Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes vs. USF
Syracuse vs. USF November 11, 2011
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
Junior Free Safety Philip Thomas
On the defense’s difficulty tackling B.J. Daniels:
“Going into the game we knew that B.J. [Daniels] was a triple threat guy. He’s going to be giving his all in there and he can throw the ball. So going into the game, we practiced hard all week. We knew we had a triple threat quarterback and we prepared pretty well for it. Things don’t come out to be the way they are supposed to be but all we can do is go back out there as a team playing defense.”
On the big holes in the secondary because of B.J. Daniels’ time in the pocket:
“It’s pretty hard B.J. Daniels, we know he has good footwork and can scramble so we have to get past all their guys. It’s hard to come up and help the defensive line and linebackers and try and tackle him because you never know if you pass the line to try and help one of our guys, we may give up a big play. So it’s kind of hard dealing with a triple threat quarterback.”
Junior Wide Receiver Alec Lemon
On the number of drops for the wide receiving corps:
“That’s one thing that we have to take back to practice during the week. A lot of drops during the week translates right into the game. When we have the opportunity to make a big play and get that first down and Ryan [Nassib]’s counting on us to make that big play and we don’t, it’s kind of frustrating. You want to get the ball back but it’s kind of hard when you are dropping the ball all the time.”
On his chemistry with Ryan Nassib:
“It starts in the week with Ryan [Nassib] and my connection and seeing spots in the defense during film week and just having that connection. What I see and what Ryan sees is the same thing, we’re on the same page.”
On dealing with two big career nights and two losses:
“It’s a team game, I’m not even worried about the stats. I am just trying to put up points for our team to win and when we don’t win, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t really count.”
On whether the team is trying too hard for the big play:
“Maybe that is the thought in a couple of people’s heads but I feel like it’s concentration and like I said it starts during the week. In practice, when drops happen and you say ‘No, I’m going get that during the game’, you can’t have that. You need to catch everything in practice and translate that to the game.”
On the three-game losing streak going into the bye:
“It’s frustrating, like you said with a three game loss, you want to play the next day and get off this losing streak. We can just go into the bye week and get healthy, recover, correct a lot of stuff, and come together as a team and get ready for Cincinnati.”
Junior offensive tackle Justin Pugh
On trying to emphasis the run early in the game:
“We emphasized running the ball this week. We came out and they did some things to slow us down. That falls on our offensive line. We have to go out there and establish the run. That falls on myself; I take 100 percent blame. We have to make holes for Antwon Bailey. He cannot go out there and make it through holes with three guys hitting him. That is on us.”
On if it was good defense or poor blocking which stopped the running game:
“It is not really what we they were doing, it was what we were doing. We have to block guys so we can make plays for our receivers downfield. So that is on us. We wanted to come out and be physical, and they came out and punched us in the mouth the first three possessions.”
Sophomore linebacker Marquis Spruill
On how tough it was to stop USF’s B.J. Daniels:
“Daniels is a good quarterback. He played the zone read very well. He is a double threat, he can move and he can pass the ball well. We just had to play better.”
On if the loss was due to a lack of preparation:
“I do not think it was the preparation. We prepared very well but we just have to get down to the bottom of it.”
On how the defense reacted to playing in short-field situations:
“We told ourselves we have to stop the penalties. Playing in a short field, I am not trying to blame anyone for it, but those were just unfortunate circumstances we were put in.”
Senior wide receiver Dorian Graham:
On the dropped passes throughout the game:
“We just did not get the job done today. Ryan Nassib put the ball where he needs to put it and we did not make plays.”
On the adjustments the USF defense forced the receivers into:
“Our coaches gave us a good plan. We executed well but we just did not make the plays.”
On what happened on the dropped pass late in the first half:
“Ryan Nassib did we he needs to do—he stayed in the pocket. He threw the ball out there for me to make a play and I did not. That is my fault.”
Sophomore Center Macky MacPherson
On the mood from going 5-2 to 5-5 and the possibility of not qualifying for a bowl game:
“We have put a lot of time and effort into this, so it is pretty devastating to be put in this situation here. As an offensive line we really want to come out here and do our job and do a good job and we had spurts of good play and we had spurts of poor play.”
Senior DE Chandler Jones
On preparing to face a quarterback like USF’s BJ Daniels:
”All the credit goes to BJ Daniels. I feel like he was a one-man team. He did a good job of extending plays and getting those extra yards that everyone did not see.”
On the differences in closing the “gap” on defense compared to other games and weeks:
“It was basically BJ Daniels himself. He was extending plays and throwing strikes and he did a good job of being himself. “
Quarterback Ryan Nassib
On the wide receivers dropping passes:
“When you’re in the middle of the game and afterwards you don’t really worry about that. I know that I could’ve helped them out a few times, made a couple better balls. Maybe take some heat off it when they were in some tight windows so, I take responsibility for those as well.”
On the slow start:
“We were really hyped up for today’s game. For the atmosphere that was there and I think when we did that we made some mental mistakes that really cost us in the beginning. Once we settled down, got into a rhythm, then we started making some plays.”
On what he thinks needs to change:
“I think a lot of it has to do with leadership on this team. We really have to have some guys step up. Not accepting any little failure. Not waiting on a route in practice, dropping a pass in practice or missing a tackle in practice. All those little things we can’t have anymore. It has to be unacceptable.”
On looking for specific leaders to help the team during this rough patch:
“Our regular leaders like Antwon (Bailey) and Mike Hay are still doing a great job, but this is a big team. We have a lot of people playing. You can’t just have a couple leaders on one side of the ball. A lot of us are going to have to step up. It doesn’t matter what the age is. It doesn’t matter what position you are or what your ranking on the depth chart. Something has got to change.”
On the emergence of Alec Lemon:
“He’s just been really stepping up his game. A couple of the receivers have been banged up and what have you, but we are just getting out, getting the right position. We are calling some good plays for him. Have him run routes he’s very good at. He just keeps winning so I can’t help it but give him the rock.”
Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
On deciding what running backs get certain carries:
“Well right now, Antwon is obviously the primary guy and the other guys we have have to work in. They are all young. They haven’t had a full season under their belt running the ball. So, you are trying to put them in situations that they know best. So we try to get them involved and try to get them to do what they do well. We can only do that as much as we can so we keep giving it to Antwon.”
On less screen play in this year’s offense:
“We did some screens last year that weren’t as big of plays as we wanted last year and we really analyzed them a lot and tried to find out what we were good at and bad at. This year we’ve had a couple of them and it really didn’t play out the way we wanted so we’re trying to get away from those. Especially, these guys that had so many stunts and twists that we didn’t want to get some guys caught in the mix. They do a great job on screens and they do a great job on the defensive line and they run well, so, we tried to stay away from them in this game. But, it’s still there and if the defense allows us to do that.”
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
Junior Free Safety Philip Thomas
On the defense’s difficulty tackling B.J. Daniels:
“Going into the game we knew that B.J. [Daniels] was a triple threat guy. He’s going to be giving his all in there and he can throw the ball. So going into the game, we practiced hard all week. We knew we had a triple threat quarterback and we prepared pretty well for it. Things don’t come out to be the way they are supposed to be but all we can do is go back out there as a team playing defense.”
On the big holes in the secondary because of B.J. Daniels’ time in the pocket:
“It’s pretty hard B.J. Daniels, we know he has good footwork and can scramble so we have to get past all their guys. It’s hard to come up and help the defensive line and linebackers and try and tackle him because you never know if you pass the line to try and help one of our guys, we may give up a big play. So it’s kind of hard dealing with a triple threat quarterback.”
Junior Wide Receiver Alec Lemon
On the number of drops for the wide receiving corps:
“That’s one thing that we have to take back to practice during the week. A lot of drops during the week translates right into the game. When we have the opportunity to make a big play and get that first down and Ryan [Nassib]’s counting on us to make that big play and we don’t, it’s kind of frustrating. You want to get the ball back but it’s kind of hard when you are dropping the ball all the time.”
On his chemistry with Ryan Nassib:
“It starts in the week with Ryan [Nassib] and my connection and seeing spots in the defense during film week and just having that connection. What I see and what Ryan sees is the same thing, we’re on the same page.”
On dealing with two big career nights and two losses:
“It’s a team game, I’m not even worried about the stats. I am just trying to put up points for our team to win and when we don’t win, it doesn’t matter, it doesn’t really count.”
On whether the team is trying too hard for the big play:
“Maybe that is the thought in a couple of people’s heads but I feel like it’s concentration and like I said it starts during the week. In practice, when drops happen and you say ‘No, I’m going get that during the game’, you can’t have that. You need to catch everything in practice and translate that to the game.”
On the three-game losing streak going into the bye:
“It’s frustrating, like you said with a three game loss, you want to play the next day and get off this losing streak. We can just go into the bye week and get healthy, recover, correct a lot of stuff, and come together as a team and get ready for Cincinnati.”
Junior offensive tackle Justin Pugh
On trying to emphasis the run early in the game:
“We emphasized running the ball this week. We came out and they did some things to slow us down. That falls on our offensive line. We have to go out there and establish the run. That falls on myself; I take 100 percent blame. We have to make holes for Antwon Bailey. He cannot go out there and make it through holes with three guys hitting him. That is on us.”
On if it was good defense or poor blocking which stopped the running game:
“It is not really what we they were doing, it was what we were doing. We have to block guys so we can make plays for our receivers downfield. So that is on us. We wanted to come out and be physical, and they came out and punched us in the mouth the first three possessions.”
Sophomore linebacker Marquis Spruill
On how tough it was to stop USF’s B.J. Daniels:
“Daniels is a good quarterback. He played the zone read very well. He is a double threat, he can move and he can pass the ball well. We just had to play better.”
On if the loss was due to a lack of preparation:
“I do not think it was the preparation. We prepared very well but we just have to get down to the bottom of it.”
On how the defense reacted to playing in short-field situations:
“We told ourselves we have to stop the penalties. Playing in a short field, I am not trying to blame anyone for it, but those were just unfortunate circumstances we were put in.”
Senior wide receiver Dorian Graham:
On the dropped passes throughout the game:
“We just did not get the job done today. Ryan Nassib put the ball where he needs to put it and we did not make plays.”
On the adjustments the USF defense forced the receivers into:
“Our coaches gave us a good plan. We executed well but we just did not make the plays.”
On what happened on the dropped pass late in the first half:
“Ryan Nassib did we he needs to do—he stayed in the pocket. He threw the ball out there for me to make a play and I did not. That is my fault.”
Sophomore Center Macky MacPherson
On the mood from going 5-2 to 5-5 and the possibility of not qualifying for a bowl game:
“We have put a lot of time and effort into this, so it is pretty devastating to be put in this situation here. As an offensive line we really want to come out here and do our job and do a good job and we had spurts of good play and we had spurts of poor play.”
Senior DE Chandler Jones
On preparing to face a quarterback like USF’s BJ Daniels:
”All the credit goes to BJ Daniels. I feel like he was a one-man team. He did a good job of extending plays and getting those extra yards that everyone did not see.”
On the differences in closing the “gap” on defense compared to other games and weeks:
“It was basically BJ Daniels himself. He was extending plays and throwing strikes and he did a good job of being himself. “
Quarterback Ryan Nassib
On the wide receivers dropping passes:
“When you’re in the middle of the game and afterwards you don’t really worry about that. I know that I could’ve helped them out a few times, made a couple better balls. Maybe take some heat off it when they were in some tight windows so, I take responsibility for those as well.”
On the slow start:
“We were really hyped up for today’s game. For the atmosphere that was there and I think when we did that we made some mental mistakes that really cost us in the beginning. Once we settled down, got into a rhythm, then we started making some plays.”
On what he thinks needs to change:
“I think a lot of it has to do with leadership on this team. We really have to have some guys step up. Not accepting any little failure. Not waiting on a route in practice, dropping a pass in practice or missing a tackle in practice. All those little things we can’t have anymore. It has to be unacceptable.”
On looking for specific leaders to help the team during this rough patch:
“Our regular leaders like Antwon (Bailey) and Mike Hay are still doing a great job, but this is a big team. We have a lot of people playing. You can’t just have a couple leaders on one side of the ball. A lot of us are going to have to step up. It doesn’t matter what the age is. It doesn’t matter what position you are or what your ranking on the depth chart. Something has got to change.”
On the emergence of Alec Lemon:
“He’s just been really stepping up his game. A couple of the receivers have been banged up and what have you, but we are just getting out, getting the right position. We are calling some good plays for him. Have him run routes he’s very good at. He just keeps winning so I can’t help it but give him the rock.”
Offensive Coordinator Nathaniel Hackett
On deciding what running backs get certain carries:
“Well right now, Antwon is obviously the primary guy and the other guys we have have to work in. They are all young. They haven’t had a full season under their belt running the ball. So, you are trying to put them in situations that they know best. So we try to get them involved and try to get them to do what they do well. We can only do that as much as we can so we keep giving it to Antwon.”
On less screen play in this year’s offense:
“We did some screens last year that weren’t as big of plays as we wanted last year and we really analyzed them a lot and tried to find out what we were good at and bad at. This year we’ve had a couple of them and it really didn’t play out the way we wanted so we’re trying to get away from those. Especially, these guys that had so many stunts and twists that we didn’t want to get some guys caught in the mix. They do a great job on screens and they do a great job on the defensive line and they run well, so, we tried to stay away from them in this game. But, it’s still there and if the defense allows us to do that.”
