After Saturday's 60-10 homecoming defeat at the hands of Tulsa, Tulane football coach spoke to the media. Here is a transcript of his comments, lightly edited for clarity.

Hall Opening Statement

We've got to coach better and play better in all three phases. But the only good thing we did all day was early on we uh our opening drive was efficient. We moved it down the field, got into field goal range, and then uh dropped the dropped the hold right there. So, we didn't execute the field goal. And from there, it went downhill. Falls on me as a leader of this program. We got to coach better and play better in all three phases. And credit to (Tulsa) coach (Tre) Lamb and his staff. thought they uh you know, man, they looked fresh. They looked well prepared. They had two weeks to get ready for us and I thought they executed great. I thought we did not. And we've got to be better and it starts with me and it's going to start immediately.

When you say immediately, what do you mean by that?

Right now, when I get out of here.

Earlier in the year you when uh early in the year after a loss you were mentioning how you know things were fixable. How fixable do you think today is moving forward after that game?

We've played better than this, so it's definitely fixable and we've got to fix it and it starts with me.

After a game like that would you ever potentially consider any changes at all to the staff or the team right now?

We got three more games left. We go to Rice in seven days. Right now, I'm focused on taking this team and playing much much better in seven days in Houston at Rice. That's every ounce of energy I've got to be focused on that.

What surprised you most about the way the team played today, especially in the first half?

Execution in all three phases. We were coming off a game where we executed really well offensively. we had done some good things in the kicking game. We just did not execute at all. We did some some really foolish things. Credit to Tulsa. They played really well, too. Their quarterback's dynamic. We know that. But there's some things we can do that uh we have been doing well that we did not do today.

This is the first time giving up 60-points to an unranked opponent since 2012. What are the guys feeling in the locker room?

We didn't play well. You know, they played really well. We did not play well. We got to be better and it's got to start immediately.

Last week the second half against Charlotte was maybe the best 30 minutes I remember Tulane playing this year and then this one it really was sort of laying an egg there. I know you've addressed that sort of, but what kind of mental thing is going on from that great of a play to all of a sudden doing something like this?

It starts with me. I've got to coach better. We got to play better. Like I said, we had a nice drive early on to get in scoring range. didn't get points out of it and then kind of snowballed on us. We did not execute in any way, shape or form in any three facets and we got to get to work on that immediately.

What do you say to the Tulane fan that is saying, "Ouch, this really, really hurts."

Yeah, I agree with them. I agree with them. It was bad today and we've got to be better in seven days.

(Wide receiver) Oron Singleton was everywhere for them: 13 catches, 177-yards. What was he able to do to slice up the defense the way he did?

I thought he made some outstanding catches, made some dynamic plays. He looked really good doing it and then I thought after the catch, he did some good stuff. We obviously have got to do a better job covering him, but man, I thought he made like he made a great catch on our sideline right in front of me one time where he toe-tapped and got in. Really good football player that did a good job of getting him the ball today.

How's (quarterback) Trace (Johnson) doing? It looked like he took a hard hit on that fourth down. Just wanted to get an update if you had one.

He's good. He's good. He's a tough guy. He played tough. He didn't play well. We got to play better around him. Everybody does. Wasn't an easy game for him to play quarterback in. And, uh, but he'll be better in seven days.

What's (punter) William Hudlow's status?

We hope he'll be back this week.

What happened to him?

He smashed his finger and so obviously he couldn't catch the ball so he couldn't hold and he couldn't punt.

Usually after a rough first half you can do something to turn it around but the second half was it started out exactly the same just what were you preaching to do differently in the second half.

Execute really. There it was lack of execution all the way around so I've got to coach better we've got to play better. The first play of the second half was the exact same thing. Just total lack of execution. Didn't block the Mike linebacker on the edge at receiver. And if we block him, we got a good play right there. And something we've worked a million times. We didn't play well today. That's on me.

The immediate concern is Rice, but two out of the next three have to win to become bowl eligible. What goals have you are you going to put in front of this team to finish out the season the way you want to?