Oct. 19, 2005

Q. How was practice today?

A. It was okay. There is a lot of learning on Tuesdays. All in all it wasn't bad.

Q. You haven't made any position changes have you? When would you do that?

A. Position changes?

Q. Guys moving up and down the ladder.

A. No, that is probably decided on Wednesday or Thursday after a week of practice.

Q. You told me yesterday that your short list of players that played well on Saturday was Keenan Little. What's he doing well?

A. He's just playing hard, being consistent and smart, he's just flying around and playing. To me, playing well means not having any critical errors, being where you're supposed to and making plays. We had some guys that made a lot of big plays, Jason Tomlinson made some plays, but he made a couple of critical errors as well. My expectations are that the really good players shouldn't make those errors. I'm going to be harder on him than somebody else, because I think he has a ton of ability.

Q. Do you look to Keenan back there for leadership?

A. I think he's emerged back there as a leader. I think when the season started probably we didn't know, but he's really matured and come on and he's really done a nice job.

Q. Is there anything in particular that concerns you about Rice?

A. I just think they will have a good idea of what we are doing. Historically they have been really close games. If you look at this year, that's all we know how to play anyway.

Q. You would like to have a blowout once in a while.

A. I would like to have one that ends in double digits as long as we are on the good end. I doubt that this one will be that way. I expect it to be close again.

Q. Do you think this team is capable of blowing somebody out?

A. Oh yeah, they are very capable. We are talented enough. If they play as good as they can play. We could have easily done that on Saturday if we would have played well, but we didn't.

Q. Defensively. Rice is playing a little better.

A. They match up good against us. They are better against the run and against option stuff than against teams that throw it all over the lot. I think their strength is their defensive line.