Holtz' Weekly Press Quotes
October 12, 2009 | Football
Oct. 12, 2009
GREENVILLE, N.C. - East Carolina University Head Football Coach Skip Holtz addressed members of the media prior to this week's game against Rice. The following are selected comments:
On The SMU Game:
"Coming off the SMU game and the trip home from Dallas, it's certainly frustrating to go over there and not come home with a win. It's a game we certainly felt like we could have won.
"You can say we should have won, but we made way too many mistakes to do that. When you look at it, having the redzone opportunities we did and not being able to push the ball into the end zone cost us. So did the two blocked field goals, one for a SMU touchdown, the 96-yard touchdown pass they threw after we had them backed up and the interception for the touchdown. Each of those was a seven-point difference. If you change four plays in that game, it could have been a 28-10 game.
"But it wasn't. We did make those mistakes. We weren't good enough to overcome all the mistakes we made and get a win.
"I was proud of the way we competed. We had some unbelievable individual efforts. The way our players competed, showed maturity and put everything out on the field was impressive in a lot of respects."
On The Defense Against SMU:
"Defensively, we're improving. We gave up 443 yards four weeks ago, then 336 yards, 306 yards and finally 294 yards Saturday including that 96-yard touchdown. We're starting to understand everything we're doing with the zone coverage.
"I thought Saturday there were some people who stepped up and really played an outstanding game for us. Up front, the defensive tackles were excellent. SMU had a good plan, doubling Jay Ross and Linval Joseph. SMU put that big fullback in and used him almost like another tight end. Ross and Joseph were double-teamed all day. It was really a good scheme by SMU.
"On the outside, I thought C.J. Wilson and Scotty Robinson played pretty well coming off the edge. There weren't many opportunities for sacks because SMU didn't hold the ball for long. The SMU offense is based on reads, so the quarterback read one side and if he had to come back to the other, he didn't have long because the pressure got to him. That's a tribute to what those guys did up front.
"Nick Johnson continues to play excellent football. What a play at the end of the game creating the fumble. He came up and made that hit. Jeremy Chambliss is playing very well. Matt Thompson, with Chris Mattocks not able to play, stepped in and had 51 plays. He did a nice job for us and was very productive. It's nice to see him really start to mature. You could see that coming with he has been playing on special teams.
"On the back end, Van Eskridge played an excellent, emotional and competitive football game. I think Emanuel Davis really brings something to the boundary corner position. He played an excellent game. However, when you only have two of the four guys on the back end grade as a winner and you're playing a team like SMU, it can be costly.
"You can say that outside of two plays our defense played great. But those two plays factor in. We have to eliminate those big plays.
"We keep a missed tackle and missed assignment log and it was as low as it has been. We only had seven total misses.
"We have to continue to stress keeping the ball in front of us. We also have to create more turnovers. We're not creating enough positive field position. Our punt team backed up SMU two different times. When you put the ball from your own 40-yard line, your mindset is that if you can get a three-and-out from your defense, you'll get the ball back in good field position.
"We have to do a better job of keeping the opponent pinned deep in its own end and creating turnovers for our offense."
On The Offense Against SMU:
"Offensively, we had the best day running the ball that we've had this season. I think Dominique Lindsay put in an all-star effort, especially when you look at what he was going through. He has been sick and was during the game as well. He wouldn't come out, though. He just kept going and going.
"Dwayne Harris also had a great game and not just on the kickoff return or with the ball under his arm. He's our most aggressive and physical blocker. He is really doing a great job from that standpoint.
"Kevin Gidrey played solid at the tight end position. The two seniors on the offensive line, Sean Allen and Terence Campbell, continue to grade out as winners each week and are doing great things for that unit. I thought D.J. Scott stepped up and competed in that game as well.
"It's kind of like the secondary, though. When you have three guys who play well and two that don't play up to that level it's hard to get anything going consistently.
"I thought the way we ran the ball, converted 41 percent of our third downs and controlled the time of possession were all positives. Not being able to finish some drives, having key penalties, committing the turnover on the kickoff and throwing the interception for a touchdown were all costly.
"Right now, the lack of big plays and point production are something we have to address on offense. We're not creating enough big plays. We're methodically controlling the ball and moving it down the field. We're gaining four, five and six yards and picking up first downs, we had 24 Saturday, but not in large chunks. What we're not doing is getting into the redzone and pushing the ball into the end zone on a consistent basis. We aren't creating big plays from outside the redzone to create points. That's what we have to look at on offense."
On The Special Teams Against SMU:
"The two blocked field goals are frustrating. Both kicks were low. That's something we've been talking about for the last couple weeks at practice. I think Ben Hartman's leg is getting a little tired and heavy. He missed all summer and fall camp with his hip injury. With all the kicking that he has done for six weeks in a row, I think he's starting to tire.
"We talked to Hartman about it last week. We noticed the trajectory of his ball has been low. I don't think it was an unbelievable amount of push by the defensive line. When the defense is blocking the kick, with as low as it was, we have to look at that.
"In practice, Ben Ryan has been kicking the ball with much better trajectory. We had talked about giving him an opportunity. I put him in there after Hartman's blocked field goal. That was Hartman's second blocked field goal from inside the 10-yard line this season.
"When you get that close, it's like hitting a sand wedge, you just have to put the ball way high up in the air and make sure it goes over the crossbar. We just have to make sure we get the ball up higher. After Hartman had his field goal blocked, we went with Ryan, who did a nice job on the point after earlier.
"On the field goal Ryan did the same thing. He kicked it low. The defensive lineman didn't have a lot of penetration as he blocked it with his facemask. It was way too low of a kick.
"We have to continue work on that. The two blocks on the field goals are definitely frustrating, especially since one of them led to seven points.
"We also had the fumble on the kickoff return. We just made way too many mistakes in order to win this football game.
"We did some good things, but they don't matter when you give things away. The blocked field goal return and the interception return are point-costing plays. You can't make those types of mistakes and win."
On Being At The Season's Halfway Point:
"As frustrated and disappointed as we all are with this loss, we're at the halfway point. The battle cry for this football team so far has been to fight to get to the halfway point.
"I know this flu has been hitting a lot of football teams around the country and I know it has hit us, especially in the last two weeks.
"Last week was midterms, so our players had exams and projects, as well as fighting off the flu. This game concerned me a little bit because of all those outside factors last week. We really wanted to push and get to 4-2 at the halfway point.
"Unfortunately, we weren't able to do it. We're at 3-3 with one loss in the conference, which is exactly where we were a year ago. We have to rally things together and pull the team back together. We have to be able to correct some of these mistakes and get ready for Rice Saturday."
On Rice's Offense:
"I know a lot of people are going to look at Rice and say they're a 0-6 football team. I think Coach Bailiff is an excellent coach. I've been very impressed with them as a football team in a lot of respects.
"On offense, they're breaking in a lot of new starters as they're trying to replace a great wide receiver, tight end and quarterback that they lost a year ago. Toren Dixon and Patrick Randolph, their two wide receivers, are a big part of their passing game.
"Taylor Wardlow, who is their tight end, has 22 catches this season. His role is constantly increasing as his catches are increasing from week to week. They're treating him more and more like Marshall's Cody Slate.
"At quarterback, Nick Fanuzzi, is a transfer from Alabama who has been injured the last two weeks. They've had to play three quarterbacks due to injury. All three are pretty much doing the same things. Fanuzzi is the one they want to go with. Against Navy, he threw for 242 yards and two touchdowns. I think they're starting to roll into something with their receivers, Wardlow and Fanuzzi all working together.
On Rice's Defense:
"Defensively, they played Oklahoma State and gave up under 400 yards total offense and 3.8 yards per rush to that team. Against Vanderbilt, it was 10-10 at the half and a heck of a game. They were beating Tulsa 10-7 with 47 seconds in the half before a big kickoff return allowed Tulsa to tie it at 10 with a field goal. Against Tulsa and Rice gave up just 2.9 yards per rush and also held the team to under 400 yards.
"I think they're doing a lot of good things. The biggest thing that I'm seeing with this Rice team is that it's improving. They're getting better each and every week, even though the statistics might not show it.
"I think Scott Solomon is an unbelievable football player. I've really been impressed with him. To see his development and progress from where he was at the beginning of the year to now is something special. He plays with great energy. He had three sacks against Tulsa and has 4.5 this season. He had 11 tackles against Tulsa, which is pretty impressive for a defensive end. He is very active as a defensive end.
"Andrew Sendejo and Travis Bradshaw, the two safeties, are excellent football players as well. They're big, smart, aggressive, physical and know where they're going. They have laid some big hits this year. After watching the film, I think that's something we're going to have to keep our receivers away from. They will hit you in the secondary. They're a very physical group on the back end."
"They're playing much better on defense. You can see their mindset has changed. Early in the year, they were very stagnant and stayed still. Now, they're much more aggressive. They stunt, blitz and twist in their 4-2-5 base defense."
On Rice's Special Teams:
"Their kicking game is solid. Brandon Yelovich, their kickoff specialist, is a sophomore. Clark Fangmeier, who we saw a couple years ago when we were at their place, is still kicking for them. He has made 98 consecutive PATs and has 166 in his career. If he gets two more, he'll be in the NCAA career Top 20 list for PATs. He's an excellent field goal kicker
"Kyle Martens is their punter and leads Conference USA at 45.0 yards per punt. He does a really nice job. Sendejo is also a good punt returner.
"I think they're solid on special teams."
On The Injuries:
"The injuries from this last week's game are a lot of bumps and bruises. The only injury of significance, at this point, is that Jonathan Williams hurt his knee and will be out for an undetermined amount of time.
"It's unfortunate because he has had a good few weeks of practice. After his second fumble against UCF, he didn't play in the backfield last week at Marshall. He followed that up with a good week of practice and has had a good attitude.
"Coach Smith told him that he would go in during the third series Saturday at SMU and have an opportunity. He went in and was blocking for Giavanni Ruffin and somebody fell on Jonathan's knee.
"I don't know the severity of it, but he will probably be out for a couple of weeks. We have an MRI scheduled for today to find out the significance of the injury."
On The Players Hit By The Flu:
"Brandon Jackson and Austin Haynes were not able to make the trip. There were five guys I took off the bus Friday. We were redoing our special teams at our walk-through to try and put the right people in the right places.
"When we got to Dallas, four more players had developed fevers of over 100 degrees. We had to isolate them and put them in their own rooms. We didn't want this to become something that impacted the entire team.
"The fever was what indicated the flu problem. They all played, but how much it affected them, I'm not sure at this point.
"I'm hoping that the worst of it is behind us now. With today and tomorrow off of school because of fall break, I gave the team all of Sunday off to get some sleep and rest. That's usually a practice day for us. We're giving them all day off today and they're going to come back tonight for meetings and practice. I'm trying to give them as much time off as we can so they can get their legs back under them.
"I don't expect Jackson back at practice tonight. I'll learn a little more about him this afternoon after I meet with [Assistant Athletic Director for Medical Services/Head Athletic Trainer] Mike Hanley. I expect him back at some point this week."
On Patrick Pinkney's Performance At SMU:
"Patrick was one of the players who had a temperature. When we got to Dallas, he started showing the symptoms. He had a bit of a fever. We took him out of meetings, put him in bed and gave him some fluids. We didn't want him to get dehydrated.
"His temperatures started to clear Saturday morning and the doctors felt he could go. We spent some extra time with Josh Jordan Friday and Saturday morning in case Patrick couldn't play.
"Patrick went through a lot. He's doing a good job of managing the game. I don't think we're being overly productive with the ball down the field and our deep plays. That's not just Patrick, though. That's the wide receivers, too.
"The interception for a touchdown bothers you, but he competed 59 percent of his passes. He's throwing the ball fairly accurately. We don't have enough big plays as an offense to put up the point production that we need."
On What The Passing Game Needs To Do To Increase Its Production:
"Patrick completed 59 percent of his passes Saturday, which I'm not going to sit and complain about. A lot of those passes are underneath, ball-control, bubble screens and dumping the ball off.
"Down the field, it's a combination of things. There are times when I think we've got to throw the ball over the proper shoulder on the deep ball. Other times, I think we have the opportunity to go get the ball but are not winning in one-on-one situations.
"I think Patrick is doing a good job in zone situations and taking what the defense is giving him. That's when he's managing the game well.
"When it goes to getting the ball down the field, we're not being productive enough, both at quarterback and at wide receiver. I think it's on both of them.
"There are two ways to create big plays. One is from a talent standpoint; we have to see how we're going to get our best players down the field with an opportunity to make something happen. The other way is through the scheme with what you're doing and what you're going to run. It's hard to spread the field and dink and dunk, but also get the ball down the field. That's where you need talent to get down the field and win, which we're not doing right now.
"We could also use the running game to our advantage with a little more play-action passing."
On Possible Changes To The Offense:
"We're addressing it. When you look at the receivers, there are two ways to get somebody open down the field. You can get somebody real fast who can run past anybody, which is what Jacobi Jenkins and Darryl Freeney are. There are three talented freshmen who we are redshirting right now, but I'm not willing to pull the redshirt off them right now. They can all run. They will be bright stars here.
"The other possibility is to look at some of the other players who have not gotten a lot of time. You either have to beat the defender with speed, or with physicality and out jumping him. Javon Brumsey has not played a lot here, but has great size.
"I look at it as, somebody who won't is no better than somebody who can't. We're not being productive and we can't reward talent, we have to reward productivity. We have to play guys who will allow our offense to be productive.
"Guys like Wes Pittman and Justin Brockmeyer are walk-ons to this program who have been incorporated into the special teams. They're doing a phenomenal job running down the field and bringing great attitudes and efforts. What they're bringing to the special teams is really positive.
"We're looking for that type of spark in somebody who wants to play bad enough and is deserving of that opportunity. There will be some competition at the wide receiver position this week. There will probably be some moves and jockeying on the depth chart as well.
"The same is true with the secondary. We're going to have to give some guys the opportunity to compete. We put Travis Simmons and Darryl Reynolds in there in man coverage situations but there are some guys like Leonard Paulk and Rahkeem Morgan who deserve the opportunity to play. They have practiced just as hard. There will be some competition going on this week."
On Being Stopped At The Goal Line At SMU:
"It was different than what Marshall did. SMU shot the gaps and tried to occupy two linemen by taking out the linemen's legs. SMU wanted its linebackers to run free.
"We had success the week before in our jumbo package. SMU wanted to take the linemen out and let the linebackers make the tackle. They wanted to make a pile on the line of scrimmage. That's pretty much what they did.
"The first time on fourth down we jumped offside. The next time we got down there, we eventually got the ball to the outside when Giavanni Ruffin got around and walked in.
"What's frustrating is getting down there and jumping off sides on a fourth-down play. It's unfortunate and I hate it. We were going to run a quarterback sneak. We were going to let SMU shoot the gaps and have Patrick go over the top but that never happened."
On The Point-Costing Mistakes:
"The mistakes we're making are point mistakes. It's not just a lost yardage play. It wasn't just a blocked field goal, but a block returned for a touchdown. That's seven points. The 96-yard touchdown is another seven points. The interception for a touchdown was another seven points.
"Whether it's losing your opportunity to score, or giving SMU points, it's a 28-point difference in four plays. That's frustrating.
"There were a lot of great individual efforts, and lots of things we did well offensively with controlling the ball and running so well. Defensively, we were 80 percent on third down as they were only 2-for-10.
"We also said they could strike from anywhere and anytime. You can hold them, hold them and hold them, but then the ball goes over the top for a big play.
"It's frustrating, but it's something we have to eliminate if we're going to be a good football team and contend in this conference."
