UTPB Coach’s Show – Episode Four

And good evening, everyone and welcome to the Chris McCullough Show. I’m your host
Monty Montgomery and along with me is the star of the show, the Head Coach of the
University of Texas Permian Basin Falcons, Chris McCullough.

I don’t know about star, that’s you man.

Oh no no no no this is all about you Coach and we saw that Saturday, you called a great
game against Adam State of Colorado and we ended up winning 67 to 14.

We’re two and one and this is Kingsville Week which is a special week for the Falcons because this is arguably one of our biggest rivals in the Lone Star Conference.

But first let’s cover Adam State and then we’ll cover Kingsville later on the show.

Yeah, I thought it was a great week of preparation after the Play-Bowl game. We really
locked in and focused on what our culture was and our guys did a phenomenal job of
making sure a day-to-day they just went 1-0 and focused on being the best themselves
they could. And we did just that, you know, we scored 11 out of the 15 possessions that
we had the football. Obviously when you are able to run for 300 yards pass for 300 yards
on defense pitch a first half shutout going to half 32-0 and get a huge goal on stop there
to end that first half and just take all the wind out of their sails.

It was an awesome showing on all three phases, you know, we scored a touchdown on
special teams, which hasn’t happened since I’ve been the head coach here. That’s
awesome. Traylon Sewell was all but spectacular man, he was just he was on fire 96 yard
kickoff return yeah back-to-back touchdowns back-to-back touchdowns so it took it to
the house. Defense did their did their job and as soon as we get the ball back, we throw a
50-yard touchdown to him where he has to lay out and probably should have been on
Sports Center.

Absolutely, well just a remarkable game by him stepping up to the plate, having a guy injured not playing in that game making the most out of his opportunity.

Dylan Graham, obviously offensive player of the week in the conference, could have easily
been Corey Harris. I thought Corey Harris played a phenomenal game but both of those
guys don’t do what they do without the play of our offensive line, man I thought that was
one of the most clean games our offensive line has had the last two years. We kind of
went by committee. We played about 12 different offensive linemen in that game,
including three guys from Midland, so that was awesome to see. Some hometown
showing there, but on defense man we got to play about 40 different guys in that game
and we saw some true freshmen really make some big plays in that game and let us
know that the future is bright with the development of things. Tristan Exline on defense
man, unbelievable lights out had eight tackles had one and a half sacks two and a half
TFLs, probably got snipped, should have been defensive player of the week but the Lone
Star is not going to let all three of those accolades come from one school, so we actually
get to play the defensive player of the week this week at Kingsville and uh excited to get
to Kingsville.

The team you mentioned at Traylon Sewell, he was a special teams player of the week in
Lone Star Conference. Dylan Graham the offensive player of the week in Lone Star
Conference. I can’t remember where we’ve had two in the same week.

Yeah I don’t I think last year Hayden and Kenny did it one time. Did they do it one time?
Okay. I believe that and they’re basically just twins at this point.

Absolutely. I can’t get them out of my office no man if our work ethic and our attention to
detail and our focus can be what it was last week all season long man it’s going to be
another special season. I thought our team really attacked the challenge of trying to be
the Colorado school we haven’t done that right and we did that and dominated and I
couldn’t ask for a better showing by our team by the crowd I thought the crowd was
phenomenal had 7,700 people there the tailgate was awesome you could hear there was
a little festival going on right next door some of our players was dancing during the
game to the music of the festival so that’s always entertaining but it was just a great
showing Saturday night.

That’s great game and let’s talk about what you liked about the game.

Yeah obviously you like it when your offensive line can dominate the trenches both in the running pass giving up one sack. Dylan Graham got stepped on by his center and fell down. We got to
work on his balance. They didn’t touch him, he just fel,l so that’s a sack but I was
pleasantly surprised with our offensive line the performance that they did. Really like that,
really like our defense giving up only 41 yards rushing, our punt return team actually
gave up more yards on one fake than they did the whole game rushing. So I was very
proud of our defensive front and how they just manhandled those guys across the way.

So that’s what I like, what I didn’t like was on punt return I thought our returners did a
great job in three out of the four or excuse me three out of the five but we had two
fumbles. One of those we lost possession, the other one they scooped it up and Dante
Higgins, who man he, it was a phenomenal play one of the best football plays I’ve ever
been a part of as a head coach. He hawks the guy down 50 yards and at the last second
punches it out of the back of the end zone for a touchback and we get the ball back.

So just a phenomenal football play, a play where he had to run 22 miles an hour, so he did.
He could fly, absolutely, so we got to work on punt return and make sure we don’t get
faked, make sure that we don’t fumble with that returner and then we just have to make
sure we finish the game the way the right way. Right. We scored 67 and we had two
opportunities to score 70 right we were on the one-yard line fourth and one I’m not going
to kick that field goal. I believe in our offensive line and our offense to get the job done
and we snapped it over our guy’s head can’t happen and then the last drive of the game
we get a field goal block because our right wing and right in just half effort and we can’t
have that in those moments, no matter what, how far out of reach this the score is for the
other team we got a capitalizing score right there so what else do you think you need to
fix or address uh just making sure we’re not complacent with our work habits.

We have a great week last week of preparation and we absolutely dominate the game,
then this week I don’t feel like our attention to detail was what I wanted it to be. We have
to show up day in and day out. It’s not just a do it when you want type of mindset, we
have to do it every single day because now we’re in conference play and the teams just
get tougher.

Man, this next month is really going to decide our season when you play Texas A&M Kingsville, who has 27 lone star championships as a program than you, more players in the NFL Hall of Fame than any other college university in the State of Texas, absolutely, and then you play at Midwestern State next week who is a phenomenally coached team and has been for 30 years, obviously with Bill Maskell and now Rich Renner, who I have a ton of respect for him and his time there for the last 18 years of being defensive coordinator. And then you go Angelo State comes to town who has been the uh the epitome of the champs of the lone star and then you got Central Washington on the road so this next month man is just every day our preparation has to be better than it was today or yesterday or the day before. We have to lock in and be ready for those moments.

Who are your top players in all three phases of the game Saturday against Adams?
Yeah, I usually go against you know the conference players of the week, obviously Dylan Graham played a phenomenal game, but I don’t think Dylan like I said Dylan or Cory do what they do without the offensive line, so we actually named two guys offensive players of the game. Ramon Diaz left guard who has over 40 starts now in his career has played it pretty much in every game since he signed with the Falcons. And then Tyler Ball who replaced Max Johnson in the center, Max
Johnson’s now at right guard, Tyler Ball played a phenomenal game those two graded out
the highest on the offensive line, so that’s who we gave it to on offense defense.

Tristan Exline, man that kid is just phenomenal. Hayden Kelly had a phenomenal year last year
and this kid is blowing that out, which is hard to imagine. It’s because Hayden only made
for all-American team, don’t bring that up to him he won’t shut up about it but special
teams players of the game that we had two. I don’t normally do two but Dante Hagan
saving a touchdown so taking seven points off the board for them and then Treyland
Sewell getting seven points on the board himself and special shout out to Heston Kelly
had a touchdown making block on that return, along with everybody else on our kickoff
return unit, man they did a phenomenal job right there.

So what about the preview of Kingsville? Yeah you said earlier this is a matchup in the state of Texas has become kind of a rivalry even before I took the job here there was a back and forth games where they did not like each other and then obviously we played in the bowl game when I was at
East Central in my last game as the head coach there and there was some pre-game
excitement there on the field and then we took care of business and kind of ran them out
of the stadium pretty quickly.

That game, and I take the job here, and that’s the first thing I circled on the schedule so I have a lot of respect for their head coach man he’s the ultimate professional. I’ve been in this game a long time, he’s really got Kingsville back on the map where for years they kind of disappeared and he has turned that program back around and got it back to the excitement of the South Texas program that you remember with all the NFL Hall of Famers and conference championships, so it’s
always a fun game but it’s definitely a physical altercation when you get into this game,
This is a four-quarter battle that you got to keep swinging, you got to keep fighting
because the physicality will not be lacking on Saturday whatsoever, on either side of the
ball. They have a phenomenal defensive line number one who I have now coached
against three times DeMarcus Hendricks. He is a phenomenal football player, I do think
he’s hurt a little bit right now wearing a knee brace, he’s definitely not at a hundred
percent but he’s gonna play like his hair’s on fire all the time and was conference player
of the week last week, had a forced fumble, had a sack or a couple sacks, a couple TFLs, six
tackles, so he’s gonna play lights out.

And then number zero was number 93 last year all conference D tackle, phenomenal quick get off great hands works every move in the book
that you can think of so those two do a great job on that defensive line you got
linebackers coached by our former D-line coach so I know they’re coached well they’re
going to be ready and kind of probably know our calls because he’s been around them
for so long and then their defensive backroom that’s probably the best defensive
backroom we’ve played up to date you know they’re long they’re very physical they’re
they’re a little bit too handsy they’re probably gonna get caught on some things this
week but they are quick triggered guys as soon as you try to throw rpo they’re going to
be right there in your grill so our receivers have to do a great job of doing their job and
their assignments and doing what they got to and then offensively coach Salinas calls
the offense is always very methodical in and out of 10 11 12 personnel kind of a lot like
us they’re going to mix up the personnels and try to get find early on in the game what
they can be successful with but they have two running backs one’s five 200 pounds
very physical running back very smart very Darren Sproles like and then number two is
their team captain he was number 33 last year had a very good season I think this year
he’s more physical he’s bigger faster stronger had a good offseason obviously worked
hard to be named captain of their team right now they don’t know who their quarterback
is the guy who played the second half against us last year started the first two weeks
and then we get the two deep and he’s not the starter this week so I think we got to
prepare for both of them to play in this game but usually when you play teams that don’t
quite know the quarterback situation they struggle a little bit on offense but they have
four all-conference caliber offensive linemen up front four seniors returning that started
a year ago so you know they’re going to be ready to go and our defensive line who I
think are very physical and some of the best in the country are going to have their
work cut out because it’s going to be a very physical game in the trenches and we need
to take care of that dominating battle that uh that we’re going to have to get into this
week what kind of offense do they run coach 11 and 12 they try to run the ball just like
us they want everything they do is based off the run if they can get in a groove and run
the football they’re going to stay in it pound you to death absolutely and then if you
jump up they become one-dimensional they have to throw the ball they’re not as good
as they can be if they’re able to run the football and defense wise yeah they’re going to
be it’s really a four three defense but they go four one box two overhangs play a lot of
cover two a lot of man-to-man pressures they kind of mix it up game to game so you
don’t really know what they’re going to try to do this game if they’ve done what they’ve
done the last two times I played them they’re going to try to twist us stun us up front the
defensive line are going to move a lot they’re going to bring some pressure and they’re
going to trust their corners on islands with Jeremiah Cooley and Deon Cook and
Laquan Wells and all those guys and uh I think this is a group that you can’t live in that
where you’re going to probably die by the sword but we’re going to be able to run the
football i can tell you that so any special thing you’ve got cooked up for this game or is it
the same game plan as normal no we’re going to try to pound the rock I mean if you look
at those first 12 plays um many runs in there I’m not saying there’s 12 but it’s
a number very close to 12 healthy dose healthy dose of runs healthy dose.

We’re down to the part where we do our three keys to victory for this weekend please.

Yeah I think it all starts with the run game. You know Kingsville’s defense has only given up 200 yards rushing three times in the last three years and two of those came with me calling the plays, so when you’re able to run for 200 yards um which these guys struggle uh to uh win games giving up that many yards rushing because they’re so dead beat on stopping the run you kind of take like I said earlier the wind out of their sails man, so we’re going to try to run for 200 yards and keep the ball on the ground and try to control the clock and all those things.

I think it starts with that because they’re going to try to do the same thing. So if they get to 200
yards rushing, uh they’re going to have every advantage in this game um and then
second would be when the turnover margin right now they’re one of the top three teams
in the country uh they’re forcing five turnovers so far this season in two games pretty
good that their defensive backs fly man.

So that’s going to be something we have to take care of the football we have to create some more turnovers on defense man we the last two games we had one each we got to get more than just one right we’re a team that prides itself on ball security turnover circuits on defense so I think if we can get to two or three this game we can really put this game to bed and the last thing being red zone scoring they’re one of the best defenses in the country when it comes to stopping people in the red zone forcing teams to kick field goals forcing teams to go forward on fourth down in the red zone instead of putting the ball in the end zone when you’re scoring
three every drive instead of seven man it makes it tough for you to catch up to them
especially if they get some touchdown uh early in this game so those three things run for
200 yards win the turnover margin and red zone scoring and i think the last thing it’s
kind of a fourth piece is it’s a race to 28 points I think if we can score 28 points first team
28 first team 28 wins this ball game I think this week so I don’t think they’ve lost any
games where they hit 28 points and so that’s going to be a key for us to get to that 28
point margin and kind of put the pressure on their offense I don’t think they have the
firepower to stay with us in this ball game if we can get past 28 points but if we keep it a
low scoring game man this is a team that kind of feeds off of those low scoring games
milk the clock and take the game into a more slower tempo which we’re a fast tempo
team if they can do that man they can stay in this ball game plus I’m guessing they’re
going to be really mad because this is the second year in a row that they’ve had to ride
485 miles from Kingsville to Odessa and that would our midland that would really
rip my britches coach yeah that’s probably not a good ride and then you’re staying at the
elegante and uh fire alarms are going off probably and all those types of things so
uh it’s not a I haven’t had to make that trip thank goodness uh I’m looking forward to it
next year but um no that’s not easy travel and you know they probably have plenty of
friends here in Odessa Midland area that uh can get them into trouble there’s hoggy fans
everywhere I’ve learned.

And coach we’re at the final segment of our show where you share your final thoughts for this weekend’s game against Kingsville.

Yeah, if you like old school, pound the rock, physicality football games I think this
is the one you want to go to here uh at Astound Broadband Stadium six o’clock Saturday
um you love the rivalries around college football right um I think this is one that over
the next few years is just going to grow and grow and grow hopefully we can make it a
trophy game here soon um it’s going to be a a battle for four quarters and uh i think the
most physical team and the most i guess team with the most discipline not doing stupid
turnovers or stupid penalties and just taking care of uh the little things of a football
game that you have to think about with the unsportsmanlikes uh the penalties the
hidden penalty yards that can change a game we got to be really good with that
we got to be able to run the football we got to be able to take care of the football um and
we got to stay healthy um you’re getting to that point where you’re traveling with 66
guys we’re going to dress out a little bit more at home but now this conference play we
got to really lock into those 66 and figure out who can play for us those key moments of
the game um but we’re also getting to honor some of our first uh first responders
military personnel at this game so we’re going to wear uh black helmets gray on gray
and uh and celebrate those that do so much for this country and so much for our
communities this game so looking forward to a great crowd had 9,000 first game 7,700
people at the second game let’s see what we can do for this game.

That’s it, all right coach thank you so much for your time and your comments. This has been the Chris McCullough Show on 95x. You can catch it on Fox 24 after the College Friday Night Football game and pre-game starts at 5:30 Saturday and kickoff at 6 with me and Ben Farmer, thank you very much coach.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to Yourbasin.