Weekly Football Press Conference Quotes
December 02, 2002 | Football
Opening comments:
"We're getting ready to entertain Cincinnati. They've got a good football team and have had their hearts broken in several football games in which I think they were the better football team, but came up short. They were within one play of beating Ohio State, who is going to play for the national championship this year it looks like. Two weeks ago they had Hawaii, a ranked team, under control and let that slip away from them."
"They are basically the same football team that we saw last year. They are a year older and playing much more cohesively. On the defensive side of the ball they are simplistic and do a good job of what they do. Their running game is spearheaded by DeMarco McCleskey who reminds you a lot of Derrick Nix, which is a big back who is a banger and will bring it downhill to you every snap. They are a little better equipped to hurt you with that type of running back because their quarterback is capable and throws well and will probable be the premier quarterback in the league this time next year. They are good offensively and ranked first or second in our conference in offensive production and we are going to have to gear it up and go play."
On Cincinnati being the most balanced offensive team ECU faced this year:
"They probably are the most balanced. They are hitting all of their numbers this year, which are about 250 yards throwing and 150 yards running. That is kind of what a one-back team strives for, at 400 yards of total offense. They are averaging right at 30 points a game. The balance that they present is the best that we have seen in our league so far."
On quarterback Paul Troth's progress through the season:
"The last two weeks have been tough. Going into last week's game, we were averaging 30 points a game on offensive and certainly did not get that done Saturday. Paul has had his ups and downs and made a lot of progress. The last two weeks were difficult and would have been difficult regardless of who the quarterback was because we were getting whipped up front. But I am looking forward to seeing him grow and I think that he is going to be really fine in time. His numbers this year were typical of a young quarterback in that his interceptions were ahead of his touchdown passes, just like [David] Garrard, just like [Marcus] Crandell and the rest of them we've seen come through the program here. Next year we hope to see that flip around, where you will see two touchdowns for every interception. That is when you start operating pretty well for a season."
On running back Art Brown's injury status:
"I don't know if we're going to have Art Brown back or not. What happened is in the TCU game, Marvin went into his cramp deal in the second half and we had no one to back Art up. Art pulled his groin in the TCU game and simply had to finish the game and it hurt him. He really has a pulled groin muscle that hurts him and its even hurting the abdominal muscle as well. We rested him a lot last week hoping to get him to play some last Saturday, but he was unable to get that done. We will work a lot with Christshawn Gilliam this week. The good news is that Marvin made it through the Southern Miss game with no cramps. He played well and if he can do that again that will really help us. With what has happened with Marvin this year, that has really messed up what we were trying to do offensively. Art has carried the ball too many times this year and is not the kind of back that needs to carry the ball 25 times a game. He needs 15 to 18 carries a game and needs someone else in there to take the heat off of him. So, the injury that Art got was somewhat predictable but we're going to have to figure something out for this game."
On playing different personnel with this being the last game of the season:
"We will go and play the game. It is important to us as for where we will end up in the conference standings this year. We are going to play our very best people at our very best spots and do everything we can to win the game."
On Christshawn Gilliam's role this week:
"We are going to have to see where Art is this week. If Art looks like he will be able to give us something then Christshawn will go and play a little more on defense. If Art is still hobbling, then we will obviously keep Christshawn full-time on the offense."
On the senior class:
"This senior class is what a coaching staff looks for. I told the younger guys that this class was the model for what we as coaches seek. This group has been a real upbeat group of youngsters to work with all year long. There has been no negativity or any locker room problems or anything like that to deal with and this class made sure that would not happen. You hope that when they are done playing football that you can tell a journey of what each player has been through and that is true of this class. Off the top of my head I think that all of them will have a degree in hand when they leave this year and that is one of our main goals."
On the factors of why one team in C-USA dominates another all the time:
"When you look at any other league I think that you will find a team that always torments another one for some reason. My father, who is 82, said that he could now die in peace knowing that Oklahoma State finally beat Nebraska after 41 years playing them. You would think that in 41 years of playing that Oklahoma State would have won one or two of those games. You look in our conference and Tulane has been a thorn in the side of Cincinnati. I don't know why and I have talked with Rick Minter and he doesn't know either. We have been a thorn in Cincinnati's side somewhat and UAB has done that to us. If you look at any other conference around the country you see that problem. I can only think that there are some match-up issues, styles of play that play into your hands and out of your hands."
