Weekly Press Luncheon Quotes
September 03, 2007 | Football
Sept. 3, 2007
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina University Head Football Coach Skip Holtz addressed members of the media prior to this week's game against North Carolina. The following are selected comments:
Opening Comments
"Reviewing last week's game with Virginia Tech, we are obviously disappointed that we are sitting here 0-1 because we went up there with every intention of stealing a victory. No one on the outside was giving us much of a chance and I talked about the youth and inexperience of our team, but at the same time I believe that it was an unbelievable experience for our football team. They played extremely hard in quite an environment against a top-10 team. At times they played with youth and inexperience but at the same time they played so hard, leaving their hearts and souls out on the field.
"When you look at the mistakes that were made, they weren't talented mistakes. We are a more talented team than we were a year ago, but I'm afraid that it won't show in the overall record because of our inexperience. When you spot a team like Virginia Tech seven points, you have to win by a baseball score and you don't see many baseball teams scoring 18 points. When you start making foolish mistakes against a team like Virginia Tech, it comes back to hurt you.
"On the positive side, we were able to play a lot of people. We played nine or ten defensive linemen and all nine linebackers that we took. It was nice to see the offensive line get some experience in a game like that and against a defense like that. We were able to play three quarterbacks and get them all experience. They each bring their own flavor to our offense. I thought the running backs played well and we also played three different tight ends.
"I think we have come a long way as a football program since the end of last year but we also have a long way to go and some growing up to do at some key positions.
"I was real pleased with Patrick Pinkey in terms of the poise he showed and I thought he did a real nice job of managing the game. I always look into a quarterback's eyes to see if I'm looking to the back of his head or if he is into it. He was definitely into it. Matt Dodge did a very nice job as a punter going into that atmosphere for his opening game.
"I am not excited about a moral victory at this point. While we played with [Virginia Tech], we had every intention of going up there and winning that game. While disappointed, I am encouraged by the number of guys who stepped up in the game."
On the Upcoming Game with UNC:
"This is obviously a great rivalry game for our fans. I hope they manage themselves with the same amount of class that we just experienced at the Virginia Tech game. I thought the way that the Virginia Tech family greeted East Carolina is what this game is all about. You can be fierce rivals on the field but you can also play with excitement, emotion and sportsmanship. That being said, it is still a rivalry for the East Carolina family. We are 1-8-1 in our only 10 games with [the Tar Heels] and we have lost those by an average score of 35-10. Many of our players have played with kids on the North Carolina team and we know it will be a great challenge. We have a lot of respect for Coach Davis, the program that he is building and the job he is doing. There is a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in the North Carolina camp right now and it will be a heck of a challenge for us.
"When you look at their staff, it is unbelievable. They have some guys on their staff that understand what this game means and I'm sure they will be talking with their team about the excitement coming from East Carolina. I know most of their coaching staff and they are like a `Who's Who' in college football.
"[UNC] is a football team with a lot of talent. When you look at the recruiting lists and the caliber of players they are bringing in, most of them are the four and five star guys. They go all over the country to get their talent.
"When you look at them from a defensive standpoint, they are strong up the middle and their defensive front is their strength. We saw this at Virginia Tech. I think their linebackers have an awful lot of experience. They are intelligent and smart and I think their safeties are very good football players. Their corners really didn't get tested against James Madison but they have a tremendous amount of talent on defense.
"Offensively, they are big and strong. The thing that scares me the most about them right now is their skill players. They have some wide receivers that have big play potential and their quarterback has a rope for an arm. They throw the deep ball well and what concerns me are the uncontested deep balls we gave up against Virginia Tech, knowing that is one of [UNC's] strengths. Right now they are doing tailback by committee and I think they are very impressive at it. I think it's going to be a heck of a challenge for us as a football team. Coach Davis has done a great job of emphasizing special teams. They blocked a punt against James Madison and should have blocked two more."
"I don't think this is the North Carolina football team everyone has been watching the past couple years and it will be a great challenge for us. Coming off of a very emotional game against Virginia Tech, we will have to put our best foot forward.
"We are excited to come home and see this place packed to the gills. It takes a lot out of you when you have to get on planes and busses to go play a game, so I think our players are excited to have the opportunity to play in front of the home crowd because we appreciate the support they have given us for so many years."
On the Quarterbacks:
"[Rob Kass] was out at practice yesterday and he has served his one-game suspension. He is available to play but he will work his way up from the bottom. Right now this is Patrick Pinkey's job and he deserves it. Like I said before, I was impressed with the way he played and protected the ball. He managed the game well. He gave a spark of enthusiasm to our offense and I think that is what our young football team needs right now. When [Kass] made the decision he did, he gave up the spot and [Pinkney] did a nice job of stepping up and taking it."
On the Coverage Against Virginia Tech:
"We played a lot of zone coverage so it was frustrating to give up the uncontested deep balls. I can accept if we are playing man coverage and we get beat by better talent, but not getting beat by three deep balls in zone coverage. Our secondary is young as we have one total game of experience between the four players. We voided the zones that we were supposed to be covering and that was what was so frustrating about it. With the talented quarterback we will play against next week, I don't feel that we are in a position to play man coverage. North Carolina gives you problems because they have an NFL mindset. There is a lot of confusion as they shift and motion and they do all the things that hurt us Saturday. Our secondary will need to make great mental strides from week one to week two."
On Special Teams:
"I was real pleased with the special teams play. We put most of our starters on the kickoff and punting teams. We feel that when you line up to play the Virginia Tech's and West Virginia's, you have to put your best foot forward. We have tried in years past to put our reserves on special teams to create depth but right now we feel that we need to put the starters in and roll a lot of guys in and out. Everyone can play 40 plays and a little bit of special teams. This is the advantage of having depth. I thought the punt team played really well with the exception of the one punt return. We stopped many of their kickoffs at the 20 and had some touchbacks. Our coaches have been working hard to make sure that we are fundamentally sound and that we can execute what we are trying to accomplish."
On Virginia Tech's Punt Return Unit:
"They create a lot of confusion as they try to make you identify the strength one way and then they shift and move. By that time, you have no time to adjust before the play clock runs out. What we tried to do was line up and zone block, not trying to get into a counting game."
On Penalties:
"I'm frustrated with the penalties. Having seven penalties in the third quarter when we had momentum was frustrating. It's hard to go 1st-and-15 when you have three penalties on your opening drive. You take a guy like D.J. Scott playing in his first game with the crowd noise and he can't hear the cadence, resulting in three procedure penalties. They were just little flinches. We had 38 penalties all of last year and now we had 12 in one game. That is way too many and it is part of the inexperience of where we are right now. We had two holding calls on guys that had never played before. Nothing happened prior to this weekend to make me think that it was going to be a problem. They have been in the crowd noise now so hopefully it won't be a factor again. You can only coach it so much in practice. In our last two scrimmages we had one flag thrown. I think we just got into the environment and panicked."
On Injuries:
"Jay Ross is expected to play this week. There are a lot of strains and sprains that are typical when you come out of a physical game like the one we played this weekend. We will find out a lot more of where we are on Tuesday. [Ross] didn't have a lot of swelling and is expected to play. I hope we can get some of the nagging things done before Saturday."
On Norman Whitley and Jonathan Williams:
"We played them on special teams to get them some experience. You don't want the [Virginia Tech] game to be their first game at running back. We have some depth at running back and you don't want to see the freshmen put the ball on the ground and then second-guess yourself. Jonathan Williams and Norman Whitley are very talented. When they get their opportunity on game day, they won't look back. When we are up a couple scores in a game then they will see some reps in the backfield. It's hard to take two experienced running backs off of the field."
