Meet the Press: Coach Wannstedt's Weekly Media Conference Transcript

Oct. 17, 2005

Dave Wannstedt

Syracuse Week Press Briefing

Oct. 17, 2005

Opening Remarks:

Just briefly, from the injury front, nothing major to report. The only one really that will be day-to-day is Charles Sallet, and it is nothing major. Again, we'll see how he responds Wednesday or Thursday, as the week goes on. But other than that, we should be in pretty good shape. Just hearing the end of Greg Robinson from Syracuse talk (on the Big East Conference call), the one thing that probably is the biggest difference in our season this year compared to last year and with the difference in the game Saturday, was the turnover thing. We created three turnovers. And then on the other side of the coin, offensively we were able to turn those three turnovers into touchdowns. That was really the difference in the game. We played a lot of people. I thought the guys really did not come unglued and the effort was good, and they found a way to win the game. That one's over with obviously, and this is a big game for us this week. It's another conference game at home with no room literally to spare. Every game, every day is real critical to us.

On LaRod Stephens-Howling's running style:

I would say probably that Rashad Jennings, Ray Kirkley, Tim Murphy - they're probably all somewhat similar. I mean, they all have their own style, don't get me wrong, but they're similar from a size standpoint and a speed standpoint. LaRod brings a little different dimension to our offense, and we've got to continue to play him, which we will. The best thing about what happened Saturday with LaRod was that he came out of the game, and he felt good the next day. When you're dealing with guys that are not big, physical guys, and they get banged up a little bit, I mean that's been the problem with Marcus Furman his whole career. Now, to give LaRod some credit, he's come out of an offense up there in Johnstown where they did pound the football. And he played both ways. He's a tough guy, but you can only do so much with the size standpoint. But the one thing he does do, he has a knack [for finishing plays]. He really has a God-given ability to not get hit or flushed up very often. He can get down underneath it and pick up an extra yard or two, but he also does a nice job of protecting himself. I think that's a natural, instinctive thing that he has. So we'll continue to play him and get him in the mix along with Ray Kirkley and Rashad. I think that we need them all. Early in the year, LaRod was kind of a screen guy, an outside run guy. Ever since the Nebraska game, we have totally changed our thinking on that. So when he's in the game, you have to defend everything. There's not set plays for LaRod - different maybe than Ray Kirkley or Rashad Jennings.

On teaching running backs to protect themselves:

The ones that I've been around do that. You could never get a good shot on Barry Sanders, you could never get a good shot on Emmitt Smith, you could never get a good shot on Tony [Dorsett] when he was here. They can protect themselves. I think they have to. I think when you're [LaRod's] size, you're not going to be playing the game long [if you don't protect yourself]. I don't know if it's an instinctive thing or survival.

On personnel changes in the starting lineup:

[LaRod will] play quite a bit. I don't see any major roster changes at this point. I think that we're playing a lot of people. We did get every [active] freshman in the game. I remember we didn't get [Bill] Stull much work or [John] Bachman as much as we wanted to, but they all did play. So we got all ten of the [active scholarship] true freshmen in.

On the offensive tackles:

In defense of the tackles, which I haven't done maybe all year, there was the one sack where the guy came around the edge. Really, for the most part, our offensive line did a good job of protecting the passer. There was time to throw the ball - more maybe than what we've seen in weeks past. On the one when Tyler [Palko] got sacked, the guy came all the way around the edge and got to him. But there was enough time right there, and Tyler was waiting on the big play down the field, and that was what got him. It wasn't that we didn't block well enough. Now, the other sack, when they ran a twist on the left side, we've got to block that. We didn't get it done. But I think we're making a little bit of progress. We're making a lot of progress on the other side of the ball. The other team [South Florida], and I hate to say this because it's a week-to-week thing, they had given up five sacks coming into our game, and for our guys to come up with five themselves, that was big. And he [Pat Julmiste] still rushed for 75 or 80 yards, their quarterback. He's a heck of an athlete, and that's playing Penn State, Louisville and Miami - three pretty good teams that can rush the passer. We're making some progress there, and I think we are on the offensive line, too.

On Syracuse:

When you look at their roster, they are a veteran team. They've got many juniors and seniors playing for them. They've probably got as good a safety, number 20 [Anthony Smith], as anybody that we've seen all year long. This guy is a playmaker, a big-time player. They've got two of the better defensive ends in the Big East. Offensively, the tailback has the ability to take it the distance every time he touches the ball. This is an important game. I talked about our team being up and down - that whole roller-coaster ride. [Syracuse has] a lot of pride. We know those guys that are up there on that football team, they won games in the past. They're well-coached, and we are going to get their finest effort. Now, what will they do? I would expect them to come in and pull the reins in a little bit. By that I mean, maybe not open it up as much on offense, attempt to run the ball, and I think our offensive coaches are preparing for an all-out blitz-a-thon. If I was a betting man, I'd think that they will come in here and bring heat to every play.

On the defense's elevating confidence:
We're playing that way. When we looked at the halftime stats last week I was, not shocked, but I was pleasantly [surprised]. They made the two first-downs in that two-minute drive when we were just kind of hanging back. Up to that point, they had made just one first down, and we gave up a touchdown on a defensive play where they made a good decision and the quarterback made a heck of a throw, but if we make the tackle with a 10-yard gain, a 15-yard gain, there's no way [they would have got the touchdown]. But that was really the only play that was a big, big play in the game. That's been our emphasis - to eliminate those big plays and make people go the long, hard way. And when you do that, I think psychologically your players aren't going to one extreme or the other. We've been talking to them about it. That's been a big a part as anything. As you develop physically as a football team, I think you have to develop a mentality that you want. You've got to talk about finishing games. We put that ball on the ground at the end. That's crazy. Now they've got a chance to score, and I'm having flashbacks of Brett Favre with 30 seconds, scoring two touchdowns. That happens. I've been there. I think it's that whole maturity thing mentally as well as physically that's really the key. You can look at the top teams really around the country, and they all talk about that - the mental maturity of their team and the physical toughness. I think being down by ten and coming back, that was a real positive sign.

On the increasing morale of the team:

I think they're a little more confident. It's so tough from a coach's prospective and for media to know what's in guys' hearts because the mind will trick you. The heart never lies. The heart is always going to be truthful of where you're at and what you're about, but your mind will go up and down. I believe our guys should be more confident, but by the same token, we know we have so much work to do. And we're going to press this week. This is an important week of practice for us. We've got to go out and get better this week in practice. That's important I think.

On playing a complete game against South Florida:

I think that everybody had a part in the victory. That's always good, too, when you walk off the field and it's not one-sided. We scored points. We came up with turnovers on defense. We scored touchdowns as I mentioned earlier, kicked a field goal. The special teams slipped a little bit with the punt, but we've got to get back to that again this week. That's football. Every week, you make a real headway and something slips. The challenge for a coach is to go out there and be hitting on all three cylinders - offense, defense and special teams. That was probably the closest we were to doing it as we have all year against a good football team.

On how to cause turnovers:

Confidence and anticipation of what's going on. Being physical. I remember when I was at USC, and I used to go to a clinic and they'd say what a great tackling team we were. We didn't work on tackling any more than team `X' who was in last place in our conference back then. We had great athletes that worked on tackling, and we were aggressive. I think a lot of it is the same with turnovers. You pressure the passer, and the team's quarterback is watching the tape, and he knows that you're going to get a real pass rush, and he's going to have to get rid of the ball under pressure. That's how you come up with turnovers with the quarterback. That's how you come up with interceptions. No pressure, and it's tough.

The first fumble that we had, the kid had the ball. He cut back. Clint Session had come in there and hit that kid as hard as anybody's been hit all year, and the ball came out. A lot of it has to do with the aggressiveness of players, but also being confident in what they're doing, too. They're going in there with the confidence of making the play.

On Phil Tillman:

Phil's having a good year. He really is. Him and Thomas Smith, and Rashaad [Duncan]. We played Nick Williams. We rotated those four guys last week, but Phil's making progress. He really is. It's a shame, and there's nothing anybody can do about it, but you'd like to have Phil around for a couple years to kind of get him into the group and get some consistency with him. But he's worked extremely hard, going back to the off-season when he lost all the weight and came in. He's really given everything he's got. I'm pleased with Phil.

On playing Joe DelSardo back on the punt returns:

Actually, we just wanted to give [Darrelle] Revis a rest, so we put Joe back there. We use both of those guys as we have to. Half of the games, we had both guys deep. Actually, when the team's punting it to midfield, we'll put Joe back there. Joe makes the best decisions. He's the most experienced of knowing when to catch it and when not to catch it. I have total confidence in both of those guys, but in critical situations, you're confident that Joe can get the job done.

On personnel for kickoff returns:

I'm not planning on [having LaRod Stephens-Howling return kickoffs]. Not right now. I think that the only thing that makes you nervous, you got Marcel Pestano who hasn't played, and Terrell Allen's done a little bit. It's just the inexperience thing, and that's why they're back there. They're going to play. What happened Saturday was not good. One time, on the first kick off, there was a little bit of miscommunication. Terrell Allen was supposed to make the decision. Then the next kickoff, Terrell catches the ball, and Marcel tells him to stay in the end zone, and he gets mad because he wanted to run it out. And then the next kick, Terrell was a little bit short and he thought he probably could catch it on the bounce so he let it hit the ground. That's just inexperience. Now, to put LaRod in there, he's a freshman, too. I don't think that's the answer. He's going to get enough work playing offense.

On getting Marcel Pestano in the game more:

We're trying to get him in the game a little bit, get him involved. We need to really play him some more at the receiver position. We need to get him in the mix a little bit more. You've got Darrell Strong, and you've got [Steve] Buches. We've got some guys that can catch the ball, and that's what we're juggling right now. Greg Lee's playing good.

On Tyler Palko feeling more comfortable:

Think of the game that Tyler Palko had - 15 of 21 for three touchdowns and no interceptions. That's a quarterback in my mind. That's what Ben [Roethlisberger] did for probably thirteen games last year. There was 200 yards in passing. That would be an ideal game, in my mind, for a quarterback. Usually if you have those numbers, and that's the numbers you're throwing the ball and you're not throwing interceptions, you're doing a heck of a job at managing the team and doing what it takes to win.

On recruiting Mark May and the 1980 football team:

Tony Wise actually was the coach that recruited Mark May, but I was on the staff then. It was a great class. I can remember the recruiting stories. Greg Meisner - probably one of the all-time defensive lineman that played here. He came to Pitt because he wanted to be a doctor or a dentist, if I can remember back, and that was one of the big things to him. Larry Holton went down to Pahokee (Florida) to recruit Rickey Jackson, and I think Rickey might have had one or two scholarships. And Rickey was with me. I had been coaching Rickey the first year. I was coaching the tight ends. I had him and Benjie Pryor and Steve Gaustad. It was a great class, and it will be good to see Mark May here.