Introduction…
I said before the season started I thought we were going to go through some growing pains for this football team, and Saturday we went through some growing pains. From freshmen kicking the ball out of bounds to some young guys dropping balls that we hope to catch, playing balls downfield…it was just one of those days, and give East Carolina credit. They are a good football team. The quarterback is accurate. They’ve got some wide receivers that can go up and get it and have some size to them. I think they’ve improved in their running game. Defensively they are athletic, they get after you. We played a good football team and didn’t play well enough to win and helped them a little bit. They didn’t need any help.
You look at Georgia Tech, it’s the same Georgia Tech. Quarterback is the leading rusher, fast guy. I think he’s got 162 yards throwing the ball, and a lot of those are deep balls. He gets you sucked up there playing the run, all of a sudden they are running by you. They’re physical. They got some new offensive lineman in there, but they are the same offensive lineman. They always get after you. Their linebacker, 54, is exceptional. Ted Roof, the defensive coordinator, has got them playing. They get after you, so, it’s a typical, important Georgia Tech football game. I think whoever won this has went on to win our division except one year.
On ACC opener and goals still being attainable…
We’ve talked about that. We’ve talked about us getting better as a football team. We don’t put blame. We find out what went wrong, figure that out and hopefully play better this week. That’s where we are and certainly our players understand how important the first ACC game is, and since it’s against Georgia Tech I think it’s even more important.
On changing defensive mindset when facing Georgia Tech…
Georgia Tech is different from anyone else we play. It’s tough. It’s not what the coaches know, it’s what you can get your players to react to. Having a lot of new guys on defense, if they’ve played against them a couple times I think it helps. We’ve got some guys there that are new to the deal so we got to coach them up. Coach fast.
On slow starts, especially at noon games…
I told you guys after the game I thought we were ready to play. Some of the things we were doing, as I watched video, I didn’t feel like maybe we were as mentally ready to play as maybe we should be. But we talk about 12 noon games, you’re up early, you got to get ready, things happen quickly. I think now that we’ve experienced it one time, we’ll be better the next time. Hopefully we will. There were some big plays early against us defensively. Offensively we couldn’t get going there until later in the game. I think now that I look back at it, I need to do a better job to make sure we are ready to come out of the blocks.
On DT Corey Marshall’s ankle injury…
He’s better now. He practiced yesterday or whenever we went out, but hopefully he’ll be ready for this game.
On level of concern regarding CB Brandon Facyson…
He’ll be better. I think learning from the other night. You know, he’s a good, good player and a smart guy. He had a big game against Georgia Tech last year. He’ll be back. No doubt.
On level of confidence with Michael Brewer, if he considered playing Mark Leal…
Mark is certainly very capable. Brewer didn’t have the best game, but he’ll learn from it. He did bring us back and get the game tied up, made some exceptional plays. So we’re still exactly where we were last week with our quarterback situation.
On if pregame inspiration speeches need improvement…
I do my inspirational speaking usually Thursday after practice. I think if you wait until Saturday right before the ballgame, you’ve probably waited too late. I think the motivational speeches are more your preparation in Tuesday’s practice, Wednesday’s practice, Thursday’s practice when we take care of issues. I think that’s what important. I think those motivational speeches are probably overrated. They are good for movies, but if we are waiting to get pumped up Saturday, I think that’s probably too late.
On if this week will be a mental test after highs of OSU and lows of ECU…
I think what’s important is you better go out and play the same every week and don’t put a name with it, whether it’s Ohio State, or East Carolina or William & Mary. You better get ready to play the same. And that’s where we try to get to. I don’t think we are there right now. We weren’t there this past weekend. But usually in the past we’ve gotten there and that’s what I’m hoping this football team will do.
On taking strategies from last year about dealing with falling out of Top 25 to get back on track…
I think number one, East Carolina is a good football team, probably better than most people think they are. Number two, this is this year. We played great at Ohio State. We didn’t get the game started out the way it needed to against East Carolina. I think you just look at it, look at yourself, look at me, look at what we can do better and get going. To me, you just look at reality and learn from that.
On confidence with kicking situation and kicker Joey Slye…
I got a lot of confidence with the kid. He’s a tremendous kicker. But, I think our other guys, (Michael) Santamaria, Carson Wise, they’ve been doing very, very well. So we’re going to keep the competition going. You know, Slye, the wind was blowing that way, he probably needed to be aiming further to the left. But again, he’ll learn from that, and next time he’ll give us a kick when we really need one. He’ll get it done.
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