Head Coach Doug Marrone Postgame Quotes (Sept. 5, 2009)
Head Coach Doug Marrone Postgame Press Conference
Syracuse vs. Minnesota
September 5, 2009
Opening Statement:
“I appreciate everyone being here today. I take my hat off to the crowd, I thought they were excellent. My goal was to make sure that we can put a product out there that people can appreciate and support in this community. There were times out there thought I thought we did that, and there were times where I think I failed them. I hope we can get that type of support in that type of crowd back. Obviously, I didn’t want to start the game off the way we did. We spotted them seven points. Going ahead, I thought there was common ground quite a bit after that. I thought it was a good job by the players and the coaches to get everyone calmed down on the sideline with a big return by Mike Jones. We went down there, we scored and had a penalty and came back. So really, it’s four points there that we lost out on. It was a 7-3 ball game. I thought defensively, we hung in there very well. (Minnesota wide receiver Eric) Decker had one catch in the first half, we had the time of possession, they had some turnovers, so basically, what we talked about at doing in the first half, we were accomplishing. The biggest disappointment was third down conversions, and that was a tone that hurt us throughout that game. It was something that we talked about at half time.
“We went out there at the second half and had a lead. You try to build on it and it’s just so important. The defense is fighting their butts off and we really needed to score in that position to get up by two touchdowns or two scores to put us in a situation with the clock going and the defense playing the way it was. At the end of the day, we just couldn’t make a play. We have to go back and look at where there were certain points where we could make the play and we didn’t come up with it, and make sure we look at it and can say, ‘Did we put them in the best position? Were they comfortable with those plays?’ I think obviously from our standpoint, they were. Going to the end of the game and into overtime, obviously Minnesota won the toss and they go on defense and we elect to go to our end zone right here with the student body. We have a play where we can go to Mike Williams one-on-one, we could take that, and we had a trail and it’s open – wide open – Greg (Paulus) looks and he jumped on Mike Williams quick. He turns, he tries to make a play, and he made a poor decision. When you’re an athlete and you’re on the football field – I’ll still rely on Greg Paulus to make the right decision. He’s our quarterback and if I have to go out there again and have him run a play, I’d still have Greg Paulus going out there and run it. I feel that way with a lot of our players. I have a lot of trust in them. We just have to keep battling and put forth a better effort. We have to do well on third downs. If we do well on third downs, we’ll win the game, end of story.”
On whether quarterback Greg Paulus’ overtime throw was a result of his inexperience:
“I have seen veteran players do that before. That’s probably a better question for Greg, but in his defense, I’ve seen inexperienced players make those poor decisions and I’ve seen people who are tremendous playmakers make those decisions and make the play. So to say Greg is inexperienced, will he look the next time to try to make a play out of that situation? I don’t think so. I think we’ll go ahead and kick the field goal.”
On whether he looks at today’s game as a big improvement for Syracuse football:
“I don’t know. I look at it that and I told the players after the game that we’re going to look at this tape and we’re going to be disappointed on the things that we missed. The effort was there, but the execution wasn’t. As much as a coach, I tip my hat for the execution. I hope as an athlete you understand that you also have to execute. I’ve said this probably not as much as I should have, but I’ve always talked to the players and said don’t even confuse effort with results. I think that’s pretty appropriate for this game.”
On the first play of the game:
“First play of the game, there were a lot of issues that had gone on that I’ve never experienced as a coach. It’s my responsibility to make sure they get out there, and I take full blame for that. The issue, I’d like to keep internally right now. The first players who went out there, we went out there late, we had a high snap. It wasn’t as smooth as I wanted it to go. After that, I thought the process was fixed and we were able to go ahead.”
On Greg Paulus’ performance:
“Greg’s performance, he was 19-for-31, went for 167 yards, one touchdown, sacked three times. You can look at those plays and put some drops in there and see where that was, but my main concern is third down. We’ll sit down and we’ll talk. When you’re 1-for-12 on third down, that’s poor. Now, is that Greg Paulus’ fault? No, it’s the whole offense’s fault and it starts with me.”
On the community support:
“That was the first thing I said. I really appreciate it. I’m disappointed I couldn’t put a win up there for them. I think about it all the time. It’s so important for me to be able to do it for everyone else, probably but me. People in the community, the crowd, the players – the players deserve it, too. We have to keep fighting to put them in a better position to win games.”
On whether they tailored the game plan to cover for quarterback Greg Paulus’ inexperience:
“I don’t think we tailored the game plan. We have a lot of volume in the game plan and what we tried to do is make sure we had a chance to win the game. In other words, we had a chance to win the game; we could still attack a little bit. We definitely didn’t tailor the game plan. I think I’ll be looking back and asking if we had too much in there for the players.”
On his thoughts on the overall result of the ‘wildcat’ formation:
“I think we have to prove that formation for us. I think we gained yardage. What you do is go back and ask, ‘Okay, what are we looking to do?’ We’re looking to get four yards each play in that formation. If we can get four yards in that formation, then obviously it’s consistent. I think at the end of the day, it was close to, if not over that. I don’t think it was under that. We’ll do a better job of it and we’ll build on all the packages that we feel comfortable with.”
On the kickers:
“I thought our kickers, from what I was watching when I wasn’t caught up with the offense, they were hitting the PATs, they were hitting the field goals, and they did a nice job of getting the ball up. The timing went well. We did a good job kicking the ball off. I think we had only one punt that was short from Rob (Long) and a bad snap. Those things we don’t want to happen. I’m happy with the situation.”
On the problems in the second half:
“We couldn’t make a play. We just couldn’t make a play, that’s all I kept saying on the sideline. We just needed one play. It didn’t matter who it came from, we just needed someone to make the play. We couldn’t do it. We’ll get someone to step up and make the play. (Minnesota) had guys step up and make the play for them. If you look on the other end of it, Minnesota did a nice job. The wide receiver (Eric Decker), he made plays. That’s what it is in this game. When you have a tight game and two teams going back and forth, you are just sitting there and waiting for someone to make the play. I kept thinking, ‘I wish someone would step up and make the play.’ We had some play calls and we had a chance to make some plays and we didn’t take advantage of it.”
