Weekly Press Luncheon Quotes
November 06, 2006 | Football
Nov. 6, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina University head football coach Skip Holtz addressed members of the media prior to this week's game against Marshall. The following are selected comments:
On UCF Game:
"It was another nice win. For our coaches and the staff, one of our concerns is being able to handle some success. We've now won two in a row. I'm really proud of this team with the way we competed, the passion and the hunger. The enthusiasm and the intensity that they played with was great. One thing you can be concerned with is the team feeling good about themselves and you go in and in this league everyone has a pretty good football team. It's like NASCAR, everyone has the same engine and it comes down to who does the best job in driving the car every week. Right now, these players are playing really hard and they are doing a nice job. This game was not a clinic from an offensive standpoint by any means. There were an awful lot of good things from our offense, but every-time we got down into the red-zone and near the 25-yard line we seemed to sputter. Sometimes it was a dropped pass or a missed block. It was never really one position where we could say `don't throw it that way anymore or `lets not run that play again'. It just always seemed to be one guy breaking down. We're going to have to go over that in practice this week. In order for us to win we are going to have to score more points to succeed and become more competitive."
On The Defense:
"Defensively I was really proud of the way this team played, the way they competed. I think this defense is really starting to grow up. They're really starting to accept the role that they've been given. They're starting to get excited about being a great defensive football team and they're taking a lot of pride in stopping people. You're starting to see guys get upset with each other when we give up, when we give up the pass or when they make a first down. Guys are not necessarily bickering back and forth, but they're getting on each other. There is a real pride starting to be developed about this defensive football team. We're really excited about some of the steps we're taking right now and some of the growth that we're going through. I couldn't be more pleased with the focus and the mental approach this team has taken each and every week."
On Marshall:
"We're going to stay within the confines of what we have to do which is focus on the upcoming opponent and focus on Marshall. We understand we're playing a very good football team in Marshall. They've won three in a row. They're playing with a lot of confidence right now. I think this should be a heck of a football game. I heard Mark Snyder's comments last week and he talked about how they control their destiny and if they win out that they're going to win the conference. You look at what they did at Tulane this week winning 42-21."
On Playing At Home:
"There will be a lot of energy and excitement and enthusiasm about this game. They are excited about it being the senior's final home game and excited to have the opportunity to come back home. We kind of got lulled to it with five games in a row. All of a sudden when you go on the road you think, it'd be great to go back to those great crowds we had a Dowdy-Ficklen. Excited to come back here and have the opportunity to play at home. It should be a very electric and exciting atmosphere."
On Speculation Of A Postseason Game:
"Any time you start to win a little bit those things become possibilities. Obviously from a media standpoint, from a fan standpoint, from a student standpoint, everybody's going to start to speculate. Then you start looking at the match-ups in the other conference. I think that's great. I think it's exciting. It creates a lot of interest in the program. But right now, as I keep telling this football team, we can't fall into that trap. That doesn't have anything to do with us going and taking care of our job."
On Playing On The Road:
"We talk about being 1-0. It's what we want to do for the present. We want to stay humble with our past and we want to stay hungry for our future. We're sticking to that and I think our team has really bought into that. We've really kind of pushed the road game standpoint, talking about coming up with a road warrior theme. If we really wanted to accomplish anything special with this season with four of the last five being on the road, we were going to have to be road warriors. I think these guys have done a really nice job of going on the road and finding a way to win."
On The Senior's Last Home Game:
"Now you come home there will be a lot of emotion, a lot of focus on this game with this being the senior's last game. I worry about the seniors playing well because they get so caught up in the emotional ties. They start reliving and thinking this is my whole career, while they look back on four years and family and friends all coming in for this game. Sometimes your seniors don't play very well on this day because they have a hard time blocking and tackling with all the tears in their eyes."
On Staying Focused:
"From a football team standpoint, I think they have really bought into this focus and what we have to do. They're starting to understand it. That's what good football teams do. They stay focused on what they have to do with the task at hand. Right now it's all about Marshall. It's not about Rice, it's not about NC State, it's not about a bowl game, it's not about the possibilities of what we could end up with and when was the last time we won that many games. We can't get caught up in that race. We have to stay focused on Marshall."
On Marshall Running Back (Bradshaw):
"I think he's a great running back. He's powerful, strong, elusive and has speed. We talked a lot of about these next two weeks having to play Smith last week and Bradshaw this week. Sitting down and having the opportunity to watch films of the two of them together, I think Bradshaw is a much more explosive back than Smith. I think he's got an awful lot of talent and we have a difficult chore with our front seven. These great running backs are really challenging our front seven. We have young players that need that motivation every week. He's extremely talented and can do a lot of things as a player."
On ECU's Young Defense:
"The more they play the more experience they are getting. The coaching staff has done a phenomenal job with this football team. A lot of the guys who were inexperienced early are really starting to enjoy their role and they are getting better. They kept hearing about how they were the weak link but they have now come out and played well enough to win two football games."
