Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Transcript (Nov. 7, 2011)
Opening Statement
“Going back through that last game, one of the keys for us, without wanting to take any credit away from the team we played, was field position. That’s the one thing where we weren’t able to win that battle, whether it was caused by turnovers or special teams. In the beginning of the game when our defense was able to cause some turnovers, we weren’t able to take advantage of it. And in the second half, offensively, we had a couple of good drives for touchdowns, but we just didn’t have that last one in us, and we lost the game. So you struggle when you get the lead, and then you can’t keep it and you can’t build the lead early on when you create those turnovers. And then, obviously, field position became a major factor in that game.
"But I give credit to them, and now we’re on a short week, playing a South Florida team that’s coming up here in the same situation. They’re trying to get back on track, so we’re going to have two teams going at it Friday night. We have a lot of work in front of us to get ready to play.”
Despite losing their last four games, South Florida has a lot of athletic ability and in the preseason looked like they would be on the level of West Virginia. What are your expectations playing against this team?
“I think they’re extremely talented. When you look around the country and watch games – and obviously, I’ve watched all of South Florida’s games – it’s the same situation. There are momentum swings, or there’s a touchdown on a kickoff, or there’s a missed opportunity to score, or turnovers come into play. It still comes back to the same thing, whether you have a lot of talent or if the other team’s that much more talented than you, it just comes down to how you play in that game and what you do to take advantage, where are you with momentum and how do you keep your kids playing? I think South Florida’s an extremely talented team, and their kids play extremely hard, and that it just comes down to taking advantage of the opportunities that come and being ready to play all the time.
"That’s no different than our situation. Our kickoff coverage team has been better this year than it has in the past since I’ve been here from a statistical standpoint. And then we get into a game and the ball’s not kicked as well and they get a big return. So again, you look inward and see what you can do to get better. Our philosophy is that we go back to the basics, so today we’ll go back and work on our kickoff coverage unit, and we’ll go back to all the drills and covering all the lanes.
"We had one player who was out – (freshman wide receiver) Kyle Foster has a lower body injury, and he was really the only player we replaced. Then the player we replaced him with wound up getting hurt on that first play. And they did a nice job – it wasn’t anything illegal, but they knocked him out of there. And then next thing you know, there’s a seam and we miss a tackle, and they take it up-field. So those are the things that go on, and they go on everywhere. And you just hope that it doesn’t happen to you, but it’s happened to us more times than we would like.”
How do you handle preparation in a short week?
“Well, you come in after you play a game and get that game done before you move on and get the game plan started. Then you look at the schedule to see where you are – and what we’ve really lost is Monday practice. So today for us becomes a Tuesday practice. So you can’t put in a new scheme all of a sudden, like you can when you have a longer week of preparation. But you just keep going ahead, and we’ll be in helmets and shoulder pads all week. And since we’re pretty much starting on a Tuesday, it puts a little more pressure on.”
How much of an advantage do you have playing at home in a short week over South Florida, which was on the road at Rutgers and now on the road against Syracuse?
“I don’t know. You’d like to think you have a bit of an advantage since you don’t have to travel. We’re coming off the road for two weeks, so from that standpoint you’d think it might help by getting a little more rest. Travel wears on anyone, whether you’re going on vacation or not, the travel still wears you down. But I think once they get out there, the adrenaline and emotion that will kick in for both of those teams will take any of that advantage right out.”
Your team had success against USF quarterback B.J. Daniels last year. What do you need to do on Friday night to have similar success?
“I think he’s an excellent player, and offensively, they’re in the top 20 and having great success in what they’re doing both running and throwing the football. He’s a very experienced quarterback and he can run and throw and do a lot of different things. They have a lot of great skill players, a lot of great athletes out on the field. And it’s just one of those things where, in any situation, whether it’s college or the NFL, you have to keep those players and playmakers off balance.
"It’s very easy to take a receiver out of the game or a tight end, or for a running back, you can put extra guys in the box. But the quarterback has a chance to do a lot of different things, and he’s probably one of the toughest players to defend when he’s multi-talented like B.J. is. So for us, what we have to do is the same thing that worked before – we have to keep mixing things up and keep him uncomfortable. When you’re against a playmaker at quarterback, once he feels comfortable, you’re in for a long day.”
Do you have to manage the team differently this week, coming off of two straight losses? Is the team more down than they have been previously?
”They’re not down. Now, are they upset? Absolutely. We all are. It’s very difficult for everybody, and you have to manage all the things that are around you, all the outside influences – family, friends, students, and everything that goes on. And you have to understand that we’re on a mission – our goal for this team is to establish a foundation where we’re competitive year in and year out. And you’re going to go through some adversity when you go through this type of transition. So for us, how we react to things and how we come to prepare – and we talk about it from the standpoint of accountability – it is the most important thing.
"Who are you accountable to? You’re accountable to yourself, to the guy next to you, to the other players in the room and the coaches. And I think that’s important. And I tell the players this, and this is what I truly believe –
There is no one who plays anything competitively who likes to lose. I don’t think anyone would disagree with that. But if someone were to ask me, what are some of the lessons you’ve learned – for me personally, not for anyone else on this team but just for me personally – I would respond that what I’ve learned through different types of adversity is to see who’s accountable and who’s not. Sometimes you learn more about people through the tough times than you do the good times. And you don’t want for it to happen to have to find out, but when it happens, that’s the one thing you look at because then, truly, things start separating.
"And right now there are no bad signs on this football team. I’ve talked to a lot of the players, and I’ve told them it’s very difficult. When you’re dealing with young players, it’s different than dealing with older players in a league where they’re getting paid to play. And everyone is different in how they react. Look at me. Am I down? Absolutely. Am I upset? Yes. But I need to move on because that’s what is best for this team. And my head might be down because I’m working, but I’m moving forward. And what I talk to the team about, is that some people think you should be walking around campus with your head down low and feeling bad, but if I see you with your head down, I don’t know if you’re ever going to overcome this adversity.
"So I say let’s go, let’s get back to work and go. And that’s what we talk to them about because life’s that way all the time. The people who I’ve been associated with – Coach MacPherson, the people on his staff, guys I’ve played with, people who I’ve been with in business or professionally, it’s very simple to see the ones who are successful. The ones who are successful, they just go at it and get better and better every single day. They learn from the past, and they move forward. And that’s what you have to do."
Talk about facing a running quarterback:
“I think we’ve faced a couple of quarterbacks who can run. Toledo did a nice job in the wildcat, (Connecticut’s) McCummings can run, (West Virginia’s) Geno Smith had that ability, and (Louisville’s) Bridgewater had that ability. Honestly all the quarterbacks do. Our quarterback has run – we’ve run zone reads and options. So is it something you have to make sure to address? Absolutely. I think about how years ago teams were in the wishbone and running the triple-option, but now there’s triple-option all over that field. And a lot of times people either can see it or can’t, but that’s what we just defended this week was the wildcat and triple-option.”
What area do you think your team needs to improve upon the most?
“Depends on what part of the game. That’s a good question, but that’s the only way I can answer that. Do you want the offense to be like they were during the previous two drives before the last turnover? Absolutely. Ten play drives, eight play drives, and scoring. Do you want the defense to force turnovers and get three-and-outs like they were in the first half? Absolutely. Do you want the special teams to play like they have at times? Absolutely. The problem is that you have all this stuff going on. The teams that are the elite teams are the most consistent teams. We’ve seen teams that are more talented lose games because of those situations when you can’t get those three phases to play well. So that’s the main thing.
"For me, it’s going back to fundamentals and basics, and then you have to go out there and perform. You don’t want to over-scheme and put new things in every week because then it becomes very difficult. You might be able to do that in a place where the players don’t have to go to school or have more time, but that’s not how we do it here at Syracuse. The foundation that we’re trying to create is consistency. Have we gotten better in a lot of things? After the season, statistically, I’m sure we’ll see we have. But are there going to be areas of concern where we need to improve? Absolutely. And we’ll go after that then. But we have three games left right now in this last quarter, and we have to get those answers quickly. And that’s what we’re trying to do.”
Would it be nice to get a win this week and become bowl-eligible so that you don’t have to think about that and answer questions about it over the bye-week?
“I don’t mind answering questions. I know that’s part of it, so I don’t have any problems answering questions. But right now, our focus is going out and winning a game. I think that’s all that has to be said. I think everyone understands what’s going on outside if we win this game and where we go. But we’re just trying to win this game. Now, do we want to go and win all three of them? Absolutely. But you can’t win all three of them until you win one. And it’s also a short week. So we really can’t be focusing on anything besides what we’re asking the players to do this week.”
What is the injury status of the team?
“(Freshman wide receiver) Kyle Foster’s out for sure. I think everyone else is OK – just bumps and bruises and no one’s going to miss practice. (Sophomore placekicker) Ross Krautman may rest today because he’s going through a groin injury. We had him practice later in the week, and he kicked well and then didn’t kick as well during the game as he did at the end of the week. I tell the players all the time that everyone just needs to be honest and communicate. Ross said he was ready to go, and we trusted him, and we still trust him. As far as the punting with (freshman) Jonathan (Fisher), he’s been doing a very good job for us. But it seems that when there’s competition, he’s been doing even better, so we’ll go back to having competition between Shane (Raupers) and Jonathan. We’ll put some people in those positions, but there won’t be any wholesale changes.”
Do you have any plans on kickoffs to keep the ball away from USF’s Lindsey Lamar?
“I don’t know strategically if we’re going to go into the game kicking away from him or kicking to him. Right now, I just want to make sure we can kick it. I hate to say it like that, but truly, we want to see where we are. All those kids are working extremely hard. It goes back to field position again. And that’s one thing that we can’t afford. We’re not good enough to not be even in those statistics regarding field position.”
What was behind the decision to move (junior cornerback) Ri’Shard Anderson up on the depth chart ahead of senior Kevyn Scott?
“They’re all playing. Every game, all three of them (Anderson, Scott and Keon Lyn) are playing. I don’t really know if it matters who starts the game because all three corners are playing, and we feel comfortable with all three of those corners out there.”
What is the status of freshman defensive lineman Eric Crume? Has (senior nose tackle) Cory Boatman just been playing better recently or was Eric a little banged up before?
“Corey’s played better, but I’d like to see (freshman nose tackle) Eric Crume in those games especially in certain situations. But it’s getting to the point where we’re doing everything we can to play and win. That’s not to say that we can’t win with Crume because I really think that Eric’s going to be a heck-of-a-player for this team. We just need to keep him going, and it’s not anything that he’s doing that’s the reason why he’s not playing.”
