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Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Transcript (Nov. 6, 2010)
Syracuse vs. Louisville
Carrier Dome
“Obviously, it was a disappointing loss. We made mistakes out there, right off the bat we had a turnover, which they turned into seven points. Then we had a couple penalties and some coverage issues which allowed them to score. We made mistakes, credit to Louisville they were able to capitalize on mistakes. We had a chance to make some plays, at times we did, at times we didn’t. In all three phases they capitalized on the mistakes we made and at the end of the day we lose the game 28-20. Like I just told the players, and told them at the beginning of the year, this is going to be a difficult season, we’re going to have to fight and scratch. Nothing comes easy in this game. We have to do a better job of executing and taking advantage of mistakes. The past couple of games we’ve been on the winning end in taking advantage of mistakes and this time we weren’t able to overcome it, which is why we’re on the losing end of this score.”
On whether the offense had a tough time overcoming the dropped touchdown:
“Those things happen. It is part of football. You bounce right back, I told Alec (Lemon) we were going to throw it to him again and he’d score a touchdown. That is just the attitude. I don’t think there is a drop off with our players, they rally around each other quite a bit.”
On Louisville’s first two possessions in the second half:
“I thought they were going to run the football. When you look at the first half stats, we won in possession time and were able to run the football well. All of a sudden you look at it at the end of the game and they were able to jump back up there. Those first two drives they were able to run the football and did a nice job.”
On combating Louisville’s defensive pressure:
“We knew coming in that they were going to pressure. We hit a couple hots and were real short on them. We missed some big plays, and we made some, but we didn’t make enough. They were pressuring almost every play until the end. We were aware of that.”
On how the team will rally emotionally:
“We put (the same emotion) into every game in the way we model the week and the way we go about preparing to win a football game. I realized that I was going to build this game up as a game to win, but I wasn’t going to build it up with very, very high expectations because we just need to go out and play in a relaxed atmosphere with a relaxed way about ourselves. We don’t put that added pressure to go out there and perform and I believe that is where you make mistakes. We build the week up the same way with the players, we just might use different types of inspiration or motivation to get them ready. I talked to them about it in the locker room, I said, ‘Tough loss, and now we have to go back to work and do all the right things.’ Right now we’re a 6-3 football team with three games left to play and all our focus will go on our next opponent which is Rutgers.”
On what went into his decision to challenge the spot in the fourth quarter:
“You have to call the timeout anyway so why not challenge it, it is the right thing to do in that situation. You’re calling a timeout anyway and you don’t know where his knee was down so if you’re going to call the timeout you might as well challenge the spot and you might get six inches on the play. It wasn’t a situation where I wasn’t going to call a timeout and I decided to because I heard something, I knew right away we were going to call the timeout then. Since I had already called the timeout why not challenge it.”
On what the difference on Louisville’s fourth-quarter 90-yard drive:
“Their ability to run the ball, they had a couple run plays. They were able to run the football on us and converted on fourth-down in that drive. On fourth down it was a heck of a play by that kid, they threw the ball behind him and the kid made a good play. That is what it is about, they executed and we didn’t when we needed to.”
On the offense in the fourth quarter:
“It is about execution. I could sit here and make excuses for us but we need to execute better. We have opportunities out there.”
On whether he was surprised Louisville went on fourth-and-inches:
“I don’t know them so that is their game management, not mine.”
On the field goal at the end of the first half:
“We got the turnover and then obviously we wanted to go and score. I had the timeout and I was thinking of trying to score and not leave that much time on the clock. We ran an inside zone, they made a nice play with a corner pressuring from the side. Then we ran another play that was successful earlier and they wound up putting the SAM linebacker outside and were able to stop that play. Then we missed the third down where Ryan (Nassib) made a good decision, they out-leveraged us and he would have had to throw the ball behind his body to score a touchdown. We were able to run the clock down, kick a field goal and go in at halftime with the lead.”
On whether the offense came out relaxed in the second quarter:
“I thought they came out fine. They got the turnover. Again, there are a lot of things that go on where we’re not executing. We have a turnover, then we have a face mask penalty on the defense. We go in at halftime with a three-point lead and then we come out in the second half and they get another opportunity. There are a lot of things, when I tell you everyone made mistakes it is really all three phases.”
On the pressure the Syracuse defense was bringing:
“Everyone in this conference does a nice job, they have an experienced offensive line and that is a credit to them. You have to give them some credit.”
On what matchups he was worried about with Louisville:
“The matchup was our offense versus their defense. Going into the week we knew they were going to bring a lot of pressure, we’re a young offense and it was important to see how we would handle it. We didn’t do enough, I can tell you that, but I thought we did a lot. We’ll learn from the mistakes we made today."
