guys have to play better.

Someone asked whether BG could continue with the close games and Babers did not take the bait again.

"I'm sorry the games are cardiac.  I really wish they wouldn't be."  He then said he would see about "sending people home early," which was funny and a possible jibe on the BG crowd that left at halftime Saturday, missing a cardiac ending.

He talked about halftime at the Buffalo game.  He said he bypassed his coaches and 2ent straight to the players.  "No orange juice.  No gatorade.  I want to talk," is what he says he said to them.  He riffed for a while about doing things with passion  and that the players "got it."  And they played with passion in the second half.

In my view, he is burying the lede here.  The only conclusion is that our defensive struggles have been caused by orange juice and gatorade and they should be eliminated.  If you want to be scientific about it.

Last interesting question was about Tate and his extra point misses.

Coach said that there have been misses, but if you are grading Tyler Tate's paper, it is an A.  "What are you going to do, complain because it isn't an A-plus?"

Coach also said that the blocked FG against Buffalo was on him.  He says he should not have tried that FG into that wind once the delay of game penalty happened.

Finally, he was asked the keys to the OU game.  Here he dispenses what he admits is boring and banal.

"Whoever runs the ball the best will win, without turning the football over."