Coach Pasqualoni Quotes Prior to Virginia Tech Game
On what has been the best thing about his team in the first month of the season:
"It has been encouraging to get a little better each game, each week. I just hope we can continue to do that this week because we are going to need to. We just want to see a little more improvement."
On what the team did during the bye week:
"We worked a lot on fundamentals. We didn't really do a lot of hitting. We tried to give the kids an opportunity to recover. We tried to give kids like Johnnie Morant and Damien Rhodes a chance to recover. Joe Donnelly worked hard in a non-contact environment. We'll see how Joe does this week. When you go through the month of August in camp and then you play four tough games, it's nearly eight weeks of banging into each other all of the time. So we tried to back off on that a little bit and give them a little chance to recover because these next three weeks are obviously going to be very demanding."
On Virginia Tech:
"They are playing well. Obviously they are scoring a lot of points. They are very productive. The quarterback has really made some good decisions. He is a guy who can beat you with his arm, he can beat you with his feet. Obviously they have a great tailback. They have a great wide receiver. Nobody knows Ernest Wilford better than we know him. We helped him set school records. We know him well. Their tight end, Keith Willis, is very good. The offensive line, led by Jake Grove, the center, is an outstanding offensive line. Their offense is very good. They are very athletic on defense. They run very well. It may be one of the faster Tech defenses we have seen. Over the years, they have made a commitment to special teams. I think they are very good. They do a great job on kickoff returns, and they cover kicks well. They cover punts, they block punts exceptionally well."
On whether Syracuse can feed off of the fact that it beat Virginia Tech in Blacksburg two years ago and won last year in the Carrier Dome :
"I don't know if last year or the year before will make one first down for us (on Saturday). I don't think it will. I think it's a new year. It's a new team. You have to go down there and do the things that you have to do to win a game like this. That's not turn the ball over, that's play well and make plays. The guys who have to make plays have to make plays in a game like this. You can't shoot yourself in the foot by having a punt blocked or kickoff returned or a punt returned on you. Those are the things that will be a factor in who wins and loses."
On whether the series with Virginia Tech has become a rivalry:
"I guess it is a rivalry. It has just worked out where we've had some very close games, very hard-fought games. They have gotten us a couple of times pretty good. I think there was one time where we got them pretty good. So it's just worked out that it has evolved into being a great college football game. Maybe not every year, but there's a been a few years in there where it has been a really exciting game."
On playing Virginia Tech for the last time as both being members of The BIG EAST Conference:
"There will somebody else real good on our schedule we'll play. Next year we add Florida State. If it's not Virginia Tech, it will be somebody else."
On what Virginia Tech is doing differently this year from last year:
"They run the ball so well that you have to try to do everything you can do to stop the run. Kevin Jones is a big, fast guy. They will run the ball and run the ball. You have to do something. They hit some long passes against us last year. Last year they diversified their offense. They were in some one-back offense. This year they are in some one-back offense. I don't know if it is totally different. There are probably some things that maybe a little bit new. You still have to stop the run."
On what Syracuse's defensive game plan will be against Virginia Tech:
"I don't know what the plan is. Obviously last year's gave up a lot of yards. Again, I don't know what you do if you don't stop the run. So I don't know what the answer is. You can only play with 11. This isn't Canada, if we had that 12th guy, we would be all set."
On whether Syracuse has to prepare to face backup quarterback Marcus Vick:
"(Bryan) Randall is playing. Marcus comes in and he is a very good player. Randall is the guy who is in there to start the game. He's in there quite a bit. I think you have to be prepared for Marcus Vick to come in. They both throw well. They both have very strong arms. They both run well. Randall is a little bit bigger. In some ways, they are not dissimilar."
On status of Damien Rhodes' and Johnnie Morant's ankle injuries:
"They were good last week. They came long well. We're optimistic that we will start today and they will be fine."
On matchup between Walter Reyes and Kevin Jones:
"We take a lot of pride in the fact that we have good backs. I'm sure that they take a lot of pride in the fact that they have good backs. I don't know that this is Kevin Jones and the Tech tailbacks against the Syracuse tailbacks. I think there is a lot going on in this game. I think you have to focus on all phases of this game because any one of them could beat you."
On if teams are playing Virginia Tech differently this year:
"I don't know what is new. I think you have to block and tackle. Winning football games still comes down to don't turn the ball over, don't give up big plays, play well on special teams if it is a tight game. Things that cause you to win and things that cause you to lose don't change. They are the same. I see a Tech team that executes very well."
On whether Syracuse not turning the ball over two years ago at Virginia Tech was the key factor:
"It always is. If you don't turn the ball over, you have a chance. You turn the ball over and you really handicap your team. You lower your odds."
On whether it will be difficult to regain the momentum of two straight wins because of the bye week:
"You never know about that. That is always a much debated topic and I don't know what the right answer is because we have had it work both ways. We've come off this and played well, we've come off this and not played as well. I do think that at this point it was good for us in an effort to get everybody healed up. I'm not going to say that we are going to play better because of it. I do think that from a recovery and health standpoint, I think it was a good week off for us."
On status of Jameel Dumas:
"We are going to see how Jameel does this week. I'm more optimistic about (Joe) Donnelly than I am Dumas. We're just going to have to see how he does this week. It may be too early for him. We'll see."
On the positives he took from the Toledo game:
"I thought we tackled well in that game on defense which is going to be critical deal here (this week). Defensively, I thought we played very hard. We ran to the ball. I thought we played with some emotion and passion. Obviously, offensively, the highlight was that the fact that, up front, we played well. Our offensive line blocked very well. Walter (Reyes) obviously ran the ball well. I thought Robin (R.J. Anderson) was very efficient. We didn't throw the ball 30 times, but what we had to do, we did. We did it with good judgement and good efficiency. There were some very positive things in that game."
On possibility that Joe Donnelly could start this week:
"It's too early to tell. I would like to see how he does today. Today he will do some. Tomorrow we will really start to get into it and see how he handles Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. Then we will have a good idea."
Player Quotes
Rich Scanlon
Senior
Linebacker
On Virginia Tech's offense:
"Obviously they are ranked No. 4 in the country so they have to be a pretty good team. They have an explosive running back in Kevin Jones. Bryan Randall gets better every year and so this is his last year so it's going to be his best year. They have a great wide receiver in Ernest Wilford. All around, they have a very good team They have a veteran offensive line. It's going to be a great challenge for us, opening up the BIG EAST schedule. We are looking forward to it."
On whether it means more to play a team that is ranked No. 4 in the nation:
"No, that is pretty much for you guys (the media). We don't really look at it that way. We play Virginia Tech every year. So it's not really a big deal either way, whatever they are ranked. It is a conference game. It's going to be a tough game not matter who is ranked what. I don't think we really look at that too much. It's nice on paper."
On the difference in the defense between the first two games and the last two games:
"I think we have matured a lot in four games. That is the biggest deal. It took a couple of games for us to get used to working together in a game-like situation. We really only had the spring and the early part of the summer to work together because we are working some new guys in. After that, I think we have come together nicely. We've gelled together. We have a good chemistry going. I think the guys like playing with each other out there. I think we are having fun. We still have to get better. There are still a lot of things that we can improve upon. That is our goal every week is to just get better and improve as a defense. We're just playing hard and having a good time."
On whether there is a carryover from Syracuse's victory in Blacksburg two years ago:
"I think to a certain degree there might be. It certainly doesn't hurt to know that you can go into a hostile environment and play well. I think that is not something you can lean on, but it is something that you can feel good about. At least we know we can go somewhere and play well. I think that is a big key for our confidence. It still is going to be a tough game no matter which way you look at it. Every game is hard."
On what this year's game will be like after Virginia Tech's announcement last summer that it will join the Atlantic Coast Conference next year:
"We've talked about this a lot over the course of the summer and the beginning of this year. It is going to have no bearing on how we play this game or what our goals are. The bottom line is that seasons are measured in wins and losses, not what conference you are in. This is just a regular BIG EAST game for us. It's a football game. You play football games to win, you are not playing to get into a conference or who is going to be where next year. We are worried about next week as of right now. I'm not thinking about that (conference situation), and I'm sure that none of the guys are."
On Virginia Tech wide receiver Ernest Wilford:
"We have to play better. That is the bottom line. He and the quarterback were a two-man show last year. So we definitely have to do a better job in that aspect. I don't know how many yards they had. If you look at every game last year compared to this year, we have to play better than we did last year. The secondary is playing a lot better now. Up front, we're playing a lot better now. We are playing together and I think that is the most important thing. The bottom line is that we have to limit all those big plays we gave up last year. I think that will be a big key to the game."
On playing on the road again after three straight home games:
"We've been on the road a lot in our four years here so it's really not anything different. Of course you would like to play home games all of the time but you can't do that. We've been on the road and we've been down there before. We've gone much further. We have had rough road trips in the past couple of years. So this is not anything different. I'm looking forward to it actually."
R.J. Anderson
Senior
Quarterback
On Virginia Tech's defense:
"Their defense is led by the senior Nathaniel Adibi. He's a great defensive end. They have great defensive ends. They have good defensive tackles. They have a pretty good linebacking corp. I think the strength of their team is their defensive backs. They have great corners. Their safety is really active back there and he fits their scheme of things. They really come after you. They play fast, and they play hard. We just have to go out there and match their intensity and try to take the crowd out of the game. We have to go out there and play our game. We have to do what we have been doing. We have to get rid of the turnover bug because if you turn the ball over there, it's going to be tough to battle back."
On whether it will be tough for the team to recapture the momentum of two straight wins after a bye week, or if opening conference play will alleviate that problem:
"I think we needed this week for guys to heal up. That was a big positive coming out of this last week, having the week off. We've had goals since December so a week off shouldn't really matter in terms what we want to do. You should get focused. We are playing the No. 4-ranked team in the nation at their place that is known to be very tough. So we have to go in there and play."
On how he can build on his performance against Virginia Tech two years ago:
"I can complete the ball better. I went down there and I didn't really play that well, throwing the ball. I didn't turn the ball over so I want to do that again. I just have to go out there and play better overall. I think I played good enough to win, but I want to play better so when I come out of the game, there's no questions about anything. I want to show that I can do the same things this kid (Randall) is doing down there. I want to win. This time around, I'm going to have to complete more balls for us to win as opposed to last time when I didn't really have to do that much. When we (the offense) got the ball, we were up 7-0."
On what the return of Joe Donnelly would mean to the offense:
"He just adds another strength to our offense. Right now the guys who are making plays are doing really well. He caught a couple of big passes in last year's game, but people don't know what he really did for us in terms of things like clearing off the coverage. He did a great job for us last year. Coming into this game, if he could do what he did last year, it would be tremendous."
On whether the Virginia Tech game is one that he looks forward to playing every year:
"Obviously, they are No. 4 in the nation so if we win this game, it's big for us. It's not like they aren't ranked really high, they are No. 4. It has nothing to do with the ACC, they are fourth in the nation. We are playing at their place. We want what they have. They have the No. 4 ranking. We want that."
On any similarities between the eight-man front he saw against Toledo and Virginia Tech's defense and if it will help to have seen that type of defense already this season:
"There are some similarities. But no one does it quite like Virginia Tech. We just have to do what we do. We can't worry about what they are going to do all of the time. It's going to help when we play Pittsburgh and we play the rest of the teams that do the same thing."
On the role the captains have played in the developing the emotions of the team this year:
"We have a good corp of seniors and senior leadership. They in turn help us (the captains) lead this team and direct this team. We started 1-0, we had a rough game the first game. We lost the second game. We battled back the last two. I think because of the senior leadership and because of what the captains have done, we are headed in the right direction."
On what has to happen for Syracuse to be able to run the ball against Virginia Tech:
"We have to block and Walter has to run, Damien has to run, I have to run. It's as simple as that. We have to execute. They have a good run defense. They are always going to have a good run defense. But at the same time, we can't throw the run game out because we can't be one dimensional. For us to win, we have to run the ball. We have to do what we do. We can't worry about that they are only giving up 40 yards per game or something like that. We have to go out there and take it to them and try to play our game."
On what he has to do to now to keep within his game plan against Virginia Tech:
"If there is something there, I'm going to take it. It it's not there, I'm not going to force it. It is as simple as that. I'm not going to force anything that is not there. Don't force the issue especially in a big game like that in a stadium like that where the momentum can shift with one mistake."
