Alan Bowman post South Dakota State — Aug. 31, 2024

expected from uh the Jack RIT yeah no obviously you know 29 games in a row um physical team really physical discipline made every made us work for every play you know so we knew it was going to sort of be a dog fight and that we had to go take it to them because they obviously have the talent ability to to to win even at this level in those first couple drives you were really pushing the tempo trying to go quick I mean something you saw in their defense yeah for sure their offense is to huddle slow down take time off the clock and as much as a scout team can try to emulate a uptempo offense is they're not going to be able to so we just said hey you know what it's going to be humid we I was hoping it was 105 but you know 85 will work too um but it was humid you know they haven't been down in humidity like this and then and then to go against an uptempo offense they can't communicate um but they did a great job with it too but that's that was the game plan for sure take us through that def ball to Rashad yeah uh we had a couple ones um I know R was upset that he dropped the one earlier um in the game so you know that was just kind of basically it's an option route if they're off he does one thing if he's pressed he does another and he was pressed and there's no safety help so bombs away that play I think it was fourth down maybe to when you throw to Olli and they end up reviewing it um little like you look to him early and then he's covered and you look to maybe everybody else and you end up coming back can you just talk us yeah absolutely they I mean they're really sound right we we do a lot of really good things on offense but when you have an entire offseason to prepare for us you're going to be ready um and one of those things um we ran one of our bread and butter plays and going through the progressions you know as I work wanted to work on this offseason was going through the progressions and you know what everybody was covered but when it's fourth down you got to throw the ball we can't take a sack or the ball's you got to give somebody a chance and just so happened uh came back and found all kind of the same thing with stri on the sideline everybody was covered you know so it was one of those games where check it down to the running back check it down to the running back because they they keep everything in front they're really sound and then when they give you the opportunity you got to capitalize on shelves because because that's something you said you worked on does I don't know especially that play in particular did it just feel good when you're like I went through all my progressions and I and I was able to come back to absolutely yeah absolutely you know when you kind of can stay in the pocket feel more comfortable and that's just us in the offense being together trusting those guys up front trusting those guys will work on Scramble drill because we work on that a lot that was an emphasis of fall Camp was work on Scramble drill and the guys executed at a high level what was it like to have desan back missed all that you saw him out there huh yeah it was a good time yeah yeah and uh he made a great play on the Flea Flicker maybe a little Pi on the on the one in the end zone there in fourth quarter um but no just no one how Savvy he is as as a receiver how great his hands are it's a lot of fun to throw to him how would you grade your kind your uh week one performance oh you know good I I think the one roll out that we had that the defender tipped it that was stupid I just should have thrown it away I think um stalled out a little bit um in the third quarter we really could have kind of put our foot to the pedal and and and kind of choke him out a little bit and kind of run away with it and didn't um so kind of don't get lazy don't get satisfied and keep rolling but you know I thought it I thought it a really clean game that Flea Flicker little high he kind of it to himself what's kind of going through your head as you see it going a little high and then as he yeah normally normally there was actually a two high open shell so it should have really been Rashad up the middle but like I said those guys were sound you know there was just going to be a really clean game of what they give you pre- snaps going to be different when the snap post Snap they change all the time they disguise they hide coverages they do a really good job and all week we're like it's probably going to be Rashad it's probably going to be Rashad we get there there's three guys on Rashad and one on on stri so um he's I thought he was going to lift it a little bit more you know but but obviously with three guys under Rashad he had to kind of dip underneath so just kind of at least giv them something he could touch um and end up making a great play and coming down with it give me your critique of O look like he's got a little more make you miss in this oh yeah no I think I think he hadn't missed a beat since last year to be honest with you you know there's a couple of uh Jukes and moves that he's been that he made inside of the hole um this year that I'm even you know in surprised now and I you don't think I could be surprised by the things that he does but some some of those moves and and getting the head down and and I I think just running hard that he does but he's only getting better you seemed really comfortable today did you feel more comfortable than you did maybe last season oh absolutely no yeah just the confidence like I said in the offense and the confidence that we had the game plan that we had coming in and and I feel like our preparation that with the coaches have prepared us all throughout camp for this particular game um and next but we needed to start out one and0 so we put some time and effort into these guys and I felt really comfortable with what they were going to do as a defense so that allowed me to play free