Not a ton to talk about other than happy to be back in the win column, after the Iowa State game.
Happy to be back home this week in preparation for a home game. It feels like it has been quite some
time with the loss at SC, and then the open date, it had felt like a long time since we had tasted a
victory. So that felt good.
Really, really proud of the way that our defense has played the last three weeks. They're playing at a
level that we can certainly win with. Continue to try to develop an identity offensively which, again, has
become increasingly difficult based on when you lose your two starting tackles and your starting tight
end, it's difficult to find ways to run the football. And hats off, I said it post game, a ton of credit to Matt
Campbell and his defensive staff, and played literally two years of breaking them down, hadn't seen that
front or coverage that they played pretty much the whole night against us. So there was a lot of
adjustment, and for an inexperienced offensive line that's difficult. And for the tailbacks, as well.
So it's back to the drawing board a little bit, but I think there will be some carryover this week in terms
of the run game, which will enhance the way that we go about doing things because there is carryover
and it's not a complete departure. I think those of you that were paying attention probably noticed quite
a few differences in formations and run plays against Iowa State as compared to maybe the weeks prior,
to try to get the best players in the right position to do their job in the run game.
So we've got to be able to do that, we've got talented receivers, but when a team is dropping eight guys
into coverage every snap or almost every snap, it's very difficult to throw the football and you've got to
be able to run it in those situations. We did sporadically, but not consistently enough.
Injury update. Connor Williams, after meeting with numerous different medical teams, is going to
proceed with a non-surgical treatment of his medial collateral ligament and we'll evaluate it again in two
to three weeks and hopefully this conservative approach, going without surgery, will heal him up the
best for the long-term as well as allow him to get back into uniform here before season's end. So,
excited about that diagnosis.
And then lastly, just about the opponent coming in this week, there's probably not a coach in our
profession right now that is more well respected than Bill Snyder. Unbelievable job in what he has done
there, and it probably gets said every week of every year, but to take literally the worst college football
team in the history of college football and turn it into what he has turned it into is remarkable. And this
is going to be a physical, physical game. That's their deal. It has been for a long, long time. And that is
exciting, because that's kind of a little bit what we like to think of ourselves, too.
So we understand that offensively, probably not going to get a lot of possessions. I think last year Texas
only ran 66 plays against Kansas State, so they're going to try to possess the football and play really,
really sound fundamental defense on that side of the ball. And obviously the guy that stands out is the
quarterback, Ertz, kind of the do everything guy, can run it, can throw it, can get him out of bad plays,
check him into good plays, improvise, he's a fantastic college football player.
Questions?
BRIAN DAVIS, AUSTIN-AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Two things. One, how serious is Shane’s ankle and is
that boot just protective?
Yeah, so Shane (pause) yes, the boot is protective. So he went out yesterday in practice, pretty big brace
on. We didn't put him in any situations where there was a defense, because he still wasn't moving really

 well. So he'll wear that boot unless he's training or practicing or whatever. We're going to get a PRP shot
in that ankle to try to increase the healing time on that. We think that he'll be --- he won't be 100
percent, but a quarterback with an ankle probably doesn't need to be a hundred percent to be
serviceable.
DAVIS: Bigger picture about that position. Both those guys are 1-1 now. Shane is conservative but
protects the ball, Sam seems aggressive but he’s had turnovers. How do you assess both these guys
and are you still feeling good about Shane as your guy next week and beyond?
Yeah, yeah, and Shane's thrown a couple of picks and fumbled a couple of times, we just happened to
recover a couple of his fumbles. So he's got ball security issues too, that's one of the things we've
addressed offensively. We've had eight turnovers in four games, that's an average of two a game. That's
way too many. Thank God our defense is getting the ball. They're creating turnovers and one thing we’re
doing is we're scoring off of their turnovers gained, and they're holding opponents quite regularly when
we do turn the ball over. So we're playing good team football as far as that's concerned.
In regard to the quarterbacks, again, do I feel good? I mean, we've got to get better. Shane has got to be
better, Sam has got to get better. We've got to get better everywhere, especially on offense. But we feel
like you can win with either one of those guys at quarterback.
RICKY DOYLE, SPECTRUM: You kind of touched on this a little, but with Collin Johnson, do you need to
say we’re going to take X-number of shots per game to this guy regardless of what the defense is
doing?
Well, it's too hard to do. It's a cloud corner that sits there and re-routes up the line of scrimmage and a
safety right over the top of them with 12 yards. We're running him on corner routes. We were trying to
find ways to get him. But to say we aren't going to throw the ball deep versus that coverage, it's an
impossibility. But he does need to get some touches and we were trying to ever manufacture them,
couldn't hit him a couple of different times when we tried them. I would imagine we're going to see
more and more of that. One of my projects this week is to say let's figure out how to get him the
football, because he's got a unique skill set. We'll just move him around. You don't just move around a
6-foot-6, 220-pound receiver, you don't just put him in the slot. And then they find him in there and they
double him in there and it's a fish out of water. You've got to create opportunities, whether it's when
they are leaving him one-on-one, being able to recognize it prior to snapping the football and get you
into a Collin Johnson play, if you will, something of that nature. We've got to do a better job of getting
him the football. But his skill set, it's a lot different than saying we've got to get Reggie the ball, great
motion in the back field, run him on some jet sweeps, throw him some bubbles, where Collin's area of
expertise is go routes and post routes. And when you take that a way, it's difficult to manufacture than
other ways to get him the ball.
STEVE HABEL, HORNS ILLUSTRATED: Coach, you’re an offensive guru, you know. So when you look at
the tape of the last couple games, what is it that you really like that this offense has been able to do?
Is there something that really stands out to you in improvements from game to game?
(Pause) I think in the USC game we took advantage of one-on-one matchups and we made plays in the
throw game, for sure. I liked the schemes that we had for the Iowa State game, although a lot of that got
thrown out of the window early. So I feel like we're headed down the right path in terms of personnel
and formations. We've got to do a much better job of coaching our guys and adjust to different things

 that you don't plan for.
So those are probably two of the biggest things, is that ---- and then third down. I think on the season,
which includes the first week, we're at 47 percent on third, and fourth down like 49 percent. So we're
staying on the field. I've never been a time of possession guy, but I look and I think two out of four
games we've almost doubled our opponent’s time of possession. So we're keeping our defense off the
field, keeping them fresh. And just we've got a lot of work to do in the run game.
ANWAR RICHARDSON, ORANGEBLOODS: I’d like to ask you about the run game since offense is your
grill house. It doesn’t seem like your running backs are making guys miss or shaking a lot of tackles. I
wanted your observations as far as that’s concerned, and do you think you have to give a guy like
Toneil maybe a little bit more of a better look, if you needed someone to be more dynamic?
The answer is yes and yes. To your observation, we're not making very many people miss. If it's blocked
for 4, we're going to make 4, and if it's blocked for 6, we're going to make 6. Where the great backs if it's
blocked for 4 they give you 8 and if it's blocked to 1, they give you 3 or 4. So that's been addressed, it’s
not hit the panic button yet. Chris and Kyle know that everybody wants to throw --- when you don't run
the ball really well, everybody wants to throw the offensive line under the bus, but it's a collection of
things. And yeah, you'll see Toneil play more, he played more against Ohio State and he'll play more this
week, too.
BOB BALLEW, KEYE: You mentioned on Thursday night just the patience that is needed with those
offensive game plans when things aren’t going right. Does it become easier to make those
adjustments and change those game plans the more you’re here, the longer you’re here?
I hadn't thought a lot about it, but yeah. We're still getting to know the players what they can do when
the lights are on. And so I think that's --- Cade Brewer --- is a prime example. That's a guy every time
we've put him out there he's done well, so let's play him more. “He's a true freshman.” I know. I know.
In overtime in front of 95,000 people in the Coliseum against the No. 4-ranked team in the country,
down by 7, we had a true freshman throwing to a true freshman for the game tying touchdown. Not
exactly where I would have hoped to be, but it's where we were and those guys came through. And the
more they come through the more they're going to play. But it's not --- I think it's more of knowing what
our guys can do and less staff things. Other than Tim Beck, I’ve worked with every one of the guys on the
offensive staff, and Tim and I are very aligned in the things we believe in. So communicating, adjusting,
all that stuff is --- from that standpoint, it's not very difficult. It's OK, what can we do to put ourselves in
a more advantageous position?
DENNIS DE LA PENA, FOX 7: Kind of along those same lines, with the O-line and with Beck out, so
depleted there. Can you keep the expectations with that group where they were, what you wanted to
do with that group, and how pleased are you with what coach Warehime’s doing?
I think you've got to change your expectations a little bit. Here's where there's a caveat to that, though.
The caveat is if they're dropping eight into coverage and not supporting the run with their safeties and
only playing a three-man front, you have to run the football. There's no other alternative. And so that
was --- not disappointing, because we did it at times, 13 plays, seven-and-a-half minute drives to end the
game, I thought Tim and Derek did a great job, especially on the two third downs, calling quarterback
draw. And thought everybody was going to get out of there and we could run the quarterback up in
there.

 There's nobody that's slept less and pulled more hair out than Derek Warehime at this point. But
everything that we're doing or that he's doing, I'm in full agreement with and we've got to do more of it
in terms of repetitions at practice. And we've got to oftentimes, us being around each other for so long, I
think there's a propensity on a day like today when you're game-planning, and you say, hey, great,
Kansas State is four down quarters, they play one up man 20 percent of the time. We used to do this,
this, this, this, this and this and this, and then remember back in 2015 we did this. And then all of a
sudden you look up and you've got 39 different run concepts up there and that's not fair to the
inexperience that we have at offensive line. So I think that's been the biggest thing is hey, let's
condense, let's make sure on Monday and Tuesday when we jog out on the practice field our focus is
very, very narrowed in the run game, so that our guys can get good at coming off the ball.
ED CLEMENTS, KLBJ: Coach, Bill Snyder celebrates his 78th birthday this Saturday. Do you picture
yourself --On game day?
CLEMENTS: On game day.
(Turning to John Bianco, UT sports information director) Let’s make sure and give him a card.
CLEMENTS: Do you picture yourself coaching for 36 more years?
Um, I don't. I've got a 13-year-old daughter that hasn't seen her dad very much, a 10-year-old son and
an almost 4-year old son now that --- it’ll be a while. Now, 36 more years? No. But if all goes according
to plan we're going to be here quite some time. I would say 36 years might be a little bit long, though.
CHIP BROWN, HORNS DIGEST: Tom, you said it. You’re working with Beck for the first time, so when
you’re making adjustments on the fly, that’s also for the first time. Can you take us through that, how
that relationship is evolving, and how involved are you in terms of input and adjustments on the fly?
And then can you give us a status report on the non-starters on the offensive line? Guys who might be
moving up?
I didn't work with Major prior to Maj calling plays for me. And that was a very seamless transition, even
though it came to adjustments. I think the biggest thing is as a head coach, one, you've got to manage
the game. I mean I envy those guys that are head coaches and call plays. I don't know how they do it.
They've got a different skill set than me, maybe. I was always best calling plays from the box, too. And
there were times in my career when a head coach would ask me to be on the field, whether it be a
quarterback needs me be down there, the offense needs me. And I was a fish out of water. And so the
biggest thing that we're learning --- when I say we, I mean myself and Tim Beck --- is I can give you some
really good input if you give me great communication of what you're seeing up there because I don't see
the game really well down here, and I'm worried about getting the punt team on, are we going to fake a
punt are go for it on the fourth down, I'm cheering up the defense, and doing all this, and then it’s hey,
tell me what you see and I can help. And so that's where the very detailed communication of what's
going on and what different down and distance is going on, when it's occurring and all of those things
that I think has gone well. We can obviously still get better at it. But has gone well.

 And then, yeah, I mentioned on the call, you know, that (Denzel) Okafor has to play. It has nothing to do
with talent. It's a trust issue and had some long, hard conversations with him and coach Warehime that
we've got to coach him to go to the right place with the right technique, with the right effort level
because he's a talented guy that we need on the field. And I think even a guy like J.P. Urquidez is getting
better week by week. Tope’s not ready, but maybe in a couple of weeks or towards the end of the year
he would be. And then we've got Terrell Cuney as a guy on the inside. The inside guys aren't playing
awful right now. I mean, outside guys aren't playing awful, either. But I think the inside guys are fairly
solidified. We need to find some more consistency at tackle.
TRENTON DAESCHNER, DAILY TEXAN: Coach, it looked like in the third quarter there was kind of some
quirky plays that potentially could have put the game on its head. How composed are special teams
on those moments and how have they improved over the course of the season?
Yeah, you put the ball on the ground on a kickoff return, that's --- on the kickoff return, I mean you think
about that sequence now. Our Ray Guy finalist punter has a 17-yard punt which sets them up in scoring
position. They score to make it 14-7. Kick it off. That kickoff, we fumble it, and again the way we look at
things around here, whether the knee’s down or not, if the ball is out and you're not handing it to the
official, then we consider that a fumble. We fumbled that. That gets overturned, rightfully so --- his knee
was down by rule. And then we throw the screen to Toneil and it gets batted and there's no whistle. And
things we've got to do a better job of reinforcing some things that you think are common sense, like, hey
there's penetration on a reverse, don't pitch it. If the ball is on the ground on a bubble, don't assume
that it was a forward pass, fall on it. That's coaching. We've got to do a better job of reinforcing even the
smallest of details that seem --- or you could assume as a coach would be common knowledge, but that
we've got to cover all of those things.
Those plays could have been --- I hate to say, you should have won or could have won, could have done
this or that, who knows? Our team, our defense could have forced a turnover thereafter the fumble
kickoff or whatever. There's a lot of different outcomes. But to answer your pointed question, I was
really, really happy with the composure, especially offensively, where it could have been finger-pointing,
head hanging, moping around, the whole nine. And they were ready to go back out there time and time
again to move the football.
CEDRIC GOLDEN, AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Tom, have you ever been a part of a team where the
defense has been so dominant a unit this early in the season, and if so, when was it and how did that
season play out?
(Pause) Our defense in 2015 at Houston was pretty dominant. We were producing more offensively than
we have been here through first four games. But we were pretty dominant. I don't know if it was
dominant defense, but in 2012, our first year at Ohio State, we were not very good on offense. But we
found ways to mix and match parts and took advantage of a down year in the Big Ten and went
undefeated. But I think we were down to Miami of Ohio in the second quarter, we were only up two
against UAB in the third quarter early in the season that year, but we got better. I think we beat
Michigan State 17-16 that year.
ALEX LOEB, LONGHORN NETWORK: Coach, I’ve got a couple questions for you. First, what’s the
biggest thing that Chris Warren needs to improve on?

 Making yards as he's getting tackled, still seeing some old habits kind of come back a little bit. Chris is
running hard, make no mistake about it. And Chris' desire, effort and his accountability to his teammates
is phenomenal. But again we've talked about it before, if I'm a 6-foot man, I’m 2 yards long, so every
time I get tackled, if I'm getting tackled going forward that means I'm going to gain a yard-and-a-half to 2
yards getting tackled. And getting stood up or stood backwards or thrown sideways, that's a big
difference. And it's pad level, it's lean and it's finish on the point of contact.
LOEB: On the defensive side, your D is putting up credible numbers, top 10 in the nation in
interceptions. What’s been the key to your secondary’s success?
The pressure on the quarterback. A lot of those picks are thrown right at him. And I think most
secondary coaches will tell you that. You get good pressure on the quarterback and good things are
going to happen on the back end.
ANWAR RICHARDSON, ORANGEBLOODS: Still asking about your defense here, coach --Do you prefer “Ahn-war”? Or “An-war”?
RICHARDSON: Yes, “Ahn-war.” I appreciate that, thank you. Um, you seem to have a lot of guys on
your defense playing with bad intentions as your phrase would be. Look at the stats, you guys have
only given up only 14 third-down conversions out of 52 tries. What’s been the key to get some of
these guys play at a high level, especially after that Maryland game?
Belief. I think I told you guys, the biggest mantra on that, especially on defense, is cut it loose. Don’t
evaluate. Don't worry about the call. Don't worry is the back going to cut back, is the quarterback going
to dodge me this way, just go. Just stick your foot in the ground and go as hard as you can go with your
hair on fire and trust and believe that the other 10 guys are doing the same thing right behind you. And
then you can cut it loose and play with confidence.
I realize where San Jose State is in the pecking order of college football, but to shut a team out that had
been scoring a lot of points and yards and all that stuff, and really do it in a much different way than
what you saw in Week 1 in terms of flying around and hitting people and being physical and not
evaluating was a big step in the right direction that OK, we're going to take this belief, which we thought
we had through nine months of training, and a lot of old habits reared their ugly head in that opening
week.
But, again, I think for the first time our defensive players, rather than pointing fingers or say well, we're
just not good or lose confidence, they said, hey, let's try it this way. Let's try it this way, let's give it a
shot. And they came out like gangbusters against San Jose State --- 170 yards total offensive, and zero
points, I don't care who you're playing, that's a pretty good day at the office. And they kind of realized,
wow, this way feels pretty good. And so then you is show up at USC and you're able to do the same
thing and have similar results against one of the best offenses in the country, then it's OK, now we
know. And I would imagine you'll continue to see them play that way.
ROGER WALLACE, KXAN: Tom, Jesse Ertz, you touched on him a little bit but he’s a guy you wouldn’t
think is that fast, but then he gets 8 yards, 10 yards. What is it about him and that position? Because it
seems like anybody who take a snap at K-State kind of has that skill set.

 Yeah, they recruit tough guys at that position. And they play tough guys at that position. And there's a
lot of single wing principles to their offense in that the quarterback is the main ball carrier. There will be
times when the quarterback and the fullback are the only people in the backfield, there’s not even a
tailback in the backfield. So I think it's toughness is probably the biggest thing. And when you're tough
you don't go down easy and you turn what might be a 4- or 5-yard gain into a 12-yard gain, or you step
through that last arm tackle and turn it into a 25-yard gain. But that's the thing to me that has stood out
since I've been watching Coach Snyder's quarterbacks. They've all been tough dudes.
DANNY DAVIS, AMERICAN-STATESMAN: Tom, you’ve played two games with Armanti on punt returns
and two games with Reggie. What are your feelings about that position and going forward, how do
you see that position?
I haven’t talked about it yet with Craig, but that’s something on my list of things to talk to him about.
CHUCK CARLTON, DALLAS MORNING NEWS: Tom, you took us through the game the fact that you
don’t have time to call the plays, you have lots of other duties. Just take us through a typical game
week, though. How much time do you spend working with Tim on the game plan and how does that
break down?
Pretty much all of Monday, except from 11:30 to about 2:30 doing the conference call, this, and then
the weekly rewind on the Longhorn Network, so that's three hours I have to leave the room. But from 7
a.m. to 11:30, and then from 2:30 to 9:30, 10 p.m., you want to have 90 percent of your first and second
down game plan in when you walk out of the building on Monday.
And Tuesday morning we'll come back in, slept all night, maybe jotted some notes down in bed or
wherever, watching film on your iPad in bed on Monday night. And then Tuesday morning will be what I
like to call the cleanup of your first and second down game plan. And I'm in there the entire time. And
then about 11:30, noon, we'll break for lunch. I go work out and Tim scripts practice. And then we have
practice. I take a bunch of notes in practice and try to coach as much as I can on Tuesday at practice and
then come in and watch the video of practice Tuesday night until about 10 p.m. Get done with watching
practice, make the necessary corrections or deletions, a lot of times you've only got one more day, let's
not invest in that anymore, we're not where we are where we thought we'd be on a certain play.
And then Wednesday morning you get up at 6:45, 7 a.m. Coach Mehringer will have already watched
some third down and red zone and he'll have some ideas. He'll present those ideas and Tim and I and
the rest of the offensive staff will game plan third down and red zone, and that will be the heavy
emphasis of practice on Wednesday, will be third down and red zone. And then Thursday no game
planning going on, just a cleanup day, and narrowing your focus. So other than the three hours on
Monday, I'm in there.
MICHAEL SHAPIRO, DAILY TEXAN: Coach, even if you guys stick with Buechele as the starter, do you
see yourselves setting up some sort of package for Ehlinger in the offense or will he be relegated to
the bench?
I don't know. I --- (pause) Ehlin-GER. Hard G.
I don't know, because I've never been in a position where you only have two on scholarship. So that
always makes me nervous, when the only other one you've got, you're going to throw them in there and
run the risk of injury and now you're down to one. So we'll continue to Jerrod's package --- the reason

 you didn't see Jerrod in the backfield against Iowa State, he required 19 stitches. He got stepped on in
practice on Wednesday, and cut his hand all the way into the meat, I guess, is the best way to put it. So I
don't know. It's something that Tim and I talk about from time to time. And maybe as the season
progresses you're more apt to do that.
CHIP BROWN, HORNS DIGEST: Tom, because a lot of the success you’ve had the last five years on
offense, you had a running quarterback. Do you need a running quarterback to make the running
game go?
I don't think J.T. Barrett is much better runner or faster or anything than Shane or Sam. We did all right
with him and Cardale. I think you need a guy that can improvise and make plays with his feet, but you
don't need Braxton Miller or Greg Ward Jr. As I said before, you know, it helps. As you saw, we
converted a third-and-short and a fourth-and-short running a quarterback sweep with Shane in there,
and those always help because you add an extra blocker. But you don't need that kind of dynamic
ability. You need a steady guy that's going to make a few yards when the yards present themselves.