A&T's Washington Discusses Teams First Loss, Facing SCSU

N.C. A&T Head Coach Sam Washington on Saturday's loss to Morgan State

 “It was a tough one. My first defeat as a head coach, first defeat at home in 11 games. There were a lot of firsts, however, I thought the kids played hard. They gave what they had, but unfortunately, it was not enough. Give credit where credit is due, Morgan came in well prepared. If you guys remember last week I said they were the best 0-3 team I have ever seen, possibly in the country.  They proved just that. They did nothing to hurt themselves.

We have a saying here that there are three phases of the game we must do to win. Stop the run. I don’t think we did that. They rushed for 132yards. Protect the football. We had two turnovers, they only had one. And win the kicking game. They made three field goals one for 50 yards long.

So those were the deciding factors in my mind on the outcome of the football game. But that is behind us and we have to find a way to put that behind us, which will be very difficult but is something that is very necessary so that we can move on. We have a short week to prepare for a very capable South Carolina State football team who always has been a thorn in our side, and they give us their very best every time they show up.”

Washington on snapped 15-game winning streak

“There’s no way to lose in my mind, but it happened. And what we have to do is use it as a tool. There are some things that we can do better. You get accustomed to winning, but you can’t relax and get in a place you shouldn’t be. We can use this as a learning tool and get better at what we do.”

Washington on things team must focus on this week

“This short week we are going to have to put a lot of emphasis on a few things. Fundamentals and technique showed in the ballgame. I think we can be a lot more fundamentally sound then we were. We missed tackles, we missed blocks, and we missed opportunities that we generally do not miss, so that will be a big focus this week. Our basic technique like when to transition, when to use your hands will be the focus this week to get those things corrected, and we look forward to beating South Carolina State.”

 Washington on his postgame message to the team

“The biggest point I tried to drive home is that we must stick together as a team. During adverse times all kind of criticism and conversations will arise, and it’s very critical that we stick together as a unit and I think they received the message.”

Washington on Saturday’s offensive struggles

“There were some situations that I thought we could have done better with the timing. You have to give Morgan some credit, I thought they disguised some coverages and generally were an attack team. But for some reason, they did not do that this game, they lined up and showed you this, then dropped into that. I thought it posed some problems for us. We must do a better job of making adjustments when we see those kinds of things happening. We must win first downs, as a defensive coach that’s what I emphasize. We did not do a very good job of winning those first downs offensively.”

 Washington on the impact of a shorter week of preparation

“It'snot too bad, we’re just one day ahead. The things that we would normally do on Monday, we did on Sunday and so on.”

Washington on first practice after the loss

“The energy became very good. Initially, we were still sulking a little bit, so we brought them back together and told them to listen, this is must not happen. Then the energy picked back up and the kids were flying around and were focused.  We worked on a lot of fundamental stuff like the first step, hands and eyes. I think we’ll benefit from it.”

Washington on how the defense can better stop the run more efficiently

“Putting people in the proper gaps from a coaching standpoint. A lot of teams would love to hold a team to 132 yards, it's just not acceptable around here. There were some missed gaps, and we just didn’t play well defensively.”

Washington on playing against mobile quarterbacks

“I think they’re a thorn in everyone’s side. A quarterback who can run the ball, as well as a running back, is even more of a threat because now one on one tackles can become a problem. That’s the biggest issue with running quarterbacks, but I think that’s universal, not just here.”

Washington on quarterback Lamar Raynard’s recent struggles

“I think he’s put a lot of pressure on himself. He’s trying to be perfect, but we don’t need him to be perfect, we need him to do just what he does and that’s enough. He’s done everything we ’ve asked of him, he’s a very humble kid, very bright, and a hard worker. He’s done everything right in my opinion, he’s just got to stop putting so much pressure on himself.”

Washington on problems South Carolina State’s offense poses

They’re a run-first team, and they do a lot of run-pass options. Their quarterback is very athletic and can run. With those RPO situations, that’s going to be very challenging for us, but we’ll be okay.”

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