Coach Price began by talking about how big the Stony Brook team looked, before the game started.
“I looked over, and saw those guys. Those guys were huge!” said Price.
He described the players at different positions, all big fast, except the defensive back, whom he had thought was small, but saw that he may have been short, but he wasn’t small. He quickly found out that they were much better than they had thought they would be. Stony Brook also came out with some formations, and shifting, that the coaches had not seen, putting the Miners a little off balance.
Price laughed and talked about the Miners’ plan, which he said he probably won’t use again, was to kick off to them, stop them deep in their end of the field, and get a short punt, giving the Miners a short field. Then, the Miners were going to march down the short field, using two and three tight end formations, and get a quick score. He said that they had worked on this plan for a couple of weeks. Then, three of the offensive linemen went down with injuries, and all of a sudden the great plan wasn’t looking so good.
On defense, the Miners wanted to stop the run, and the play action pass. Coach Patterson made adjustments at the half.
The offense also made some adjustments, to take better advantage of the offenses strengths. They started going with quick passes to the wideouts.
He talked about some of the mistakes the team made, and just how much those cost the team. One of them was when Lamaison was hit while attempting to pass and the fumble was taken in. Another was the interception at the 1 yard line. He said that there were other plays he might have called, and that many will say, couldn’t you run it in from the one. Well, the answer seemed to be a definite “no”. Then, Vernon Frazier reached out to push the ball across the line, and it came lose, before he got in. So, he said that those added up to 21 points, and that things could have been different.
But, as it happened as it did, he was very happy with and proud of his team. They held together. They didn’t get down on themselves, or others. The kids were paying attention. They substituted without any confusion. There were no penalties for offsides, or delay of game. There were many things that the team did well.
Price had high praise for Nick Lamaison, and talked about how the quarterback got better as the game went on, was cool under pressure, and was a terrific leader.
“I think we have a real gem, in him,” said Coach Price.
Price talked about how the defense shut down the Seawolves running game in the second half. On Stony Brook’s last five possessions, they had 46 yards of offense, and an interception.
Moving on to SMU, Coach Price said the Miners will have to try and handle Zach Line, the powerful running back of the Mustangs. SMU’s running game is different than Stony Brooks. SMU tries to spread the defense out to create the openings for their running backs.
He said that they would change things up some for the very different challenge that SMU poses.
He said that what he would like his players to do, is wear those uniforms that Texas A&M wear.
“Have you seen those uniforms? They’re all white. The butt sticks out like this. Big muscles right here (indicating thighs). Man, those jerseys! You see what’s hanging from those shirt sleeves? Those big arms! Man, I gotta get some of those!”, said Coach.
Bret Bloomquist asked if he might change things up a little in the place kicking, with the 6′ 8″ SMU kick blocking specialist in the game. Coach Price said we probably wouldn’t see a 61 yard attempt.
“You told me where he’s from ( pointing, and speaking to Bret), the country of Estrogen. You’ve been there before”, said Price. “Or something like that. Estro something. Maybe Estonia.”
Speaking of Zach Line who comes from Massachusetts, Coach Price Mentioned that he, and the player from Estonia were walk ons.
“Long walk, from Estonia.” Price quipped.
He talked about a pretty good crowd, and how most of them stayed until the end.
“At half time, I checked with Aaron, my son, up in the press box to see if there was a train outside the stadium waiting to take me to Dodge, or someplace. I thought I might hop on, and get the hell out of here. Happy I stuck around,” he joked.