Football: Rodriguez Presser Quotes
October 31, 2007 08:52 AM | General
October 31, 2007
Rich Rodriguez Weekly News Conference – Oct. 30, 2007
The seventh-year head coach reviews the Rutgers game, while also talking about the upcoming game against Louisville
On whether this year’s game against Louisville can rival last season’s shootout
We hope not. I think last year both teams got off to a hot start offensively. Pat (White) was playing really well. We had a few turnovers that really cost us. This is a whole new year and everything is different. Both teams have the same explosive players so we’ll see what happens.
On Louisville’s defense
Well they lost a lot of guys defensively to the NFL. I think four or five starters are on NFL rosters. I think Louisville’s probably playing their best defense recently, and they’ve figured out what those kids can do well. I think earlier in the year you are always particular in finding out what schemes they can do well. At least watching them on film in the last couple weeks, they are back to having their defense make a lot of plays. Their defense pretty much controlled that last game for them.
On how Louisville will play them defensively
They have the same coordinator so they are doing a lot of the same things. Against us, it’s almost as if they have a different plan against us. We’re not sure how people are going to play us until they play us. What they are going to do this year against us, I don’t know. We just hope we can adjust.
On Louisville having a similar defense to West Virginia at one point
Yes, they were an odd stack. One of my former assistants (Todd Graham) was an assistant for Coach Kragthorpe while he was at Tulsa. Whether they go to it or not we’ll see. Our guys have to be ready for it.
On how much West Virginia’s defense has changed over the years
Quite a bit. It’s changed a lot since last year, let alone when Coach (Todd) Graham was here six years ago. Especially in the secondary, coverage wise. I got tired of all you asking about the coverage defense.
On the improving defense giving up minimal points in the fourth quarter
In the fourth quarter you can predict what people will do. You can gear our defense towards that. Plus we take great pride in being in shape. We can take it to the next step in the fourth quarter. It’s been a combination of defensively making a stop and offensively controlling the ball by running it.
On matching Louisville’s blackout from last year
I’m glad you mentioned that. I would like everybody to wear gold. I would like to have a gold rush where everyone who is a West Virginia fan wears a gold jacket, gold hat, gold scarves, gold shoes, have gold cups. We don’t sell beer so you can’t have gold beer. I think it looks impressive. Thursday night ESPN college football games are pretty popular. At our place it’s a showcase for our program, community and the state and that sense of unity would be impressive for our state and our recruits. Penn State’s whiteout against Ohio State was pretty impressive on Saturday.
On Louisville quarterback Brian Brohm’s efficiency as a drop-back passer
He’s one of the best we’ve played against. He’s one of the best not only in the BIG EAST but in college football history. I think it’s a great story for him to come back, stay healthy, and put up great numbers. He’s going to have a great future at the next level, because he does all the things you want out of a quarterback.
On Brohm’s worthiness of being a Heismen candidate
I don’t know what is and what isn’t a Heismen candidate. Any coach will be biased toward his own guy. Brian Brohm is one of the best in the country, and so is Pat White. Brian Brohm is great, but Pat White’s our guy. If the type of candidate is supposed to be one of the 10 best players in the country, then Brian’s on that list.
On how having Heismen candidates on your team can help recruiting
I don’t how a guy becomes a candidate. I think it helps at the end of the year if you have players known nationally. Normally you have to win. We’ve have Steve and Pat do those Heisman commercials, but I won’t do it anymore if I sense it will change Steve and Pat. I don’t see the fascination of why you have a Heisman. I thought football was a team sport. It’s a topic of main conversation. To me, you take the best players in the country when the season is over. I think Pat White had a pretty good game last game and so did Steve Slaton. Now will we use Pat White and Steve Slaton as recruiting? Sure we will. Whatever your goals are, you can achieve it here at West Virginia, whether it is individually or team goals. If you recruit a guy that cares about the Heisman and nothing else, then that’s the wrong guy.
On Eric Wicks’ playmaking ability
Wicks has a couple interceptions. Against Rutgers he was lined up on the line of scrimmage and dropped back 15-18 yards and dropped the ball that he almost made an interception. Everyone wants to talk about Owen’s (Schmitt) leap. It was one of the most athletic plays in the entire game. Wicks has played well the last couple weeks.
On Steve Slaton’s real weight
He really wasn’t 205, he may have said that and we may have lied. He was probably close to 185 at his first game. He’s probably close to 190 and has kept his weight pretty good. People were complaining he gained too much weight or lost a step, but Steve’s just as fast. He evens feels better now than he did last year, because he’s in great shape and because he has not had as many carries. Steve is just as fast but hasn’t had many opportunities to cut loose because people are keying in on him.
On Slaton’s yards per carry last game being higher than Ray Rice of Rutgers
Ray Rice will get the ball 40 times. Our offense is a little different in that we have to take what they give us.
On an improving offensive line
They’re pretty good. If you look back we’re averaging more yards and more points than we did all of last year. If that’s the case, where’s the problem? In total yardage, we’re averaging more too. We’re averaged more points and yards than at any time last year. And that’s with a couple of new starters on the O-line and a couple returners. Steve hasn’t gotten as many opportunities. I think he’ll be better in two weeks than he is today. I think he’ll even be a better player next year. Hopefully he comes back.
On having a grade system for the players
Individual coaches grade themselves. For example Coach Frey will grade the O-line harder than Coach Gibson will for defensive backs. There are so many fundamental technique things you can grade the O-line on compared to the secondary. Our defensive backs can get a grade over 90%, but you’ll never get an offensive lineman over 90%. As coaches, we try to track our best guys, and that’s why we shuffled the O-line to find our best. I grade them all, but I don’t write them down. I watch all three phases, have our meetings on Sunday, and go position by position. Then we talk about the depth chart that day and that week. I trust these coaches, these guys have a lot of experience, and they know what they’re doing. When we watch the film on offense, defense or special teams we all are in agreement of what we see being good and bad. That’s why it’s good that we have chemistry. You all have a better view a lot of times than what we see on the sidelines. It can be hard to see what things our going on. You just watch the game on film and press the rewind button, and it can still be hard to grade. You have to rewind it 15, 16 times to have a feel for it all.
On WVU feeling comfortable controlling its own destiny in the BIG EAST
I don’t know maybe a little bit. I think our guys have taken that since the last loss. It’s exciting that we control our own destiny, but like I said, destiny doesn’t win championships. We watched Evan Almighty on the plane, first movie I’ve seen in 15 years. It was a good movie and good for the kids. And in the movie they kept saying it was all about destiny. Our players know determination wins championships, and we have a chance to control that play by play.
On players trash talking
I don’t think our guys need to do it or should do it. I know some of them do it on occasions. But if some keep it up, I will say something to them. Players do it all the time. Usually it’s pretty innocent, just kids being kids. It’s not a big, loud demonstrative thing from our players. We wouldn’t allow that.
On whether he was surprised about Georgia’s taunting against Florida
I was surprised because I know Mark Richt pretty well, and it’s completely out of something that he would normally have. Last year in the Cincinnati game, I told our players to chest bump somebody. I saw Marc issue a letter of apology. I wouldn’t want to do that though, because it can give them field position and take away momentum. If you see a bunch of our guys running on the field, you’ll see a bunch of coaches grab them by the back of the neck and bring them back.
We’ve been good on penalties. Our guys know the consequences.
Whether you make a certain gesture, some people don’t believe in it much. If they call a penalty if some of our guys chest bump or high five then that’s wrong, but they don’t do that. But if you throat-slash someone then that’s wrong, that’s showing up the other team. There are certain guys we keep a closer eye on, like my buddy Johnny Dingle. When he makes a play, I want the guys on defense to surround him. In fact one of the Rutgers offensive linemen told Johnny that he must be in great shape because he can talk the whole game. He’ll even high-five the officials.
On having a lot of crowd noise
Up until recently, you could tell the official if the crowd was being too loud. To me we should have the best crowd in the BIG EAST because it’s the largest crowd in the league. We ought to make it an advantage. When it’s third down, it should be so loud where nobody can hear anything. To me that’s the one place where you get home field advantage. It’s not by booing the other team or booing the home team, it’s by making noise when the other team has the ball. And I hope our fans take that to heart. You can’t have artificial noisemakers and cowbells, but that won’t stop them from yelling. I would like our fans to make an impact on the game by screaming and yelling.
