Syracuse Head Coach Scott Shafer Quotes
Syracuse vs. Pittsburgh
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Carrier Dome / Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement
“Hats off to Coach (Paul) Chryst, a very good football coach. Pitt came up and did a nice job. They got us more than we got them in situations. I always talk to the kids about how it’s a six-inch war from play to play. Aaron Donald did a nice job for them. He’s a very good football player. He was in our backfield all day. We couldn’t get him cut off on the back side of plays. Hats off to them. They are a good football team. They did a good job. Both teams got banged up and they found a way to get it done a little better than we did today.”
On the blocked extra point:
“I think it was Aaron Donald. He came through. They put two guys on the guard. I’m pretty sure he is the one who knocked him (Omari Palmer) back and came through. I couldn’t tell if the kid was lower or not to be honest with you. I saw the penetration. I said ‘Oh boy, this isn’t good.’ They did a nice job getting penetration over our A-gap guard.”
On the play of the defense:
“We’ve done really well on third down this year. I think Pitt put us in some situations where it was third down and a little bit more manageable from their perspective. They fell forward and moved the ball when they needed to on those two long drives especially. You can’t take those out. So we played good defense and we talked to the kids when Marquis (Spruill) went down. There are no excuses. We’ve got to make the play. They went back to that slant that they hurt us on. We knocked the ball up in the air and it was nice to see Luke Arciniega make an interception on it. It was kind of a crazy play. I was proud of the fact that the kids kept fighting. I was disappointed that we couldn’t find a way to get the win. I really like the way the kids fought. They played well on defense.”
On the communication on the last drive:
“We tried to drive the ball down the field to win the game. I felt like we had an opportunity to run the fake field goal and Coach (Paul) Chryst did a nice job calling the timeout before we could get it off and win the ball game.”
On the fake field goal:
“I thought they did a nice job. I would have done the same thing if I was him (Coach Chryst) and I saw that we didn’t have someone covered. I would have called that timeout as quick as possible. You still have to get set. It came up six inches short. It came up half a second or quarter of a second short. That’s life, man. We can sit here and sulk about it, but then we’re being soft and we’re not going to be soft around here. Am I frustrated? Hell yeah, I want to put my hand through a wall right now, but that’s the way life goes. So, I’m not going to put my hand through the wall. I’m going to be good. My mom’s back there. That frustration we have, the kids have it. We have to foster that frustration and turn it in to motivation to get this victory against Boston College back here in the Dome. We aren’t the prettiest team in the world, but we’re fighting the good fight to get better. We’re not going to use excuses or injuries for reasons not to find a way to win games. This will be the best challenge our kids have had all year. The challenge will be passed on to some kids that haven’t had an opportunity, so what a great thing in life for those guys. It’s difficult for us. We’d like to have everyone healthy, but hell man, that’s what it is. So, let’s go after it the best we can. Man-up, and see what the heck we can do.”
On Jerome Smith running outside the tackles:
“We’ve had good success over the years with a couple of those outside plays. Formationally, we thought we could try to run away form number 97 (Aaron Donald) a little bit and try to get it out there. He did a great job making some plays, back-dooring it. We’ve seen two great tackles this year. That young man (Aaron Donald) and the (Nikita) Whitlock kid from Wake Forest. I was really impressed with Aaron. Last year he was a good player. This year he’s a great player. I’ve seen him over the years and he’s really grown as a kid that plays hard all the time. He used to be a young guy and you get tired, but I’m really impressed with him and I can see why they have him up for All-American.”
On Terrel Hunt throwing the deep ball:
“He had a couple good throws. The biggest thing is consistency. We have to work on our consistency in the quarterback position with Terrel (Hunt) and the next guys behind him. He’s thrown some good balls down there.”
On new players in the passing game:
“They tried. We got Durell (Eskridge) in there and he made a nice move on the guy. He had it. It was close. Did you see the replay? Was it as close as I thought it was? Damn inches, man. We’re going to keep trying everything we can. I thought they did well. There were times they looked like they were trying to get down the field. The toughest thing is we lost (Sean) Hickey, damn good football player and Michael (Lasker) had a tough job. It was a tough deal there, but that’s part of it. It was a good growing experience for Michael and the rest of the O-line. The offensive coaches tried to protect him and pump him up a little bit.”
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Carrier Dome / Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement
“Hats off to Coach (Paul) Chryst, a very good football coach. Pitt came up and did a nice job. They got us more than we got them in situations. I always talk to the kids about how it’s a six-inch war from play to play. Aaron Donald did a nice job for them. He’s a very good football player. He was in our backfield all day. We couldn’t get him cut off on the back side of plays. Hats off to them. They are a good football team. They did a good job. Both teams got banged up and they found a way to get it done a little better than we did today.”
On the blocked extra point:
“I think it was Aaron Donald. He came through. They put two guys on the guard. I’m pretty sure he is the one who knocked him (Omari Palmer) back and came through. I couldn’t tell if the kid was lower or not to be honest with you. I saw the penetration. I said ‘Oh boy, this isn’t good.’ They did a nice job getting penetration over our A-gap guard.”
On the play of the defense:
“We’ve done really well on third down this year. I think Pitt put us in some situations where it was third down and a little bit more manageable from their perspective. They fell forward and moved the ball when they needed to on those two long drives especially. You can’t take those out. So we played good defense and we talked to the kids when Marquis (Spruill) went down. There are no excuses. We’ve got to make the play. They went back to that slant that they hurt us on. We knocked the ball up in the air and it was nice to see Luke Arciniega make an interception on it. It was kind of a crazy play. I was proud of the fact that the kids kept fighting. I was disappointed that we couldn’t find a way to get the win. I really like the way the kids fought. They played well on defense.”
On the communication on the last drive:
“We tried to drive the ball down the field to win the game. I felt like we had an opportunity to run the fake field goal and Coach (Paul) Chryst did a nice job calling the timeout before we could get it off and win the ball game.”
On the fake field goal:
“I thought they did a nice job. I would have done the same thing if I was him (Coach Chryst) and I saw that we didn’t have someone covered. I would have called that timeout as quick as possible. You still have to get set. It came up six inches short. It came up half a second or quarter of a second short. That’s life, man. We can sit here and sulk about it, but then we’re being soft and we’re not going to be soft around here. Am I frustrated? Hell yeah, I want to put my hand through a wall right now, but that’s the way life goes. So, I’m not going to put my hand through the wall. I’m going to be good. My mom’s back there. That frustration we have, the kids have it. We have to foster that frustration and turn it in to motivation to get this victory against Boston College back here in the Dome. We aren’t the prettiest team in the world, but we’re fighting the good fight to get better. We’re not going to use excuses or injuries for reasons not to find a way to win games. This will be the best challenge our kids have had all year. The challenge will be passed on to some kids that haven’t had an opportunity, so what a great thing in life for those guys. It’s difficult for us. We’d like to have everyone healthy, but hell man, that’s what it is. So, let’s go after it the best we can. Man-up, and see what the heck we can do.”
On Jerome Smith running outside the tackles:
“We’ve had good success over the years with a couple of those outside plays. Formationally, we thought we could try to run away form number 97 (Aaron Donald) a little bit and try to get it out there. He did a great job making some plays, back-dooring it. We’ve seen two great tackles this year. That young man (Aaron Donald) and the (Nikita) Whitlock kid from Wake Forest. I was really impressed with Aaron. Last year he was a good player. This year he’s a great player. I’ve seen him over the years and he’s really grown as a kid that plays hard all the time. He used to be a young guy and you get tired, but I’m really impressed with him and I can see why they have him up for All-American.”
On Terrel Hunt throwing the deep ball:
“He had a couple good throws. The biggest thing is consistency. We have to work on our consistency in the quarterback position with Terrel (Hunt) and the next guys behind him. He’s thrown some good balls down there.”
On new players in the passing game:
“They tried. We got Durell (Eskridge) in there and he made a nice move on the guy. He had it. It was close. Did you see the replay? Was it as close as I thought it was? Damn inches, man. We’re going to keep trying everything we can. I thought they did well. There were times they looked like they were trying to get down the field. The toughest thing is we lost (Sean) Hickey, damn good football player and Michael (Lasker) had a tough job. It was a tough deal there, but that’s part of it. It was a good growing experience for Michael and the rest of the O-line. The offensive coaches tried to protect him and pump him up a little bit.”
