RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz, senior running back Israel Tucker and junior defensive back Jaiden Cole spoke with the media Tuesday in advance of LA Tech's (5-3, 4-2 C-USA) game at TCU (5-4, 5-4 Big 12) on Saturday, Dec. 12, at 6 p.m. (CT) at Amon G. Carter Stadium.
 
Head Coach Skip Holtz
On the game at North Texas:
"How nice is it that we don't have to talk about the UAB game anymore from Halloween night over a month ago because we have now had the opportunity to play another football game and how great it was to be able to get out on that field and to see the smiles on the players' faces. The week last week was really strange because we went into it in a big downer knowing that we just our fourth game in a row canceled. How many times do you put your hand on the stove only to find out it's hot and you're going to get burned? So, really, when we came to work on Saturday, it was kind of a low murmur in the team, meaning there just wasn't a lot of energy. Then, Sunday got louder. Monday got louder. By Tuesday, it was like, 'You know what? This is going to happen. We're going to play.' Then it was Wednesday. And then Thursday, the excitement, the energy and how happy those players were just to have the opportunity to play the game that they have trained for and the game that they love. It was great to have the opportunity to go play and to watch them play.
 
"What I was really proud of was the product that they put out on the field. Not only did they compete and play with energy and passion and they were into it. You look at some teams that go out on the field that are caught up. They've had enough. This has been a long, frustrating season. But, this group went out there with some passion, excitement and some energy. I was really proud of the way they played.
 
"Defensively, it was a little bit of a slow start. We gave up two out of the first three drives were touchdowns. It took us a little while to get acclimated to not only the speed of the game, playing again and tackling again in space, which we haven't done in a month, but it also was trying to get adjusted to North Texas' offense and the speed in which they go. A lot was talked about last week about them having the number one offense in our conference and the No. 10 rushing offense in the country. We knew it was going to be a challenge. We knew we were going to have to play fast. We were going to have to get the rust off in a hurry. After the first quarter, for quarters two, three and four, our defense played amazing against a high-powered, potent offense. Seth (Littrell) does a great job with that offense. Defense really met the challenge. Coach (David) Blackwell and the defensive staff had great schemes. They put together some different things to take away (Jaelon) Darden, and even with all that put together he still scored three touchdowns and had 130 yards receiving. The defense really did an excellent job of limiting them to 31 points.
 
"Offensively, it was probably a little bit just the opposite. We scored six on our first eight drives on offense, but scored touchdowns and were six-for-six in the red zone and were able to get the ball in there to score. You go back and look at the UTSA game where we had a lot of opportunities in the first half to put points on the board, and we ended up settling for field goals. The difference of this week in the red zone compared to UTSA is we were able to run the football. Some guys really stepped up. I can't say enough about Israel Tucker who has all of a sudden he found himself in a solo role as the lone tailback. What does that look like? That looks like 37 carries and 161 yards for Izzy on Thursday night. He did a great job. The leadership on the offensive line and guys up front like Kody Russey, Joshua Mote, Abraham Delfin and the way they played inside. I can't say enough about the job that Dakota White and Walker Hankinson did stepping in at tackles. We have a freshman and a redshirt freshman. Since the last time we played, we've had six players opt out, and yet we've had some young guys that have really stepped to the forefront and they're getting great experience and really starting to build stuff for the future. We dropped back-passed 34 times between the two quarterbacks and we only gave up one sack with the tackles. They did an excellent job.
 
"Overall, it was just the frustration for me offensively was we weren't able to finish the game. The last four drives of the game we had a turnover and we punted three times. If you want to be a great football teams, you want to be able to finish games. That's where your four minute offense comes out when everybody knows you're running the ball in the stadium. You have to be able to run the ball. Overall, way too many good things to hammer the negatives because so many things could have gone wrong with a month off, but I was really proud of our football team and the job that they did. The kicking game, Wayne Toussant created some great field position. The defense had a number of fourth down stops. We had a turnover about midfield to create great field position for the offense and the offense was able to finish it. It was a great team win. All three areas contributed, but I was really proud of what this football team was able to accomplish on Thursday night because, to be honest, I didn't know what to expect going into the game. I knew that we had guys who love to compete. I know they love to play the game, but I didn't know how much rust we'd have on us. I was really proud, and it was a lot of fun to watch them compete and play."
 
On TCU:
"TCU has got an excellent football team. They beat Texas when they were No. 9. They beat No. 15 Oklahoma State last week. They've won four of their last five. They have a freshman receiver averaging 20 yards a catch. They are leading the Big 12 in rushing. They have two freshmen running backs that are averaging 6.1 and 6.2 yards per carry. Defensively, they have a defensive end that is ranked 15th in the country with 13.5 tackles for loss. The other defensive end only has 12 tackles for loss. When you think of TCU, you think of a Gary Patterson-coached team. You know they're going to be physical. You know they're going to be staunch on defense. You know they're going to be fundamentally sound and they're going to be very well coached on special teams. The difference with this team right now is the way they're running the ball, their explosiveness on offense which is really making them a powerful, complete football team. They can beat you offensively. They can beat you defensively. They can beat you with their kicking game as their punt returner is leading the country at 19 yards a return and has scored two touchdowns so far this year as a punt returner. This is a complete team that they have that we're going to play. We're not looking at this as a bowl game. This is we came off North Texas and now we're getting ready for our next opponent. It's going to be a great opportunity. We know we're going to be playing a top-20-caliber team when we put on the pads on Saturday night, and we're excited about that challenge and some of the underclassmen. We're excited to see where we line up against this type of talent because this is one of the better teams in the Big 12."
 
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