ACC - Coaches Quick Hits
Virginia offensive coordinator Bill Lazor says FSU had too much speed: “I think the thing that comes to mind with Florida State’s speed is that when you complete some of those passes in the open field that you expect to get some yards on, and we ended up not getting many yards. When we watch the video, we’ll also feel like that on some of the runs, even their interior and their front played fast. Sometimes when we had good angles on them or good position, they got off blocks. That showed to me that if we didn’t get north and south with the ball fast, they showed up.”
Mike London disappointed: “I’m disappointed for our players, [and] I’m disappointed for the fans. That wasn’t the type of effort that is indicative to the type of team that I think we have here.”
“That’s the No. 1 team in the country in sacks, and we added to their stats today. Tremendous effort by their defensive ends to speed rush and get on the edge. We have to look at how we are going to protect the quarterback and how we’re going to do things in order for him to get the ball down the field.”
Dabo Swinney disappointed with 6 turnovers: "We had a lot of turnovers and inconsistency throughout the game. You just can't win without good ball security, especially with six turnovers. It was a disappointing loss. We dug ourselves into a hole in the first quarter with our defensive mistakes. This was a tough game, because in the past we've been taking care of the football very well and then today we didn't do that.
Randy Shannon talks about 30-21 win over Clemson: "Both teams had some big plays in the game. Both teams had bone-headed missed tackles and turnovers. It was just one of those games where I thought our guys really stayed focused and played hard and didn't stress. Defensively, they really showed a lot of poise in the second half."
Ralph Friedgen says 21-16 win over Duke wasn’t pretty: "It wasn't pretty. But a win is a win. I told our team you have to win some when you're not working on all cylinders, biorhythms are not right you just have to reach down and find a way to win. I think that's what we did tonight. I think Duke is a very good offensive football team and I thought they played very well on defense tonight. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Dave Cutcliffe and I knew that team would be ready to play.”
Jimbo Fisher starting to feel good about his team: "They're learning to focus; they're learning to prepare. They're understanding that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday - they're learning they can't just say `now I build my momentum on Friday night.' They're learning how to come to the game to compete. It's part of maturing and it's a great thing to see."
"The offense ate the ball and kept them off the field. The defense got some three-and-outs. They played together. That's what we keep saying: offense, defense. Here's what you've got to understand. Defense is getting three-and-outs, offense is taking six minute drives, which keeps an offense out of whack for the other team."
Paul Johnson relieved after 23-20 win over Wake Forest: "Wow. The best thing I can say is that our guys competed right until the end. The kept fighting and fighting. We didn't look good for a long time. The execution wasn't very good and crisp on offense, but we just hung in there and found a way to win. They had a nice drive to get down there in field goal range. We got them stopped and give our quarterback credit, he made some plays and kept the thing alive. You have to be proud of the way that they fought and competed, but Lord knows we have a lot of work to do."
Jim Grobe used a good bit of “I-formation” against GA Tech: "I thought going under center was going to be good for our quarterbacks. I thought we needed to take some pressure off them. With Tanner down, we didn't know who would be at quarterback so we gave reps to all three of them during the week. We felt one way we could take pressure off those guys is to go under center. We did some good things out of the I. That probably needs to be us a little bit more in the gun and under center some."
David Cutcliffe says Duke is looking forward to new season after BYE week: "After looking at the [Maryland] tape it was frustrating to watch. [We] are doing so many things better as you look at the entire ballgame. There was just a breakdown on a couple turnovers, [a] couple of plays defensively, an untimely penalty on a late hit on a quarterback that was costly and then not running the ball hardly at all in the second half after running it fairly well.
“[The team] was spent emotionally and physically but not down, not a true down. They were frustrated more than down. They knew they had played well enough to win had they just played a few more plays better than we did.”
“We have got seven big ball games left. That is an awesome feeling to go in to start a new season and literally our seasons are one game at a time right now."
Big Ten - Coaches Quick Hits
Crazy stats from in Michigan’s 42-35 win over Indiana: Indiana racked up 568 yards and possessed the football for 41:17. The Hoosiers rans 98 plays to Michigan’s 45 and IU totaled 35 first-downs to Michigan’s 20 first-downs.
Rich Rod’s response: “Wow, stats are interesting, huh. I don't like seeing that. We certainly know we have to play a lot better. But guys kept their poise and made a play when we had to at the end.”
Pat Fitzgerald pumped about his quarterback Dan Persa: "He is one of the best players in the country in my opinion. The guy makes plays. He is tough. He executes our offense. He gets battered around and gets right back up. He throws a pick, flushes it and comes back. He fumbles a ball, flushes it and comes back. At halftime he just talked to the guys about settling down, refocusing, and coming out and winning this football game. That is Dan Persa as a leader. That was before any of the coaches got into the locker room. I walked in and heard him and I could not have been more proud of him. He is one heck of a football player and I am glad he is on our side."
“We had overcome a lot of self-inflicted wounds: turnovers in the red zone and giving up big plays from a lack of discipline and focus in our eyes on defense.”
“Arguably, outside of the extra point that we did not get, I thought this may have been one of our better special team performances of the year. I thought we controlled the field position and it gave us an opportunity to make them play on a long field."
Ron Zook pleased with improvement despite 24-13 loss to Ohio State: "I think with 1:40 to go we had a chance to win the game. I think we made improvement. Not only are we playing better, but we have more and more confidence to be a good football team. I think we're a better team right now."
Quoting Illinois defensive coordinator Vic Koenning: ''We need to learn to finish these dadgum things off. We need to have the character and the discipline and the belief to get it done when it counts. That's part of my job as a coach.''
Michigan State acting head coach Don Treadwell thanks students: "Our student section was phenomenal today, so I want to tip my hat to those guys. Certainly our young men on the field feed off the energy that everyone supplies in the stands, but I know that they really wanted us to mention that the student section was really kind of needed in what they brought to the game."
(Dantonio was texting DC Pat Narduzzi throughout the game) “Oh, I don't know how much I had but I think at times some of the assistants potentially had some contact with him. I don't know if it was amidst in times of a series or at halftime, I don't know all those particulars. He was involved as much as he could be, absolutely.”
(on Dantonio) "This is such a special week that I'm going to allow our boss, coach (Mark) Dantonio, to take the lead on every question about this upcoming game."
Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema give credit to Michigan State: “At halftime when we were down by 10, I told our guys "hey, you're down by 10 and you didn't play good football whatsoever". But, bottom-line it was just great execution on MSU's part.”
Kirk Ferentz pumped about goal line stand in 24-7 win over Penn State: “We’ve come up with some goal-line stands in recent years, but it was good to see this group do the same again because we’re not the same cast of characters. I can’t say enough about our defense. They’ve played well all season long and they were tough to move the ball on tonight.”
Joe Paterno says Iowa’s loss to Arizona was a fluke: “They’re a good, solid football team. They hustle. They’re well coached. You have to beat them, they don’t beat themselves. The Arizona game was a fluke for them. They’re about what I expected.”
Chip Kelly's mindset & Mark Richt's take on UGA fans
Chip Kelly seriously focused: "We are nothing more than 5-0. We are challenged a lot of different ways and it's a test for us. So far we have not let outside sources influence us. It is a long, long season. I don't think this team will get sidetracked. We've got to finish football games and we've got to finish the season."
"It ain't a statement win. If we talk about statement wins and stuff like that, then we're buying into all the stuff, too."
Derek Dooley says staff at fault: "What you've got to know about the last situation, the toughest substitutions are at the goal line because you're furthest from the bench. Add to it a running clock. Add to it that there wasn't a substitution until about 10 or 15 seconds after the play ended, which is rare."
"The most important thing is that we make sure we do everything right on our end, and we didn't. If I could say we did everything right, and the outcome didn't go our way, maybe I've got something to gripe about. Good teams handle it. And we didn't."
Mark Richt talks about UGA fans: "I think there's a certain percentage of fans –- I think it's a minority of fans -– who will … be horribly negative with our guys and with this coaching staff and all that. But I think the majority of our fans are true blue, and they're going to support us no matter what because we're their team and they love the team. Walking off that field at Colorado, I thought our fans who showed up there were phenomenal before, during and after the game. Everybody's disappointed, but I don't see many fans getting real nasty. What happens is, you get some of the smaller percentage of the group that … happen to be sometimes the most vocal and it can be perceived as ‘everybody's giving up on the boys.' But I don't see that with the Bulldog Nation."
"We can't sit around and cry about it because if we do we're really going to be in trouble."
"If we could have gotten an opportunity to kick that kick and made it with just a few ticks on the clock. I think that would have been good medicine for us and something to really build on."
Spurrier talks Bama, ESPN College Game Day: "Alabama is the national team now. Everybody wants to see No. 1. There's something about No. 1."
“I understand the GameDay guys are coming: Lee Corso, Herby (Kirk Herbstreit) and Chris Fowler. Desmond (Howard) is with them now. Look forward to seeing those guys when they come to Columbia. We’re excited they picked us to come set up shop and do their talking all day Saturday.”
Lane Kiffin upset with blown opportunities to close out game in 32-31 loss to Washington: “I don't know if I've been around a game with so many opportunities to win. So many times we could have closed this thing out or made a play to end the thing."
Joker Phillips says Kentucky will stick together: “I think this team is definitely together. Our state of mind — are we down? Yes, this football team is down today, and rightfully so, which happens every Sunday after a loss. But we'll battle back.”
Tulane head coach say team starting to believe after defeating Rutgers 17-14: "They are starting to believe that they can play with anyone. That is what we are trying to preach. This program is at a point where someone goes down, someone else has to step in and play. We can play with anyone. We have to believe it and we have to expect to win."
"It was a very physical game, a hard fought game. Give credit to Rutgers, they did not give in easily. We both battled well. We missed tackles, they made passes and we couldn't run the ball very well against them. They were pretty stout. We had a couple trick plays that worked and that helped us to win the football game."
Brian Kelly addresses the 2 things the Irish really lacks
On Sunday, Notre Dame head coach Brian Kelly addressed his deep concern about the mental and physical toughness of his team.
The Irish defeated 31-13 on the road at Boston College, but Kelly clearly has a sense of urgency.
Kelly said, “Mental and physical toughness, we just talked about it. We’re in a stretch of games that we don’t have time to sit around and wait and say, ‘it’s okay. Let’s come back. We’ll be better next week.’”
“Notre Dame has been doing that for too long. We don’t have time to wait. We need to get it corrected. The only way to get it corrected is the head coach addresses the issue we correct it, we challenge our players to make certain it doesn’t happen again. And we just don’t have time to wait around. If they want someone that is laid back and that’s going to allow the process to take it’s form over time, then they have the wrong guy. That’s not the way I operate.”
“You can’t win championships, you can’t win close games, you can’t close out games, you can’t come from behind, all the things that eventually you have to do to win all of your games unless you have a physical and mental toughness. We lack that.”
1-3 (before Boston College) is unacceptable. Enough is enough. We don’t have time to give them the long story. It’s gotta be the short story and they gotta get it done.
Notre Dame hosts Pitt this weekend.
Les and Dooley explain, Schiano takes blame, Kelly talks Irish
Les Miles embarrassed: "The multiplicity of personnel certainly created some of the issues. The back end of the game was an embarrassment to me. We have to reduce our personnel. That might help us."
“I don’t know that we can play any sloppier. I don’t know if we could have planned it any poorer. The series of downs in the back end of that game was embarrassing to me. I can only tell you that as it played out to me it was a first-and-goal at the two (yard line). We call two plays. We threw a pass. It was incomplete. We feel like we have an advantage in our goal-line personnel. We send in our goal-line personnel. The mistake was made right there. We should have called two plays with our goal-line personnel so we would have gotten two plays, or we should have called the run and the clock. That’s what should have been called, but that’s not what happened. What happened is we send that one in without the second play call. Goal-line personnel down on the goal line is awkward at times to get it all right because we substitute tackles, and we substitute a number of people.”
“We wanted to throw a ball out of a one-back personnel, so we busted our behind to get it substituted, get it called and then had a very difficult time getting it snapped. The good news is we get it snapped. The snap goes off the fingers. It’s a miserable feeling. Certainly I’m sick, but with the flag, the reason they have a difficult time is they have 13 guys on the field because they have substituted against our goal-line personnel, and we go back to three wides. They can’t get their guys off the field. Certainly we would’ve liked to have had our plays more organized and in the comfort of call. That’s not what happened. Now, the final play, again was one of those goalline plays where we felt like we had an advantage, and we win."
"Oh hell -- damn, it was a nice way to finish that game. They just called that team the winner. And then they call us a winner. I'm going to call it like it is: I'm going to enjoy that one as much as I hate to admit it."
Dooley explains last play: “Well, I am proud of our football team. I don’t know if I have ever had a loss like that. I guess we will get right to the last play. They changed personnel and ran a bunch of guys on the field. The rules are (the referee) should stand over the ball and give us a chance to substitute. I am going to have to look at the film and see if that was the case. It was a lot of chaos. Things happened fast and guys didn’t run off the field. The ball was snapped pretty quickly, and so we lose the game. I don’t know what else to say.”
Greg Schiano explains 17-14 loss to Tulane: “It’s on me. I was unable to get our team ready to go, unable to get over a tough loss, I guess, to North Carolina, unable to get our team to realize how hard this game would be. So as the head coach, everything falls on me.”
Steve Sarkisian describes 32-31 win over USC: "I feel like I just played. That was a very cool football game to be a part of. We battled. We played with huge hearts."
Brian Kelly talks about Irish weakness after 31-13 win at Boston College: “Toughness. Mental and physical toughness. We have to build it. That's our weakness right now. We're going to continue to work on it. Guys are coming, but our ability to stay focused, locked in for 76 plays is really what we're getting. That has to be created on a day-to-day basis. And it can't be left to, ‘I'll get back to you later.' ”
(on Dayne Crist) “He's got to be a spread quarterback or he can't be a quarterback here – period. He's all in. He's 100 percent in, had a great week of practice and preparation. And we've really begun the process of developing him as a spread quarterback. He's (Dayne Crist) not there yet, but he's developing. He's showing signs and we're going to get better each and every week with him under those conditions.”
Quoting Bob Stoops: "That's what you want. To be criticized for winning. We're back to Oklahoma football."
Turner Gill eplains 55-7 loss at Baylor: "Obviously, not a very good job by us as a coaching staff. Missed tackles. Missed execution of where they needed to be, what they needed to do."
Les Miles animated during Monday press conference
LSU head coach Les Miles was quite animated today during his press conference. Miles accepted responsibility and also mentioned he called the touchdown play.
Listening to Miles, it seemed that the head coach was for running Jefferson on 2nd down and immediately “clocking it” if he was stopped.
Miles said, “We used way too much time in substitution. It was a difficult scenario to get the 2 plays called in goal line personnel.”
“As it played out to me, it was 1st & goal at the 2 yard line. We called 2 plays. We throw a pass it was incomplete. We feel like we have an advantage in our goal line personnel. We sent in our goal line personnel, the mistake was made right there. We should have called two plays in our goal line personnel, so we would have gotten two plays. OR (loudly emphasizing) we should have called the run and the clock, that’s what should have been called. But that’s not happened.”
“I don’t know if we could have played any sloppier.”
“I certainly understand the responsibility of the way we manage the back end of the game is mine.”
“It’s difficult to operate offensively with all the multiple personnels. I think we have to reduce personnels some.”
“I like this team. I think this team will come together. I think this team will force out some of the fat and get to the leaner meat.”
(on the last play) “I had to go ahead and call the play because I had nobody to talk to.”
Teryl Austin, Jeff Tedfod, Rich Rod, and Dooley explain concerns
Florida DC Teryl Austin talks about Bama offense: “When you watch Alabama, they game plan like an NFL team because they’ll attack weaknesses – perceived weaknesses – of your team. Maybe a player they think they can take advantage of. […] They do what they do well, but they may attack a certain scheme, a certain player, and that’s what you see from these guys. As a coaching staff, what we made sure we did was say, ‘OK, where are we struggling? Where are we doing maybe not as well?’ And make sure we shore that up.”
Cal head coach Jeff Tedford on “what-ifs” hangover from Arizona loss: "It was a very emotional game where it was right there for the taking and we let it get away. In a game like that you lay awake at night thinking what-ifs. We have to get away from the what-ifs."
Rich Rod’s comments from Friday morning on the Tim Brando Radio Show: “We are so young defensively on defense. I looked out there at one point last Saturday and we had 4 true freshman out there in the secondary.”
“I thought we played on our heels early on too much (defensively).”
“More and more teams are going to challenge us to throw.”
Derek Dooley’s comments from Friday morning on the Tim Brando Radio Show: “We’re going to be thin all year. That’s just where we are. We’re going into this game with 65 scholarship players that are healthy.”
“We have to maintain our composure and professionalism on this trip. There’s going to be some adversity (in Baton Rouge on Saturday).”
"They have no weakness. They have great coaching. They just have it all. They have absolutely stoned everyone they’ve player. There are probably some (team) as good (on defense & special teams), but I don’t know if there’s anyone better than the way they are playing.”
“You have to match their toughness. Nothing should ever comprise how physical you play.”
Bronco Mendenhall pumped up about freshman QB Jake Heaps: "I didn't think it was possible for a player as young as he is to not only handle what he's been handling on the field... but when you're BYU's quarterback, on the field is maybe not even half, maybe a quarter of being BYU's quarterback. How you handle the campus life, how you handle the media life, how you handle the religious life and your church, how you handle going on a date and being recognized as BYU's quarterback. If you play well, everyone loves you; if you don't, they have advice."
"I think what they saw was a young man leading this football to the best of his ability. There was not one instance where I looked out there and said 'that's a freshman.' He and I and Coach Doman have an agreement now: we've all acknowledged (that he's a freshman), now he's BYU's quarterback."
Urban Meyer relieved the Gators finally know how to practice: “This Wednesday was up-and-down because the crowd noise always throws a monkey wrench in the whole thing. Defense I thought was very good, offense just wanted to turn around and knock those speakers out. But it was a really good week of practice. I think we’re over the hump of teaching guys how to practice now. Thank God. That was a learning curve for a while.”
Joker's change, Dooley's warning, and Petrino's advice
Joker Phillips says Kentucky players ask for practice change: “It was another upbeat and positive practice. Again, we are working together even more on Wednesdays, which makes it that way. We only had a 15-minute period where we were with the scouts. A couple of our leaders asked us to do it, which I respect. We went more with ones vs. twos instead of scouts. I think that definitely helped practice, especially if they think it helped practice.”
Dooley warns team LSU fans “out to hurt us” : "I tell them that they've got to be ready for Mike (LSU's live Tiger mascot) standing there waiting for us when we run out of the visiting locker room. That's always the first shock of the opponents. Our crowds here have been phenomenal (102,455 capacity in Neyland Stadium), but they've helped us. The crowd that we're going to is going to be out to hurt us."
Bobby Petrino says Hogs need to learn from Bama game: “When you have a situation like this, you can either have an excuse for the rest of your life, or it can be the most motivating factor ever, and that’s what we’re trying to use it as, a motivating factor to come out and practice and get better this week in practice.”
Mike Locksley says he’s the “luckiest guy in the world” : "I'm the luckiest guy in the world, developing and working with young men. Adversity is fuel for you to work hard. Life lessons. I've gone through it my whole career."
"It takes time. You want to put it in the microwave and pop it out a minute later. But I've been through this at Maryland and Illinois. It takes time. I've become accustomed to that. It could start this week, but typically it takes three years.
"It's a process. We're trying to win this year, trying to go to a bowl game and we still have enough games to do it. We're fighting uphill, but that's always the goal."
Sonny Dykes talks about building a program: "That's part of growing as a program. You have to change the culture. It's the hardest thing to change. If you're worried about bad things that are going to happen, bad things are going to happen. You can't coach that way; especially offensive football.”
"There are two different ways to build a program. You can win like Alabama does, on defense. They recruit the best defensive players in the country year in and year out and say, 'We're going to win on defense and on special teams because our talent is so much better than yours. Our young players are going to be better than yours and we're going to be more explosive than you and just try to get by on offense. If you do that and you're at Alabama that makes a lot of sense. We need to build our program differently."
Larry Porter says Memphis needs a play-maker: ''We've got to have a consistent playmaker. It's not about showing up for a game, it's about showing up every game. That's something we have to establish within our wide receiving corps.''
''When you look at the way our running backs are starting to play, if we can get at least one of (the receivers) we can rely on every game, we can make (this offense) work as coaches. When we call their number, they must be able to respond.''
''I'm done with flashes. I want consistency. They've got to understand there's a certain level of energy that comes with it as well, an energy that propels you to (a higher) level.''
USC quarterbacks coach Clay Helton talks about Matt Barkley: “The kid has incredible vision. He's made throws throughout his career that baffle us. As you progress as a quarterback, you start to learn that there's another guy that's going to be open in the offense."
Dave Wannstedt talks about scheduling: “I don’t mind playing a strong schedule. My only complaint since day one is like, the entire conference, let’s all play top 25 teams. That’s fine with me or let’s not. The parity in (non-conference schedules) has always been my stance on this thing. The schedules... you’ve got to play them.”
Willie Taggart talks about bye-week plans: “This off-week’s going to test the character of our football team. I’m going to get emotionally hijacked if I come out here and see someone take a day off of practice. We’re not doing that around here. We’re going to work, and we’re going to get better.”
“We haven’t done anything yet. We haven’t done anything but get better, and like anyone else, we want to win. And we have to continue to work to get there.”
