Coach Montgomery’s Weekly Press Conference Quotes

GREENVILLE, N.C. – Second-year ECU Head Football Coach Scottie Montgomery addressed members of the media on Monday prior to Saturday's home game against Cincinnati. The following are selected comments:

Opening Statement
"It's hard to really re-live the final moments of that game (Tulane). Of course, you don't get much sleep when you get it down to the one-yard line and can't find a way to get in. We did have some superlatives from the game. Hussein Howe did a great job running the football. He gave us the ability to not only play our inside zone but also our outside zone. I thought he made some good runs that were suppose to be negative yards; he got us four yards on that. On the offensive side of the ball we also had some good jobs by some of our receivers in the blocking game. Probably the most critical place in the game that we fell behind, we thought that we had some good matchups on the interior and the receiving core on the interior with some of the people that they had out there. Losing Quay [Johnson] was a major, major blow for us especially in the red zone. Our red zone package had been put together really for our most reliable player, which has been Quay the whole time, and unfortunately he went down. I think on the outside on the perimeter we wanted to get the ball in our playmakers hands and we tried to. I think their defensive secondary, especially their corners, played at a really, really high level. As I went back and looked at the tape they went after the football, they covered us down the field. The plays that we've made, we didn't make but one of those down the field that we see guys make all the time and that was to Trevon Brown. We've got to continue to mesh our pass and our running game. If you had told me that we were going to run it that well, we've been working really hard to run the ball, I thought that we would have been able to play at a much higher level connecting it to our passing game of the past.

"Once again I thought our defense gave us a chance to win this football game. There were three turnovers that they caused and we got three points off of and offensively you just can't have that happen. Korrin Wiggins, Aaron Ramseur, and [Davondre] 'Tank' Robinson, all had great games for us in different times and throughout. The second half our defense was stingy like they were in our last home game against BYU. When you play that well and just holding them against points in the second half, you should have a chance to win. It's great to see our offense go out and do something that we do all the time, which is execute a two-minute drill. But at the end of the day this team was one yard short and that one-yard is something that we will all think about. We have a lot of ground to gain but right now we are getting better. We are definitely getting better on offense and defense in some different areas we haven't put it all together. This was the perfect opportunity for us to get a November-style win; we ran the ball well and didn't make just enough plays."

On Cincinnati:
"Cincinnati is a good football team Coach [Luke] Fickell is really playing a lot of new people. It's shocked me how many new people they were playing. They're returning two starters. On the defensive side of the ball, they have a lot of new faces and some great talent at corner. Also some of the guys that they are returning have played for a long time and can play at a high level. I really like their defensive front. It causes a lot of problems for a lot of people. They play a lot of people in their front and have two units that they can run in at you. I think they do a good job.

"Offensively, really impressed with the running backs that they have. Not only [Gerrid] Doaks, No. 23, but also No. 5 [Mike] Boone. They've done a good job getting the ball downhill. Doaks has given them a different change up than I have seen them have in the past. A guy from Indianapolis that shows up in Cincinnati of course and just is playing at a high level. Also at the receiver position both [Devin] Gray and [Kahlil] Lewis gives them some ability to go down the field and run some great routs. Lewis being from Miami, which is known for a speed-type of city, he is coming out of. So they have made some plays on offense and defense and have been in some tough games. They won a tough game last week against a good Tulane team, so we have got our work cut out for us.

"We are getting better, we are motivated to play and really excited to get a chance to go out and play. I really want to see our fans come back and support our seniors for Senior Night. A lot of families will be coming in. It's going to be sad for me to see some of these guys move along. So I am asking and requesting that our fans come out in large numbers to support these seniors who have done such a good job in trying to transition and do things that we have asked them to do and become leaders and great discipline. I thought it was one of the parts of the game that was also a positive for us is you know how hard we work on our penalty discipline. I think we ended up coming out of that game with two penalties for 20 yards. You get two penalties for 20 yards and three turnovers; you wonder how you lose the game. Well it comes down, like we've said before, it's a game of inches. We will be ready to go this week, I am really excited to give our guys a chance to go out and play. Had some guys come in and compete in this game, we've just got to continue to get better."

On Quay Johnson's Season-Ending Injury:
"There's no way we will see him. Right now I am more concerned with how I think Quay can continue to play football. I am more concerned with him being able to get in training form and have a chance to continue to play. But unfortunately the guy for us, I just bragged about him a couple of weeks ago, he never misses practice, never misses games, and because of that we felt like he was going to have an end to a great season. We did a lot of things in the game where we tried to get him involved in the game plan with some matchups and once we lost him, we had other people go in his spot and make some plays in that game plan. But there were some critical inside of the 10-yard plays that we practiced and got game ready, even a couple of little tricks that we had for him in the game, that when he went down it hurt us. It does not look like we will have him for the rest of the year and I am hopeful that he will be able to get back and start training in the early part of the spring."

On Deondre Farrier Needing To Step Up:
"We are going to need him to step up even more than he did last week. He made some plays for us but there were also some critical errors at that position when Quay was out. There was one near the goal line, one in overtime. The thing that you forget about with Quay is that you don't talk about him as much but he is so reliable that the small things they automatically get done and we missed a few small things in the overtime and also in the third quarter. We had some small errors that cost us dearly."

On Gardner Minshew's Game Against Tulane And Being Named Starter For Cincinnati:
"I thought he played well. There was a stretch in the game where he got a little flustered. The pocket got pushed back on him, he made a throw down the right boundary, unbelievable, he just threw it up and we had to calm him down a little bit and just let him know to go out and execute. But once I went back and looked at the tape, outside of one or two drives, maybe incorrect reads in the passing game in which he had a couple, he put the ball in the hands of our receivers and our receivers a couple of times just didn't make the plays that we are used to seeing them make. I thought we had more one-on-one opportunities in this game that were great opportunities where he was protected. Gardner got the ball out where he wanted to get the ball out. We didn't want to overthrow anybody in a cold-weather game. I wanted all those catches to be body catches or back-shoulder catches or being our big targets that can go over and jump over the top of guys. We didn't make but one or two of those the whole game. I thought all in all he deserves to be the starter. We are going to go forward with him. He did some really good things in the game. He threw some great balls but we missed a couple down in the red zone. Of course, it got really tight down there and it restricted what we could do. But he played well enough for us to win the football game and no way or form did he play at a level that cost us to lose the football game, so we feel comfortable with him moving forward."

On What The Tape Showed On The Final Play:
"So we had a couple of options to that play, there was a sweep that is connected to the play and they were man-to-man coverage and running across. To be truthful we just didn't get the backside cutoff and that is something that we have worked a million times and it's the play that we want in that situation because of all the options that it gives you. I felt the quarterback did exactly what he was supposed to do there we've just got to get the backside cut off. I would have liked to see Darius' [Pinnix] path a little bit wider than more of a dive path but he's done a good job for us. He did a good job a little bit earlier in the game in a little bit of a different situation getting the ball in and was very comfortable at getting it in. We threw it earlier in the series and I just really wanted to make a statement. Our guys, when we talked about it, collectively that's what we wanted to do. So to fail in that situation and not be able to get it in, it was tough for us."

On [Keyshawn] Canady Responding To Starting Saturday:
"He had some great plays throughout the game. We've got to get him a little bit more consistent in his eyes but what he does; he has a lot of speed. So a lot of plays that have taken off on us a lot of times, he can go catch them. We haven't had him because of injuries and illness for the most part of the season. We haven't had him available for about two or three games for one reason or another. His speed on the field gives us a chance to play a little bit closer to people. You also didn't see a lot of those balls thrown down the field that you used to see. They looked to try to get him a couple of times and they liked the matchup early but after they could see how well he ran they went away from him. Then their secondary plan was to try to get into the interior because they felt like on the edge we were doing better at corner. We held them to 100-plus yards of passing so that wasn't our problem. He responded well and we've got to clean him up in his eyes and footwork but he's physical and very talented guy. In the first year that we got here he was in the group that we wanted to put a little stress on him and let him play and he responded in a positive way."

On It Being Difficult To Rally The Team For This Next Game After A Tough Loss:
"No, not at all. People asked me that question last week and I explained it to our team a couple of weeks ago when we fell out of the ability to go to a bowl game. I told them, we are football players and football coaches. Just like sharks when they don't eat for a day, they still wake up the next morning and go out and hunt, kill, are scary and eat. So what we have to do every day is come out and work. They are motivated. The biggest thing motivating them right now is its senior week. They've done a lot with these guys they've been here a long time here with them. We have a lot of young guys playing, we have a lot of older players that are either injured or not playing but they want to go out and perform well for these seniors."

On Sending [Thomas] Sirk In, Calling A Timeout, And Then Sending [Gardner] Minshew Back In:
"I was trying to get the correct call in. I didn't like the call I had in and I didn't necessary like the personnel that were going in for the call. There were a couple of calls that we wanted and we found out one of those calls had everything to do with Quay. But when you are on your call sheet, you call it and then you realize you don't have Quay and then you want it back. I just wasn't comfortable with the call that we had and I wanted to give us a chance to be aggressive there. I also wanted a little bit of time to decide whether we kick it or not."

On Jimmy Williams' Injury Status:
"He can barely run; he can barely move. Making that catch in that situation [on the game-tying drive], if we win the ball game I would have said that was the biggest play of the year, by far. He literally went out there and played when he could barely warm up, barely move through warm-ups, then imagine him trying to go to the ground. He slipped on a play, I don't know if you noticed as he was trying to put his foot in the ground. He was so weak there, that he couldn't stay up. He hopped back up off the ground, caught the ball below his eyes and converted a big-time fourth down. So you know, he's really working through it. It's been really hard for him. Every day in practice he comes out there and tries to start, usually he doesn't finish but he can do a lot of the RVA's (rout versus air), blocking in practice is tough for him because of all the contact but yeah he is working through that injury still."

On Kiante Anderson's Status After Being Listed Out Last Monday And Playing Saturday:
"Well Monday he was out. Tuesday he was kind of out from what I heard and then all of the sudden on Wednesday he shows up in practice like he came out of the booth with a cape on and played the whole practice. So kudos to Jake [Moore] and those guys (trainers) for getting him ready. Then he went out and played 60 snaps in the game and wouldn't let us take him out in a lot of situations. He was furious that he had to come out and all and just a warrior. He was talking about how he had to play these last few games and that's what he did. I have no idea how he was able to play or practice this week. We were told that potentially we could get him back for this week [Cincinnati], potentially, at the beginning of last week. So on Sunday or Monday we said maybe we will get him back for Cincinnati, then Wednesday we find out we are going to get him back for Tulane."

On What We Are Learning From Situations In Tight Quarters Inside The Five-Yard Line Offensively:
"Weapons. We have got to use our weapons. We've also got to continue to recruit guys like Davon [Grayson], Quay [Johnson], Jimmy [Williams] and have a lot of guys like Quay healthy and ready to go. We've got to continue to recruit weapons. Once you get down into the red zone, you can look at the NFL and everywhere else, it's going to a certain back or a certain wide out. We've just got to continue to develop and recruit weapons."

On The Weather Being A Factor In Saturday's Game Versus Tulane:
"It was a little chilly for me, I put on a coat. The guys were out there sleeveless; they thought it was great in the beginning. It got a little cool toward the end and that's always something. It's usually more of a problem for the quarterback in being able to grip the ball and spin the ball, but for everybody else it was great. Our offensive line, they loved it. Our backs tend to really like that type of weather to run the ball in. The quarterback it's a little bit harder to grip and spin especially when we have really had any weather remotely like that. I thought that was a really cold day. I never change clothes. I always wear the same thing but when I went in at halftime I put on a jacket because I felt like it was a little cool out there. But I don't think that a big effect on the outcome of the game. The outcome of the game came down to execution on a few plays and some really critical plays inside of the five (yard line) in overtime.

Players Mentioned

Kiante Anderson

Trevon Brown

Deondre Farrier

Hussein Howe

Quay Johnson

Gardner Minshew

Aaron Ramseur

Korrin Wiggins

Jimmy Williams

Footer