Coach Sabant transcript

OPENING REMARKS
You know guys, the first thing I've got to say is that we had a tough hand dealt to us here today, and we probably didn't handle it as well we needed to, obviously, for us to be successful. We couldn't throw the ball effectively, and we couldn't run the ball well enough to only run it. We didn't get off the field on third down defensively when we needed to, and that was probably the difference in the field position. The game really comes to we made two turnovers, and they turned them into touchdowns -- an interception for a touchdown and the fumbled punt. But let me say this: We can talk about this game as long as we want, but ... there's never been a team I've been associated with that I'm any more proud of the way they've played throughout the year, and I've never been around a bunch that improved more from a character and attitude standpoint than this bunch did. I'm proud as heck to be a part of this team. It was unfortunate today that things turned out the way they did, but I don't think we can lose sight of what we've accomplished.

WHAT HAPPENED TO BOOTY'S ELBOW? IT WAS WRAPPED UP.
He didn't say anything there was anything wrong with his elbow.

WAS THE LACK OF OFFENSE DUE TO THE WEATHER OR JUST NOT GOOD PRODUCTION?
I think it was a combination of both. There's no question that the weather had an effect on the game, but we dropped balls, we didn't throw balls as well as we usually throw them, but we had some that we could've caught that would've made a difference in the game. We didn't make any big plays out there on offense today. But the fact that we never got off the field on third down, especially in the first half when we had good field position, kept changing the field position for us in a negative way. We'd eventually get them stopped, but then they would punt the ball down to the 10-yard line, and we'd start out with bad field position again. They didn't score points, but they changed the field position, and that probably kept us from scoring points.

IN THESE CONDITIONS, (ARKANSAS) DIDN'T HAVE ANY TURNOVERS AND ONLY TWO PENALTIES. HOW SURPRISED ARE YOU THAT A TEAM COULD PLAY THAT WELL IN THESE CONDITIONS?
They played a good game, they played it close to the vest. They ran the ball, and didn't make a lot of big runs, but they ran it well enough to keep it going. And you know, we had two third-and-less-than-1's and didn't make either one of them. They had two or three of those and made them and kept the ball, and those are the little things that are the differences in the game.

WAS IT FRUSTRATING TO BE A COACH IN THIS GAME?
It's always frustrating for me when we don't win. I don't feel like we were capable of playing. Whether it was the conditions out there or whatever, I don't know ... but we didn't make enough breaks for ourselves, we just didn't give ourselves enough chances.

HOW MUCH WERE YOU TAKING OUT OF YOUR OFFENSE?
We really wanted to run the ball at them, and this was really a [tailback LaBrandon] Toefield game for us, relative to what he's good at and what he can do in terms of keeping his shoulders square and running downhill, which is the best way to run the ball against them. But the field position was so bad in the second half, we never really got a chance to do what we wanted to do. Then, late in the game when they scored the second time, we had to come out throwing, and we weren't very successful at doing that, either. We just didn't play very well today on offense, and didn't make plays when we had a chance to.

WAS THERE NO WAY LABRANDON COULD GO TODAY?
He said he felt a lot better in pre-game, but I just didn't think the guy had practiced enough, unless he came to me and said he was 100 percent ready to go. ... But he didn't really give me the feeling that he could go out there and play like he's capable of playing. And we had enough other good guys that can make good plays and do good things that they should have taken advantage of their opportunities.

DID YOU THINK ABOUT PUTTING (BACKUP QUARTERBACK ROHAN DAVEY) IN TO JUMP-START THE OFFENSE?
Yeah, I considered it at halftime a little bit ... but the conditions were so bad that we were hopeful that the guys that were playing would be able to adjust and adapt to it and do the things that we had to do better.

WHEN DO YOU GET INVOLVED IN THE (BOWL) PROCESS?
I haven't been involved in it at all to this point, but I think this team deserves to go to a bowl game. There's no question about that. I'm sure our administration and everybody involved is going to work their tail off and try to get us in the best bowl game they possibly can.

DID ANYBODY ELSE PLAY THIS KIND OF DEFENSE AGAINST YOU?
No, I don't think we've been held to three points all year long, so this defense did a good job.

This article was published on Saturday, November 25, 2000

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