RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz and select student-athletes met with the media Monday in advance of the team's home game against Rice on Saturday.

Opening comments:

"Starting off, I want to give a big shout out to Coach (Michael) White and the start that the men's basketball team is off to. I enjoyed watching all of those new young guys. He is doing a great job with that basketball program."

"It is always hard to look back, especially in a loss. This was a frustrating loss and it was frustrating because we had a 24-14 lead at the half. It was a tale of two halves from a statistical standpoint. Offensively, we had 283 yards with around 90 yards rushing and 200 yards passing. We had a lot of good things going on in the first half. We had the ball five possessions, scored on three of them, missed a field goal and had a turnover. It felt like we had some things going well for us. We came out in the second half and I give Old Dominion a lot of credit. I thought they came out in the second half and they earned it. The defense made them earn their way down the field. They had a nine-minute drive to start the third quarter. They kicked a field goal that made it 24-17. Offensively, the first play went for ten yards and then we had a missed assignment followed by two dropped passes and we punted it. That was the last our offense was on the field in the third quarter."

"It was a game that you feel like just got away from you because we could not get anything established offensively to get any momentum going. Defensively, we really could not get off the field. It was a total team loss. It is not about pointing fingers. I thought some guys played well. The bottom line is as a team we did not play well enough to win a game on the road. As I told the team yesterday, as much as we wanted to win this game, it was Game 6 in the playoffs. You lost Game 6 on the road, which is the bad news, but you get Game 7 at home on Saturday at 11 a.m."

"We are fortunate to have the opportunity we do to play this weekend. We have the opportunity to wrap up the West Division at home against Rice who is the team that won it a year ago. I do not know that we could create a better atmosphere or a better scenario. There are a lot of people playing in late November that are not playing for anything. Knowing we have the opportunity for a bowl game ahead of us, but you are still playing for the championship. I do not know if any game around Saturday will have as much meaning as this one will. We have No. 1 against No. 2 in a winner take all game. That is the scenario we talked to our team about. Game 7 is all about winner take all. The team that wins it, has the opportunity to claim the west. This is going to be an exciting week. I know our players are excited about it."

"Looking at this Rice football team, it is a very talented team. They have been through a similar situation that we have. They played Notre Dame and Texas A&M in two of their non-conference games. They lost those, came back and lost to Old Dominion. They lost to Marshall as well. When you look at them, they are a very solid football team. I think David Bailiff is one of the best football coaches in this league. I have been around David a long time. When he went into that program nine years ago, what he has built year in and year out, I just have great respect for him. I think the best word to describe them is that they are solid. Their defense is ranked in the top four in pretty much every defensive category. They are second in rushing defense. They are No. 2 in sacks and No. 1 in turnover margin. When you look at them defensively, they are really impressive with what they have been doing. Their defense is very physical. It is not going to be a scheme game, it is going to be an execution game. They are very physical with what they do. They line up and play the game. They are very talented. They know their scheme, plus their strengths and weaknesses."

"Offensively, they are solid. They have a big 6-foot-5 wide receiver they throw the ball to. He is second in the league in receptions. Everyone on their offensive line has had double-digit starts. They have a lot of experience. With Bailiff coming back every year, they have stability. They are very solid at quarterback. They have a committee of running backs. They have found a way to win. They are very talented with what they do. It will be a great challenge for us, one that we are looking forward to."

"I would encourage anybody that is a Bulldog to come support this team. They are opening the dorms on Friday night to get the student body to come back. I would encourage everyone to come back and come to the game. It should be a great game with a great environment. When you go into the last game of the regular season with a chance for a winner-take-all atmosphere, it is going to be a great environment and I know our players are really excited to be a part of it. It is going to be an exciting week."

On players not responding to halftime message:

"I am not going to call it flat, because we had a lot of guys that played very hard. I thought defensively we had some guys play well, we just did not play with that edge. That is the one thing we have done all year, we have played with an edge. We have played with a crispness and sharpness. We were halfway to fifty points at halftime with 300 yards. Is it part of the inexperience? Did we take it for granted? Did we respect the team the way we should have? Was it all of it? I don't know, but I was disappointed with the way we came out, especially as an offense in the second half. Old Dominion ate the ball and took away a lot of the momentum. We helped them by jumping offside on third down. If they did not make it on fourth down, we would have gotten the ball at midfield. We made some mistakes, but overall, we did not play with an edge in the second half. We have addressed it and talked about it. They know exactly how we feel as coaches."

On Le'Vander Liggins' injury:

"You just have to look at the experience that he brings. Colby Brown and Bryson Abraham have done some good things, but they just do not have the experience that a guy like Liggins has. That was big and it is hard to lose a starting corner. Those are the things that you have to overcome. This late in the year, everyone is beat up. Everyone has a starter out somewhere, we have been playing a couple weeks without Hunter Lee. We had to play without (Vontarrius) Dora for a while. We have had some injuries that we have had to be able to overcome. It has to be a mentality of the next guy up. Somebody has to step in. Our expectation is the standard that we play at. Every player on this team has the expectation that when they step between those lines, the standard has been set. We dropped a game that we felt like we definitely had a chance to win. I give Old Dominion a lot of credit. Coach Wilder has done a great job with that team. We knew they were going to be talented. Even in their losses, they have been in every single game because of their experience. It is a hard one to lose and that is why we say the team that wins Game 7 is the team that can put Game 6 to bed the quickest. Put it to bed and let's move on."

On preparing for Rice this year vs. last year:

"This team is already bowl eligible, which is the biggest difference between this year and last year. There is a completely different culture on this team than there was a year ago. I feel really good about the way this team is going to respond to the loss. The last time we went through something like this was the Northwestern State game. We went to Auburn and then came back and responded with a five-game win streak. A lot of guys have talked about how in the big picture this may be good for us so we can refocus and center us. The leadership and the culture is probably the biggest difference."

On vocal players following the loss:

"Sterling Griffin was very vocal on the field and in the locker room. Paul Turner has been a very vocal leader on this football team, as well as Kenneth Dixon. Defensively, Tony Johnson was probably as animated as I have seen him. Tony probably played one of his better games of the year. Vernon Butler and Vontarrius Dora have been leaders on this team. We did not just give the leadership to the seniors this year. We had everyone vote on a leadership council. There are a lot of guys that have developed as leaders, just knowing their team has voted them into the leadership council."

On Rice's offense:

"They do what they do is the best way to put it. They run every scheme known to man. They are very intelligent. They are book smart and have a high football IQ. When you look at the schemes they run on that offensive line, you need a lot of experience to be able to do everything without a lot of missed assignments. They run every scheme known to man. They have a quarterback that executes it. In their seven conference games, they have only turned it over three times. They are very solid with what they do. They are a team that will not beat themselves. They give you a lot of different looks. They play the game extremely hard. The difference between last year's team and this year's team is different names on the back of the jersey. The film and scheme are the same."

On lack of offensive success:

"The first series, we came out and ran a play that went 10 yards. The next play we run the same thing the other way. We have a missed assignment and instead of going for 10, it went for one. The next play, 10 players do a great job, but we drop the ball. On third down, we drop it again. Those were our first four players of the third quarter. We had the ball twice when it was 24-17 and twice when it was 24-24. We could not make anything happen with it. I think our coaches did a really good job at halftime and had a really good bead on what was going on."

On the Old Dominion offense:

"This was a football team that was averaging 460 yards a game. We knew with the way they throw the football they were going to give us a lot of different looks. We talked about how as soon as you rob Peter to pay Paul and put an extra guy in the box to stop the run, they were going to throw it. Defensively, I do not think we started as fast as I would have liked to. I thought as the game went on, our front seven got more physical. Even though they were able to control the ball, they had a nine-minute drive to kick a field goal. We kept the ball in front of us. We tackled. I thought their quarterback was the difference in the game. Some of the throws he made in that game, you just applaud him."

On the two interceptions by Adairius Barnes:

"He has been tremendous. I look back at his first game against NC State last year where he gave up a couple of big plays. He came off saying it is a little bit different out there than in practice. He has matured and gotten better every game since then. He had two interceptions this game. He is tremendously talented. He has great ball skills. Having a guy like that in your secondary, he is only going to mature and get better. We talked earlier about experience that was missing when Liggins went out. That is what Adairius Barnes is starting to gain. I wish we could make some kind of experience pill that you could give some of these young talented players. Guys like Carlos Henderson, Marlon Watts, Marcus Gaines and Jarred Craft. It is a maturing process where they can get comfortable and show their talents. That is what Barnes is able to do now because of his comfort level on the field."

On Liggins' injury:

"Right now, I am expecting it. I know they are running all the tests with him. I am expecting him to come back. He did not run around today. I would imagine that he would practice tomorrow or Wednesday. Right now, I am anticipating him playing."

On Logan McPherson on the field for the overtime coin toss:

"At that point, the punter's job is done for the day. Your field goal kicker still has something to do. Not too many teams are punting during overtime. We figured we would send our punter out from a philosophy standpoint. We told him what to call and what the decisions were. Let the captains sit down and talk with their coaches and game plan. We said at the beginning of the year what our plan was going to be. We wanted those other guys to talk with their coaches and focus on what they needed to do."

On Kenneth Dixon reaching 3,000 career yards as a junior:

"I think Kenneth is a phenomenal football player and athlete. He is one of those rare young men that has the opportunity as a freshman and succeeds. They call it the sophomore woes because not often a player who succeeds as a freshman does it again as a sophomore. It shows his work ethic and consistency. We are going to look back one day and talk about how when guys like Kenneth Dixon were on the field. I feel very fortunate and blessed to have the opportunity to coach him."

On motivation to win vs. Rice on Saturday:

"52-14 is all over that locker room. Nobody questions what happened last year. Everyone is aware of it and this was a game last year that everyone circled in the offseason and said this was the game. Everyone knew it was going to come down to this last game for all the marbles. Louisiana Tech and Rice playing for the Western Division in Ruston. I am not saying that just today. Rice won it a year ago. That is the scenario that we put in our heads. That was one of the motivating factors that pushed us through the winter, spring and summer. I thought the defense played better in the second half. It was a unique game. The offense came out like gangbusters. We had the ball for 22 of the 30 minutes in the first half. We ate the ball up and scored points. Our defense kept getting off the field. In the second half, I do not think the offense played with the same edge. I do think the defense got better after halftime. The offense was not nearly as effective."

"Back to Rice, you do not forget. It is not a redemption game as much as it a reminder of the low point of last season. I know they played a very emotional game with David Bailiff's father passing away that week. I thought his football team rallied around their respect for him. For us on the receiving end, it is definitely one that you put in the back of your mind. You cannot talk about it, you just have to go out and do it."

On when he knew LA Tech had a chance to have a good season:

"When this football team came to camp this year was when I really felt like this team had a chance to be good with the addition of some of our new players. You really start to put a football team together in camp. You feel like you have a pretty good nucleus and base with the players we had returning. We felt like we had a chance with them with the addition of these new guys. At that point we knew we had a chance. There were a lot of things that were going to have to materialize. We had to mature, grow up and come together. There were a lot of intangible things that needed to happen. I was encouraged coming out of Oklahoma. After Lafayette and North Texas, I was really starting to be encouraged as we continued to say we are a work in progress. We were going to learn a lot about our team and how we would handle adversity. I thought the way this team evolved through the first five games with Northwestern State and Auburn losses being part of our development. When we came out of Auburn is when I thought we were going to be a really good football team. Just watching the determination they had coming out of those two losses. A big part of it is your attitude and how you approach it and see yourself. I think this football team has seen themselves in this football game for a year. That is why everyone is so excited about it.

RB Kenneth Dixon

On anticipating the game vs. Rice:

"You always have a point to prove when you play, but with this being a championship game, you know it is all in. With me not being able to play last year, that has something to do with it. We just have to come to play. It starts this week with practice. It really started yesterday with us coming in and getting on the weights and working the soreness out. I feel like we are going to answer to the occasion. Our team will be dialed in, focused and ready to play."

On the mood in the locker room after the ODU game:

"I definitely feel like everyone is going to bounce back. That was the attitude coming in. Coach Holtz told us you get 24 hours after a loss. You can either celebrate or be down about it, but you only get 24 hours. Coming back, I feel like we felt good and I feel like everyone is in good spirits. I feel like now we are ready to go."

On coming back from a slight injury vs. UAB:

"It feels good to bounce back from an injury after doing the rehab. We have a great athletic training staff and I was just getting the little things done, so it felt good."

On the team wanting to bounce back after the loss at ODU:

"I feel like our determination is huge coming into this game. Working out during the offseason, this is one of the games we focused on just from the 52-14 loss last year and we kind of want to bounce back from that. After losing that game on Saturday, I feel like it helped us a little bit with the focus. In the second half, we came out a little flat and we lost energy a little bit. After that game, coach came in and talked and said it is Game 6 and we still have Game 7 and not too many people get a Game 7."

On getting hurt last year vs. Rice:

"It is always hard when you see your team go to battle without you, but that is just life. When it throws you a curve ball, you have to step up in the box and hit it. You have to stay focused and try to lead the team whichever way you can and try to stay positive."

On what they players said in the locker room after the ODU game:

"After coach got done talking, Sterling (Griffin) got up and told us to keep focused and do the little things right. Coach [Holtz] called the leadership council up before practice today and asked us how we felt about the game from Saturday. It just starts with our work ethic. It starts with the leaders."

DB Adairius Barnes

On having four interceptions but not getting the victory:

"It is kind of hard to believe when you win the turnover battle and still lose the game. It is kind of hard to believe."

On what the locker room was like after the game:

"You are always going to want that opportunity to come back, but what happened, happened. We would have loved to go back out there and try again, but like coach said we have to look forward. That game it kind of hurt us but it did not when we look at the big picture in what our main focus is."

On Le'Vander Liggins getting injured:

"We always say we are going to play for each other. Every time before every play, Le'vander and I look across at each other and point at each other like `it's time to go.' With Le'Vander going down, I knew we had other guys that are always ready to step up. With Colby [Brown] coming in, he did a good job."

On ever seeing glimpses of this team having a chance for a league championship after last season:

"We always knew we had it. I guess we just needed a little bit more time together to actually put it all together. We came in this year with a different focus and we were more together. That really helped us out a lot."

On extra motivation for defense with last year's lopsided loss to Rice:

"It is tough, but as a defense we always have a chip on our shoulder. Coach teaches us to go out there with a chip on our shoulder every time. When you go back to saying we have an edge, that is what defense is about. We have to have an edge. There is a chip of our shoulder."

On remembering what Rice did last year offensively:

"They are a good fundamental team. They have a lot of good athletes. Last year they pretty much ran the ball, ran the ball and then came back and threw a deep one. They pretty much broke us down. They pretty much do the same thing so it is up to our defense to come out and do what we do."

On the defense having eight interceptions combined against WKU and Old Dominion's quarterbacks:

"Coach Diaz is a great coach. He always puts us in the perfect position for us to get our job done. With us knowing that Western Kentucky were going to throw the ball a hundred times and Old Dominion to come in and throw the ball a lot, we rose to the occasion and pretty much played the ball in the air."

On having three different games with two interceptions:

"It is exciting, but with me it is just play the game. It is really my defense. We help each other. We complement each other's plays. When our d-line is getting after the quarterback and have the quarterback just throw the ball, then it is up to us to make that play and I thank them for that."