Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Trancript (Oct. 24, 2011)
Opening Statement
"Welcome, everyone. Just to recap the (West Virginia) game, I think what I said in the postgame press conference is true. I think the most important thing, I know for our coaches and our team, the University itself and the community, was to retain the Coach Schwartzwalder Trophy. That was something that meant so much for us to do that because when you look at that trophy, it's really a symbol of what all the good is at Syracuse University. We went out there and performed at a high level, which is always expected each week. It's very tough to do that if you don't have the proper support, which we have through our athletic administration and our Chancellor. It was great that we were able to do something just for that that moment and to win a game at home, which is one of the things that we talked about with our kids prior to the season, for the people in this community to walk out of that stadium for a night and feel good about themselves.
"We talk about managing losses for a team; you also have to manage success. That's the one thing that we have to do a very good job of this week. We are playing a football team that we have not beaten since I've been here. A team that is built or may be better suited for exposing things that we have been inconsistent with during the year. It's going to be a great challenge for us.
"Defensively, they are ranked 15th in the country. They do an excellent job, they pose quite a bit of challenges for us, and we have to do a good job making sure that we turn this page, even though I know I'm going to get a lot of questions about it, and look forward to competing against a Louisville team that is probably going to create more challenges for us than we've faced all year."
On how the team is managing success:
"I think it's the same. The amount of effort that you have to put in to manage a loss is really the same amount of effort you need to manage success, and it starts with me. Everyone knows how it goes; the emails, the phone calls, the congratulations. There's a certain amount of time where you have to make sure that you do celebrate success, but my personal opinion, and what I talk to the team about, is that you can celebrate the success of a game, and that may last for a long period of time. I had those games when I played for Coach MacPherson. We want to make sure that we're consistent throughout the year so that when you look back, you can celebrate the success of the team, and I think that's what is more important."
"For us, we have to move on, and that's important. We have to take each game one game at a time, and Louisville is next. After the season is over, we can look back and look at what we've done well and what we haven't and there you can celebrate the success or failure of a season."
On what Louisville has done to expose Syracuse's inconsistencies:
"Pressure, man-to-man, running the football, pounding it. It's not a secret. Those guys have done a good job of that and they've been able to beat us. We've been inconsistent in handling those things, so those are the challenges that we're faced with. I don't think it's a matter of giving away a game plan or not, so that's exactly what it is. Defensively, it's almost the same type of approach as Rutgers.
"I can't really speak for them. I can only tell you what they've done to be successful against us before in lining up, trying to run the ball and doing a nice job and hitting some big plays. I can't get into them. I'm more concerned about what we do here at Syracuse and managing the team and getting them ready to play."
On the running-back rotation:
"Obviously, we've been playing better up front and those guys have been productive for us. We will continue with our rotation, and we're happy with the roles and the development of how the players are coming along. It's tough to manage four in that position, because they're all involved in the game plan, and the way the game goes dictates how many snaps they get. I'm very happy with the way we develop the running backs and the way they're playing."
On the exposure that the team received after the West Virginia game:
"We talked about the game on national television, and the exposure and being able to go out there and have a good performance. We talk about those things, and I think the kids see that. When you go home on a Friday night and turn on ESPN, obviously there's a lot of footage on the game, and people can feel good about themselves. But the whole point is how fast you can manage that type of success. The same way that when you go out there and you're the team on the other end of things: how fast can you go out there and let that go and move on to the next opponent.
"Sometimes it's easier for the players and coaches to manage the losses than it is to manage the success. I'll give you a great example. When we lost to the other BIG EAST opponent that we played, I was answering questions about that until Friday. But I kept it away from the players and coaches, and that's easier to do because the players and coaches want to move on and put their head down and go to work.
"With the success, who doesn't like to be told, 'Hey, good job. Everything's going well.' You just have to make sure that you manage that. Just like I told the players after the game, what happens is that you celebrate the success and you tend to lose track of what you did to put you in a position to be successful. That's the most important thing: what led up to our football team going out there and playing at a more consistent level than we've played for quite a long time. That's what we have to harp on.
"I said it before prior to the game for two weeks. When we went back, and did our quality control and self scout, we talked about the little things, the fundamentals. Just being able to win by that much is sometimes the biggest difference between making a play and not making a play. And the kids did a nice job of that."
Was the game plan with the receivers an attempt to throw West Virginia off?
"I don't think we go out there and try to fool anybody. I think it was a matter of what we had in personnel groups and the plays and what we were trying to get accomplished with those players in there. I think Dorian is playing at a very high level for us and Jarrod West did some nice things and Van's been able to contribute for us. We need to get him going, and we've been successful when he's been able to make plays for us. We look at that with all the players, but that happens during the week. It's hard for me to tell you what we're doing Saturday until we start going during the week because the player has to prove that he can win during the week and be consistent during the week. It gives us the ability to be able to put him on the field knowing that he's practiced, he's won and he has the chance to go out there. If a player doesn't win or he's not catching balls or he's missing blocks and making mistakes and we say, 'It's going to be OK,' and we put him on the field, that's our responsibility and we're not making the right decisions."
On the play of (senior wide receiver) Dorian Graham:
"He's very physical. He can get off man coverage, and he's done a nice job on that. I think he's a great model for a lot of the younger receivers we have and the other players on the team. I'd have a hard time saying who works harder than Dorian on working on his skill level. He takes a lot of pride in what he does, and we have a lot of players like that. He seems to have always been that way consistently with his work ethic."
On the impact (senior defensive end) Chandler Jones had on the game:
"When I got up here (early in the season) and I said that we lost arguably one of our better defensive players if not our best, I'm was not lying to anyone when I said it. For him to come back and play the type of game that he played, I have to give credit to the trainers, the player, the weight coaches because even when he was starting to come back, all three of those phases were working on conditioning and strength training.
"The bye week helped us because when he did come back, he was rusty during those practices. But we had those extra practices which enabled him to bring his level to a point where he was able to go out there and perform like that. I think that if we hadn't had the bye week, it would have been very difficult. I think all three phases of the trainers, the players and the weight coaches resulted in him being able to go out there and perform at that level."
On the secondary:
"Louisville has a lot of speed on the field, and they have a good, young quarterback who is getting better and better each week. Every week, we're going to be challenged as far as what we do in the secondary and what we do from a coverage standpoint. We just have to keep getting better. We got beat on some deep balls which were good catches by receivers who were in position to make plays. (Sophomore cornerback) Keon Lyn did a good job on some of those plays on those fades by jamming them at the line and really winning.
"It's the same thing when you talk about development and players getting better. You have to keep doing that. As long as I see them getting better, that's the reason why they're on the field. If anything starts to drop, then you'll see some changes. That's the same at every position, but we put a lot of pressure on those players with the defense that we have."
On the play of (sophomore running back) Jerome Smith and (junior linebacker) Siriki Diabate:
"When you watch the film after the game, they are some of the challenges that we have in how fast the development of Jerome Smith will be if he gets more carries? Where he's gone from last year to this year is really a credit to him and Coach (Tyrone) Wheatley and the other backs in the room. The more competition you have, the better chance of have of players rising to the occasion.
"(Senior running back) Antwon Bailey has done an outstanding job. I think he's someone who had a poor performance in the one game, and he's really come back and been outstanding. So that really sets the tempo of the room. Then you have Jerome (Smith) and Adonis (Ameen-Moore) and Steve Rene, now they're looking at Antwon and his work ethic and they're stepping up and knowing that we're really happy with the way they're developing. Now it comes back on us as coaches because we're trying to manage the situation and getting the best results for this football team.
"I think what you see on defense, and Siriki is one example, as are (senior defensive tackle) Deon Goggins and (freshman linebacker) Dyshawn Davis, there are a lot of examples on defense because we have a lot of younger players. What you see is the players are getting faster in their reaction to what they see and what they do. There's a level of practice play that you have that can get you to that situation, but the game experience is really what accelerates it. If you can trigger what you do in practice during the game, then you're onto something. If you're going to trigger in practice and during the game you might say to yourself, 'Wait a minute, this could happen,' that is not good. Nothing bad from a scoreboard standpoint is going to happen in practice. There are a lot of bad things from a scoreboard standpoint that can happen during the game.
"I think what you're seeing is Coach (Dan) Conley and the other coaches are doing a good job of giving those kids that ability and trying to get their eyes correct in what they see, believing and go. That's experience, and they're getting better and better with it."
On being bowl eligible with one more victory:
"I'm totally focused on just Louisville. Like I said before, whatever happens, the cards go and the chips fall. I know people have to write stories and do those other things, but my job is to get this team focused on a team that we've never beaten and that creates greater challenges for us than maybe we've seen all year."
On Louisville's wide receiver Josh Chichester:
"If they throw the ball out there, and he has a 40'' vertical leap, and they put the ball up there 10 feet, it's going to be very difficult for us to go at it. We have to make sure that they have to make those types of throws and that there aren't any gimme throws to anyone. Whether it's speed, height, whatever it may be, there's an advantage for people all over the field. When the fades come in there, strategically we'll make a decision on how we want to play him, and I think we'll see it on Saturday. He's a good football player, and he's hurt us for the past two years. He's someone, along with their receivers, who we have to make sure that we do a good job on."
On the job (senior quarterback) Ryan Nassib has done to help the team manage the success
"I think he plays an extremely important role. I think just that position alone is a leadership position. He's done a great job of that. I think the important part of this football team is that I don't worry about Ryan Nassib and how he manages himself or even the people who he can get out to and do that for, but what the team is doing for themselves to make sure that Ryan Nassib can concentrate on being the best quarterback.
"I think there's a balance in all of that. That's the one thing that we've been harping on and talking about since the bye week – managing the team, managing the little things, watching each other's backs, doing all of those things. It's very difficult to go out there and play at a high level and execute if you're not doing those things properly. You can do all of those things right, and you go out there on a Saturday and things don't click for some reason. If we can keep things in manageable situations like we did, and I said that prior to the week, then we have a chance to be successful. I think that is what the key was during that game. Everything that we had was a manageable situation."
"Welcome, everyone. Just to recap the (West Virginia) game, I think what I said in the postgame press conference is true. I think the most important thing, I know for our coaches and our team, the University itself and the community, was to retain the Coach Schwartzwalder Trophy. That was something that meant so much for us to do that because when you look at that trophy, it's really a symbol of what all the good is at Syracuse University. We went out there and performed at a high level, which is always expected each week. It's very tough to do that if you don't have the proper support, which we have through our athletic administration and our Chancellor. It was great that we were able to do something just for that that moment and to win a game at home, which is one of the things that we talked about with our kids prior to the season, for the people in this community to walk out of that stadium for a night and feel good about themselves.
"We talk about managing losses for a team; you also have to manage success. That's the one thing that we have to do a very good job of this week. We are playing a football team that we have not beaten since I've been here. A team that is built or may be better suited for exposing things that we have been inconsistent with during the year. It's going to be a great challenge for us.
"Defensively, they are ranked 15th in the country. They do an excellent job, they pose quite a bit of challenges for us, and we have to do a good job making sure that we turn this page, even though I know I'm going to get a lot of questions about it, and look forward to competing against a Louisville team that is probably going to create more challenges for us than we've faced all year."
On how the team is managing success:
"I think it's the same. The amount of effort that you have to put in to manage a loss is really the same amount of effort you need to manage success, and it starts with me. Everyone knows how it goes; the emails, the phone calls, the congratulations. There's a certain amount of time where you have to make sure that you do celebrate success, but my personal opinion, and what I talk to the team about, is that you can celebrate the success of a game, and that may last for a long period of time. I had those games when I played for Coach MacPherson. We want to make sure that we're consistent throughout the year so that when you look back, you can celebrate the success of the team, and I think that's what is more important."
"For us, we have to move on, and that's important. We have to take each game one game at a time, and Louisville is next. After the season is over, we can look back and look at what we've done well and what we haven't and there you can celebrate the success or failure of a season."
On what Louisville has done to expose Syracuse's inconsistencies:
"Pressure, man-to-man, running the football, pounding it. It's not a secret. Those guys have done a good job of that and they've been able to beat us. We've been inconsistent in handling those things, so those are the challenges that we're faced with. I don't think it's a matter of giving away a game plan or not, so that's exactly what it is. Defensively, it's almost the same type of approach as Rutgers.
"I can't really speak for them. I can only tell you what they've done to be successful against us before in lining up, trying to run the ball and doing a nice job and hitting some big plays. I can't get into them. I'm more concerned about what we do here at Syracuse and managing the team and getting them ready to play."
On the running-back rotation:
"Obviously, we've been playing better up front and those guys have been productive for us. We will continue with our rotation, and we're happy with the roles and the development of how the players are coming along. It's tough to manage four in that position, because they're all involved in the game plan, and the way the game goes dictates how many snaps they get. I'm very happy with the way we develop the running backs and the way they're playing."
On the exposure that the team received after the West Virginia game:
"We talked about the game on national television, and the exposure and being able to go out there and have a good performance. We talk about those things, and I think the kids see that. When you go home on a Friday night and turn on ESPN, obviously there's a lot of footage on the game, and people can feel good about themselves. But the whole point is how fast you can manage that type of success. The same way that when you go out there and you're the team on the other end of things: how fast can you go out there and let that go and move on to the next opponent.
"Sometimes it's easier for the players and coaches to manage the losses than it is to manage the success. I'll give you a great example. When we lost to the other BIG EAST opponent that we played, I was answering questions about that until Friday. But I kept it away from the players and coaches, and that's easier to do because the players and coaches want to move on and put their head down and go to work.
"With the success, who doesn't like to be told, 'Hey, good job. Everything's going well.' You just have to make sure that you manage that. Just like I told the players after the game, what happens is that you celebrate the success and you tend to lose track of what you did to put you in a position to be successful. That's the most important thing: what led up to our football team going out there and playing at a more consistent level than we've played for quite a long time. That's what we have to harp on.
"I said it before prior to the game for two weeks. When we went back, and did our quality control and self scout, we talked about the little things, the fundamentals. Just being able to win by that much is sometimes the biggest difference between making a play and not making a play. And the kids did a nice job of that."
Was the game plan with the receivers an attempt to throw West Virginia off?
"I don't think we go out there and try to fool anybody. I think it was a matter of what we had in personnel groups and the plays and what we were trying to get accomplished with those players in there. I think Dorian is playing at a very high level for us and Jarrod West did some nice things and Van's been able to contribute for us. We need to get him going, and we've been successful when he's been able to make plays for us. We look at that with all the players, but that happens during the week. It's hard for me to tell you what we're doing Saturday until we start going during the week because the player has to prove that he can win during the week and be consistent during the week. It gives us the ability to be able to put him on the field knowing that he's practiced, he's won and he has the chance to go out there. If a player doesn't win or he's not catching balls or he's missing blocks and making mistakes and we say, 'It's going to be OK,' and we put him on the field, that's our responsibility and we're not making the right decisions."
On the play of (senior wide receiver) Dorian Graham:
"He's very physical. He can get off man coverage, and he's done a nice job on that. I think he's a great model for a lot of the younger receivers we have and the other players on the team. I'd have a hard time saying who works harder than Dorian on working on his skill level. He takes a lot of pride in what he does, and we have a lot of players like that. He seems to have always been that way consistently with his work ethic."
On the impact (senior defensive end) Chandler Jones had on the game:
"When I got up here (early in the season) and I said that we lost arguably one of our better defensive players if not our best, I'm was not lying to anyone when I said it. For him to come back and play the type of game that he played, I have to give credit to the trainers, the player, the weight coaches because even when he was starting to come back, all three of those phases were working on conditioning and strength training.
"The bye week helped us because when he did come back, he was rusty during those practices. But we had those extra practices which enabled him to bring his level to a point where he was able to go out there and perform like that. I think that if we hadn't had the bye week, it would have been very difficult. I think all three phases of the trainers, the players and the weight coaches resulted in him being able to go out there and perform at that level."
On the secondary:
"Louisville has a lot of speed on the field, and they have a good, young quarterback who is getting better and better each week. Every week, we're going to be challenged as far as what we do in the secondary and what we do from a coverage standpoint. We just have to keep getting better. We got beat on some deep balls which were good catches by receivers who were in position to make plays. (Sophomore cornerback) Keon Lyn did a good job on some of those plays on those fades by jamming them at the line and really winning.
"It's the same thing when you talk about development and players getting better. You have to keep doing that. As long as I see them getting better, that's the reason why they're on the field. If anything starts to drop, then you'll see some changes. That's the same at every position, but we put a lot of pressure on those players with the defense that we have."
On the play of (sophomore running back) Jerome Smith and (junior linebacker) Siriki Diabate:
"When you watch the film after the game, they are some of the challenges that we have in how fast the development of Jerome Smith will be if he gets more carries? Where he's gone from last year to this year is really a credit to him and Coach (Tyrone) Wheatley and the other backs in the room. The more competition you have, the better chance of have of players rising to the occasion.
"(Senior running back) Antwon Bailey has done an outstanding job. I think he's someone who had a poor performance in the one game, and he's really come back and been outstanding. So that really sets the tempo of the room. Then you have Jerome (Smith) and Adonis (Ameen-Moore) and Steve Rene, now they're looking at Antwon and his work ethic and they're stepping up and knowing that we're really happy with the way they're developing. Now it comes back on us as coaches because we're trying to manage the situation and getting the best results for this football team.
"I think what you see on defense, and Siriki is one example, as are (senior defensive tackle) Deon Goggins and (freshman linebacker) Dyshawn Davis, there are a lot of examples on defense because we have a lot of younger players. What you see is the players are getting faster in their reaction to what they see and what they do. There's a level of practice play that you have that can get you to that situation, but the game experience is really what accelerates it. If you can trigger what you do in practice during the game, then you're onto something. If you're going to trigger in practice and during the game you might say to yourself, 'Wait a minute, this could happen,' that is not good. Nothing bad from a scoreboard standpoint is going to happen in practice. There are a lot of bad things from a scoreboard standpoint that can happen during the game.
"I think what you're seeing is Coach (Dan) Conley and the other coaches are doing a good job of giving those kids that ability and trying to get their eyes correct in what they see, believing and go. That's experience, and they're getting better and better with it."
On being bowl eligible with one more victory:
"I'm totally focused on just Louisville. Like I said before, whatever happens, the cards go and the chips fall. I know people have to write stories and do those other things, but my job is to get this team focused on a team that we've never beaten and that creates greater challenges for us than maybe we've seen all year."
On Louisville's wide receiver Josh Chichester:
"If they throw the ball out there, and he has a 40'' vertical leap, and they put the ball up there 10 feet, it's going to be very difficult for us to go at it. We have to make sure that they have to make those types of throws and that there aren't any gimme throws to anyone. Whether it's speed, height, whatever it may be, there's an advantage for people all over the field. When the fades come in there, strategically we'll make a decision on how we want to play him, and I think we'll see it on Saturday. He's a good football player, and he's hurt us for the past two years. He's someone, along with their receivers, who we have to make sure that we do a good job on."
On the job (senior quarterback) Ryan Nassib has done to help the team manage the success
"I think he plays an extremely important role. I think just that position alone is a leadership position. He's done a great job of that. I think the important part of this football team is that I don't worry about Ryan Nassib and how he manages himself or even the people who he can get out to and do that for, but what the team is doing for themselves to make sure that Ryan Nassib can concentrate on being the best quarterback.
"I think there's a balance in all of that. That's the one thing that we've been harping on and talking about since the bye week – managing the team, managing the little things, watching each other's backs, doing all of those things. It's very difficult to go out there and play at a high level and execute if you're not doing those things properly. You can do all of those things right, and you go out there on a Saturday and things don't click for some reason. If we can keep things in manageable situations like we did, and I said that prior to the week, then we have a chance to be successful. I think that is what the key was during that game. Everything that we had was a manageable situation."
