UCLA OC Eric Bieniemy talks about the problems so far and the path to fixing them. TRANSCRIPT ADDED

Good afternoon, how are we doing? We're out here chopping wood getting ready for the next opponent. I get an opportunity to go home, and you heard what I said – I get an opportunity to go home, I'm originally from New Orleans, go down there to Bayou Bengal land and play against these Tigers who are playing damn well, OK? Our job is to make sure we start getting things figured out and handling and conducting our business. With that being said, I'm all ears.

HOW DO YOU START FINDING THIS OUT?

Every day starts right when we wake up, OK? My job is to make sure the guys are in the right place and doing the right things. But if they don't perform as well as we want them to at the end of the day, then I take responsibility for that. So we go back to day 1, focus on the little things and keep building, encouraging the kids and teaching them to understand that it's a team game. No one has unique skills. But we have to learn to do things together.

Have you identified any specific things, or is it more of a general problem with the learning curve?

No, it's not a problem of a broad learning curve. We've all been taking turns and not doing our thing and when that happens, I always have to look within, OK? What can I do better to simplify it and make sure everybody understands it and that's why I'm always over-analyzing myself and making sure I'm giving these guys the right information. When it's all said and done, we just have to go out there and play the way we've trained, you know? Part of it is teaching our guys to get it, to just relax and play. It's still a game, it's one of the best team sports there is, but it's still a game and you have to enjoy what you're doing.

YOU USED THE WORD 'SIMPLICATION'. HAS ANYTHING CHANGED IN THE WAY THE TRAINING HAS BEEN DONE IN THE LAST FEW DAYS AFTER THESE TWO GAMES?

I mean, you always try to change game plans or whatever, but the bottom line is you go inside and do whatever you think can help make the team better. But I also know we have to start better offensively. You know, Game 1, you have to start a little bit better. But that's just relaxing, understanding your job and your duty and going out there and being the person – we've got great kids, we've got great kids that are very, very good football players. These guys can play, but they've got to eliminate their mistakes. [laughs] the distractions, stay calm under pressure and just do what you've been trained to do. If they do that? Hey, you know what, we give ourselves a chance. When it's all said and done, we have to step up and start playing against the opponent instead of fighting against ourselves and not doing our job and not giving ourselves a chance to be the best we can be.

Does simplifying also mean simplifying the expression, perhaps by using fewer moves?

I don't think the verbiage is necessarily part of the problem. It's just making sure we can operate as a unit, as a single entity, together. So, ultimately, we need to be better. My job is to make sure we work on all the basic little details that help us get better. So you can cut plays, you can do all that, you can reduce the verbiage – you can do all that – but at the end of the day, I need to make sure our guys are playing at a higher level.

ETHAN AND TJ HAVE NOT PLAYED AT THE LEVEL OF LAST SEASON. WHAT DO YOU SEE?

I see two hard-working guys that love what they do and I really appreciate the energy and effort that they bring every day. At the end of the day, it's a team sport, so we have to make sure we hold each other accountable. My job is to hold this entire offense accountable and this entire organization accountable and this entire personnel accountable, but my job is to make sure we have all the things necessary and all the right tools to be as productive as possible for the guys to work. We all just have to make sure we're all working at the same level and the same intensity, OK, and we all have the same intent and we all learn how to be accountable together as players. Like I said, everybody wants to be great — everybody. It's hard to be great; you have to figure out how to do it together as a team — that's the most important thing.

AT THE START OF THE SECOND HALF THEY WERE IN THE RED ZONE INSIDE THE 10 AND ETHAN TAPPED THE BALL RIGHT AT AN INDIANA DEFENDER. Is he doing enough with his eyes to take out the defenders?

I'll say this: All of these kids, I work with every day. They go out there and make mistakes. I'm not worried about the mistakes they make. The only thing I care about is that they learn from those mistakes and play better, okay? Ethan shouldn't have forced it and he knew that; he knew that right away. The kid is a competitor, he's a smart, intelligent kid and he works hard, he takes it personally. I think it's more than anything, sometimes we get caught up in wanting to be so good at that particular moment, okay? Sometimes we just force it and it's not necessarily his best, but it's one of those things — those are life lessons, those are the things that are going to continue to help us improve as we continue to grow. So sometimes, guys, without bad luck, you wouldn't have any luck at all and sometimes bad luck hurts a little bit, but you have to go through that growth period and the most important thing is that they grow together and not separately.

Was that a spacing or timing issue on that fumble earlier in the game?

It was a combination of all of that, because it sounds like you've heard me say this before: spacing always equals timing, and when we're not aligned properly, things can happen. And those are the little things that come back to haunt you, and that's unfortunate, but it's not something that anybody tries to do intentionally, it's just one of those things that can happen when you're not focused and you're not paying close attention to the smallest details. Those are the things that can happen. So we've got to make sure we can focus with the highest, most intense effort, because that's what's going to help us be the best in that moment, and you know what, we're going to line up and do it again. But that's why the great teams and the great players are the great players — because they can do that at a high level and on a consistent basis. My job is to teach these kids to stay calm and understand that if I mess up, it's OK; we've got 59 minutes left to play. [Laughs] So we can overcome any adverse situation, but we need to make sure we eliminate as many of these little things as possible.

WHAT HAVE YOU SEEN IN THE LSU DEFENSE THAT YOU CAN TAKE ADVANTAGE OF?

You know what, it's a great defense and of course, it's Bayou Bengal country. I've known this institution and this university since I grew up on the same street that I did in New Orleans and I've seen these guys over the years and followed this program. We just have to go out and play our best. So it doesn't matter who we play or where we play. I just want our guys to go out and play their best every game. If we can do that, I guarantee you we'll give ourselves a chance, but right now we've got to learn to do that together and on a consistent basis and that's what we're learning right now.

12 OF 23 TARGETED WERE MADE ON RUNNING BACKS AND TIGHT ENDS. WAS THAT A FUNCTION OF THE FLOW OF THE GAME?

I think sometimes that happens, sometimes the flow of the game happens that way, and it was good to see. When you see the backs catching that many balls, obviously something gets taken away from them and others have to play. We play complementary ball. Sometimes we show we can be a good, productive offense. Sometimes – and I don't mean to disparage Indiana, because they kicked our butts pretty damn well – we just didn't do our part. I'd like to see us line up consistently against the opponent without stubbing ourselves and not doing it where we're actually taught and coached and instructed. I've seen them do it out here on the practice field. Now we just have to make sure that translates on game day.

On the last play of the first half, it seemed like a few things were coming together. Can you take anything from that or was it just a two-minute offensive?

I think it was a combination of the fact that these guys just came together and realized they messed up as much as they could, so let's play now. They did a great job of just staying composed, going out there and just playing, and that's the beauty of it: if they can do it, why can't we do it all the time? And that's what we have to work on; we have to work on capturing consistent behavior on video, so it's my job to make sure I get that out of them, and that starts here every day.