Head Coach Greg Robinson Press Conference (October 14, 2007)
Opening Statement:
"It's just about time now the 24 hour rule has ended. As I told you yesterday, it was a frustrating loss. To go back and watch the film, I find a lot more reason to make it frustrating. One because I see in that first half of the ball game things could have gone differently – very much so for us. It would have taken us to do some things the right way. When I look at it I see a game where all of a sudden we jump out and all of a sudden they make a play and it's 14-7. We stall a couple times there and have a couple of stops, but then all of a sudden we get the punt blocked and that's the momentum swing right there.
"Quite frankly, our offense did a good job right there at 14-14 of kind of fighting out of a hole a little bit and working their way back. We hit a ball, make a first down and all of a sudden we're at midfield. We have a big third-down-and-six and we have a dropped ball that was a tough one right there because it would have put the ball somewhere around the plus 45-yard line going in, in a 14-14 ball game. Also, what it was was we were responding. Kind of like what we did at Louisville, kind of dug our way out. That was very good, I thought. So to make a play right there could have been very helpful. Instead we had to punt. We came out and it was 24-14 and I mentioned to you yesterday that I thought that if we could have gotten away with three points, let alone seven, and done something to reestablish some momentum would have been helpful. I didn't get to see the angle of it (on the field), I was more concerned with our quarterback, on a first down on their 34-yard line going in with 41 seconds to go in the half and a timeout left, quite frankly, I'm interested to see how the officials in grading the film see what I term was a vicious blow to the head to (quarterback) Andrew Robinson. The thing I remember so well, I go back to a year ago at Rutgers on the opening series of the game when (Syracuse cornerback) Tanard Jackson leaps over the running back, who blocks him into (Rutgers quarterback) Mike Teel, and sacks him. But he (Jackson) gives him a glancing blow to his helmet as he's coming down to sack him and we get a 15-yard penalty right there. I'm just frustrated when I look at the film and see the vicious blow to the helmet (this past Saturday) and instead it's a fumble – instead of first-and-10 on the 19-yard line going in. You needed a break right there because our guys had kind of fought back into it and put themselves into position to maybe go in and get some kind of score. Instead we come away with the defense going back out there and keeping them from getting a field goal right there. That to me is a little frustrating to me when I look at it and that's not to take away from things we could have done better.
"In the second half, I felt like we never did anything really to get the momentum back. Not that there wasn't a good play or two here or a good run there – whatever it was. All-in-all we could have made a statement there in the second quarter and we really didn't make the most of it or get the opportunity to. As I view some of the things I talked to you about yester day, I say this, I've done some assessing. I'm not going to go into great detail because that's part of strategy and tactics. I will tell you this, there were some things we could have done better as players in protection situations. There are things we could have done better in route running that would have helped. There are things we could have done better as coaches to make that a better situation. On the other side of the ball we could have done things better in our play technically and strategically we could have done some things better there to control the running game and not let it get away from us there in the fourth quarter. It's a game we spent a lot of time analyzing. From the moment I left you (yesterday), I went home and got back to that film until right now. I think it is important to pin-point and be exact about what transpired throughout the game. We talked as a team and we know we have to get our minds right. It was a tough loss and at this time it is not time to feel sorry for ourselves. It's time to suck it up and grind through it because that's what you have to do."
On if he is going to act as the coordinator for the offense or the defense:
"I don't see I'm going to jump in anything. I'm going to do what I can do to help – either side of the ball, including the kicking game."
On if the team showed good effort in the second half:
"The effort was there. I think fatigue began to set in a little bit. It was a physical game and some guys on both sides were in and out. Guys were still battling. I didn't find that. I just didn't thing we could ever swing the momentum. I thought we had some chances. As I go back to the film in the second quarter, we were setting ourselves up to get right back in the fight and then lost an opportunity. Then in another situation, I think maybe we had one taken away from us."
On what the vicious hit was that he referred to in the opening statement:
"Helmet-to-helmet. That's how I view it. I'm going to turn it in (to the BIG EAST conference) and have them assess it and go from there. I didn't watch the T.V. replay and I suspect some of you (the media) already have. I don't know if they showed that and I see some of you agreeing with me that maybe it should have been called. That's why we have a system like we do, where we turn in our reports and show our concerns. Quite frankly, I think our conference does a good job of saying this is this and this is this. I don't very often argue with them about it after they make their points, because I think they're pretty straight up about it."
On the call on against Syracuse on the Rutgers punt return:
"I can see where an official might throw a flag, but I can also see where it could have been interpreted totally different. Our man was covering down the field very hard and way being blocked by a jammer, who was running right with him and blocking him. He's fighting him off, fighting him off, and to say he could tell that the ball had just entered the endzone – nobody had stopped play. Quite frankly the returner looked away from looking at the ball to back up where he could have construed as being a blocker. I think that's what our guy thought that he was turning to be blocked from getting to the football. My perspective, it could go one way. That was a tough one, too."
On if the returner is fair game once the ball hits the ground:
"If he is working to block you, heck yeah."
On if he called for a fair catch:
"He didn't call for a fair catch, did he? I don't believe if he called for a fair catch that he can go and block you. I don't believe he did that. I believe he retreated for the ball, saw where it was going then looked back. This guy was coming to him and then saw him like he was a blocker and struck him right there with a guy on him. That was not the difference in the ball game – it was an extra 15 yards right there that they gained coming out, instead of at the 20 it went to the 35."
On what went wrong with the punt block:
"We worked on that thing. I think really the person who missed it just hasn't been in that situation enough because we had specifically worked on that block. He just really didn't recognize it the way he should have. We can coach, these are young people, they are not pro football players, and sometimes you think you have them all right, but sometimes the math doesn't add up right to certain people at certain times. It looked clear as day that we should do it, but it didn't come out that way and those things happen."
On if punter Rob Long taking too long getting the punt off:
"It wasn't a matter of taking too long. I think he really thought we were going to block the six-man overload because we worked on it throughout the week. He just has to trust his guys. He went through his rhythm expecting that it was picked up and all of a sudden ba-boom. He's not sitting there as he gets that ball looking at the blocking, he can't analyze what's going on, he has to be going through his thing and he's seen enough of the things that I think Rob does a good job of trusting – that is important now. So you go through your thing and trust that your teammates are going to take care of you. He knows when there are certain situations where he has to get it off now. Quite frankly, that wasn't one because we did expect to pick that up."
On how much junior guard Ryan Durand's injury affected the offensive line play:
"Anytime, arguably, you're best linemen goes down there is an affect. It isn't like senior Marvin McCall has taken a ton of reps in there for Ryan Durand. That has an affect and his length of time down we'll leave for further review."
On the running game showing a lot of life:
"There has been two weeks in a row that there has been life to the running game and I'm glad to see it. You're seeing it and I’m seeing it and obviously nobody has complained."
On Andrew Robinson's tendency not to slide when he is scrambling:
"He had a situation there yesterday, where he could have gotten out of bounds and instead he tried to split the guy – he did, he tried to jump through him like he was going to stop both of them – and he can't do that to himself. Not only does it affect him, it affects the team. For the extra four yards he's going to make trying to do that is not worth it. Just like he tries to stay alive to long on some of those ball that he ends up throwing away anyways – get rid of it. That's a young mistake, but Andrew is competitive and he's proven that. He has to know when to hold them and know when to fold them. That was a good example of when he turned up the field and he just doesn't need to get his shoulders involved in a hit."
On the possible changes in pass protection:
"That kind of stuff, I would rather not get into right now. I just think all involved are going to work very hard to take away the contact that Andrew has taken over the last two weeks."
On comments made to ESPN about Rutgers and recruiting:
"I don't think that is fair for them to be saying that because I don't know if I said that. I'm not going to comment.
"The recruiting thing, they brought that up about recruiting – that was what was being asked. Quite frankly, it was something on a broadcast the week before in their game that was not an accurate statement. I made a comment to that. When we arrived here there were four players from New Jersey. If you go back and see who the scholarship players were from New Jersey, they weren't people who were making much of a contribution. Quite frankly, we recruited five players from New Jersey this past season and two of them have been making a contribution. I didn't think that statement was accurate and I think we are doing a good job of recruiting in New York as well as in New Jersey, contrary in might be being said from their end of things. That's the discussion and the rest of it, I think, was taken out of context. They asked me about the statement that was made and asked me if I had seen it and I said I had. I was specifically asked something and I gave an answer to it and that's the bottom line."
On Buffalo:
"They are getting better and I got a chance to see them on film last week on both sides of the ball. They are doing a nice job both offensively and defensively. They are working hard and you know they think we're ripe and they have to – just taking two conference losses that were tough games. They just had a nice win, so it's important that we get our attention on them immediately. As a matter of fact, as we speak, our players are watching film on them. It's important that we get into that and get into it in a hurry. We need to get going and I think that is all that needs to be said right now."
On if the team is feeling the pressure to get a win against Buffalo:
"The thing I say about pressure is that pressure is what you put on yourself and we apply plenty of pressure on ourselves no matter what it is. We need to win and it doesn't matter who it is. We need to get a win. The moment I say something like we have to get a win against Buffalo – wait a minute – no, no, no. We just need to win. We need to play well and win. I would never want to show any disrespect toward Buffalo. They're working hard and we're working hard. They're going to come in with the intent to win a football game and we're working hard this week to win a football game. That's the bottom line." 
