Ben Arbuckle Postgame — New Mexico

Yeah, I think there's a lot of things that we got to continue getting better at. I don't think there's any jumping around it, any skipping around it. We got to put our head down, nose on the grindstone, go back to work, and really figure out what we're really good at, what our identity is going to be. Ultimately, I think it's gonna come down to being a tough physical team, so. What's the most frustrating thing about being a physical athlete? At times, it's really dirty and really sloppy. I can just tell you, I'm gonna watch the film and there's gonna be things that we can be a little bit cleaner on, we can be a little bit faster, a little bit more physical on. And that's gonna be the frustrating thing. But on the flip side of that, there were times that they did some really good things, but you asked me what the most frustrating thing is, that's probably what it is, just how dirty and how messy it was, and it didn't have to be. Hats off to New Mexico, awesome team. They came in here, played their butts off, extremely well coached, and they came out here looking for a win, and they played their butts off. In running the football tonight, how well did you feel like that went? Yeah, I didn't think it went great. I didn't feel that way in the game, then looking at the stat sheet after the game, I didn't think it felt great. So again, we gotta get the ball downhill, we gotta get going vertical on it, we gotta run violent, we gotta strike blocks, we gotta get under people's chin straps. And ultimately, we're not gonna get any better until we really start doing those things. And so, that's a challenge as coaches, and that's a challenge as players. Second striker, when you played first with the tight end group, did you like him, did you saw him, did you think he was good? Yeah, I thought Hayden, in a lot of regards, played his butt off. He does a lot of dirty work for us in the core, so I was really proud of him on that one specific drive. Everybody talks about his touchdown, and that was awesome, but he made a big time third down catch right there too to keep the drive alive. And so again, proud of those guys, you're gonna watch the film, those guys are gonna watch the film, and they didn't play their best today. They did do some really good things, they had some bright spots today, but there's gonna be a whole lot that we can get better from. And then John had two picks, but completion percentage wasn't bad, where do you plan to evaluate this? Yeah, the interceptions, again, gotta go back and really look at them and diagnose them. The first one, I believe we missed a pick stunt there into the boundary, which kind of flushed him, and he flushed and threw the ball back behind his body, which you ask any quarterback in the country, any former quarterback, that's a cardinal sin, all right? So threw the ball back behind his body, okay, put our defense in a tough spot. And the other one, I really gotta go back and look and see exactly what happened, and so I thought he came out in the second half, though, played clean and played confident, delivered the ball really, really well, especially in some big moments there, especially towards the end of the game to ice the game out. So some stuff to build off of, for sure, but we gotta get a lot better. Yeah, confidence is a real thing, it must seem like after the first half this offense had some of that, where do you feel like the level of confidence is for this offense? Yeah, I think Coach Venable said it right, I think after the first game, I thought we had a lot of good vibes, a lot of good juice going right there. And then you go into week two, and I don't wanna sit here and talk about week two that much, but we didn't execute the way that we needed to, ultimately, as coaches and as players, and that parlayed into this. And we just played a team who came in here and played their butt off, extremely well coached. And so at the end of the day, you gotta put your head down, go to work, and continue to get better, and that's all you can do. And honestly, what would just be your message to the fans and us that, hey, this thing can't get better, we can't fix it? Yeah, we all understand the standard, we all understand the expectation. That's it, leave it at that, we understand the standard, we understand the expectation, we're gonna put our head down, we're gonna go to work. What did you think of the offensive line today, just kind of the struggle? I mean, Michael had a little struggle here the other day. What did you think of the offensive line? Yeah, up and down, a lot of times, they played really well on that. Shoot, on that long touchdown to Isaiah, I think John stood back there for five seconds. I think that's awesome, I think that's a bright spot. But at the end of the day, I just thought it was up and down. We gotta continue to preach physicality, preach velocity off the ball, preach strain. And one thing I do know about all those offensive linemen in that room, they're up for the challenge. And so we gotta continue to demand that, and you'll get what you demand. I mean, the backfield hierarchy, I think Lloyd's probably taken the most snaps. J-Hat was gonna play quite a bit during UTEP, and for just certain circumstances. Didn't really play all that much until tonight. And we just gotta continue finding who the guy in that room is, and they're all guys, they all have roles. But we gotta get someone rolling with some consistency, get somebody rolling in some rhythm, and that one will play itself out. What did you think of John's performance? Yeah, again, I thought for the most part he did some really, really good things. The two interceptions leave sour spots in your mouth right there. And just because, I don't think they had to happen. And but again, I gotta go back and watch the film. I gotta diagnose it, I gotta see exactly what happened. I gotta, we can do that on the field. But on the field at the same time, you're talking about flushing it, let's go on to the next play. And so, really gotta look back, but I thought for the most part tonight, I thought John did some really good things. And especially in the second half, some good stuff to build off of. In almost every game Brent's ever been head coach, first thing he wants to talk about is how his defense could have been better. Even when they played great. It really wasn't that way tonight. He talked about how proud he was, and he said, we gotta give him some help. Do you sense more of a intensity on his part to get the offense fixed? Yeah, I mean, he's the head coach, this is his football program. At the end of the day, the defense plays their butt off, week in and week out. And we gotta get up to the standard of it. And so, I mean, absolutely. And Brent said he felt like this week the preparation and practice with the offense was really good. What's maybe the disconnect from the week of preparation? Yeah, I mean, I would agree with him. I thought we had our best week of practice since I've been at Oklahoma, Monday through Friday. And so, again, at the end of the day, I don't wanna take anything away from New Mexico. I don't, I thought they came in here, played their butt off. But we understand that we gotta make it happen on game day, okay? Great week of preparation, but it's an expectation that you go out there and you don't have to play perfect, but you gotta play well. And I gotta call the game well, all right? But we gotta get it to translate. Yeah, appreciate y'all, Boomer.