very very disappointed for noah taylor. Um The transfer portal is good for a lot of things and uh he has been wonderful for us. I just talked to him. He was just told um and he's he's being positive. He wanted me to tell you all because he's got so many players worried about him and text him and calling him and he said let's just let's get it out there and let everybody know. Um So he we've got to thank him for all he's done. He's a tremendous leader. He's one of the reasons that our defense has improved so much. Um And he'll he will go to Charlottesville with us this weekend or he's planning on it um and see his buddies, but just uh he came here to help us and he came here to be in the NFL. So now what we've gotta do is get him fixed um and get him in a position where um he he has a chance to make an NFL team. Uh but but when you you're a head coach, uh the three toughest things you have, people think it's just losing. It's not uh it's when a young guy gets hurt and can't play anymore. As hard as these guys work. It's when a young guy gets in trouble and makes a poor decision and these are young people that make poor decisions at some points of their life and you hate the consequences. And you've got to hope that they wake up and and can do better moving forward. And the third thing is that guys just don't get to play that are working really hard, that are talented and they've done everything right and they don't get to play. So those are the three hardest things on a head coach because you, you recruit these guys, you get them here and you all, you have aspirations for them, You have hopes for them. And then whether it's getting hurt, not playing or getting in trouble, um it's not what you expect and what you want for for that, that family, So very physical game. We lost a lot of guys, but at the same time, um, that's what recruiting has gotta do. You gotta step up if you think about, we played the first part of the season without josh downs and antoine Green. And and our offense kept scoring points. So next man up and and that's what has to happen as you move move forward. Really proud of our, our team's performance on saturday night. It was a tough first half. I was a little disappointed that we scored before the half, but we got the ball back and had a chance to score again and I was disappointed that that we didn't move the ball and get points. Um, and then coming out of the half, we've done a good job in the early third quarter and we don't move the ball and then pit goes right down and scores and and they hit number five again for the deep ball, which is what we talked about doing a better job of stopping that at halftime. Um, so we're at 24 14 with 10 37 left to go in the third quarter. And, and things aren't looking good. And then from that point forth, our defense stepped up and started making stops and, and had a turnover, our kicking game kicked in with with uh, punt return down to the 35 that led to points. Uh, and the turnover led to points. It was at the plus 49. Uh, so we got short fields in both of those situations and I think we scored four straight times, four straight drives in the second half and put the game away. So 28 unanswered points. Uh, so really, really proud of the way the guys played from that 10, 37 mark in the third quarter on offensive players of the game, antoine Green and Drake May um contributors at a very high level josh downs who could be the player of the game each week, Elijah Green continues to play well. We're so proud of him and john Copenhaver, um, just he keeps making place and, and a lot of blocking or whatever he's doing and the entire offensive line, there was one sack contributed to the offensive lined. Um, so those guys really did a good job. We've given up 10 sacks in the previous two games. So that was a huge difference in, in this ball game. Defensively player of the game. He keeps playing great each week as Cayman Rucker, he had a sack, he had the forced fumble. He just makes play after play after play, He played power end, but also when Noah got hurt, he played some Jack. Um so he's smart, he's tough and and we just loved the way that he plays uh contributors on defense. Kevin Hester has really stepped up since we lost. Ray Bartoszek um Ritzy is playing at a very, very high level, He's showing up all over the place. Uh both linebackers are playing at a high level. Uh and Storm Duck played the best game since he's gotten hurt. And I thought it was 11 of the first times he really felt comfortable planning on that screen and and coming up and making an aggressive play with his ankle. And and then he made the fourth down stop. That was the last play that pit had the ball. So very, very proud of of Storm and Don chapman Uh stepped up and and did a lot of good things during the game. Special teams player of the game was Josh Downs. He made some really good decisions on on the punt uh saving some some yardage because usually if the punch hits the ground that it's 17 more yards of field position that you lose and they were inconsistent with their punt and he caught them And also took the one back to the 35 yard line that that led to points uh contributors, Elijah Green, he makes a tackle at the six yard line and that led to points. So they're they're learning that field position is so valuable and that a tackle at the six defense has to step up, then it's a short field and you score points. So Elijah just continues to do great things. Jalen brooks a walk on is he's good on special teams. Every week, john Copenhaver, his name comes up again. D. J. Jones had to step in for injured players and play a position he hadn't even worked at and did a really good job on special teams day day. Holland says all over the place. Don chapman. Elijah Green was playing a lot on offense. He was on every special team and he got some cramps and Don chapman just jumped in and said, let me handle it, I'll take the place and then jake uh huckle road is another young walk on that's playing it. It's such a good pace for us that he actually covers kick off so well they've started double teaming him. Um and we had two short kicks to start the game and and the guys covered to a point, they didn't even get it back to the 25 yard line. Uh punt coverages has been really good. So uh the special teams are uh saturday night started winning games and instead of just being a participant, uh seven and one for the first time since 2015, we were seven and one in 97 96 93. And the only other time we've been seven and one since then was 1983. So this team has done some special things to get us to this point of the season. You love to be playing for something in late October early November. It's important. Uh again, I congratulate our crowd Saturday night, I thought they were great. I thought they helped us, they pick the guys up. Um and it was really, really loud offensively. Uh One of the things we had not done against pit was finished with the red zone touchdowns. We were two of six in the previous two overtime games, we were five for five saturday night. Um You don't count the kneel down at the end of the game, but five touchdowns and five trips to the red zone. So I thought that was a huge difference in the ball game. We were two for three on fourth downs, we had the 1 to 2 josh that was over his head um going in before the half, but we were two for three and both of those fourth down conversions led to touchdowns. Uh We were over six to start the game on third down and then four for six in the second half um on third down. So we got much better as the game went on. There's plays like uh omarion Hampton fumbles, the ball and Corey Gaynor gets on it. Uh that probably saved points. That's a turnover at midseason at midfield. Um, So um, there's two balls on the ground during the game, said Greg gets on one there fumble and and Corey Gaynor got on ours. So that means we won the turnover ratio one to nothing because of, of Corey's um, heads up play. Um, instead of the running game. I thought the offensive staff did a really good job the second half of getting the ball to the backs into josh downs um in in space. Uh and and that took the place of our running game because they were loading the box so much and blitzing all up inside. So we got our speed on the corners. Uh Drake leads the nation's and touchdown pass. He's responsible for with 32 also in total offense 388 yards. Um, so he's done a great job. Uh and he's got really good players around him and the offensive line is protecting him and we've got very good receivers. So um, josh downs and antoine Green are the first duo in north Carolina history to both record 100 yards receiving and back to back games. Um, so another significant um, accomplishment for those young guys defensively. Um, We held the running game in check. It's amazing. Uh Anaconda is so good. He gets 100 and 31 yards and we did a good job uh Compared to the 320 yards that he got against Virginia Tech and six touchdowns. He's just really a good player. And and I was impressed by watching him play. But defensively against Appalachian State we gave up 21 explosives saturday night we gave up eight. So we're getting better. We're doing the little things better. We still gave up some big passes. Um but but we uh I was proud of the defense that they stepped up and they held them to 367 total yards. And that's more like the defense that we want to play there. They're giving up 23.5 points per game in the AC. And that's a lot more like what we want to be uh instead of what we were at the first of the year. So we're making a lot of progress. Uh Didn't give up another point after 10 37 left in the in the third quarter. 10 07 excuse me left in the third quarter. Uh While we said we had 28 unanswered points, held them to six of 15 on third downs. There were two third and ones that we we made stops with one of the best backs in the country. Um One of those stops being the forced fumble. Um That that led to points. Um And then we stopped them on fourth down. So a lot of progress on defense as we continue to, to watch those guys, we were worried about the time of possession, I think we touched the ball three times the first quarter time of possession. We ended up with 31 minutes and 28 seconds to their 28 minutes and 32 seconds. So we ended up with an edge in an area that we were really, really concerned about. Um and and um that made a huge difference. Uh Special teams, we thought we again we're really good. Uh we covered Kickoffs well After the first couple they just fair caught the rest of them or let them go over their head because uh we started kicking the ball better. Noah Burnett kicked the ones in the end zone after early uh we covered punts. Well we talked about Elijah Greens tackled at the -6 leading to points and we had the great punt return that that led to two points as well. Virginia is the south's oldest rivalry. We've played that game more than any other that we've played. It's very important between two like universities. Uh They're playing great defense. Uh Brennan. Armstrong threw for 553 yards against us last year. Um He threw for a career uh and and hit all of them. They've got great receivers and they're they're playing really good defense and had a chance to beat Syracuse at Syracuse um had a great chance to beat Miami the other day. And I know disappointed in in that loss, um beat Georgia Tech on the road. Um, so they're, they're getting better each week and Tony Elliott's done a outstanding job and I'm very impressed with him and his story. Um defensive coordinator came from air force and and we know his history and his background, he's really aggressive but um, does an outstanding job of coaching and Dez kitchens we knew from N. C. State, the offensive coordinator. So uh, we'll have our hands full but we, we've talked about proud of the guys that they're they're rated, they're going up in the polls each week. I did ask him yesterday, I said 10 years from now people are gonna ask you where you were rated after game eight. They're gonna ask you where you were rated at the end of the year. Um, but nobody cares. So good for you but forget it and move on. Um, secondly you start talking about the scenarios in the coastal, none of that matters. You gotta be good enough to win if you, if you win, it takes care of itself. If you don't, it takes care of itself as well. So if you're good enough to win the coastal, good for you go go prove it, don't talk about it. We don't need scenarios we need to win. And and if you're not good enough to win the coastal then you, you don't deserve it and uh, shouldn't be in the conference championship anyway and you don't want to back into the conference championship, you want to be good enough to earn the right to go play and have a chance to win. So um, we've got four hard weeks. We have people play us really well and give us their best effort anyway. We have the, uh, we've gone from from being the team that nobody talked about to the one now that's got the, uh, we got the target on our back. So we're gonna get the best out of four good teams for the next four weeks. And, and that'll be a fun challenge for us. And obviously with all these injuries, we're gonna have to figure out who plays and somebody got to step up because you just can't use as, as an excuse. You gotta gotta go play good questions. It's a wonderful sports can be. It's also cruel at times and experiencing that. Can you take a little bit more about the conversation, especially the time of the season you guys are having and then get ready. You guys get ready to go back up. Yeah. I talked to him yesterday and he was in the team meeting and we basically said that we want you to be one of the captains and we want you to go with us and travel and we don't take injured players. So he's different. This is unique. And uh, he actually, I talked to him five minutes ago and he had just been told by the doctors and he said that uh he's obviously disappointed and he said all the players are so worried about me that they're all texting and asking me, can you please tell the media and can you please tell the players I'll be okay. But I'm going to have an operation and I'm out for the year and he doesn't have another year. So unlike british, he can't come back. He red shirted while he was at Virginia. So uh I told him you've been um an unbelievable leader for us and I'm so sorry and um this, this worked and it's been great now we gotta get you well and get you ready for the NFL and I want you to keep leading because that's that's something that you've done so well for us. Who do you look to kind of fill his role in this place, jean will talk to you something about that ross. But chris Collins played really well the other night uh because noah came out so early. Um um Cayman Rucker went over and played some but Malaki Hamrick played a lot. So we we just got to keep doing that. We've got to look at with these out this week. Uh caiman came out of the game with a sore shoulder. So um we'll probably have to look at uh very ritzy, some power end, we're also seeing um Jacoby cowan's playing better. He had a pressure and hit the quarterback once on saturday night. Uh, and we may have to look at bo Atkinson some to hear at the end of the year because that's where Beau's play and you mentioned all the national attention, you're starting to get, it really seemed to to reach that point after drake's performance, especially high buzz. I was leading with tied for total passing touchdowns, offense. Also said, is there a way to start some mid season Heisman campaign? How do you approach that? I mean, it's great attention for university, you've done this more than anything else. I feel like that, it takes care of itself, if everybody knows he's good and he's, he was kind of the hype early and then people are wondering when he was gonna mess up, there's a freshman game in there somewhere and so far he hasn't done that. So I think he just keeps doing what he's doing and, and people keep looking at it and uh, it is what it is, but he's starting to be recognized as one of the best in the country and, and I think that's, that's a positive note for us and him and I really, um, you worry about a guy that young getting that much attention, but ross, I don't think it bothers him at all. I just, you all see him all the time and he's never different for me, He's still mad that he missed two passes in the game from saturday night. I get amazed that you get so into the game. I get after the game. I see the stats, I see he throws for that many yards and five touchdowns and I mean you just don't think about it during the game. He makes it look so easy. So, but I think the, the award stuff takes care of itself. We've just got to keep winning performances. I mean, you had a lot of, yeah, he really is. You start talking about guys like Vince Young. Um, okay. You start talking about colt McCoy. Um, these are our guys that are really good players. Um, so, uh, he's obviously in that mix. I think he's as good as anybody this early at running and throwing in the coastal and wins in that scenario last week kind of said, not, don't talk about it. You know, I think they are, I told them to enjoy pit till tomorrow night. I mean till last night, get through dinner and then you gotta, you gotta start on next week and I show them each week. Now the heartbreaks of teams that are ranked and getting beat and, and I said those teams all sat here ranked real high last sunday and, and then here they are with devastating losses. Uh, and it's happening and it's real, so you've got to make sure on Tuesday morning when you monday, you start working on the next opponent and by Tuesday morning you're you're all in to the next opponent. And one of the things that I've I've really enjoyed about this team is they really have been a player led team. It's something we talk about all the time. But they have been and I told them after the pregame talk on saturday, I said we are leaving you. This is your team. You get on the bus, You go play, we weren't out there on 3rd and one we we can counsel you. We can guide you but you gotta play and very honestly if if if if you're gonna be the team we want to be here. There's a story to be told and so far your story is really good. You gotta finish your story and your stories got four weeks and then you've got another chapter but but you've got to finish it and you've got to finish it right. Um, and if you're ready to play, we're a good team and we're getting better on defense. We've been good on offense all year. So and special teams is really stepping it up. So if you're ready to play, we got a chance every week. If you're not ready to play we'll get beat. So you have to be able to control your mind enough not to read social media and not start feeling too good about yourself, be hard on yourself and what we should be talking about is we should be gaining confidence because of how we're playing. But also we should be really hard on ourselves for the things that we have to fix and that's the biggest part of this. Um and I think this team has been as much fun as any I've ever coached just because they listen and they they're interested and they try to do well. So so far. They have they have tried every day in practice in spring and they've played hard in every game and that's hard to do now. They got four more weeks to do that but it'll be interesting to watch them and and and after that physical game and losing so many players and guys having to step up this week going on the road again. I also told them Aaron and I thought this was interesting. Um we go on the road to Appalachian were up by 20 and we win by two And we're up by 20 in the fourth quarter We go to Georgia state by 18 and and we get in trouble. We turn the ball over upstate to get their momentum going. We turn the ball over at Georgia State three times, get their momentum going and then the defense steps up and and saves us in the fourth quarter And then we go to Miami and we we have a lead and we have to hold on and tip a ball and intercept the pass to win the game and on the last drive and then we go to duke and we got a chance to go up by 17 and we mess it up And then we have to take a drive to score with 16 seconds left and then tip a ball and intercept it to save the game. So the four games that we have played on the road have all come down to fourth quarter it is harder to play on the road. For whatever reason we've had chances to extend those leads on the road and we haven't done it. We've had a lot more turnovers on the road than we have at home. So for whatever reason and I don't know if it's where you sleep in a different place. The fans are different with motivation, I don't know, But we're 17 and six at home and were 11 and 12 on the road. Um, so I've told them we're going on the road if you hadn't noticed. Um, so you have to play better on the road than you do at home to have a chance to win. You've seen a lot of teams obviously take their form what we saw in the last 25 minutes, maybe convergence something's coming trending in that direction. Yes. And I like it, especially the defense. I started seeing good defense and, and we haven't seen that consistently and I saw it for a for a half really. Um, so I I like that and that has to give them confidence and build on it. We were penetrating and more aggressive up front linebackers playing downhill and doing things we've been talking about that. We haven't done. Uh the thing that worries you right now as a coach um Andrew is I'm not seeing one game lead to the next, I'm seeing things like I can Oklahoma State beat texas and get beat 48 to nothing. I mean it's just, it's just crazy out there and I don't know why I study college football. I love watching college football. I try to figure out what happens and why. Uh and I'm constantly looking at every little angle to help our guys stay alert and be ready to play, but I don't know. So uh what we've got to do with this team is we've got to take the positive things we're doing and not make a complacent. Last year we played great and awful this year. This team seems to be working to continue to get better and if they keep doing that, we'll be okay in the next four weeks because because we'll have a chance every week, but we could very well lose these four games just as easy, 550 yards against uh last season. Obviously from your point of view, what has changed, I don't, I don't think you ever know when new coaches come in, there's always changes, there's changes to offense, there's, there's changes to scheme, there's changes to culture. Uh sometimes it uh people respond to it very quickly. Sometimes it takes a little bit longer. Miami same thing. Um And our business is so tough now again I can't I haven't counted them but I think this may be the fifth new coach we've coached against this year and and got another one at Georgia Tech. So it's just crazy. Is is this the fourth or fifth? This is the 5th and 6th of our 12 games. Will have a new coach by the time we play them. Which is not a good look for college football. And had you known Tony Elliott before this season? Yes I'm Dave o and I are very good friends and just admires him so much and respects him and he's got an unbelievable story and I um I sat with him at the A. C. C. Meetings this spring and I really enjoyed getting to know him. And I told him that I said why don't you come over and sit with me instead of you tired of Dabo after 10 years and you've heard enough and he laughed and said yes. So I told Dave oh I got a new buddy and you he's not gonna talk to you anymore. So I really like him. He's a he's a nice man and he'll do a great job at Virginia. I'm sure there's some with you throughout your career 96 there. Yeah there's probably three that that stick the N. C. State. game last year. The 96 lost in the texas Tech lost where we're number one the country and lost with three seconds left. Uh And it's interesting that people ask you about those games. They don't ask us about the we were down 20 to 3 here in 97 1 48 to 20. Nobody remembers that one. So thank you. Andrew you. Just you never asked me. Uh I'm sorry. Yeah but that that was that was not fair because we hadn't put a freshman quarterback in and I didn't do a good job getting him ready to play. And we still had a we were down by three with three minutes left to go in that game and had a chance to win. Uh But but these others we were at full strength. I don't count colts because that that was just I didn't think that was fair to uh college football fans because what a great game that would have been if Colt had been able to play because it was still a great game and and we just lost. But uh when you're number one in the country and you lose the Tech with three seconds left when you score with a minute 24 left, you don't forget that one when you you blow a nine point lead with a minute 57 left at ST you don't forget that one. Uh and this one um you know 17 points in the fourth quarter nowadays wouldn't be that big a deal back then in 96. It was a big deal because we, we had them all going in and threw the interception. Um, so those are, those are things you don't forget as a coach and people don't let you forget them present an opportunity for someone else to stand up and just create another reason for no, we we we need to continue to grow at running back and, and, and I don't want to act like we don't want to run the ball, we do and, and but we don't wanna be stubborn and we've done that some of the past why run up inside and get no yards and the 2nd and 10 and we still did that twice the second half. But in the four minute offense, Omarion Hampton came in and made some yards twice to make a first down on short yardage and then make 68 yards to kill the clock at the end. So, um, it gives a chance for George pet away to come on and D. J. Jones is healthy now again. So, so he gets a chance to step up and omarion has been good and I'm so proud of Elijah Green, he's the uh, he's just like a poster player for, for doing everything right at a time where we're living in selfishness and transfer portal and I don't get to play on pouting in the locker room after the game. This guy has been on the scout team as a running back this year challenging our defense every play and on every special team. And he never gripes about anything. And he's a top student in our business school and I mean he is, he is every time some players griping, I said go talk to Elijah, he made it work for him. Mac Mac. Is that for a coach? You're talking about the losses you never forget. Is that just listening to your question occurred to me, is that where the notion of curses come from because you're not gonna forget them anyway. But then everyone reminds you of it. You know, like people say you're cursed at Virginia where you know what I'm saying? Like is that where that notion comes from? Because no one lets it go. I don't, I don't believe in curses. I don't believe in that. The other thing that's weird is people, uh people give coaches too much credit when you win and too much criticism when you lose. We sit around and talk about the player led team all the time. Um, I've done very little to help this team kind of guided them in the spring. We got them off on the right place, but they came up with their P- 80 passion, accountability and toughness and they've lived up to it. You can't make people do things, you can guide them, you can encourage them. Um, and I've never lost or won again, Players do and, and that's it. And and then people talk about curses. Half of this team has never even been to Charlottesville And we're talking about 11 week not carrying over to the next one year or or the curse from 1996. Damn. Sure doesn't somebody's weren't alive. So I mean, I could move on without that bit of an issue in my life. And do I do I beat myself up for losses we've had. Yeah. Because I always wonder what could I have done differently to help You know that that's the tip ball over the middle that's intercepted for the touchdown in 96. I had to run a drawing, kicked field goals. Um, what would you do different the loss at Texas Tech? What would I have done? I would have run the clock down and called time out before the first play when we were first and goal from the seven instead of waiting until the second play because he ran a counter play and scored on the first place. Uh and I would have had the clock down to 40 seconds now instead of staying at 124 to give them a chance to take it down the field. I remember then we kicked it off and he's supposed to kick it on the hash. He kicked it in the middle of the field. They ran back to the 37. Um, One of our, our defensive backs had the ball hit him right in the hands, which would have won the game, would still be number one. It slipped through. Um, So do you remember those things? Yeah, every, every one of them. Do I remember all the winds and I'm like a fan. Yes, you can maximum program standpoint, how important it is. Great. Getting this hot just strictly from the program. You talked about being a cool place to play and all that. But the real life Tommy people want, kids want to play with really good players and when they see what we're doing offensively and they see the improvement on defense. We're having some kids call us back and recruiting that are saying, hey, would you still be interested? Um, and that's, that's a cool place to be. That's why it's important that we finish. But absolutely when, if you're a receiver right now, um, why would you go anywhere else? I mean, man, what? He had 10 different receivers and four different guys for the five touchdowns and it's uh, he's got an amazing knack to find the open receiver. But yes, I do think the hype really helps us across the board. People are excited on campus. Uh, I said it uh, saturday night, it's fun to see your campus buzzing and chapel hill full and fun and um, I walk on campus and kids are so excited about the team and, and season. So it's, it's, it's a fun time. That's where that's where you wanna be on drake man. I've probably asked you this last longer than before to as well but are you surprised at how good he is? He is. I mean he probably knew he was gonna be pretty good but I mean he is making some throws that are incredible and I am surprised that he's this good this fast, the throws that amazed me or or the pumps the fake and uh Spencer Rollin does a good job of running the defensive end up field and he steps up underneath it. He's going to his right, he kind of pumps it the defensive back for pit falls down and then he just lays it up to a perfect throw to josh. That's hard to do another one is he gets outside the pocket to his left and he's headed toward our bench and antoine greens downfield and he very easily throws to his left back across his body and and hits a strike. Uh those are things that just, you know, just the past two kumari Morales the corner route when he caught it inches and I mean it's it's it's like it's perfect. Um so it just has a knack of with a quick release and he has a knack of putting the ball where it's easiest to catch those deep balls to antoine green, the throat josh, you know it's it's uh and it goes back to the colt McCoy days for me when he misses one, I'm shocked that he's sprinting and he throws a low pass to josh down something. What's that about, man? That's one of the few he missed all night. Um and he's really, he's doing a better job of sliding uh and he's doing a better job of not taking sacks if it's not there, he's not, he's gonna get rid of all and he's gonna throw it in the right place to to make sure it's it's uh it's just an incompletion. So um that's where I think ross he's playing way beyond his years. Are the NFL scouts already telling you there's no question, you know what they were last year. It was really interesting when they would come in, they would say who is 10, I mean that and we said, yeah, he's gonna be good, can you see the influence of a guy like british? Yes, british is uh and I think it's one of the reasons british wants to come back, but he's done everything right? He leads, he's there every day and he picks these guys up and I see him sitting on the bench during the game talking running backs and and for for you, you look at this team, um I told antoine green saturday night right before you all talked to him, I was so proud of him because he breaks the collarbone and he's had awful luck and and here he's thinking he may never play and he wants to be a great senior and he wants to have a tremendous pro career. He may be through when he's laying out there on that field. I mean the look on his face and he teared up, I felt so bad and I told him the other night, I am so proud of you. People forget you laying on that field in pre season with a broken collarbone thinking you may never play again and here you are, catching balls for more than 100 yards each week, british leader captain, um only running back in our room with much experience, he gets hurt and and again he picks you up because he's being so positive. Um and and then you you look at uh tally is as sad as that is and as much as he's fighting for his life with cancer, um it's been a great message to the rest of us, we need to lift him up, but don't worry about a bad need, Here's a guy fighting for his life and entirely is everything he said, every practice he had, he had his treatments last week, he gets nauseous after his treatments. He will not stay at home. We tried to get him stay at home and he said, I'm good coach, I need to be out here uh and he works out every day with the trainers. Uh so that there's just been some some really good messages that all of us have, have learned to uh, experience this year and, and, and step up and understand that our lives are in pretty good shape. Mac, I know I asked you the other night about if it was starting to feel like a special season and this is kind of the same thing. But as you, if you measure the progress of your team, I mean, this is beyond the extensive notes obviously. But you know, can you point to a point in the season and then compared to now where the belief might be greater than it is, Can you see the belief and the confidence or whatever that we're gonna figure out a way to win this game like you did saturday night, Can you see that or feel it developing and growing as you continue to win these games? Yes, adam. Absolutely. What, what's your, you want? You're so proud of when you walk in that team meeting on sunday after a game, you want them happy and to feel good about themselves. and then last year there were seven times we didn't and six times we did minutes. And, and right now, uh, they are so happy on Sundays. They're laughing. They're, they're singing, we play gospel music on sunday and they're all singing their gospel music clapping. Uh, when I walk into those meetings because it's sunday, you know, it's, it's church. Um, but, but they're uh, they're having fun and, and one of the most important things, especially at this stage in my life is that your team has fun and that's hard to do anymore, but there's so much pressure and not everybody gets to play. Um so for for me as a coach, we we said that our common uh goals for us um would be that we want everybody to have fun, we want everybody to graduate, we want to win all the games and we want to have everybody in there prepare better for life after football and and this group is embracing that and and they're really enjoying each other and pulling for each other and having fun and, and I saw Justin Olsen's not playing very much right now. Um when uh josh downs came out and kind of held his, his hamstring Justin came over and said you okay, can I get you, can I help you do something? And that's the way this team is doing, its I've taken more time, Jacoby crystal, I mean he is so positive and helps drink so much. He comes out of the game and he had great slap hands coming out, it's just uh it's been a fun team because the kids are really, really trying to help each other and do what's best for this team because that makes you, is that why you point, you said, you know, not to disparage last year, but is that maybe why you point to last year just because you compared to feelings and last year had some great players that were great kids that tried hard and there were times that it worked. It was just so inconsistent. And as as my job, one of my jobs is to make sure that they're consistently good and getting better and I missed it. I just didn't do it. And that's that's why I've said that the whole time that's on me. We didn't have a player led team with consistent good leaders last year and this team is out of our hands because they've taken over and they're being positive and I worry, I worry this week after such a physical game, will they be as exciting going on the road? But so far they've answered the bell every time I was gonna say, how how did you keep the defense from getting discouraged early on? Like you're talking about belief, how did you keep it from going totally opposite? And them getting feeling like they couldn't improve. They wouldn't be out. It's a great question because we were bad. I mean at times and you know, you and then right now modern day we get over reactions with social media to a point that they heard it all. Uh So I think all of the credit should go to Gene Chizik and the defensive coaches because they stay positive uh more than me. I mean, I've been there asking them some hard questions and they're saying we're okay, we're good, we gotta, we gotta do this better, we gotta do this better. But when Gene, when Gene took to his accountability sunday and he took every play that we did well and showed them why and this is who we want to be and took every play. That was a struggle and showed this or this player messed that up and we've got to fix that the other night. I did what you're supposed to do and you were good, but we gotta fix this and you two have to fix it. And then he would say, I thought it worked so well when he said this was a bad call, I put you in an impossible position and you saved me. But but that explosive plays on me because it was a bad call. So I thought jeans confident, he's won two national championships. So he walks into the room with credibility. He is the ultimate positive guy. Um he's got very strong faith and they really believe in him. And the other coaches do too. When you think about Charlton and he had worked together Tommy think pin and he had worked together so that they know this before. So I think all that credit should go to jean and that staff for staying positive even more than me because I like I said, I've been hard on and they've responded, we're gonna hang in there coach, we're gonna be good, we're fine, we gotta fix some things. And I said, yeah, fast man help me. But, but, but they are, I really loved watching our defense the second half the other night. I love watching them um get better and that's what coaching is about. You're supposed to take your team and help them get better and when they're getting better and and and and to challenge coach Longo in the offensive staff on, on going for fourth downs and getting better on third down, but mostly scoring touchdowns instead of field goals, they've done it, they're doing what we're asking them to do. So I'm, I really like the way this staff is working together and, and, and the positive attitude that they have. I just, again, I heard five minutes ago that Noah was out for the season. So I just stick my head in with Gene and say, have you heard Noah's out? And he said, yeah, I just did. Um, and he's already, here's what we're gonna do and here's what we'll do. We gotta take care of Noah, but here's what we gotta do on the field on saturday coach will be fine, but we've got to move on. Um, so that's just, that's just what coaching is to follow up questions first mentioned before when we asked about, so good about, yeah, we are open to you. They say we don't want anything to, it's a case by case, you know, you look at it and if if, uh, number one, maybe we sense we committed somebody better. So, but we will, we will obviously take every call and look at it. Um, and and then make decisions on what's best for our team. The second question that you mentioned before, part of that developed and because they've been a part of the, yeah, there's a lot of young offensive linemen that are down there working and we've, we've had that we're getting some injuries. So that's gonna hurt us some here at the end. We call it our show team. But we've had guys like Tomorrow Fox, um, uh, you've had Keyshawn Silver goes down some Jacoby cowan's been down there. Some, I mean these guys beau Atkinson like we talked about, we've had the best show teams to show us the other teams plays and defenses that we've ever had and again, that's a product of recruiting. Um, so to handle the injuries that we've been hit with here at the end, uh, the only way that this has a chance to save us is that we've recruited well enough and there's young guys that have to play beyond their years here and they're gonna have to help us get through this. We couldn't have done this our first year. If we'd had this many people here, we'd be through. Anything else. Thank you. II