Trent Dilfer MEETS WITH MEDIA AHEAD OF FINAL 2024 HOME GAME AGAINST RICE
By Steve Irvine
BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA - November 17, 2024
Trent Dilfer had about 16 hours since his team’s loss to Memphis before his weekly meeting with the media. Dilfer talked about the 53-18 loss to the Tigers and looked ahead to the regular season home finale against Rice. The weekly press conference was moved up a day because Dilfer is scheduled to have surgery on Monday.
Opening statement: Thanks for making time on a Sunday, (Monday) I'm having a procedure, so I couldn't do it. Another disappointing loss, disappointed that we had a chance there, get the ball in the second half, to make it a game. (It) kind of fell apart on this quick. Another game, self-inflicted wounds, not making plays, when we need to make the plays. Incredibly disappointed, but excited about this week, honoring 20 seniors. These guys mean a lot to us. Although our record doesn't reflect it, they've been really good players, really good people in our program.
On second half problems: Yeah, no idea, I've tried everything. We've looked at nutrition, we've looked at meetings, at halftime, we've looked at hydration, we've looked at workloads during the week. We've looked at everything, the data is remarkably bad, about how bad we’ve been in second half. It’s not something we're unaware of, just looking for solutions and having found them yet.
On halftime adjustments: They're different everywhere. You know, sometimes they're fixes, sometimes they're what you're doing moving forward. You know, you've seen something in the game that you think you can expose moving forward. Sometimes it's individual match ups, say a guy's doing this, you know, you can beat them with that, or hey, they're thick on their double teams, linebackers can run through, just observations from the first half that you can get better at. We've done all those things. We haven't had any success whatsoever of taking something that we want to implement the second half and applying it. But that's been common for a lot of our things this year, is that the other stuff we want to do that we think we can do that we get in the game and we’re not able to execute.
When it's not going well, I think there's examples, I'll speak offensively, say you have a pass protection that you worked on all week long and they get you in the first half with the stunt or they have a match up that they moved a guy and it's a bad match for you. You can scratch that pass protection. Run game, you go in with a handful of run schemes and you start to run them and they are onto it or they're beating those run schemes. They're, they're structured in such a way that those schemes aren't good, you might get away from it. Defensively, it's, a blitz, you put in a pressure that you think is going to create a free rusher and they've changed something in their protection and they're picking it up, so you scratch it. That’s why you have enough bullets in the chamber, going into a game in case something's not working, you want to go to the next one. There's also, we talked about this after the game, you can't do too much because you also will confuse them if you do too many of those things.
Typically, the best second half (adjustments) are you get a general DNA of how the opponent has played you and you give your players information so they understand that and then you give them schemes that that can exploit whatever issues they're having or fix wherever they've taken advantage of you. We're playing a quarter's coverage and they have reduced their wide receivers in the position to block our safeties in the run. So you have to tighten up your safeties a little bit. They have a key on a receiver or a posture of a running back is run-pass, you’ll point that out. But ultimately as coaches, you have to give it to the players and players have to go out there and execute it, digest it and execute it.
On the final two games of the season: We've got to win this one. The message really hasn't changed from the offseason. It's not worked, but go 1-0. You're trying to go 1-0 each week and you can't just abandon your messaging because it hasn't worked. You know, keep their focus locked in on this week. I'm sure a lot of guys will have one foot in, one foot out. That's the nature of a college student athlete when things aren't going well. We got to find a way to get both feet in the boat each week. I do think playing for their seniors is an important thing. You know, if they need a little extra motivation, but really the motivation is this is the next challenge and as a competitor you're always trying to win the next one whether you're 8-2 or 2-8.
On the seniors: They've invested a lot. They've endured a lot. I think the resilience, as much as anything. You know, they've shown a great resolve through a coaching change, through unmet expectations. New guys that came in, wanted a fresh start and thought that they could really be a part of turning this thing around and haven't been able to. You know that's disappointing for them, but they've shown resolve. I'm proud of most of these guys because the leaders they've been in the midst of some tough times. So there's a lot that these guys have brought to this program and just set an example for the younger players.
On the two most recent home games: In general, it's easier to play at home. Your routines are better, it’s more comfortable. I think our kids appreciate seeing that their families come into town, a lot of a lot of these kids families are pretty close, so families come into town. We enjoy our home people. We have not figured out how to play good at all on the road, so anything at home has been better than on the road. It’s just, in general, a better vibe when you’re at home.
On Jalen Kitna’s turnovers: (We’re not) going to sit him. He's done too many good things to sit him. His turnovers are consistent, they're the same thing, he tries to do too much. I'd rather have that than indecisiveness or tentativeness or fear. The one thing, a lot of these quarterbacks you’re seeing play on Sunday went through this. They think they can do anything and that's Jalen's issue. He thinks there's not a throw that’s ever been invented that he can’t make. He has very aggressive passing instincts. He's highly competitive, so he's trying to always bring us back. A lot of quarterbacks would not throw those two interceptions in two-minute situations because they would have been selfish about their stats. They just checked it down, checked it down, checked it down for completions and not worried about trying to win the game or scoring points. That's not his DNA. Every interception tells a story, has its own story. They're not all created equal. You have to look at the themes of these stories. And his themes are very consistent, trying to do too much. We just got to continue to harp on every play is its own unique play. You can't win the game on one play. You can lose it on one play, but you can't win it on one play. Don't try to do too much, just play within the structure of the offense, because when he does that, he's been very, very good. And then there's times where, situationally, you can be a little more aggressive. But in those times, you've got to be aggressive, but without putting the ball at risk too. Yes, he turned it over and I’m not pleased at all with turnovers in general. But at least they're thematic on the things we feel like we can fix rather quickly.
On turnovers in general: Well, it's especially (difficult) when you're not playing good defense, too. I always felt like when you had a defense that was dominant or very good, there were certain times you could be a little more aggressive, because if you were to turn it over the defense would come in and get the ball back for you. But when you're not playing good defense, you turn it over it’s catastrophic. We have no chance if we turn the ball over. So it's just tough, because I've always believed turnovers are a function of habits. And our habits during the week don't reflect what's going on in the game, as I told you after the game. We're scratching our heads, continuing to go back to work this week on creating better habits, emphasizing the themes that are getting us in trouble, try to replicate those in practice so players are more comfortable. Hopefully the turnover bug goes away.
On Michael Moore’s availability this week after his ejection on Saturday: I’m calling the league on that. It’s disappointing, this has been habitual and is something that needs to be addressed. I’ll call the league on that.
On the length of the adjustment period as a AAC team: It's still something I'm trying to figure out, to be honest. I still don't have any answer for that. Here's my only basis to answer that, when I was considering this job, I watched two seasons of UAB football in Conference USA. I got a pretty good feel for those opponents. Then when you come into this job and you're studying the teams in this conference, there was a pretty significant uptick in competition, especially from the middle of the league down. I do think that the league is significantly better. That's not an excuse for our record. You know, There's other (Conference) USA teams that came into the American in the same situation. They've had more success. It's a significant uptick in competition, quality of player coaching, resources. But, you know, we also came in with a new era of college football too. It just wasn't a new conference, it was a new era of pay for play. I think that has something to do with some of the challenges in front of us as well. But, you know, we're trying to figure out, considering our circumstances, how we can be obviously more competitive than we've been. It's something we think about every day. It's thousands, not thousands, hundreds of notes sitting around in my computer, on pieces of paper, trying to find solutions. We'll continue to do so because what's happened at this point is just unacceptable.
On Rice: Extremely good defense, 30th ranked defense in the country. Very physical, very, very well coached. We just saw a stat, I think they're fourth against the pass, something like that. So, they're good. They're much better than their record. I talked to (Memphis coach Ryan Silverfield) before the game and we chatted him out a bunch of stuff and he said that they're the most physical team they've played this year. As usual, we’re in for a great challenge. Like us, they're not bowl eligible, so they're treating every game like their bowl, so I'm sure we'll get their best effort.
On the possibility of playing some younger players the final two weeks: It will be a topic of conversation. I don't want to waste any redshirts. We've got a lot of good young players, we feel good about how we recruited. We have a lot of good young players that we don't want to jeopardize their redshirts, so we'll keep that in mind. I don't want to not play seniors. I don't want to abandon the season for next year's development. I want to be true to try to win the next game. Now, saying that, I do think there are some young players that have earned time. They've earned the opportunity to get some playing time. We'll make sure we get them involved. And then there's guys that it's kind of a toss up between them and the other ones. And those guys will start probably splitting reps in some of those areas as well.