Well, last night's game has had some time to sink in. Tommy Tuberville spoke briefly with reporters on a teleconference Friday. Here are some things he had to say:

• On how hard losing has been: "When you can't find the answers and you know they're there, that's what gets to you more than anything as a coach."

• On the overall situation: "Anytime you're losing games, you've got guys looking around going, am I doing the right thing? Am I giving the effort? Sometimes you have to question yourself. That's what we've talked about as a team. You have to look at yourself and ask can I give more? Do I understand what I have to do to get better?When you get in a situation like this, everybody has to understand that they have to ask that question of themselves. The effort is great. Can it be better? Sure it can. Can we be more aggressive at times? Sure we can. Can we be smarter in certain situations? Sure we can."

• On the team's attitude: "The attitude of the team is excellent. I wish they would have something positive. This has been a tough stretch. We're at our own fault for that in terms of getting it done. There's were games we had a better chance. We didn't get it done. Last night, we knew it would be a tough assignment. Tough place to play against a football team that probably hasn't played near the game that we figured we'd get out of it."
  

• On not being able to close out games: "We competed for a while but two quarters doesn't get it in this league. You have to play for four quarters and a lot of young guys got to start understanding that."

• On the second-half struggles: "We make adjustments, but to me, mentally and physically we just don’t play as tough. We don’t play as reckless. And I think that’s because we’re playing a lot of guys, guys that are playing for the first time, and some of the older guys are trying to do more than their share, and then when you start losing your confidence, things start going downhill."

• Tuberville was pleased with QB Kodi Burns' effort, but still singled out some smaller things the sophomore needs to pay attention to. For instance, his dropbacks. Sometimes Burns goes too far, making it easier for defensive ends to get to him. Tuberville said Burns needs to understand that when they call a five-step drop, the offensive line is expecting a five-step drop. Anything more throws off the protection. That sounds like something that comes from experience more than anything.uo-style-noshow:yes; mso-style-parent:"