Walt Harris on the Backyard Brawl
11/21/2000 12:00:00 AM | Football
Walt Harris on the Backyard Brawl
11/21/2000
PITTSBURGH - Coach Walt Harris Press Conference November 20, 2000 West Virginia
Opening Statement: I'm very thankful that our football team and staff came out victorious against Temple. That was a hard football game. A lot of Pittsburgh teams have lost there at Veterans Stadium. I know I was a participant in one of the losses. It was a real important win for us. I thought there was some pressure on us. I don't know whether our offensive guys felt the weight of the pressure, I know our defensive guys didn't. There was some pressure on us to get the job done. Fortunately, we had one 97-yard drive that got the job done with an outstanding throw and an even greater catch. When you play good defense like we've been playing you always have a chance to win and that is exactly what happened.
On West Virginia head coach Don Nehlen and his last game here in Pittsburgh: The West Virginia game has the title of "The Backyard Brawl." Our first year here we looked at it and honestly said how can it be a brawl when Pittsburgh hasn't won in a long time. Fortunately, we found a way to get a victory in triple overtime. The last two years we have not played well. A lot of that has to do with them. Coach Nehlen, his staff, and his players did a better job than myself in getting our players ready to go. Hopefully, we'll be better. As for Coach Nehlen's last game, hopefully they used all of their emotion last week in his final home game. I know that they will have quite a bit left for us. He is a great football coach. He has made West Virginia who they are, what they are. He is a great guy in a lot of ways. He is fun to be around, very little ego. He has got a lot of personality. As a young head coach I'm going to miss him in the Big East meetings because I thought he was very unselfish. He always thought about what was best for the league. I think he set a good example for all of us. The game will miss him. I know he will have fun playing golf.
On the pressure to win against West Virginia: I don't feel as much pressure, honestly. I think the winning season was something that would really be important for our team. Both teams are in the same situation going for their seventh win. I think there is a sense of relief that we got our sixth win against Temple and not have to get it in this game. I think the nervousness or the weight of having a winning season is now behind us. Now our focus should be and will be to defeat West Virginia. I feel a little bit calmer, last week I was very nervous. That was a big game against Temple. We were coming off three hard losses and I wasn't sure how we would react. To the credit of our players we showed up and played hard. We didn't play as good on all sides of the ball as we need to, but we played well enough to get the job done.
On John Turman's performance in the first half: John wasn't as sharp as he's been in executing what I've asked him to do. I also thought that he wasn't as accurate as he's been. I made a change for a couple of reasons. I thought it would give us a change of pace, maybe a spark, and it would help John to see things from the sideline for a while. There is some advantage to looking from that view. David Priestley came in and did exactly what I've been trying to get him to do all this year, which is don't try to be a big time player, try to be an executor of our system. I thought he played solidly.
On who the starting quarterback will be against West Virginia: I haven't made a decision on the quarterback situation. I am going to wait until I see them at practice today. John has been our starter. David's been our backup. I've felt comfortable with that. I want to make sure that is the best way to go.
On the team getting back to having fun playing football: Well, I think they were having fun. When you lose three games and play two nationally respected teams and come close and not get the job done, I think that took a little air out of us. I give our players a tremendous amount of credit. They got themselves ready to play last week. They had the best practices I think we've had in a while. They knew that if you don't practice good you are going to have difficulty playing good which has happened to us. I thought we made it a little more helpful for them by practicing inside. I think that really helped our concentration. The players need to be focused and feeling good about what we are doing. I thought it would be better practicing indoors with the wind, the cold, and as late as we practice. It turned out the players proved me right.
On the importance of the West Virginia game in comparison to other opponents: We are in the state of Pennsylvania and we were scheduled to play Penn State and we did. If you really ask our players which is the most important game to them I think they would say Penn State. I think from that standpoint West Virginia did a better job and I didn't do as good of a job. My focus with our players is that we can only play with what we have to play with. I wanted to play with some excitement regardless of the score and with some enthusiasm. I don't think we've done that the past two years compared to them. I want our players to get ready for this game. I'm hoping it will be easier next year when we can point to West Virginia the entire season. We will not have Penn State on our schedule. Hopefully, our football team can put Penn State in the past, and get ourselves ready to play a good football game. We need to, otherwise we are going to have the same results.
On the performance of West Virginia's graduated quarterback Marc Bulger the past two years: Marc Bulger was a huge part of both of those games. He was the one delivering the ball. Obviously his receivers got open and the line protected him. Also their defense stoned our offense. That makes it difficult for any defense to have to play a lot with the kind of skill and physical specimens they have, their running back, and also the talent of their quarterback. Marc was a big part of it, but that is their scheme so Brad Lewis has the ability to play every bit as good as Marc. That is part of our worry and part of our challenge.
On the significance of a winning season and a possible bowl invitation: I don't think a winning season is more important than a bowl. I think they go hand in hand. My focus hasn't been about a bowl, my focus has been getting us to a winning season. This week we'd like to win because after listening to (athletic director) Steve Pederson talk yesterday it has a lot to do with whether we get to go to a bowl. We would very much like to go to one. Now we have to take that next step. I think players and football programs can separate themselves from each other by playing in bowl games. I don't like to worry in advance about things. I don't think we are mature enough to be able to think about the seventh game before we won the sixth game. That is why I'm a very step by step type of guy with our players.
On the Pittsburgh offense's recent inconsistency: If I had a better grip on that we would probably win a lot more games around here. I don't have any answer for why the players will not do what they are asked to do when they get in the contact area. One of the turnovers was a flukey thing when one of our players got hit on the punt. One quarterback threw an interception and both quarterbacks fumbled. I do not understand that. Turnovers are not appreciated and are not part of our mind set. It is up to them to change it. I've tried to speak very honestly, concisely, and pointedly on how we need to improve. It is not just that, it is all the little details that it takes to be a good football player play after play. It is still not too late to put it all together and be the kind of offense that I think we can be. If you turn the ball over you guarantee that you are not going to be any good. We had five turnovers in the football game. Anybody that has five turnovers in a football game is not going to score a lot of points. I'm just thankful we were able to score one touchdown.
On the excitement surrounding the West Virginia game: I'm excited about playing this game, that is why coaches work. Some friends of mine have seen the games on television and have said, "Coach you look awful tired." This is where we want to be, this separates our football program from all the other programs. We want to be in the arena where you have a chance to control your destiny, which we do. I don't like to talk about it. I'd rather show you by the way we play. This is a very exciting opportunity. We have to get the job done while we are here.
On the challenge of a short week: It is a lot harder. West Virginia has the same challenge we do. It is just harder on the coaches and harder on the players because of our academic schedule. We are committed to our athletes in the area of academics.
On the last game in Three Rivers Stadium: I think it means something to some of our players. Everybody has a reason to play the best and prepare the best. Some of our football players are from western Pennsylvania and Three Rivers has been a fixture in this area. To play in the stadium I'm sure has been a thrill. We've played pretty well at Three Rivers so far this year. I know it is a big game, we are closing another stadium. Hopefully, our guys will show the necessary respect.
On viewing West Virginia on film: I saw a team that beat somebody (East Carolina) who was 7-3 last week. They match up real well athletically. They have a lot of skill on offense. I've been impressed with the way their safeties hit on defense and the way their linebackers run to the ball. I wish I was around to recruit linebacker Chris Edmonds who I think is an outstanding football player for them. They are doing a good job on run defense. The teams that don't usually do well in the area of pass defense are instances where people are having to throw the ball a lot. When you can run the ball and throw the ball I think you have an opportunity to be good on offense. When you control the run like they have done, it forces a team to throw. Just like us last week; our goal was to stop the run. We had a 1,000-yard rusher (Temple's Tanardo Sharps) and we held him to a net of (35) yards which is outstanding.