Football: Rodriguez Presser Quotes
November 21, 2007 10:20 AM | General
November 21, 2007
Rich Rodriguez Weekly News Conference – Nov. 20, 2007
The seventh-year head coach reviews the Cincinnati game, while also talking about the upcoming game against Connecticut
On UConn’s control offense
“They have controlled it two ways, one with their offense and two with their defense. They have made big stops and big plays, which lets them get out to a big lead. I don’t know what the stats are but once they get out to a lead, they don’t give it up. They control the game from that standpoint, and they play good, sound, fundamental football. They have beaten some really great teams. Our guys have a lot of respect for UConn.”
Keys to the game
“We always worry about ourselves first and make sure our fundamentals are in order but you still have to worry about their players. They have players that can make plays and their quarterback is their key to their offense. They have some really big-play ability and two great running backs. They certainly have players that we’re concerned about, and we have to make sure that we don’t beat ourselves from an execution standpoint. We have to take care of the football and not giving up big plays.”
On UConn quarterback Tyler Lorenzen
“He’s a big guy, he is 6’5”-240. He will scramble and throw the ball down the field, and he will probably run the ball more often. You can tell he is an athlete. When he takes off and runs, he will be hard to defend, and we know that because that’s what we do with our own guy.”
On UConn’s defense
They have a lot of zone coverage. Their defense is never out of position. You don’t see guys out of position or who don’t know their assignments. They do a lot of great things, and they know their assignments.
On the Holiday week and the team’s focus
“I think it’s easier to keep their focus, because we are playing for a BIG EAST championship. They don’t have school work, but we’ll keep them busy. I won’t work them nine hours a day like the pro teams, but the guys understand how important this game is. They are watching a little more film to make sure that they will know what they are doing for Saturday’s game.”
On the BIG EAST Championship
“We want to be competing in November for a championship, and we’ve been fortunate to be in that position the last few years, and we’re playing for a championship again. Our goal every year is to play for a BIG EAST championship and that is where we are right now.
On Pat White’s fumbles
“Its something we haven’t had in a couple years, a fumbled exchange. I don’t know whether is just slipped through is hands or what but on the other fumble. A lot of times, a fumble is caused by a guy you don’t see. Whether he didn’t see him or if it just slipped past him, it’s hard to tell on the film. Pat is really good and so are a lot of our guys. Sometimes it happens, and you have to be good enough to recover from it.”
On Boogie Allen fielding the onside kick
That was a courageous play. Sometimes you can prepare for an onside kick like that if they had done it in the past, but we had no evidence that they were going to do it. They come up with a scheme we hadn’t seen before. You couldn’t tell how they were going to line up or how they were doing to do it. The guy made a great kick, and he did what he had to do. He is probably a little more sore on Sunday,l but it was a big play. They had the momentum and we had the ball.”
On the hands team
“You want guys who have good hand skills. Sometimes you also want a guy who has courage who won’t back away when the ball is kicked to him, and he’ll get up and get it. It’s a combination of good hands and guys who will get in there and mix it up. We have some linebackers in there as well as white outs, Owen is on there. we have a nice mix.”
On the meaning of the UConn game and the BIG EAST Championship Title
“This year, it has come down to one game for the conference championship, and it’s a little ironic that it has come down to the next to last week of conference play. Usually it’s the last week of the season. This game is a true conference championship battle, and it worked out that way. At the beginning of the season, it didn’t look like it would work out that way.”
On UConn’s turn around from last season to this season
“I give a lot of credit to them. I also give credit to my wife. She said in the summer that you have to watch out for UConn. You have to look at how much bad luck they had last season. Normally you won’t have that much bad luck two years in a row. I know they had the same 11 guys start defensively two years in a row and that is probably for two reasons one, they stayed healthy and two, they are probably pretty good. They were so much better last year than their record showed. This year they have two quarterbacks, and they have turned around pretty quick. They are a sound, well coached football team, and they are playing with a chip on their shoulder. Once a team starts winning, they have a confidence level, and they’ve been winning and have had that confidence all year. You can see, even after they lost, they came back the next week and played at a high level.”
On WVU’s defensive line
“We played pretty well. We got some sacks off of a three man rush. Three of our sacks came from three man rushes. Dingle did a nice job, Dykes made a huge sack on a three man rush and our defensive ends had great technique and determination who put pressure on the quarterback so when you can get pressure on three man rush, you can do a lot of things in your coverages.”
On Marc Magro
“He is a little undersized, but 245 pounds isn’t really small. Magro has played defensive end a little for us, and he played it in high school. He is the guy that is really going to work. Sometimes getting sacks is sometimes the product of a guy just straining and outworking the other guys. Mark is one of our best pass rushers. When he played through his knee pain last year, he really impressed me. He wanted to wait until after season to fix it, and he was banged up and he never slowed down. This year he has been healthier, and I think his production is up and has helped us make a better defense. He has been on of our biggest keys to our defense this year.”
On Owen Schmitt
“Owen is like Magro but just on the other side. He brings a toughness to the offense. He plays three different positions, and he is a great football player. He plays every play like it’s going to be his last play he will ever play. That is a lesson that we want all of our players to take. Owen is great at playing at a high level in every game, and I think that is because of how much he loves playing the game.”
On the seniors
“The finale of the year is coming. Last week is their final regular season home game so that will be quite emotional but I want it to be that way. You want you guys to be emotional, because that means your guys will miss being a Mountaineer. They will always be Mountaineer, but they are going to miss playing. I don’t know if they’ll miss all of the glitz and glamour but I think they’ll miss being around their teammates and being part of a team. I think the guys appreciate being part of the program. I’ve said this many times but Owen, after every game he is appreciative of just the chance to play. We’ll miss him even more than he’ll miss us, and I know that will be a great deal.”
On Zac Cooper
“Zac has a huge vertical jump, and he has a lot of strength and a lot of speed. He isn’t a big guy but over the past several weeks you have seen him on the defense end and you will continue to see him in that role. He brings a certain explosiveness that you want rushing the passer. I’m really pleased with the way he has developed over the course of the season. Coop has been doing this for several weeks so the surprise factor is really gone.”
On Larry Williams
“He has had his best year, which is what you expect out of a senior. He has been playing with a lot of confidence, and he is doing a great job on special teams. He, Antonio Lewis and Vaughn Rivers have really played their best years as seniors and that has been one of the biggest keys to our secondary this year.”
On the possibility of rotating the seniors out to give underclassmen experience for next year
“I don’t do that. I worry about winning this game right now. When I get to next year then I’ll worry about winning those games next year. I want the best guys on the field that will help us win the game.”
On the recent lack of big plays
“I think our opponents are tackling better. They are getting us on the ground, and we’ve noticed that. We haven’t had as many of those big explosive plays. We got two or three big plays against UConn last year, and I think that was the key to that game. For us, we don’t like to think that we have to have big plays but every offensive coach will tell you that if you have more explosive plays then they do, that you are going to win most of the time.”
