Head Coach Greg Robinson Press Conference Transcript (9/4/05)
On Disappointment about the game…
A lot of disappointment, the place was wild, the fans were great, it was everything we asked for.
On offensive problems…
Well as I told our team, it starts with a rookie head coach and it looks like it. The game management was poor and that comes right too me. I would’ve liked to have believed that we were going to be better than that but it wasn’t. I don’t like seeing that, I don’t like seeing personal fouls, we are not going to have that. Then we had penalties that shot ourselves in the foot. Earlier in that game there were several things that took place on both sides of the ball that I felt at any moment we could really get rolling. Then we kept compounding problems and we have got to get it fixed quickly.
Further assessment on offense…
Well we have the ability to run the football. There are guys open, I see open receivers, I see some dropped balls, I see some bad throws but I know what that offense has and they have the ability to run the football, and if we can get it hooked up to throw the football. It never got rolling, it sputtered, and all of a sudden it was 2nd and 15. Now you are behind the eight ball, you are behind the downs. At 2nd and 15 it is very tough; at 3rd and 18 it is tough. Can it be remedied? Absolutely, it can get remedied; we have just got to get to work quickly.
On experience in time it takes to learn a certain offense…
I would like to believe that it wasn’t so much learning. You start to get something going then you lose momentum and there has got to be a harmony, and right now there isn’t a harmony that we are looking for. Once you get it all of a sudden it rolls, as I see it is just smoothing it out.
On thinking about changing quarterbacks during the game…
If I did that I am blaming Perry, I am not going to blame him. I don’t see it that way. As the game wore on did he begin to get flustered? Yea, but I take that on myself.
On the way Perry played as a whole, and about changing the QB permanently…
I am not going to make a statement about that, I know that there were some plays that looked bad, but I am not thinking about making a change. I have got to give Perry a chance. So I am not considering that, I don’t see it like that. I see to many good things in practice, we have just got to get it right.
On tackling in general…
There was a lot of good tackling in the game, but consistently, no. I think some of it was their (WVU) offense, and a big quarterback. When you start running the quarterback, in different formations it can make you look bad. There were some plays where we hit and didn’t wrap up, but we will be a good tackling outfit. There are plays that we need to work on but there was some good hitting, we just have got to wrap up better.
On his own game management…
What I see is this, if we have to burn a timeout with the offense on a certain situation because of a substitution, that is on me. Immediately I have to say to myself, I have done this enough with these guys. As soon as it happens it is the first thing you feel.
On playing against the 3-3-5 defense…
There were a lot of things that our guys recognized and picked up. I think that our coaches had the right ideas, I really do.
On improving execution…
You have got to go to work, it is hard work. I said to our players, like race car drivers, if you go into a spin, you don’t stare at the wall If you stare at the wall you hit the wall. You have to look to the recovery point and that is what we are going to do. We are going to look at the film and focus on getting back on track.
On satisfaction with defense…
I knew our guys were going to play real hard. There are things that we could have done better, and they are going to continue to get better. The question asked earlier, is the tackling perfect? No it wasn’t it can be improved, and we improve that we will play even better. I am disappointed though in us losing our poise, I don’t like that. This is Syracuse University and we are not going to be that kind of team. We are going to play rough, hard-nose, tough football, but we are going to do it in a way that all of our fans are proud.
On interception return for TD (by WVU)…
I haven’t seen the film, I am not certain but I think he (Perry) had the curl, that I think might have been there, he made a quick decision and went to the flat. I think we are going to see the film and see that the curl was wide open.
