Football: Rodriguez Press Conference Quotes
October 17, 2007 10:17 AM | General
October 17, 2007
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| Rich Rodriguez |
Rich Rodriguez Weekly News Conference - Oct. 16, 2007
The seventh-year head coach reviews the off-week, while also talking about the upcoming game against Mississippi State
Mississippi State Coach Sylvester Croom says if you don’t have linebackers and safeties with speed, you are going to lose. He says he has the fastest. Have you seen enough tape to say whether or not that is true?
Defensively, they look a lot like USF as far as their speed goes. The Tennessee coach has said before and after the game the two defensive ends are as fast as anyone they have played all year. We knew that last year, and it is the same this year.
You can see it on the film that they are very athletic, and I think that is where they have made their mark defensively by getting a lot of fast guys. A lot of people talk about the SEC speed, but I think there is speed throughout the country. They have made an emphasis on that. Their form is to get a lot of fast, athletic guys on defense, play tough, hard-nose football, pound the ball offensively and not make any mistakes.
So far, that form has worked for them since they’ve already won four games and they played very well against Tennessee and are coming into this game with a lot of confidence. This will be a challenge and our guys know it. You can talk all you want about records and scenarios but when they watch the film, that is what gets their attention.
On how Mississippi State plays.
Their base is an even front, but they will get into odd fronts like everyone does on occasion. They cover everyone up and will play man-coverage, and they aren’t afraid to play press man-coverage on the two-yard line coming in or coming out. They will challenge the wide receivers. We see some press-man coverage, but we don’t see a lot. We have to be prepared. I wouldn’t be surprised if we saw quite a bit of press man-coverage.
What do you see as the difference between this year’s team to last year’s team (Mississippi State)?
They aren’t making the mistakes to beat themselves. Other than their first game against LSU, where they had turnovers, they haven’t made a whole lot of mistakes to hurt themselves offensively and put their defense in a bad situation.
That’s probably the biggest thing. They are taking care of the football, and they are making the runs. They have gotten to a point where their offense has been able to control some of the games, and they were able to control a lot of the drives. Mississippi State is very physical, and it will be a very physical game.
On Fast Teams vs. Physical Teams
Normally you are a fast team or a slow team. A team that is physical is going to win or stay in the game until the end. Our guys take pride in the fact that they are physical, and Mississippi State is the same way. Stature wise, we are one of the smallest teams in America. We have to play physical or else we’re going to be in trouble.
On Mississippi State having played White and Slaton last year
It probably gives them a little bit of an advantage. You play someone the second time you have adjusted to their speed. Having seen Steve and Pat and our system before, it’s not going to be something new. I think it is always an advantage offensively when you play someone for the first time. The second time, you can adjust to the system. How they played us last year won’t be the same way they play us this year. Offensively, we have to be prepared for a little bit more.
Are you worried about playing between a conference game and bye-week?
We better not be looking ahead. We always want to play our non-conference games first, and then play your other seven. That is ideal but because of other reasons, that usually isn’t going to happen. They are all equally important.
When I played here, we weren’t in a conference. Some leagues will have that schedule. The BIG 12 has that sort of schedule, and that is good and bad. With our schedule, you have to have some flexibility. I don’t like the way our schedule pans out for our fans since we have late home games in November and December when the weather can be bad. We’ve voiced our complaint, and they (the conference) will work with us on that. For the fans, you want to play more home games in September and October.
On how college football has changed since coaching career started at Glenville State
I believe the biggest difference is everything is more public. Whether it’s recruiting, players, schemes, coaches, it’s a lot easier now to trade ideas and film. I think the players are faster and more athletic. I don’t know if they are as mentally tough. But 10 years from now, I don’t know a lot of guys playing for me now who can play. It’s a faster game. Everybody is faster from the big guys to the skill guys. Think about 15 years ago, how many could run faster than a 4.7. Now probably half of them are guys that run 4.7 or faster. Everybody is getting faster, even your kickers. Just ask McAfee.
On parity in college football
It’s been partly due to athletic quarterbacks, skill players going to different parts of the country and coaches copying schemes. I think there are more and more players that programs can find, because of internet and recruiting services. In an hour, you can evaluate 15 kids on film. It’s easier for coaches to find guys. Everybody’s got players.
The only thing we can’t sell is a national championship, because we haven’t won one yet. Even though you may have been ranked higher than other teams, it’s hard to sell without a national championship. I think we can match up our education with anybody in the nation. You can still find kids that will leave their home state, especially with the success we have, or they recognize Pat White, Steve Slaton, or Owen Schmitt, and they see us on television.
On inventing the spread offense
It would have been a heck of a lot easier if I copied it from someone else. There were two or three years of trial and error. It’s like the old odd 3-4 defense. Now people are doing both with the 3-4 defense or the 4-3 defense. I think the spread offense is here to stay. Some people use the spread, and some people use the traditional offenses and try to merge them into a scheme.
On the improvement of the Defense
I think some of the criticism of our defense was a little overstated. We obviously had some problems against the pass. I never did think we were that far off. I think a lot of those guys got a lot of experience, and I think they got a lot of confidence. Our defensive staff has done a good job of giving them a few things to help them coverage-wise and blitz-wise. The number one reason they are playing better now is because of the experience on the back end they didn’t have last year and the confidence they have. Confidence is a big factor especially with college kids. They got confidence and they should, we got guys that can play.
Individuals know when they play well. You can lose confidence after a win, whether you miss five blocks or fumble a ball. When we watch film we’re brutally honest with them. Most of them can tell you after a game if they played well.
On working some of the freshmen
We scrimmaged for about 15-20 minutes. It was pretty spirited. I like these freshmen. We have some very athletic guys in our young class on both sides of the ball. If we can follow that up with a similar type of class this year with specific needs like defensive linemen then we’ll be sitting pretty good.
On having talent at fullback
We’ve been fortunate that we can take care of the fullback position with walk-ons like Owen Schmitt and Mo Fofana before him. With Owen, you’re talking about a guy that NFL people will be looking at. He’s a 250-pound tailback that has ball skills and some toughness. He plays everyday like he’s got to prove himself. And he says it after every game. There are guys out there like that, but Owen is special.
He’s been not only great for us to sell to the walk-on program and the potential fullbacks, but for our guys on the team right now. He’s still very coachable and a guy that will do anything that we ask. He’s a guy that’s very unselfish. We live in a day where some guys care about media attention or how much they carry the ball, but Owen is at the top of the heap, when it comes to unselfishness. I’m sure he’d like to carry the ball but if we tell him to iso-block 30 times a game he’ll do it as well as he can.
On not having a home game in nearly a month
It should be a great crowd, it’s homecoming which is nice. It should be a great atmosphere and our guys are excited to be home.
On maintaining success in college football through recruiting
I think it is easier to be known nationally. We saw that kind of reception nationally after the Sugar Bowl. I don’t know if it easier to sign them. The process is first getting them interested, then having them come in and then signing with you. The level of guys coming to visit has greatly increased. It’s always going to be a battle, but that’s okay. There’s good players everywhere, and it’s just picking the right ones that fit into our system.
On positive feedback from recent recruit visits
We went out to California, Arizona, Kansas and Florida, and the response has been very good. I think being on television a lot and having some recognizable names helps. But West Virginia football is really out there, and I think we are now a national program. I think our last recruiting class signified that a little bit, and I think this recruiting class signified and verified it even more.
On the ways Wes Lyons can further progress
I guess to be more consistent, and he has gotten better. He is a guy that can be a weapon for us. Not because he is 6’7 or 6’8 because this isn’t a dunk contest, but he can go up and the get the ball and is a physical guy. We want that hunger and consistency from Wes not just in games but in practices. He’s been playing his best football recently, and we need that.
His knee is 100 percent. Before camp he had his knee scoped, but now he’s fine. Sometimes you get scoped for exploratory reasons.
On Pat White’s injury and his progression
Pat’s doing better. We didn’t practice at all yesterday. He’s going to throw and there aren’t any issues with him running. We’ll probably limit his throwing a little bit just so it doesn’t get too sore. If he’s not fine and is not 100 percent on Saturday, then we‘ll put Jarrett Brown in there, he’s been good in practice this week. The only guys out are James Ingram with a back problem and Ovid Goulbourne and J.T. Thomas are questionable with hamstrings.
We’re going to try to medically redshirt Archie Sims, because he’s got a chronic hamstring issue. We haven’t made that decision yet. Alric Arnett will redshirt, because he had surgery on his thumb, and he’ll be out until January.
How much college football will change in 10 years
I think with the technology, techniques, lifting, training and nutrition, it will continue to get better. We’re just scratching the surface, you got guys hiring speed coaches. We got speed coaches too, Chris Allen, and he does a good job. He wasn’t hired as a speed coach though; he was hired as an assistant strength and conditioning coach. I can see the point when they will hire two or three speed coaches. It’s such a competitive profession; it’s like you all being the first to get the scoop on the story. You can imagine when our livelihoods are based on success and graduating players at a 100 percent rate and winning all your games, it’s pretty competitive. If it’s legal and if you have the resources then coaches will try to do it. That’s part of reason I think it’s going to be better 10 years from now.
On Scooter Berry exceeding expectations
Scooter has done well. The only problem is he’s had some chronic knee problems. He didn’t mention it until after the Syracuse game. But he’s a tough guy, and he’s played pretty well. Our thinnest position is the defensive line, and we need Scooter to play 50 to 60 plays a game. He’s done a good job.
On having success in the second half of the season
Everybody will tell you about staying healthy but we’ve been pretty healthy. I don’t worry about our guys focus, because that’s our job as coaches. Who cares about everybody else losing, you can only care about what you do. You win one play at a time in practice and in the game. That’s the key to winning championships. Our guys have to keep that focus and work hard. They had a good week last week and did a good job in the weight room.
On Pat White landing awkwardly on his shoulder
I don’t know how that works. He landed on his left side and pinned it in. Either way it’s not broke, no ligament or cartilage damage. It’s basically a sprain or sore shoulder. Antonio Lewis did the same thing in camp and his was more severe. It’s not his throwing shoulder though.
On scheduling an SEC team
We wanted to get a southern team since we recruit down south, obviously getting Mississippi St. and Auburn. We control our non-conference schedule. I think the BIG EAST does a good job scheduling. I think the BIG EAST is a pretty good league itself, beating each other up. I think our non-conference schedule is good for the next five or six years.
It doesn’t have to be a SEC team that we schedule. It can be a southern school probably from a recruiting standpoint. It’s hard because you have to match everything with dates. But home games are so valuable from a monetary standpoint.
On BIG EAST exposure during Thursday night football
Wednesday nights are gone now, but on Thursday nights playing a couple times isn’t bad. If it’s the same time off for both teams then it’s fine. The exposure is invaluable. I’ve never been a believer in Friday night football, because I think it’s for the high schools. But the Thursday night games have helped BIG EAST get exposure. But I said three or four years ago, if we want the league to get better, each institution must get better. I root for West Virginia and that’s it. I won’t be glad when so and so beats them, I’m smarter than that. But I watch Thursday night football, because it’s always exciting football.
