Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Trancript (Sept. 5, 2011)
Head Coach Doug Marrone
Press Conference to preview Rhode Island
September 5, 2011
Opening Remarks
"We're excited about where we are right now, being 1-0. We're looking forward to playing Rhode Island. It's not much different than our first game. We really don't have a lot of information on Rhode Island. Their depth chart hasn't been released yet. Offensively, they return all of their starters. Defensively, I believe, they return four out of the 11. We don't know if they're going to play what they played last year or if they will play something differently. We're kind of in the same boat (as we were last week), so we're looking forward to start to work on ourselves and get ready to play a challenging game this Saturday."
What did you get looking at the first three quarters and then the last 12 minutes and overtime?
“Early on, a lot of people were out of the game defensively, and we didn't communicate on a couple of those big plays. But I don't think the red zone defense could have been much better, with only 1-of-6 being touchdowns. Defensively they were on the field for a long time, but my concerns are just basically on the communication. We had a lot of players in there.
"I think, from an offensive standpoint, you get disappointed because you're not allowed to go out there. But for 10 straight days we practiced against something totally different from what we saw. In the NFL, it would be one series and you come back in and you make the adjustments and you go. In college, I guess it would be the second series. So you hope to make some adjustments. And if you make some plays early on, it's a little bit easier to get in a rhythm. I think that's exactly where we are as far as how that game went."
How close to 100% was (cornerback) Keon Lyn going into the Wake Forest game?
"I don't know. Leading up to the game, he was like 'I can't get over this shoulder, it's still hurting me a little.' But then he goes out and plays like he did, so I can't really answer that question. But I'm excited about the way he played. And as a first-time player, your biggest improvements are from the first game to the next."
What is the status of (cornerback) Ri'Shard Anderson, (free safety) Durell Eskridge and (strong safety) Shu Mungwa?
"We have three players right now in (strong safety) Olando Fisher, Ri'Shard Anderson and (defensive end) Chandler Jones which we won't know until later on when they are fully evaluated as far as their status of practice and playing. And when that comes we'll have a statement. Players who are injured do not suit up because of safety reasons on the sidelines, so that takes care of Shu Mungwa.
"As far as Durell Eskridge, he was ruled ineligible for the first game because of an eligibility issue. I'm one of the biggest fans of the NCAA, and they've done a lot of good things about academic readiness for players in college football. Durell comes from a unique situation, and he's just caught in some red tape. So we believe that through the process of the NCAA, which we believe in, that eventually down the road he will be cleared. He's not in any jeopardy of having to leave school. He is able to do everything except of play in games. The NCAA has an academic readiness situation, which I totally support."
Are there any logistical difficulties with playing on a Thursday, and what did you get out of this game?
"No, from a logistical standpoint. And then you get a win. That's all there is. There are a lot of lessons whether you won by a lot or lost by a lot. There are lessons in every game, so I just think that we need to learn those lessons and move on. I think there's a laundry list of lessons learned, but just for everyone's sake – never give up is one."
What are your thoughts on the freshmen that played in the game against Wake Forest?
"There are a lot. (Nose tackle) Cory Boatman played 29 plays. (Defensive tackle) Jay Bromley played in 53 plays, he's never played in that many plays. (Nose tackle) Eric Crume got in the game and played eight. (Defensive tackle) Deon Goggins played 45 plays, he's never played before. Even though he came from junior college, he's just like a freshman. (Linebacker) Dyshawn Davis played 89 plays. (Linebacker) Cameron Lynch played 37 and (linebacker) Dan Vaughan played 42. Ri'Shard Anderson played 15, Keon Lyn played 74, (cornerback) Brandon Reddish played five and (free safety) Jeremi Wilkes played 45, so we have a lot of young players that played a lot of football. That's a good thing and we're going to need that eventually. We can't keep the same lineup probably through the season."
How important is it against Rhode Island to assert yourselves early in the game?
"I would say it's the same as it was for the Wake Forest game. I don't think there's a coach who stands here today says, 'Let's come out and see what they're doing and then let's attack them.' We talk to our team all the time about coming out and playing fast. We address it with them in practice and everything that we do. The word I've used is disappointing in how we came out. We should have been able to adjust quicker. There are reasons to it, and they're reasons not excuses. But we should have definitely been able to adjust a lot quicker and made some plays earlier than we did. I hope we come out fast and finish in every single game we play in all three phases of the game."
What you excited about what (wide receiver) Jeremiah Kobena can bring to the field position game?
"I learned a long time ago from Coach MacPherson that luck follows speed. He has speed, so hopefully we can get him the ball in space at times, get him more involved in the offensive game plan as he continues to learn the playbook. And on special teams, he's dangerous because he's a 100-meter kid."
What is your evaluation of the offensive line and the pressure that was brought on (quarterback) Ryan Nassib?
"It was cover zero, so they're always going to bring one more. If you block five, they bring six. If you block six, they bring seven. If you block seven, they bring eight. If you block eight, they bring nine. So you're not ever really going to have a lot of time to sit back there unless you block everyone and send one, maybe two receivers out.
From the standpoint of the offensive line, they were inconsistent. I think that you can easily take some plays out there and show where they did play consistently whether it be the in the pass protection or run game. There are clips during that game where you say, 'This is who we like to be, this is who we want to be. This is what we need to do consistently. We have that ability, and now we have to do it every time.' I addressed that with (offensive line) Coach (Greg) Adkins and I'm sure he addressed that with the offensive line."
What did you think of (quarterback) Ryan Nassib down the stretch after a tough three quarters?
"I think the same consistency that we're looking at in Ryan. He did a nice job and managed the game. He has that ability with our receivers to get on a roll and have that type of production. I don't think it's unrealistic to ask your quarterback to go 8-of-8. It's a high goal, but he's capable of that, as are our receivers. So I'm excited about it and he did a good job, but it's the first game and we have to continue that week in and week out when the schedule gets tougher as we go on."
What stood out most with the new linebacking group?
"The one thing that stood out to me was their conditioning. Defensively, to be able to go out and run 42 plays in the first half, and they still kept coming. I think from a standpoint of conditioning with the overtime and the amount of snaps, it's a credit to our weight coaches and a credit to the players with the work they did over the summer.
“As far as the linebackers, we're looking for productivity, we have a lot of players playing in there. We look to get better each and every game. We'll know halfway through the season or at the end of the season to put a grade of where we are. But we're playing a bunch of different people there, and they're playing as hard as they can. That's all we expect them to do."
Do you buy into the track game theory with Southern California coming up next week and looking at Rhode Island, a FCS team, as trap game?
"The only theory I buy into is that it's a game that you have to go out and play. If everyone knew who was going to win, then you wouldn't have to show up. I think every time you go out there to play, you have to play the game. I think it's a point of trying to stress on your team to do all that's possible. You don't try to listen to people that are outside the program, and we talk to our players about that.
"We know how good Rhode Island is. We know how good Wake Forest is. I don't think there's anyone here in this room or who has written about Wake Forest who probably watched all 12 of Wake Forest's games last year, every single play. I don't think everyone has studied what Coach Grobe and his staff have done. We just try to concentrate on what we have to do, and I don't buy into that.
“What I do buy in to is timing of games, how to wake the team up, what do we eat, structure, discipline. I do buy into that."
Do you address USC at all this week, or is it strictly Rhode Island and wait for USC until next week?
"In our recent history, we were not a very good football team, so how do you ever look ahead or look behind? I'm not even looking at the game we're playing this Saturday. What I'm trying to make sure of is that we have a great practice today, and we do the things that we need to do today to win.
"I've never beaten Rhode Island. I'm 0-1 against Rhode Island. Coach (Scott) Shafer coached at Rhode Island. I was in the old Yankee Conference. Last year Rhode Island, even though they were 5-6, they beat a New Hampshire team that was ranked and a Villanova team that was ranked. Rhode Island is a heck of a football team, so I'm not worried about anything in the future. I'm just worried about today."
What was the reasoning behind using your final two timeouts with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter and, if you could do it over again, would you run the ball six times in a row on the final offensive possession in the fourth quarter?
"If the game was to play out the way it played out possession wise, I would rather have the ball with five minutes left in the game and my timeouts at seven minutes left and rely on my defense to stop them to get the ball back late at the minus-28 yard line.
"My philosophy has always been to use the timeouts when we're on defense because we can't control the clock. I can control the clock when I'm on offense. I can spike the ball, I can hurry up, I can huddle or no-huddle. In my mind, with two timeouts left, I'm thinking that I'm saving about a minute and 20 seconds. At that time in the game, I wanted to make sure that I had the ball back with five minutes left knowing that we could run our offense and not get into a two-minute situation where you do become limited except for your huddle calls.
"We were running the ball well, and I was excited because we were getting some big gains on it. What took us a little bit off track, and both teams had a problem, was Wake Forest was using their timeouts and then at one point, we wound up running a play and both teams were running people in at the last minute. We never got the signal that the play was about to start, and usually the referees will tell you that the play was about to start. I don't know whether the clock started early or not.
"The way we were running the football, I wanted to punch that ball in and score a touchdown. It goes back to, strategically, we were moving the ball well. We were averaging about four yards per carry at the end of the game, and I just wanted to keep going and score and not take any chances. I don't know what's wrong with that. I was being conservative."
The Rhode Island quarterback (Steve Probst) was their leading rusher last year. Does he simulate any quarterback in the BIG EAST?
"They're a gun, run team and they do a lot. The only problem is that most of the people that we face, the quarterback hasn't run the football. Now, we're facing a team where the quarterback does run the football. Now it's a matter of putting more pressure assigned on the football, if that's how they come out, which I think they will because they bring back all of their seniors."
What will the team do to observe the anniversary of September 11?
"It's 9/11 week, and obviously we're doing something with our team, but I'd rather keep it within the team. This one's very, very personal, for our football program, not for me. So we're going to discuss that with the team and do something with the team internally. Our coaches will have 9/11 patches, which we've always worn since I've been here on the week of 9/11."
Press Conference to preview Rhode Island
September 5, 2011
Opening Remarks
"We're excited about where we are right now, being 1-0. We're looking forward to playing Rhode Island. It's not much different than our first game. We really don't have a lot of information on Rhode Island. Their depth chart hasn't been released yet. Offensively, they return all of their starters. Defensively, I believe, they return four out of the 11. We don't know if they're going to play what they played last year or if they will play something differently. We're kind of in the same boat (as we were last week), so we're looking forward to start to work on ourselves and get ready to play a challenging game this Saturday."
What did you get looking at the first three quarters and then the last 12 minutes and overtime?
“Early on, a lot of people were out of the game defensively, and we didn't communicate on a couple of those big plays. But I don't think the red zone defense could have been much better, with only 1-of-6 being touchdowns. Defensively they were on the field for a long time, but my concerns are just basically on the communication. We had a lot of players in there.
"I think, from an offensive standpoint, you get disappointed because you're not allowed to go out there. But for 10 straight days we practiced against something totally different from what we saw. In the NFL, it would be one series and you come back in and you make the adjustments and you go. In college, I guess it would be the second series. So you hope to make some adjustments. And if you make some plays early on, it's a little bit easier to get in a rhythm. I think that's exactly where we are as far as how that game went."
How close to 100% was (cornerback) Keon Lyn going into the Wake Forest game?
"I don't know. Leading up to the game, he was like 'I can't get over this shoulder, it's still hurting me a little.' But then he goes out and plays like he did, so I can't really answer that question. But I'm excited about the way he played. And as a first-time player, your biggest improvements are from the first game to the next."
What is the status of (cornerback) Ri'Shard Anderson, (free safety) Durell Eskridge and (strong safety) Shu Mungwa?
"We have three players right now in (strong safety) Olando Fisher, Ri'Shard Anderson and (defensive end) Chandler Jones which we won't know until later on when they are fully evaluated as far as their status of practice and playing. And when that comes we'll have a statement. Players who are injured do not suit up because of safety reasons on the sidelines, so that takes care of Shu Mungwa.
"As far as Durell Eskridge, he was ruled ineligible for the first game because of an eligibility issue. I'm one of the biggest fans of the NCAA, and they've done a lot of good things about academic readiness for players in college football. Durell comes from a unique situation, and he's just caught in some red tape. So we believe that through the process of the NCAA, which we believe in, that eventually down the road he will be cleared. He's not in any jeopardy of having to leave school. He is able to do everything except of play in games. The NCAA has an academic readiness situation, which I totally support."
Are there any logistical difficulties with playing on a Thursday, and what did you get out of this game?
"No, from a logistical standpoint. And then you get a win. That's all there is. There are a lot of lessons whether you won by a lot or lost by a lot. There are lessons in every game, so I just think that we need to learn those lessons and move on. I think there's a laundry list of lessons learned, but just for everyone's sake – never give up is one."
What are your thoughts on the freshmen that played in the game against Wake Forest?
"There are a lot. (Nose tackle) Cory Boatman played 29 plays. (Defensive tackle) Jay Bromley played in 53 plays, he's never played in that many plays. (Nose tackle) Eric Crume got in the game and played eight. (Defensive tackle) Deon Goggins played 45 plays, he's never played before. Even though he came from junior college, he's just like a freshman. (Linebacker) Dyshawn Davis played 89 plays. (Linebacker) Cameron Lynch played 37 and (linebacker) Dan Vaughan played 42. Ri'Shard Anderson played 15, Keon Lyn played 74, (cornerback) Brandon Reddish played five and (free safety) Jeremi Wilkes played 45, so we have a lot of young players that played a lot of football. That's a good thing and we're going to need that eventually. We can't keep the same lineup probably through the season."
How important is it against Rhode Island to assert yourselves early in the game?
"I would say it's the same as it was for the Wake Forest game. I don't think there's a coach who stands here today says, 'Let's come out and see what they're doing and then let's attack them.' We talk to our team all the time about coming out and playing fast. We address it with them in practice and everything that we do. The word I've used is disappointing in how we came out. We should have been able to adjust quicker. There are reasons to it, and they're reasons not excuses. But we should have definitely been able to adjust a lot quicker and made some plays earlier than we did. I hope we come out fast and finish in every single game we play in all three phases of the game."
What you excited about what (wide receiver) Jeremiah Kobena can bring to the field position game?
"I learned a long time ago from Coach MacPherson that luck follows speed. He has speed, so hopefully we can get him the ball in space at times, get him more involved in the offensive game plan as he continues to learn the playbook. And on special teams, he's dangerous because he's a 100-meter kid."
What is your evaluation of the offensive line and the pressure that was brought on (quarterback) Ryan Nassib?
"It was cover zero, so they're always going to bring one more. If you block five, they bring six. If you block six, they bring seven. If you block seven, they bring eight. If you block eight, they bring nine. So you're not ever really going to have a lot of time to sit back there unless you block everyone and send one, maybe two receivers out.
From the standpoint of the offensive line, they were inconsistent. I think that you can easily take some plays out there and show where they did play consistently whether it be the in the pass protection or run game. There are clips during that game where you say, 'This is who we like to be, this is who we want to be. This is what we need to do consistently. We have that ability, and now we have to do it every time.' I addressed that with (offensive line) Coach (Greg) Adkins and I'm sure he addressed that with the offensive line."
What did you think of (quarterback) Ryan Nassib down the stretch after a tough three quarters?
"I think the same consistency that we're looking at in Ryan. He did a nice job and managed the game. He has that ability with our receivers to get on a roll and have that type of production. I don't think it's unrealistic to ask your quarterback to go 8-of-8. It's a high goal, but he's capable of that, as are our receivers. So I'm excited about it and he did a good job, but it's the first game and we have to continue that week in and week out when the schedule gets tougher as we go on."
What stood out most with the new linebacking group?
"The one thing that stood out to me was their conditioning. Defensively, to be able to go out and run 42 plays in the first half, and they still kept coming. I think from a standpoint of conditioning with the overtime and the amount of snaps, it's a credit to our weight coaches and a credit to the players with the work they did over the summer.
“As far as the linebackers, we're looking for productivity, we have a lot of players playing in there. We look to get better each and every game. We'll know halfway through the season or at the end of the season to put a grade of where we are. But we're playing a bunch of different people there, and they're playing as hard as they can. That's all we expect them to do."
Do you buy into the track game theory with Southern California coming up next week and looking at Rhode Island, a FCS team, as trap game?
"The only theory I buy into is that it's a game that you have to go out and play. If everyone knew who was going to win, then you wouldn't have to show up. I think every time you go out there to play, you have to play the game. I think it's a point of trying to stress on your team to do all that's possible. You don't try to listen to people that are outside the program, and we talk to our players about that.
"We know how good Rhode Island is. We know how good Wake Forest is. I don't think there's anyone here in this room or who has written about Wake Forest who probably watched all 12 of Wake Forest's games last year, every single play. I don't think everyone has studied what Coach Grobe and his staff have done. We just try to concentrate on what we have to do, and I don't buy into that.
“What I do buy in to is timing of games, how to wake the team up, what do we eat, structure, discipline. I do buy into that."
Do you address USC at all this week, or is it strictly Rhode Island and wait for USC until next week?
"In our recent history, we were not a very good football team, so how do you ever look ahead or look behind? I'm not even looking at the game we're playing this Saturday. What I'm trying to make sure of is that we have a great practice today, and we do the things that we need to do today to win.
"I've never beaten Rhode Island. I'm 0-1 against Rhode Island. Coach (Scott) Shafer coached at Rhode Island. I was in the old Yankee Conference. Last year Rhode Island, even though they were 5-6, they beat a New Hampshire team that was ranked and a Villanova team that was ranked. Rhode Island is a heck of a football team, so I'm not worried about anything in the future. I'm just worried about today."
What was the reasoning behind using your final two timeouts with seven minutes left in the fourth quarter and, if you could do it over again, would you run the ball six times in a row on the final offensive possession in the fourth quarter?
"If the game was to play out the way it played out possession wise, I would rather have the ball with five minutes left in the game and my timeouts at seven minutes left and rely on my defense to stop them to get the ball back late at the minus-28 yard line.
"My philosophy has always been to use the timeouts when we're on defense because we can't control the clock. I can control the clock when I'm on offense. I can spike the ball, I can hurry up, I can huddle or no-huddle. In my mind, with two timeouts left, I'm thinking that I'm saving about a minute and 20 seconds. At that time in the game, I wanted to make sure that I had the ball back with five minutes left knowing that we could run our offense and not get into a two-minute situation where you do become limited except for your huddle calls.
"We were running the ball well, and I was excited because we were getting some big gains on it. What took us a little bit off track, and both teams had a problem, was Wake Forest was using their timeouts and then at one point, we wound up running a play and both teams were running people in at the last minute. We never got the signal that the play was about to start, and usually the referees will tell you that the play was about to start. I don't know whether the clock started early or not.
"The way we were running the football, I wanted to punch that ball in and score a touchdown. It goes back to, strategically, we were moving the ball well. We were averaging about four yards per carry at the end of the game, and I just wanted to keep going and score and not take any chances. I don't know what's wrong with that. I was being conservative."
The Rhode Island quarterback (Steve Probst) was their leading rusher last year. Does he simulate any quarterback in the BIG EAST?
"They're a gun, run team and they do a lot. The only problem is that most of the people that we face, the quarterback hasn't run the football. Now, we're facing a team where the quarterback does run the football. Now it's a matter of putting more pressure assigned on the football, if that's how they come out, which I think they will because they bring back all of their seniors."
What will the team do to observe the anniversary of September 11?
"It's 9/11 week, and obviously we're doing something with our team, but I'd rather keep it within the team. This one's very, very personal, for our football program, not for me. So we're going to discuss that with the team and do something with the team internally. Our coaches will have 9/11 patches, which we've always worn since I've been here on the week of 9/11."
