Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Transcript (Sept. 28, 2009)
Opening Statement:
"Glad to see everyone here. Again, I appreciate you being here. I appreciate the support from our fans, showing up to the game again and the support we get from the band and cheerleaders, they do a tremendous job. I wanted to make sure they were recognized after the game with the game ball. I think they have been through a lot and they continue to stand by our side and we appreciate the job they do.
"As far as the game, I was a little disappointed early with the blocking on the perimeter and trying to get our players on the perimeter offensively. We have to do a better job of that in our screen game and obviously becoming more physical. We lost two possessions during the first half and that hurt us because we were stalled on the first drive on the third down. (Sophomore running back) Antwon (Bailey) dropped the ball, otherwise we had the first down. The second half, we were able to go in and score touchdowns and I really felt good offensively with the plan and trying to get as many possessions as we could. Hats off to Maine, they did a tremendous job, they converted on their fourth downs and they did a nice job.
"For us offensively, we scored 35 points in back-to-back games, we haven't done that since 2004, so that's something we can build on offensively. (Graduate student quarterback) Greg Paulus continues to throw the ball well. He's at 68.2 percent through four games, that's something that we look at. Part of our offensive philosophy is to make sure we have good completion percentage. Greg has held up his end on that. That's something we know we can improve on. We just need to keep going offensively and trying to build this running game the best we can, which we were able to do at the end when we had the ball with 12 minutes left in the game, and we wound up giving the ball back with about two minutes left. To be able to take up that much time, I thought the running game started to improve much at the game. Whether it was wearing them down or not, I don't know. The offensive line did a nice job. We also didn't give up any sacks against a team that pressured quite a bit, which gives us a bunch of one-on-one situations up front. I thought the offensive line did a nice job with the pass protection which gave us the ability to get some shots on them. We need to continue offensively to look at taking shots and getting the ball vertically down the field. That's helped us in all the games that we've played this year, especially the ones that we won.
"Defensively, Maine obviously adjusted and changed when they first came out. We knew early on that they switched the quarterbacks in warm-ups. It wasn't what we practiced against all week long. We practiced against what we saw on film. They did a nice job early on moving the football with the throws that they made. (Freshman cornerback) Shamarko Thomas played a little bit more corner. We'll move him back to safety. I think the defensive line played well. We've done a very good job defensively holding teams in their run game. That's really the main focus. I don't know if I've been anywhere in any meeting on any team, whether I was a player or a coach, when they started talking about the defense, the first thing the defensive coordinator would say is, ‘The first thing we have to do is stop the run.’ Our defense has done a tremendous job with holding opponents down to under 100 yards and forcing teams to throw, which hopefully we'll be able to take advantage of as we go through the season.
"The defensive line played well. They were very productive. (Sophomore defensive end) Chandler Jones played well for us. I don't know that status of (nose tackle) Arthur Jones right now. When I get more information, I'll let everyone know. (Senior defensive tackle Anthony) Perkins is someone who we can move to play the nose guard position. The linebackers played well. (Junior linebacker) Derrell Smith led the way, he got the game ball for defense. Greg Paulus got the game ball for offense, and (junior punter) Rob Long got the game ball for special teams. We were excited about talking to those players about that. (Junior linebacker) Doug (Hogue) made a key interception that really made it easier in the game. Doug has gotten his hands on a couple of balls this year. We expect him to continue that. (smiling) We tease Doug a little bit saying that's why he moved to linebacker (from running back). He made the guy miss at the end, so we look for him to do well.
"The secondary played with good effort. We were sound. They got us in some streak alerts in some plays when we were in position and we just have to make plays. We're two-and-two and it's onto a South Florida team. South Florida, from watching them the past day and a half, they have great talent, they're playing with terrific effort, and it’s a team we haven't beaten (in the four-game series), so it's a tremendous challenge for our football team. It's one that we're looking forward to. We are also looking forward to competing against the BIG EAST. It's my first game in the BIG EAST, and our first game together as a team in the league."
On his team's perimeter blocking:
"What we tried to do is come out early and we wanted to get the ball out in space against Maine. We wanted to get our ball into the hands of our playmakers in space and really work the perimeter. If you saw the first one, they pressured us and we tried to dish the ball out to the perimeter. They rotated the coverage, which brought pressure and we missed both blocks. What happens from a football standpoint, the person who is receiving the ball has to have the faith that the people in front of him are going to block him. That will make him more aggressive in his ability to make bigger plays. We have to do a better job of blocking on the perimeter, whether it be a tight end, a receiver, a running back – whomever we put out there on the perimeter has to give better blocking for us when we get the ball outside. Not necessarily handing it off, but throwing it in the short bubble screens and things like that."
On whether it's been an issue getting the running backs to the perimeter:
"That usually goes a little bit more by scheme. In other words, we tried to toss the ball in the perimeter and we ran it into a zone pressure, the one that was only for a yard. Hats off to Maine – good call, good defense. They were where we were trying to cut the defense off, so they did a nice job of that. Some teams won't let you get to the corner or the edge. Our defense does a nice job. People have gotten to the edge when they have caught us or we haven't had the edge secured, but really, no one wants you to get to the edge on a defense. They want to keep everything inside the tackle box so their linebackers can play downhill and the safeties can go in. From my standpoint, it's more schemes. We start off planning the run game, and one of the questions we ask is, 'How do we get the ball outside?' That's something we're always looking to do. There's a lot of different ways. Sometimes if they play inside, we can go block it and get outside. If they're not, we can block down and get outside, we can pass the ball or hand it off. Or, if you can't attack the defense from that perspective, you set up on the outside and just throw short screen passes, or bubble screens as people refer to them."
On the run game and when teams say they shouldn't run against us:
"I'm actually encouraged when people say that because the one thing great about this game is that there's so much history to the game of football. Not to get into a long discussion, but we've always had to establish the run. When teams are able to run the ball and you can get this mixture, it creates a tremendous amount of pressure on a defense. I know that one of the things we talk about offensively is being balanced and creating that pressure. The other thing is that when teams have that type of attitude, maybe coming in here saying, 'We're going to spread it out and have to throw it.’ People have to be successful throwing it. We can do things to help us secondary-wise and put us in a position to say the same thing. Having an offensive background, I always get concerned that a lot of things have to go well when you throw the football. You have to snap it, you have to read it, you have to throw it, you have to catch it – there's a lot of things that go on rather than just stepping back and handing it off to the running back."
On whether he's at a point where he has to help the secondary:
"No, I think we're going to be okay. Sometimes I think we look at it and say, 'Well gosh, what's going on?' And sometimes we have to look at it and say, 'Number one, is the kid in position to make the play?' Sometimes you have to tip your hat off and say, 'Hey, that's a heck of a catch and that's a heck of a play.' We continue to upgrade and that's how we continue to evaluate it. Was it a good call? Was he in position to make the play? Can he make that play? Is the right person out there? We just need to continue to keep improving as we go along. It's a different concept. We had Spring ball with them, and we've had this season. The players we're playing with are better players and we just have to keep continuing to reinforce what we believe in so the players believe in it and just continue to get them better."
On freshman safety Shamarko Thomas:
"Shamarko actually played some corner last week. He played some corner because we tried to get him on the field a little bit more. I think for a freshman, it might have been too much between the corner and the nickel and here they come out doing a bunch of different things. That’s an overload situation. That's on us on coaches, not on the player."
On South Florida's quarterback B.J. Daniels, who is playing for the injured Matt Grothe:
"He's a big play quarterback. He is able to throw the ball vertically down the field. He has a nice live arm and he's obviously great on his feet. He is a good runner, good on zone reads, very dangerous. We'll have to cover the whole field. In pass rushing, you have to do a nice job staying inside the throw. You have to contain this quarterback because he can take off and run. He's very effective and a very dangerous weapon."
On defensive lineman Anthony Perkins' performance after (nose tackle) Arthur Jones left the game due to injury:
"He did a nice job and Bud Tribbey did a nice job. Again, I think all of our players, when we've had injuries, it's just like anywhere else, our players have stepped up and done a nice job."
On Syracuse’s run game and the challenges it has had to gain yardage:
"I don't look at is far as yards and how productive they are when we run the football. I look at it from a standpoint of what's being defended. In other words, do we have goal in our mind of yards in a game? No. Our only goal is to win. At the end of the year, we'll look at where we are from a standpoint of ratio. In other words, we may go into a game and we may have to throw the ball 70 percent and run the ball 30 percent to win. Or it might be vice versa in other situations with a different opponent we play. At the end of the year, what I want to see from the self scout is 50-50. That's in a perfect world. Most of the places I've been have been 60-40, but 50-50 is the goal offensively. Each game plan will take you a different way to defeat a team."
On whether he has tried to motivate quarterback Greg Paulus by telling him that some BIG EAST coaches have doubted him:
"I didn't know that any of them said that. I don’t like to motivate people by saying, 'Hey, this person said this.' I don't believe in that. Anyone who has met Greg knows that he has such a competitive drive within himself that I don't think he needs any extra motivation."
On how the offensive line will be challenged against USF:
"It would be a challenge for an NFL offensive line against this team. This team has tremendous talent, not only upfront, but all over the field. Looking at height, weight, speed, and the way this team plays – this is a very talented football team. It creates a tremendous challenge for us. Without disrespecting anyone who I haven't seen on film yet, these will be the most talented defensive ends that we play against. I think their inside players are underrated. They can play now, the kids inside. The linebackers are big, they can run. The defensive backs are athletic, they can run. Everyone knows it's not a secret that Florida State has tremendous athletes. You watch that South Florida-Florida State game, and South Florida's athletes are just as good, if not better."
On what the defense was missing without Art Jones playing:
"We rely on 11 players, I don’t think we rely on one player. Would I say that we would've liked to have Arthur out there with the other 10 players? Absolutely. Did we lose something with him not being out there from a standpoint of someone who can make plays? Yes, but we rely on 11 players to do their job. We've gotten tremendous production out of the players who have taken his spot when he wasn’t in there, and we look forward to Arthur coming back and helping us. Again, I don't have a lot of information (on his injury) right now or else I would tell you exactly where we are."
On the importance of being 500 going into the BIG EAST:
"I think it's important to win. That's more important. Is it important to be at 500? It would be more important to be 3-1. It would be great if we were 4-0. It's important for us to win and we've won a lot of different ways. We're always talking to our players and learning from the situation we're in. This is the first time at home that we went into halftime without the lead. The last two games at home, we had the lead. To come back and win that football game and keep our cool and have no one get out of control and stick to the plan and make some adjustments here and there, that's a big step for our football team. I'm very happy with where we are right now. I think it's terrific for the kids. The kids have done a great job. They have responded well. They're enthusiastic. They know we have a tremendous challenge. It's an exciting time to go out there and practice. I'm really looking forward to it."
