Coach Pasqualoni's Quotes Prior to Boston College Game
On what impact, if any, Boston College's move to the Atlantic Coast Conference will have on Saturday's game:
"It is not going to have impact. It will have no impact on the game at all. We are going to get ready to play Boston College the way Syracuse has for a lot of years. I'm sure they are going to get ready to play us."
On whether he is upset about Boston College leaving the BIG EAST to join the ACC:
"I've been uncomfortable since the whole thing started, going all the way back. That was probably pretty clear. I'm more of a mindset that college football and intercollegiate athletics should be more a regional venture than maybe what it has evolved to be. If the the student-athlete issues are big with the NCAA, then this does not coincide with that philosophy. I think the regional issue is better for the kids. I know it is better for the players. I think it is better for the fans. I think it is better for television. I think it is better. Maybe, someday, it will come back to that. Obviously it hasn't gone in that direction."
On whether Boston College's decision will provide more inspiration for his players:
"The one thing I know about players at this level is that you can give them the best fight talk. You can pull out Knute Rockne. You can do all of those things. When they step out on that field and cross that line and the ball is kicked off, they revert back to being competitive and playing the game. No matter what you said, they have forgotten all about it. They are going to revert back to the way to the way practice, the way they prepared and play the game. I have a hard job believing that any of this would carry over to the game. There are too many other things to think about. You just can't do it."
On what he will say to potential recruits about Syracuse football and the BIG EAST :
"Right now, at least for the next three years, my understanding is that we are part of the BCS (Bowl Championship Series). The good Lord only knows what is going to happen in the next three years. We are going to sell the great institution this is, the tradition in football, the great achievements we have made academically, the graduation rates, the success of the people who have come before the kids we will be recruiting and the fact that we are competing for a National Championship the way we always have. So not much is going to change from that perspective. I don't see it changing."
On his personal feelings about Boston College leaving the BIG EAST:
"My personal feelings are I grew up in Connecticut, I played at Penn State, I coached in Connecticut and I came to Syracuse. I had the good fortune that Coach Mac (MacPherson) offered me a job. This was like too good to be true. I could not believe that I was going to have an opportunity to coach at Syracuse. I started rooting for Syracuse when Floyd Little came here from New Haven, Conn. Floyd Little's sister and my aunt worked together. When I was a kid I knew of Floyd Little. I went to the same prep school Floyd Little went to and the reason I went there was because Floyd Little went there. I can't tell you how long I've been a Syracuse fan, probably since the seventh or eighth grade. When I had a chance to come here, it was the greatest. When we were undergraduates, we played Eastern football and you played Syracuse, Pittsburgh and West Virginia, there was tremendous pride in Eastern football. That is kind of the way I am built to tell you the truth. I have great pride in Eastern football. I think the football and the commitment that the kids and coaches make in the East at the high school and college level is as much of a commitment as anywhere in the country. Maybe because the academics are so important here and throughout the Northeast, that maybe it is the right blend of the student-athlete. Maybe the kids get a little bit more and get little better experience here. So my feeling is that Eastern football is great and I would like to see Eastern football survive and do well and I think it will. I think it is going to take some time to get the re-configuration of what is going to happen. But in the long run, I think it will survive and probably come out of this a stronger program."
On whether the BCS and television contracts have changed what pride and tradition mean in football:
"Miami is in the South. Virginia Tech is going to take buses to four trips next year instead of chartering and flying. So they are going to be on the bus four times. That makes sense to me. I have a hard job being mad at (Virginia Tech Athletic Director) Jim Weaver or (Virginia Tech head coach) Frank Beamer or any people at Virginia Tech because they have wanted to be in the ACC forever. If they could have been in the ACC to start with, they would not have been in the BIG EAST. Miami is the same way. Miami has a great baseball program. They are in the South. Maybe they belong in the ACC. I'll go back to regional. If I had it my way, Penn State would be in the BIG EAST. And the people at Penn State know that. That's not the way it is right now. It doesn't mean that that tarnishes or diminishes anything about Eastern football. I don't see that. We are still a part of the BCS. We are going to have a great program. We are going to compete at a very high level. We are always going to have the goal to compete for a National Championship. That's what it is all about. That's what kids want. What else do they need - a great education and a great program with an institution that is committed to them. What else do you need? I don't know what else you need? We have that here."
On whether there is a chance that Syracuse would leave the BIG EAST to go to another conference and whether he would like to see that happen:
"That decision would be made at a much higher level than where I sit. Right now what I would like to see is for us to focus on what we have to get done this season, most immediately the Boston College game. Let's play this season and go on from there. That is what I would like to have happen."
On whether he would address the fans in some way about their behavior toward Boston College:
"I'm not really worried about it. I think our fans are great and I think they will act appropriately. I don't think it is going to be an issue."
On how tough these next few years are going to for you and football program:
"I think the challenge for us, obviously, is that we have to do something with scheduling. I don't know with BC leaving, if that means we don't play them next year. I don't know what that means. We added Florida State. Like I said after the Virginia Tech game, if it is not Virginia Tech, it will be somebody else. There will be good teams on the schedule. We've always played quality non-conference teams. Before the BIG EAST ever started, in 1988 we opened with Ohio State. We've played Florida State. So we played good teams before we ever got into the BIG EAST. I don't know why that would change. It's not going to change."
On what he said about geography, does that mean he doesn't think Boston College naturally fit into the ACC:
"I don't think BC is going to get on a bus and go to Tallahassee, Florida and play a field hockey game or a volleyball match. It's a long ride. That's a decision they made. Is that logical to anybody in this room? "
On whether he will spend any time today talking to his team about Boston College's move to the ACC:
"Zero. It doesn't even come up."
On whether he's worried about players reactions who came here to play in big rivalry games:
"Those games will be here. I don't why those games won't be here. Kids come here to play quality opponents and they are going to play quality opponents. I don't think anything is different."
On whether he is shocked that Boston College left the BIG EAST:
"Was I shocked that this happened? Not at all. In my mind, it is like Yogi Berra said, "It's not over 'til it's over". They were fighting to get their conference playoff game and this was one way of going about it. It wasn't over so, does it shock me? No."
On whether there is relief that the subject of teams leaving the conference is now over:
"I have been concentrating and focusing on, in order, North Carolina, Louisville, we just got done with Virginia Tech. I haven't even had a chance to see my kids let alone worry about all this other stuff. My focus and attention and the staff's attention is, in fairness to the kids that we coach and the program, has to be on our next opponent everyday. We really don't have time for this. BC is six days away at Noon, as we speak. That's the most important thing right now for us in the football program."
On who are Syracuse's allies in promoting Eastern football:
"Pittsburgh has great tradition in football with all of those National Championships and all of their great players. Pitt has been great. My first game as a college freshman was against West Virginia. I think we have some allies. It would be awfully nice to have Penn State, but we don't have that right now. What we have will be enough."
On coming off a loss like the Virginia Tech game, does he go over film more:
"It's one of those tapes you would like to take on the way home and throw it out of the window of the airplane. That's what you would like to do with it. What we did this morning, as we do every Monday, is the kids come in for an hour of film at 7 a.m. and we go through the film. We make the corrections and we put it away and we move on. So we will not discuss or mention the Virginia Tech game again. We're done with it. Our eyes are in the front of our head so we can see where we are going as opposed to the back of our head because we don't want to see where we've been. That's why the good Lord put them here. That's where we're going. We are going to prepare to play BC at Noon on Saturday. We are done with it (the Virginia Tech game). I think we have made some corrections. I think we will be better. I really think we will be better. We didn't block well. We didn't tackle well. There's a lot of things that happened in that game. In all phases, we didn't perform well. We didn't execute well. There were a lot of little things that happened in that game. Sometimes you just don’t know why they unfold that way. I think there a lot of positives we'll get out of it and we'll move on."
On the fact that the team has been stressing fundamentals all season, including during last year's spring practice:
"That is the frustrating part - how you get down there and you don't block and you don't tackle well. That is what makes this job so challenging. I know we'll do better this week."
On status of Damien Rhodes:
"I'm going to find out this afternoon. I would put it in the category of very questionable."
On whether Syracuse's not blocking well and tackling well was because Virginia Tech's players were just better than Syracuse's players:
"I think we've played well against them. For whatever reason, we were a half-step behind. To their credit, they changed some things they did on defense and they changed some things they did on offense. They executed them very well, which is a great credit to them. That is part of this game. We had to adjust on the run. Against a team like that, playing as well as they are playing right now, it is very hard to get it all done on the run. It got out of whack on us with those two punt returns."
On the whether the changes on Virginia Tech's defense were geared toward stopping Walter Reyes:
"In this game, schemes are a big part of the game. In this day and age, everybody has a good coaching staff and everybody is working hard. The players are all working hard. They hit it. We've had great days where we've been right on it, hitting on all eight cylinders. They were hitting on all eight and we werent' hitting on all eight. Against a good team, that is what happens."
On the three huge plays that put SU down 21-0, was it a case of poor execution on SU's part or great execution on Virginia Tech's part:
"On the third down and two, we went after him. I knew there was a calculated risk. We were trying to stop him on third and two. So we went after him. We didn't execute quite as well. It was close, but it wasn't exact. It had to be exact and we knew it had to be exact. He got out of it, I expected him to be tackled for a 20-yard gain. We missed the next tackle. He cuts it back and he goes the whole way. So that happened. I was concerned with the punting, going down there with a freshman punter. The last time we went down there with a freshman punter was Mike Shafer. He couldn't even catch the snap, let alone punt the ball. I thought the protection was excellent. We didn't get the hang time. We didn't get the coverage. It's hard to get the coverage when you don't get the hang time. It was invaluable experience for our punter for his career. He'll never be under more pressure than that and he knows it. Now what he knows is that he has a great group of guys in front of him protecting him, no matter what they bring. At times they brought nine, at times there was nobody back to return the punt. They were going to blitz and try to get him. I think we will come out of that a better, stronger unit. I think our punter will be improved."
On whether this was the best Virginia Tech team he has seen:
"They have had some good teams, I'll go back to the '99 team. I thought their 1999 team was a real good team. They played in the Sugar Bowl that year. I don't know which team was more talented, but defensively, I think this Tech team is playing as well any they have had."
On Boston College running back Derrick Knight and how he compares to Virginia Tech's Kevin Jones:
"Kevin Jones is probably a bigger guy, probably more of a get to the perimeter and make a right or left turn and go as you saw him do. I think Derrick is probably more of a inside, slashing kind of a guy. Maybe a little bit smaller, but very explosive. He's a very good back. They are both tough."
On how Boston College has played in its last two games:
"They have played very well. They played well against Temple. I thought they executed. Their quarterback, for being a first-year guy, is playing very well. He looks very mobile. They are running some option with him. He's playing well. The offensive line is strong again. The tight end, Sean Ryan, is a good player. Defensively, they blitz, they zone blitz. They blitz a lot. They have a quality group of kids up front in the down front four. Doug Goodwin is a good player. They have some good, quality players."
On whether R.J. Anderson has to step up more when the running game is shut down:
"I think the team has to play better. The better the team plays, the better the quarterback plays. I think when things are going tough, everybody has to suck it up a little bit."
Player Quotes
Joe Donnelly
Senior
Tight End
On Boston College's defense:
"They are an outstanding football team. They are one of those defenses that doesn't give up the big play. They are disciplined in what they do. Their front four is outstanding. I think they have some young linebackers new to the defense who are playing quite well. After seeing them on film, I am very impressed with the way they play. It's another Boston College-Syracuse game where we're going to have to take what they give us and we're going to have to earn it. We have to sustain drives. If the opportunity for a big play is there, we have to take advantage of it. We are going to have to be disciplined and we have to run the ball. When we have the opportunity to pass, we have to convert on third down especially. That was a key in the Virginia Tech game was we didn't convert on third down. We got in too many third and longs because we suffered on first and second down."
On team's confidence after the Virginia Tech game:
"We were very confident going into the game. We had two good weeks of practice. I wouldn't say we took a step back, it's one of those wake up calls. Sometimes you think you are a little better than you are. I look at it more as a positive thing. It's one of those things that when we go out this week, we are going to work a little bit harder. We are going to focus more on fundamentals. That's what really cost us the game as Coach Pasqualoni said, blocking and tackling. I don't feel that we were outplayed. I definitely don't feel we were out-coached. It comes down to little things like technique. Until you have played the game, you can't understand how taking the right steps and putting your face on a block can make a difference. On film, on every play we're one or two blocks from having big plays instead of having a two-yard loss, we would have a 10-yard gain. Those add up after awhile."
On whether he was surprised at those little things that the team had done well in the first four games:
"I felt better after watching the film because it's one thing to be outplayed physically. When you are outplayed physically, then it's very depressing because it's like 'maybe those kids are better than us'. But to see on the film that guys are in position to make plays but when it's little things like technique errors, that is a little more promising because you can correct technique. You can't correct being outplayed physically or being out-matched because of size, strength or speed. You can't correct that in a week. Technique – we're going to fix that today and tomorrow."
On whether the team will pay attention to the reports about Boston College leaving the BIG EAST during the week and how can they avoid doing so:
"To be honest, being a college football player, between school and football, there is no time to watch television. The only time you look at a television screen is to watch film. It's one of the things that is not in our control. Between the Athletic Director and Coach Pasqualoni and the Chancellor, they are going to handle this issue. We have no control over it. We are in the same position as everybody else watching it so all we can focus on is this Boston College football game. It has turned into a great rivalry. It's a big chance for us to prove something right now. Basically, this could be the turning point in our season. We need this win. This would be a big win for us, especially at homecoming. We want to go out and put on a good show."
On how hard it is to return to the lineup against Virginia Tech:
"It's little tough making your return, coming back from an injury, against a team like Virginia Tech. It's like throwing fresh meat to the dogs. They are such a good defense. But we had a good game plan. I was very confident. We went deep early. They changed some things schematically that we weren't ready for, but, being a college football player, you have to expect that and you have to adjust. I think the biggest thing was, offensively, we didn't adjust. They made some changes as far as the way they line up their linebackers and we didn't adjust. Because of that we weren't able to move the ball."
On he felt physically during the game:
"I felt great out there. I was excited. I was ready to go. I was definitely a little bit tired. But a lot of that was just nerves and lot of that was covering 12 punts. I've never been in a game where we punted so much. You know things are not going right when you keep lining up for a punt every five or 10 minutes. Healthwise, I felt great. The trainers and the staff did a great job getting me back to health and everything is fine."
On the feeling of returning to the field:
"It was a great feeling. I didn't catch any passes. Personally, the fact to be out there and hit someone and feel healthy and feel like I'm able to be productive was a great feeling. That's just of those things to build on this week and step it up one more level as a team because this is a huge game for us right now."
On what makes this a turning point in the season:
"I felt last year we had a tough start with BYU. Losing to North Carolina at home, I felt like we needed that Carolina game. We needed to win that game. I feel that we need a BIG EAST win. We need to be 4-2 rather than 3-3, especially at home. We need to get our first BIG EAST win against Boston College. It has nothing to do with Boston College going to the ACC, it is strictly a conference game. We need to be 1-1 in the conference after this weekend."
On the fact that Boston College has beaten Syracuse three of the last four years:
"That's history. We haven't played at times against them. Last time they came to the Dome, we played our game. This is one of those games that we need to come out from the get-go. At times we haven't played well from the start of the game and are trying to play catch up like on Saturday. We really need to come out ready to go. I know those kids over there and they come to play every game from the start."
On how the ability to execute fundamentals can come and go:
"They don't come and go. It's a lack of concentration at times. Sometimes when a defense lines up and it's not like the way you have seen in practice, people get nervous and they get a little haywire because all of a sudden your blocking rules may change. Your step might not be right and you get beat on your first step or your late getting off the ball. It's a combination of a lot of things. It's the same thing with tackling. If you put your head down on a tackle, you don't see what you are hitting and the guy is going to make you miss. We missed a lot of tackles. We missed a lot of blocks. It just comes down to a lack of concentration and in turn, fundamentals."
Julian Pollard
Junior
Defensive Lineman
On Boston College's offense:
"Boston College is really good up front. The offensive line has quality guys. It will be challenge. It should be a great game. They have some great backs. They have a great quarterback. It is going to be interesting to see what happens on Saturday."
After growing up in the East, how he feels about Boston College leaving the BIG EAST:
"My biggest concern is not if Boston College is leaving or staying, I just want to play football. It makes no difference to me."
On whether SU's preparation will be different this week after the lack of execution making tackles at Virginia Tech:
"I don't think you change the way you tackle, you just make sure you make the tackle. You use the technique and fundamentals that you know that you have and apply them on Saturday. It is just something that has to carry over into the game, what you do in practice."
