Video:
Transcript:
(Opening statement)
“Ready to get back to work, going on the road. Syracuse is a tough place to play – always has been. We’ve got to have a good week of prac?ce and I think it’s important for our team to find ways to con?nue to improve, get beCer at the things that have hurt us throughout the year and really take pride in those details.”
(On the play calling duEes moving forward)
“We’re going to proceed accordingly. I think that it’s important that everybody does their part. So, I think I’ve got to make sure that offensively, defensively and special teams, we’re doing everything we can to win and get beCer. Then, our offensive staff has to con?nue to do what they do, and run the offense, execute the offense. And then we got to con?nue to get beCer on defense. I just think it’s important that at this point I have a full of improving our team as a whole and making sure we get that done.”
(On the process of changing play calling duEes)
“Well, the process was easy because I’ve probably robbed him of that opportunity for many years. So, I’ve called it probably for at least 14 straight years now. But Brian’s [Brohm] been ready for a long ?me. He’s been with me, he knows the offense, he knows football, he’s extremely smart. He was very sharp on Friday night along with the offensive staff. So, I feel, of anything that we’re doing, that’s as smooth as it could possibly be. Of course, I’m s?ll a big part of it, and I’m going to make sure that we try go in the direc?on I want to go to. But at the same ?me, there has to be somebody that calls the plays game day, but we put that plan in effect throughout the week and what we like, what we prac?ce and what looks good, and that is talked about extensively. That’s on both sides of the ball, and then just game day there has to be someone that actually dials that thing up and has a feel of when to do it and when to pull back the reins and when to crank it up. It takes some knowledge and some savvy to do that on gameday.”
(Most improved part of defense from Friday)
“I don’t think we got off to a good start. I felt like we got into some key third and shorts, and they converted every one. Then we got them to a fourth down on the second drive, they converted that. Then we gave up a wide open pass, that was a bust by our defense. And then from there, we had the big run – [97-yards] for the touchdown that got us some juice. AUer, we had a tremendous play on the fourth down stop. And then from there, I thought we were a liCle more aggressive in our aCack on defense. And I thought the defense fed off of it. I thought we were beCer on first down of not giving up posi?ve yardage and crea?ng some nega?ve yardage to get them in longer situa?ons. Then, we were beCer on third down when we got to that point. So, what that combina?on is being aggressive and how to do it has to be thoroughly studied and put together every week for us. But I do think there was slightly more aggression in our play calling and that allowed our defense to make some plays behind the line of scrimmage, to give us some juice and momentum. A lot of ?mes, this game is about momentum. And we were able to get that back on our side. And at the end, when you get a lead, that’s when you can really tee off and rush the passer. And that’s when we were able to get some sacks and we have not had many leads this year. It’s hard to do that when you do not.”
(On geJng players back from injury on defense)
“Anybody that we can get back healthy will help us. Koen (Entringer) has a ton of experience and is a really good football player. Not having him for a week or two or however long it was, it hurts your depth for sure, and we need him in there making plays. It was good to get AJ Green back as well, he’s got length. He can do some good things for us to get him in the mix. We’re trying to get beCer on the interior of the defense and look at some different things there. Whether it’s personnel or what we’re doing to help, not to con?nually allow five plus runs right at the middle. So, whether it’s by personnel or by design and scheme, how can we be beCer there, that is an emphasis. So yes, every liCle detail maCers when you win and I just think we have to piece this together every week to be effec?ve, efficient and aggressive and try to make more plays.”
(On Kaleb Beasley)
“He’s done a great job for us. Kaleb is smart, he’s played football, he has a great a`tude. He’s been a huge bonus for us. We need him to play, and play well, and be one of our best playmakers. For the most part, he’s stepped up and made plays when we needed him to. He’s a really good player and is definitely somebody that we have to have back there as
much as we can. Now, we did try to play a few more guys to spell a few. I thought spelling our linebackers a liCle bit helped us. It’s hard to play the en?re game, so we’ve got to con?nue to find ways to get the next guy up, at least some reps, and give them experience and give some of those main starters a break every now and then.
(On the reducEon of penalEes in recent games)
“We emphasize it, we have tried to emphasize it and repeatedly show the nega?ve effect it’s had, and teach and school them up. Whether it’s showing the replay or bringing in officials, which we did a couple of weeks ago. You just have to have that total focus and concentra?on, as we go through the game. It has to happen whether you’re up or you’re down. Actually, we had a couple of plays in the fourth quarter that we were up, and we were on the edge of ge`ng two more personal fouls on defense that we had to address, that we were fortunate not to get them called. At the last minute, a liCle extra effort, but when guys are near the sideline, we have to be able to pull off – they’re going to call those things all the ?me. We just have to con?nue to coach that and preach that. We had a facemask penalty that I didn’t think was a facemask, but we can’t have that as well. So just constant repe??ve talk and showing examples, and they’ve got to know that it will get us beat. You see it every week. You see it with every team. People who watched the Georgia-Alabama game, there was an incident there. Every liCle play like that maCers, and you can’t have them, so we’ve just got to con?nue to preach it every day.”
(On the mindset going into Syracuse)
“From our vantage point, anybody can win in the ACC any week. It shows up every week. So that’s how we approach every game. Going to Syracuse has always been difficult to play. When I was at Purdue, we lost up there as well. It’s loud. They get into the game. It’s all about momentum. Games are about momentum. When you only have 10-12 possessions, you’ve got to take advantage of it; you’ve got to take advantage of the momentum. Syracuse will play football. They can coach; they’ve got good players. Our guys need to understand that, which I think they will. We’ve got to prac?ce well. I’m always concerned every week that if we don’t play well, we’re not going to win, and that’ll be the case this week. I would like to see us play clean, efficient football on both sides, and aggressive football, and make plays, and get beCer. So, that’s the key is ge`ng beCer every week. We didn’t get off to a great start in the first quarter of this past game, but we hung in there and played hard and we played tough, so I give our guys credit. It helped us get things going the last three quarters, but every game is new and different, and on the road is always a challenge.”
On Isaac Brown’s record-seJng play and improvement
“Well, it was great execu?on. It was a play we needed. We’ve run the play a lot. I think trying to create space for Isaac (Brown) is important. That’s whether you’re spreading the field or – as in some cases – adding the fullback/H-back to give him an extra block and that’s what we did. Those guys blocked it perfect. We blocked it good on the perimeter. We created some space, and you couldn’t catch him. He has that dynamic playmaking ability. We’ve got to con?nue to feed him the ball as many ?mes as we can, within reason, and con?nue to play other running backs. But when he makes big plays for us, we’ll have a chance to win, and he definitely did. So, con?nuing to work hard, compete in prac?ce, and take every day seriously will be the goal for him and all of our guys. I think he understands we need him every week to play at that level to win.”
Adam Mueller:
Tayon Holloway: