Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Trancript (Sept. 26, 2011)
Opening Statement:
"Obviously we're excited about being 3-1. I think there were a lot of good things during that game that we did. Like I said after the game, there were some kids who made big keys plays, and I think that it shows you the type of character of this team to just keep fighting. That's what we're doing. We're in a fight this year.
"I do understand that the BIG EAST came out with a statement, and I agree with that statement. I just know that in this game, there is a lot of human error on everyone's part – coaches, players, officials. But I do know I have confidence that we will all work extremely hard to make sure that those errors are reduced. It's a very difficult game. I understand that Toledo has looked to vacate the win. I understand their feelings, but as far as we're concerned here, we've moved on to the next opponent.
"In going forward now, this week I'm asking for everyone's help. We have a lot of things going on with this program. We have a lot of injuries. I'm not going to lie to you. We have guys who are banged up, we have to make a decision on players. Some players will be in casts, some players will be heavily wrapped up. Some people may practice, may not practice. We as coaches have to decide whether they will play or not. It's going to be a very difficult week for us as coaches as far as decisions because it's not a cut and dry thing. There's safety involved with players, and that's the number one goal – to make sure nobody is injured.
"In doing so, we're going to close practice this week. I'm going to be available on Tuesday and Wednesday for everyone (after practice). I've been very good about being open. It's just a very tough situation right now. We need as much time to concentrate and focus with the players and figure out what is best for this football team.
"I know that everyone has a job to do. Truly, I understand that. I don't think anyone understands that more than myself, especially coming from Syracuse and the Newhouse School. I understand exactly what's going on. I don't foresee myself every really doing this again, hopefully it will never be in this situation. But I just need some help and understanding. I know there's some people who walk around campus, and The Daily Orange is a great paper and we appreciate it, but I'm specifically asking for some help because, strategically, it can hurt us in this game.
"We have a team coming in here that's healthy and hungry. It's our first BIG EAST game, and it's going to take all we have to fight and scratch and try to get a win. They are a very good team coming in here."
What should be done about the PAT call and the BIG EAST announcement following the game against Toledo?
"My time and schedule is so tight, I would be happy to answer that after the season. I really haven't put any thought into that."
This is another team coming in with a star receiver in Mohamed Sanu. Is this a week-after-week thing where there's another team coming in with a player that you have to pay attention to?
"I hope it's not a week-to-week thing, but it seems to be going that way. He's an excellent player, and they have other players, too. I've watched them on film. They've made some acrobatic catches. They are very big up front. They're playing some different running backs who were highly recruited and have some burst in them. They played their second quarterback the other day for a little bit against Ohio. They have two good quarterbacks, and we all know that Coach (Frank) Cignetti is there now from Pittsburgh. I have the upmost respect for him, and we haven't fared well against Coach Cignetti when he was at Pittsburgh. It's a great challenge for our defense."
On the secondary's progression this season:
"(Junior free safety) Phillip Thomas has made a lot of plays back there. Everyone we've faced has had great players on that side of the ball. Toledo did a great job getting the ball out there into those players' hands, and then being able to get and find the open zones and the zone coverage. We just have to keep working every single day, and that's pretty much what this team has been. We've been fighting literally every play. We've been fighting our butts off to win, and that's what we're talking to the kids about."
Is there a problem with extra points this season?
"Not to my knowledge. I know we missed one, that's obviously a problem. He (sophomore place kicker Ross Krautman) missed one last year, and I just think it's like everything else. It's like when you throw a football. Sometimes you throw the football and you hit the target, and then other times your foot might be a little too close, it might be a little too wide, the snap might be a little off, the laces may show. There's a lot of pressure on the snapper. There's a lot of pressure on the holder, and I think (junior holder) Charley (Loeb) has done an outstanding job for us, and then obviously there's a lot of pressure on the kicker.
"This week, we're probably playing the best special teams program that we've faced in Rutgers. They're excellent at blocking punts and blocking PATs and field goals – excellent at it."
On Coach Greg Schiano and what he has done with the Rutgers football program:
"It's a strategic battle week-to-week, so there's nothing about the past. Nobody is going to say, 'Hey great job last year.' Everyone's concerned about now. Coach Schiano and I have gone against each other a couple times when we were assistant coaches, and I've always had a lot of respect for him. I think he's an excellent defensive coach, and I think their whole staff does a great job defensively. They cause a lot of problems for us. It's the first BIG EAST game, so they're going to come in here ready to go, and we have to get ourselves as healthy as we can and go after them and fight every down."
What do you see from your linebackers going into this first BIG EAST game?
"We haven't consistently had anyone out there from the basis of being able to play. I thought (senior) Dan Vaughan had a nice game. I thought he did a lot of nice things when he went in there. But the other thing is practice reps and who's ready to play. Those are the decisions I'm talking about with the injuries. (Sophomore) Marquis Spruill wasn't able to practice that much last week, so we had to made a decision of limiting his reps during the week. Now as a coach, you have to decide whether to put him in the game full-time knowing that he hasn't seen everything and we haven't prepared him enough to play. But he ended up playing more snaps than we expected going into the game.
"I think that when you're out on the field and you're playing, you're going to get better and better as you go. When you're not out there, it's very difficult to become a better football player just be sitting watching film or watching walk-through. You have to be out there and do it, especially at this age when you have young players. Even a three-year starter in college football would have a difficult time.
"I made a mistake a couple years ago when I was in the NFL when I had a player who was out for most of the preseason, and he started to practice during the last six-to-10 days prior to the first game of the year. He was a great player, and we put him in there. He was a Pro Bowl player with four years in the league, and he didn't perform well. I had to look myself in the mirror, and I don't know if I did the right thing by putting him in there. I don’t know if he was prepared enough to play, and that's not on the player. That's on me."
On (freshman wide receiver) Kyle Foster:
"He's a very big athlete who can really run. He's made acrobatic catches in practice, and he did a very good job for us on special teams. He really did a nice job. He's a big receiver, and sometimes when you look at special teams, you look at receivers and there are only certain positions that they can play just because of the body type, and nothing against receivers, they are physical players, but they aren't as physical as a linebacker or a safety, but Kyle gives us the opportunity to do that and put him in there.
"What you'll see as we progress offensively, he'll be able to get in there and do things that can help us. In my opinion, if we kept going the way we were going repetition wise with (senior wide receiver) Van Chew and (junior wide receiver) Alec Lemon, I don't know if they would have made it through this season. It would have been difficult for them to do that as it would for any player in that position. (Sophomore wide receiver) Jarrod West has stepped up, (senior wide receiver) Dorian Graham has done a nice job, (senior wide receiver) Michael Acchione has a little bit. When we can keep these young receivers coming, then I think we'll have more weapons because we've shown that our quarterback will distribute the football to whoever is open. That's a big thing too because you can't lock into one player and take one player out.
"We have to be careful, because sometimes we go into a game and say, 'Hey, let's put him in there and we'll run the ball.' I give the other people credit too, because they know who's out there and what we're doing. I think this team that we're playing is probably the best at it. I told our coaches that they might know more about us than we know. That's how thorough they are in what they do. They'll know exactly what formations we have, exactly what we do, what our tendencies are. We've look at that like we do every week, and we just have to make the right decisions."
On the team's progression to this point in the season:
"We've had a lot of challenges this year, and this team has probably faced more adversity through injuries, through games, through things that have happened on the field, than a lot of teams that I've been on to this point. I give these kids credit. They've stuck in there. It tells you a lot about them, and they'll know today when we meet with them. We talked to them a little bit that they're in for a fight, and we fight every week. It's going to be a battle, and there may be some ups and down, but we have to keep pushing through it, and that's how we talked to the kids."
Do you expect Rutgers to try to take (senior wide receiver) Van Chew out of the game?
"They might, it all depends on how they feel. I think in the Toledo game they were worried about him, which is good and bad. It's good that you get that type of respect from teams if you're a player, but it puts more pressure on us to make sure that we find ways to get him open. There are a couple different things that we've discussed doing, and now it's a matter of us putting it in the game plan because Van's a big part of what we can do offensively and helping us."
You talk about how every week is a battle. Can you talk about the effect that it has on the players?
"I don't think you ever get worn out if you're a true competitor. It's difficult, though. You just keep fighting and fighting. We're talking about a game of football. What we do and how we play it is going to affect what we are later on in life. We can battle for 60 minutes, but there's going to be a lot more adversity that we face as we grow as husbands and as fathers and as people in the real world and in business.
"I'm not sitting here saying, 'Woe is me' worrying about this football team. I'm just saying that we have some tough decisions to make, and that we're going to go out there and fight. But there's a whole lot worse going on around us in this world with people that are fighting every day to survive. We're just fighting to win games."
What tough do you think this game is going to be for your offensive line?
"I think it will be very tough. I think they're very good up front, and they're very good at the linebacker level. I think they're powerful, they're strong. I see them being much better than they were a year ago, at least from the front seven. They penetrate, they pressure you, they are in the backfield quite a bit. We'll have to go out there and put a hat on a hat and survive some situations where we might be outnumbered."
"Obviously we're excited about being 3-1. I think there were a lot of good things during that game that we did. Like I said after the game, there were some kids who made big keys plays, and I think that it shows you the type of character of this team to just keep fighting. That's what we're doing. We're in a fight this year.
"I do understand that the BIG EAST came out with a statement, and I agree with that statement. I just know that in this game, there is a lot of human error on everyone's part – coaches, players, officials. But I do know I have confidence that we will all work extremely hard to make sure that those errors are reduced. It's a very difficult game. I understand that Toledo has looked to vacate the win. I understand their feelings, but as far as we're concerned here, we've moved on to the next opponent.
"In going forward now, this week I'm asking for everyone's help. We have a lot of things going on with this program. We have a lot of injuries. I'm not going to lie to you. We have guys who are banged up, we have to make a decision on players. Some players will be in casts, some players will be heavily wrapped up. Some people may practice, may not practice. We as coaches have to decide whether they will play or not. It's going to be a very difficult week for us as coaches as far as decisions because it's not a cut and dry thing. There's safety involved with players, and that's the number one goal – to make sure nobody is injured.
"In doing so, we're going to close practice this week. I'm going to be available on Tuesday and Wednesday for everyone (after practice). I've been very good about being open. It's just a very tough situation right now. We need as much time to concentrate and focus with the players and figure out what is best for this football team.
"I know that everyone has a job to do. Truly, I understand that. I don't think anyone understands that more than myself, especially coming from Syracuse and the Newhouse School. I understand exactly what's going on. I don't foresee myself every really doing this again, hopefully it will never be in this situation. But I just need some help and understanding. I know there's some people who walk around campus, and The Daily Orange is a great paper and we appreciate it, but I'm specifically asking for some help because, strategically, it can hurt us in this game.
"We have a team coming in here that's healthy and hungry. It's our first BIG EAST game, and it's going to take all we have to fight and scratch and try to get a win. They are a very good team coming in here."
What should be done about the PAT call and the BIG EAST announcement following the game against Toledo?
"My time and schedule is so tight, I would be happy to answer that after the season. I really haven't put any thought into that."
This is another team coming in with a star receiver in Mohamed Sanu. Is this a week-after-week thing where there's another team coming in with a player that you have to pay attention to?
"I hope it's not a week-to-week thing, but it seems to be going that way. He's an excellent player, and they have other players, too. I've watched them on film. They've made some acrobatic catches. They are very big up front. They're playing some different running backs who were highly recruited and have some burst in them. They played their second quarterback the other day for a little bit against Ohio. They have two good quarterbacks, and we all know that Coach (Frank) Cignetti is there now from Pittsburgh. I have the upmost respect for him, and we haven't fared well against Coach Cignetti when he was at Pittsburgh. It's a great challenge for our defense."
On the secondary's progression this season:
"(Junior free safety) Phillip Thomas has made a lot of plays back there. Everyone we've faced has had great players on that side of the ball. Toledo did a great job getting the ball out there into those players' hands, and then being able to get and find the open zones and the zone coverage. We just have to keep working every single day, and that's pretty much what this team has been. We've been fighting literally every play. We've been fighting our butts off to win, and that's what we're talking to the kids about."
Is there a problem with extra points this season?
"Not to my knowledge. I know we missed one, that's obviously a problem. He (sophomore place kicker Ross Krautman) missed one last year, and I just think it's like everything else. It's like when you throw a football. Sometimes you throw the football and you hit the target, and then other times your foot might be a little too close, it might be a little too wide, the snap might be a little off, the laces may show. There's a lot of pressure on the snapper. There's a lot of pressure on the holder, and I think (junior holder) Charley (Loeb) has done an outstanding job for us, and then obviously there's a lot of pressure on the kicker.
"This week, we're probably playing the best special teams program that we've faced in Rutgers. They're excellent at blocking punts and blocking PATs and field goals – excellent at it."
On Coach Greg Schiano and what he has done with the Rutgers football program:
"It's a strategic battle week-to-week, so there's nothing about the past. Nobody is going to say, 'Hey great job last year.' Everyone's concerned about now. Coach Schiano and I have gone against each other a couple times when we were assistant coaches, and I've always had a lot of respect for him. I think he's an excellent defensive coach, and I think their whole staff does a great job defensively. They cause a lot of problems for us. It's the first BIG EAST game, so they're going to come in here ready to go, and we have to get ourselves as healthy as we can and go after them and fight every down."
What do you see from your linebackers going into this first BIG EAST game?
"We haven't consistently had anyone out there from the basis of being able to play. I thought (senior) Dan Vaughan had a nice game. I thought he did a lot of nice things when he went in there. But the other thing is practice reps and who's ready to play. Those are the decisions I'm talking about with the injuries. (Sophomore) Marquis Spruill wasn't able to practice that much last week, so we had to made a decision of limiting his reps during the week. Now as a coach, you have to decide whether to put him in the game full-time knowing that he hasn't seen everything and we haven't prepared him enough to play. But he ended up playing more snaps than we expected going into the game.
"I think that when you're out on the field and you're playing, you're going to get better and better as you go. When you're not out there, it's very difficult to become a better football player just be sitting watching film or watching walk-through. You have to be out there and do it, especially at this age when you have young players. Even a three-year starter in college football would have a difficult time.
"I made a mistake a couple years ago when I was in the NFL when I had a player who was out for most of the preseason, and he started to practice during the last six-to-10 days prior to the first game of the year. He was a great player, and we put him in there. He was a Pro Bowl player with four years in the league, and he didn't perform well. I had to look myself in the mirror, and I don't know if I did the right thing by putting him in there. I don’t know if he was prepared enough to play, and that's not on the player. That's on me."
On (freshman wide receiver) Kyle Foster:
"He's a very big athlete who can really run. He's made acrobatic catches in practice, and he did a very good job for us on special teams. He really did a nice job. He's a big receiver, and sometimes when you look at special teams, you look at receivers and there are only certain positions that they can play just because of the body type, and nothing against receivers, they are physical players, but they aren't as physical as a linebacker or a safety, but Kyle gives us the opportunity to do that and put him in there.
"What you'll see as we progress offensively, he'll be able to get in there and do things that can help us. In my opinion, if we kept going the way we were going repetition wise with (senior wide receiver) Van Chew and (junior wide receiver) Alec Lemon, I don't know if they would have made it through this season. It would have been difficult for them to do that as it would for any player in that position. (Sophomore wide receiver) Jarrod West has stepped up, (senior wide receiver) Dorian Graham has done a nice job, (senior wide receiver) Michael Acchione has a little bit. When we can keep these young receivers coming, then I think we'll have more weapons because we've shown that our quarterback will distribute the football to whoever is open. That's a big thing too because you can't lock into one player and take one player out.
"We have to be careful, because sometimes we go into a game and say, 'Hey, let's put him in there and we'll run the ball.' I give the other people credit too, because they know who's out there and what we're doing. I think this team that we're playing is probably the best at it. I told our coaches that they might know more about us than we know. That's how thorough they are in what they do. They'll know exactly what formations we have, exactly what we do, what our tendencies are. We've look at that like we do every week, and we just have to make the right decisions."
On the team's progression to this point in the season:
"We've had a lot of challenges this year, and this team has probably faced more adversity through injuries, through games, through things that have happened on the field, than a lot of teams that I've been on to this point. I give these kids credit. They've stuck in there. It tells you a lot about them, and they'll know today when we meet with them. We talked to them a little bit that they're in for a fight, and we fight every week. It's going to be a battle, and there may be some ups and down, but we have to keep pushing through it, and that's how we talked to the kids."
Do you expect Rutgers to try to take (senior wide receiver) Van Chew out of the game?
"They might, it all depends on how they feel. I think in the Toledo game they were worried about him, which is good and bad. It's good that you get that type of respect from teams if you're a player, but it puts more pressure on us to make sure that we find ways to get him open. There are a couple different things that we've discussed doing, and now it's a matter of us putting it in the game plan because Van's a big part of what we can do offensively and helping us."
You talk about how every week is a battle. Can you talk about the effect that it has on the players?
"I don't think you ever get worn out if you're a true competitor. It's difficult, though. You just keep fighting and fighting. We're talking about a game of football. What we do and how we play it is going to affect what we are later on in life. We can battle for 60 minutes, but there's going to be a lot more adversity that we face as we grow as husbands and as fathers and as people in the real world and in business.
"I'm not sitting here saying, 'Woe is me' worrying about this football team. I'm just saying that we have some tough decisions to make, and that we're going to go out there and fight. But there's a whole lot worse going on around us in this world with people that are fighting every day to survive. We're just fighting to win games."
What tough do you think this game is going to be for your offensive line?
"I think it will be very tough. I think they're very good up front, and they're very good at the linebacker level. I think they're powerful, they're strong. I see them being much better than they were a year ago, at least from the front seven. They penetrate, they pressure you, they are in the backfield quite a bit. We'll have to go out there and put a hat on a hat and survive some situations where we might be outnumbered."
