RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz and redshirt freshman defensive lineman Keivie Rose spoke to the media ahead of LA Tech's game at Old Dominion on Saturday, Oct. 30, at 2:30 p.m. CT.
 
Head Coach Skip Holtz:
On the UTSA game:
"Last week was disappointing with the way we played. If you look at it statistically, it was a very even game with both teams having 400 yards. We were sloppy when you look at the way we performed. They played hard, but we gave up an uncontested deep ball in the second play of the game. It was just a lack of communication between a safety and a corner. We gave up a zone play that went right up the middle of the field untouched for 50 yards where we fitted a little too tight with our safeties. We had 3rd and 23 and held them to about six yards and then gave a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down which led to seven more points. We had the pick-6 that went for seven. Then, we had the fumble on the kickoff return that went for seven points. When you look at it, we had five plays that we gave away that led to 35 points which good football teams don't do. We were minus-three in the turnover battle. We did not create any as a defense, but did have three. I commend UTSA. They have a good team. They're very mature. They don't make a lot of mistakes. They don't beat themselves and that's exactly what we did Saturday. We had eight penalties in the game and the red zone still becomes a bit of a problem. We have to be able to stop some people and make them kick field goals once they get down in the red zone. We have to shore some things up.
 
"There's definitely some things we can learn from and improve. The players want to win. They need to win. We've gone through the month of October now without a win between the losses and the open date. This is one last opportunity to win in October. Guys like Keivie Rose, DJ Jackson and Deshon Hall. The linebackers in Tyler Grubbs, Trey Baldwin, Ezekiel Barnett. BeeJay Williamson continues to play well. We just don't have enough guys playing at that level right now. That's where we have to go practice and we have to get better. There's some good individual performances. It's the same thing offensively. Joshua Mote and Abraham Delfin. We talk about them every week. They're just playing really solid football. Those guys are juniors that have played a lot of football and are very mature football players and are really doing a nice job with it. Marcus Williams Jr. continues to shine. It was nice to see Keyon Henry-Brooks get started a little bit. He's going to have to play a little bit of a bigger role for us as we're going forward. The receivers continue to step up. Smoke Harris had his first 100-yard day since he's been here. Tre Harris and Samuel Emilus continue to play really well. Jacob Adams is really playing a strong role for us here in the last couple of weeks. Cesar Barajas averaged 47-yards a punt which is the first time he's done that. What we see in practice every day is what he showed up and did on Saturday. It was nice to see him show up. From a special teams-standpoint, our punt team held them to their lowest average of the season in under 34 yards of net punt. Our kickoff team did a really nice job, but we had the fumble on the kickoff return. There's some positive things, but not enough of them. There are things we certainly have to get cleaned up. We have to do a better job of playing smart football. It's disappointing to lose. We felt like it was a great opportunity against a really good football team. When you don't play your best, that's the part that's really frustrating."
 
On Old Dominion:
"We come back this week. We get ready for ODU. They're a 1-6 football team, but when you put on the film they flash and do some really good things. The team is playing really hard. They have some talent. They're coming off an open date last week. They made a change at quarterback last week. They went with the big 6-5 freshman (Hayden Wolff) who came in and threw for 340 yards. The transfer wide receiver from West Virginia (Ali Jennings III) had 13 catches. The transfer tight end from Penn State (Zack Kuntz) had nine. They had some guys really step up and do some good things. Overall, they had about 450 yards of offense last week even though they lost. Their special teams are pretty special. Their punt return team is number one in the country. They've blocked four punts so far in the course of the season. Their punt return man (Isaiah Paige) is third in the conference just behind Smoke (Harris) and Sheldon Jones, the return man from UTSA. We're going to have challenges this week. Defensively, they swarm to the ball. They play really hard. They run to the ball. Their linebackers are very active. Their safety (R'Tarriun Johnson) is downhill, knock the tar out of you. He comes down looking for contact. Overall, it will be a great challenge for us on the road and in the conference again. It's really an opportunity for us to clean up some mistakes from last week and go play another conference game. There's still a lot of football to play. I know it's disappointing with where we are right now when you look at our record, but there's still a lot of football to be played. If we can get a little momentum going on our side, hopefully, we can make a run going down the stretch here."