Now this? This remains the best portion of the week because there's like six or seven of us talking with Riley. You're not shouting over each other and get to ask some non-football stuff sometimes.
Bookie update?
Not bad. Not bad. Gonna probably end up being a gametime decision, kinda like those guys were last week. We'll just see if he continues to make some of the progress. Hopefully he can make some of the same that Marquise and Trey were able to make last week.
Committee is paying attention to improvement since changes. Did you talk to anyone involved with the committee about how that would be looked at?
No. Oh no. It's just more about what you think is best for the team. All that committee stuff, that's all good. It just comes down to winning at the end of the day. We've proven that around here the last three years. When we've taken care of our business in conference and out of conference, we've been in good position. The one year in 16 when we didn't take care of business out of conference, it ended up costing us a playoff spot. So we just need to win and if we win, then all that other stuff will take care of itself.
Are you confident saying this is a better defense than it was?
I don't sit right now and judge it then versus now. I mean, there were six games to look at in the beginning, so we've played two here. We've done some good things. We did some good things early in the season defensively, too. We have started to take some of the steps that I would expect us to take, so there's certainly been a lot of positives and we need to keep it going.
Favorite thing in Lubbock off the field?
Oh that's a great question. I kinda had all different parts of life in Lubbock. I had my early college experience and then playing experience, early coaching experience, then married, so there were probably ... probably hunt. I enjoyed bird hunting around there. It always close to where I grew up, so we had different places we were able to do it, so as far as a getaway, locally there, that was one of my favorite things to do.
Most coaches that coached there root for Kliff to have success?
Of course. I mean, I think it's fair to say that they absolutely lost track of who they were there for a few years. They tried to hire the anti of who they had before and a lot of times, that's not the right answer. It clearly wasn't that. That decision with who they hired set that program back a long way, and that was personal to all of us. All of us had a small part here and there in helping build it, and want to see them do well. I've always, since I left, wanted to see them do well. I want to see them do well now other than when we play them. Kliff's done a great job. He had a tough job when he walked in there. That thing was not like it was, and he's had a tough job and he's done a tremendous job building it back. They had a run of I can't remember how many different defensive coordinators they had in a five or six year period. It was remarkable, among other things. So it looks like they're back on solid ground now, really starting to play well and Kliff deserves a ton of credit.
Bookie update?
Not bad. Not bad. Gonna probably end up being a gametime decision, kinda like those guys were last week. We'll just see if he continues to make some of the progress. Hopefully he can make some of the same that Marquise and Trey were able to make last week.
Committee is paying attention to improvement since changes. Did you talk to anyone involved with the committee about how that would be looked at?
No. Oh no. It's just more about what you think is best for the team. All that committee stuff, that's all good. It just comes down to winning at the end of the day. We've proven that around here the last three years. When we've taken care of our business in conference and out of conference, we've been in good position. The one year in 16 when we didn't take care of business out of conference, it ended up costing us a playoff spot. So we just need to win and if we win, then all that other stuff will take care of itself.
Are you confident saying this is a better defense than it was?
I don't sit right now and judge it then versus now. I mean, there were six games to look at in the beginning, so we've played two here. We've done some good things. We did some good things early in the season defensively, too. We have started to take some of the steps that I would expect us to take, so there's certainly been a lot of positives and we need to keep it going.
Favorite thing in Lubbock off the field?
Oh that's a great question. I kinda had all different parts of life in Lubbock. I had my early college experience and then playing experience, early coaching experience, then married, so there were probably ... probably hunt. I enjoyed bird hunting around there. It always close to where I grew up, so we had different places we were able to do it, so as far as a getaway, locally there, that was one of my favorite things to do.
Most coaches that coached there root for Kliff to have success?
Of course. I mean, I think it's fair to say that they absolutely lost track of who they were there for a few years. They tried to hire the anti of who they had before and a lot of times, that's not the right answer. It clearly wasn't that. That decision with who they hired set that program back a long way, and that was personal to all of us. All of us had a small part here and there in helping build it, and want to see them do well. I've always, since I left, wanted to see them do well. I want to see them do well now other than when we play them. Kliff's done a great job. He had a tough job when he walked in there. That thing was not like it was, and he's had a tough job and he's done a tremendous job building it back. They had a run of I can't remember how many different defensive coordinators they had in a five or six year period. It was remarkable, among other things. So it looks like they're back on solid ground now, really starting to play well and Kliff deserves a ton of credit.
