(Opening Statement)
“We’re excited to get back to work. I think that showing improvement, getting better, correcting mistakes, and trying to find ways to play our best is always the goal and we have to continue to work hard to do that. There can’t be any let-up. Anytime you go on the road, you have to play a clean, sound football game and that’s what we’re going to have to do in order to win. We’re looking forward to continuing to work this week and going out west and playing a quality football team and trying to find ways to win.”
(On making the trip out west)
“Well, we’ve talked about it a lot and I’ve done it a lot as a player, going east to west, and I think we have a good plan. Stay on your normal routine as much as you can. We prepare all week, and we go out there, the plane ride is a bit longer than normal. You get there and have your meetings and go out the next day and play. We’re not going to over-emphasize all those things. We got a job to do, and I think we have a good plan to get our work done here and go out there and play football and find a way to win.”
(On the bye week)
“I think the bye week came at a time where we have some guys nicked up and they need to get refreshed and get healthy and get ready for this last stretch of three football games. That was important that we did that and I felt for the most part that we got that done and we continue to get at least a little bit of work in. The preparation for Stanford we got some young guys some repetitions as well this past week and then we got a bonus practice yesterday that I thought was beneficial. We are on our normal week routine, the players are off today and will be back on the field tomorrow and I think we will get a few guys back that will hopefully help us and will give us just a tad bit more depth which you want at this point in the year. We want to continue to improve and continue to try to play as clean as we can in all three segments and be very efficient in doing it so we need to push ourselves to get that done.
(On keeping momentum through the bye week)
“due to injuries and things like that it was good to get guys refreshed. I do think the last six quarters we have made improvements; since the second half of the Boston College game and we have to build on that. It is important to make sure all three segments continue to push themselves to be their best. We have identified numerous things throughout the year that have not gone our way and we try to rationalize that from a coaching standpoint and how to get our players to perform at the optimal level and the best level they can I think we have made improvements their and we need to continue to do that. Making sure the plan is precise we can execute and go out and play fast.”
(Is there a solution to balanced scheduling in conference)
“I look at it from a fan’s perspective as well and I think to have the best teams in the conference championship and playoffs is the goal. Sometimes, the scheduling will go in our favor and sometimes it will not. This year, we happen to play a lot of teams that are playing very well; but in the end, I think it balances itself out over the years. I like to have a tough schedule and I would like to have some of these games back that we didn’t find a way to win, but you learn from it and you move on. We won some close games too that could have easily gone the other way so we do not dwell on it too much I thought we had a good schedule before the season and now as it has gone on that proves to be even more true. That is the draw we had and you have to beat those teams, if you can beat the top teams and continue to win football games everything else will take care of itself.”
(Is there a theme for the finish to this season)
“In the middle of the year, we made sure our team understood that every game is a new challenge and you want to try to win every week and move on to the next one, but in the end, the real judgment is made at the end of the year of how your football team does. We have a lot of seasons left, there are three regular-season games that we have to prove we are a good football team and you have to win and at the end of the year you hope you are where you wanna be. We excelled this week but we have more to do. Just think good football teams get better as the year moves on and to know it is not easy.
(On the mindset of the defense right now)
“I definitely think that they believe that they can perform at a high level. As we’ve identified problems throughout the season, the bottom line a lot of times we’ve just given up a lot of easy, wide-open plays. For whatever reason the bust was, coaching-wise, player-wise, we had it. So, it was a matter of we have to clean up these things here. We have to make this team earn their points. I think if you make them earn it and you challenge things every play, you don’t give up something wide open, you’re going to have good success. I think last week our defense definitely responded in that aspect; it helped us play a cleaner game. Obviously, we had some good things happen to us on special teams as well that gave us momentum. But it has to be about making the team earn their points, earn their yards. I think if we do that and do not give up those types of easy plays and big runs, and wide-open passes, we can play efficient, really good football. I’d like to see our defense continue to improve each week and try to play as dominant as they can. Every week is going to be a challenge, this week we play a team that has a really good running quarterback. They’ve utilized that in the past couple of weeks, and he can run it. And we have had a hard time against running quarterbacks, a lot of quarterbacks have had their best yardage gained against us. Which is not what we want to see. So, we have to try to put a stop to that and this will challenge our defense to be able to contain a very athletic quarterback who can make plays and score points with his legs."
(On does it help to have a 3:30 ET kick vs late night one)
“I think it helps; we always love getting up and going out and playing, and not sitting around the hotel a whole lot. But it doesn’t always happen. So, I think the timing is good. We like the schedule we have when we get out there. It’s really about going out there and playing for four quarters as well as you can. We feel confident that as long as we have a good week at practice, and we go out there and compete at a high level, we need to understand that game day, the 60 minutes on the field, are the most important, and that playing at a high level. I think hopefully we’ll be ready for that.”
