Weekly Press Luncheon Quotes
October 01, 2007 | Football
Oct. 1, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina University Head Football Coach Skip Holtz addressed members of the media prior to this week's game against UCF. The following are selected comments:
Opening Comments:
"This was a great win for us on Saturday, especially with the success that Houston has had. However, it is a much needed win too in terms of our morale and where we are going as a program. I have a lot of respect for Coach Briles and the kind of program he's building. It was a great opportunity for us to go [to Houston] and play the defending conference champions. This game was a statement game for us because all of a sudden, the whole league is talking about East Carolina beating Houston. I was so proud of the way our players went out there, competed and believed. We really challenged them this week in terms of their focus, effort and passion and I think our staff did a great job of being salesmen in the individual meetings in order to get us ready to compete. It was a game that had a lot of emotional turns. We felt pretty good after the field goal but then we saw their guy running the other way for a touchdown and were deflated. I was proud of the players doing whatever they had to do to win this game.
"I thought our defense did a great job in the first half. We not only stressed turnovers but also emphasized good field position. When you look at teams that score 40 points per game, you put the film on and they are not driving the ball but getting the short field. We started in the red zone twice so our defense did a great job of getting the offense into the short field situation and we capitalized. In the second half, I thought Houston did a nice job of coming out and exploiting some things. We were good on third down which was huge because Houston is the best third-down converting team in the conference.
"I thought a lot of our offensive trouble continued as we began this game. We had four procedure penalties in the first half. It made us change some things around on the offensive line and we did a much better job in the second half of putting some drives together. In the first half, aside from the short touchdown drives, our longest drive was five plays for 20 yards so we needed a shot in the arm. Because we had success against their two-deep coverage, they started bring their safeties downhill. We went with Rob Kass in the second half and I thought he did a nice job, throwing two really nice deep balls. For a guy who hasn't played much in the beginning of the season, I was pleased with his performance as he executed and moved the ball downfield. Another thing that really pleased me was that we got the rushing game going. I thought Chris Johnson had an excellent game. He ran hard and he ran physical.
"Personnel-wise, Jamar Bryant had a nice game for us. We need to find ways to get him the ball more than we did on Saturday, though some of that was due to Houston. Dominique Lindsay did a nice job although we had to take him out in the second half because of some fluid in his knee. It's encouraging to see Matt Butler continue to play well as well as Doug Palmer at right guard. Freshman D.J. Scott continues to battle at the right tackle spot. At the center position, we had some trouble so we put Stephen Heis in for most of the second quarter and the entire second half. When Josh Coffman got hurt, it was great to see Stanley Bryant go in and get a lot of reps at tackle. Our tight ends did not catch a lot of passes but I thought Davon Drew and Jay Sonnhalter had two of their better games as far as blocking and being physical. Jay showed a lot of toughness at fullback.
"We made some changes at linebacker, looking at the speed of the defense and also injuries. We took Fred Wilson and made him more of a nickel linebacker as we went to a three-down line front. I think he played his best game of the year and Coach Hudson put together a great game plan for him. In taking Fred out of the middle, we moved Pierre Bell over to middle linebacker and I thought he and Quentin Cotton were extremely active in their new roles. I also thought Dalvon Mack came in and did a nice job. All three linebackers were in double-digits in tackles. On the defensive front, Jay Ross continues to get better and better and Zack Slate continues to impress at corner. C.J. Wilson was the beneficiary of Marcus Hands going down to injury and he went from playing 15 plays to about 70.
"In the secondary, I think Van Eskridge has proven that he is one of the better football players on the field. Travis Williams also stepped and did well at the corner position. We moved Leon Best to safety from corner this week and he played well with Jerek Hewett. They both gave up an uncontested deep ball and that's the kind of thing we have tried to hammer home. Coach Smith said that he has seen enough deep balls for a lifetime. However, Houston is a good enough team to exploit holes in the secondary so that had something to do with it. From the special teams standpoint, it was nice to see Ben Hartman get back on track, making the only field goal he attempted as well as Matt Dodge being able to punt the football well. [Dodge's] average was a little bit lower but he had five kicks inside the 20-yard line and did a nice job of angling the ball for the sideline. We were worried about the dangerous return men that Houston has."
On UCF:
"This week it doesn't get any easier. We are playing a very good UCF team and I've always said that they were one of the most athletic teams in our league. When they run out onto the field, they are a good looking football team. They won our division two years ago and last year, Kevin Smith was a little banged up and they were playing a two-quarterback system. Now I think they have settled in a bit and are healthy. Last year they were more power oriented in the running game but now they have expanded it a bit and are using the tailback a little more. If [Smith] gets into space, he has the ability to make you miss. He leads the country in yards per game with 178 and part of that is due to their offensive line which is big and athletic. Defensively, their line is one of their strengths because their linebackers in the middle have played a lot of football. Additionally their secondary is their main strength. They have played a lot of quality opponents but they still rank near the top in all the statistical categories, both on offense and defense. This game will be a heck of a challenge for us but our players are excited to get back in front of our home fans in this atmosphere."
On Changing Defensive Schemes:
"It is something we will definitely do. When you look at all our injuries, it has been more from necessity than scheme. Playing Houston, they split their lines so we tried to get some guys in there that hadn't played a lot. I felt we needed to go to more of a three-down line front. Whether we keep doing that will be predicated on our opponent and our injury status. I always say if your fourth receiver is better than your tight end, you end up playing four-wide. Likewise, if your fourth linebacker is better than your fourth defensive lineman, you need to play more of the three-down set."
On Special Teams Affecting Games:
"When you get in close games, special teams make the difference. Solid teams have solid special teams. For example, Coach Beamer at Virginia Tech has won a lot of games with special teams. A lot of people don't cross the T's or dot the I's on special teams and I think Coach Hargreaves has done an excellent job in developing what we like to call our 'dirty dozen.' I hate that we gave up the kick return Saturday but that goes back to everyone holding their gaps and understanding their responsibilities. There is a lot of time that goes into special teams, about 40-45 minutes per day. Parity in college football is growing and if you falter on special teams, you can be beaten by anyone."
On the Difficulty of Showing Multiple Defensive Looks:
"It really all comes down to 10 guys playing defensive football and then you take one guy and give him a different responsibility. It is more of a personnel issue than a scheme issue because you just put a linebacker in there instead of a defensive lineman. There was not a lot of new learning that had to go into it. Our defensive staff did a good job of making the 3-4 fit within our current playbook."
On the Quarterback Rotation:
"I think both guys have done a great job this season. In the North Carolina game, Patrick Pinkney showed that he can move this offense and put points on the board. Rob Kass has gone in there with different strengths and both have different ways of moving the football. Right now, I don't think either quarterback can do it all but they both add value and we need both of them to play. When you sit down and evaluate it, we have seen many positives and we are always looking to create depth on this team. You will see both of them play, whether it be in different halves or even on different series. Whoever we play will have to prepare for both of them."
