Coach Wannstedt Previews the 2008 Backyard Brawl
11/24/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 2008
Coach Wannstedt Press Conference
Nov. 24, 2008
West Virginia Week
Opening Statement:
"This is a little bit of a different week for us from a standpoint of a time schedule. But I think because it's West Virginia and everything involved in this great rivalry, the fact that it's a Friday game won't have any bearing for either team as far as preparation. I think our kids appreciate what 101 years of this rivalry means. Last year for the West Virginia game, we brought an extra bus so we could bring all our redshirt players to the game. We shipped them down to Morgantown for the game so some of the guys like the Henry Hynoski's and the Myles Caragein's who are now part of our program this year - they've been around the game and the atmosphere and everything this game is all about. The excitement will be there this week. We have to turn the page very fast. We had the kids in here last night. We cleaned up some of the issues from our Cincinnati game. The one thing I'll say about that game is that when you have young players, it's very important for them to understand why you don't win the game. It's easy to stand up here and take the positives out and we did, there were a lot of positive things even though we didn't win the football game. We'll stress the positives and we'll build off those but it's very important for our players to understand what happened in the game and why we didn't win. Whether it's a penalty, a sack or a touchdown pass, whatever it is, we have to make sure it doesn't happen again this week. So we got those things cleaned up and we finished yesterday with our players watching West Virginia tape and talking about their personnel. Now we start the excitement and our preparation today. The one thing I will mention as we give a little scouting report to our players and coaches is the roster. We know most of these kids we're playing against. Most of these kids on West Virginia's roster are the same kids that we're recruiting. The amazing thing to me, just being here for four years now, are the new names on the rosters and how some of the household names that were there for two or three years are no longer there and now it's a whole new set of guys for the most part to be part of this great rivalry."
On containing West Virginia quarterback Pat White:
"Unfortunately he's still on the roster. That's the one name I was looking for that I was hoping was gone. (laughter) One of the best things we did last year defensively against them was that we tackled in the open field. We didn't give them the 40 or 50-yard runs. It's going to have to be the same this year. Pat White I believe is the best spread quarterback in the country without a doubt. Most people talk about what makes him different. He can make you miss and he can outrun you. He's kind of made a little bit of a transition back to the quarterback run game that they were doing earlier in the year. He's going to have the football in his hands come Friday and we're going to have to deal with him. There's no question about that. Cincinnati's quarterback (Tony) Pike ran a couple of quarterback draws coming into our game but he would move in the pocket and make throws down the field which he did against us. In our game he tucked the football and ran more than any game this year. Does Pat White do that more than Pike? Not necessarily. If it's there he's going to take it but we learned this lesson two years ago. We went in with the mentality that we were going to do a couple things defensively. We were not going to let him run the ball and we were going to make him beat us throwing, and he did. He made three of the best throws that we had seen all year long from an accuracy standpoint of any quarterback we faced. He will throw the ball if you give him the chance."
On Pitt's secondary:
"The most important thing is that we cover these guys down field and don't give them any big pass plays. The secondary's job is to cover first, run support second. The problems we've seen in our secondary have been little technique things. We just have not been as precise to detail as what we need to be. We've had a few mental mistakes but we've had those every year. Two of the scores we gave up against Cincinnati, we were out of position. Is that inexperience by a couple guys who haven't played much? That probably has something to do with it. At the same time you could make that same mistake on the defensive line and nobody knows it. You make it back there against good people, it's going to show up and you're going to be exposed. That's what's happened to us this year. We have not been as precise as what we need to be at times."
On West Virginia's passing capabilities:
"I think they've broadened their passing philosophy or their passing package. They were pretty much a screen and, once in a while, play-action team. Now they're a lot more of a five-step-drop team with conventional routes. I'm sure we'll definitely see some different things from their offense. Its new coaches so it's going to be different from last year whether they planned it that way or not. This game is different because you can play great or you can play bad in most other games within a course of a year and within a month or maybe less, people forget about it. In games like this legends are made. Sellout games on national television against your biggest rival - people talk about this for the rest of their lives. I take pride in remembering every game I coached in. I can go back and vividly go through play by play of the last three West Virginia games and tell you what happened. I think our players would be close to that mentality as well."
On the weekly preparation with the game being on Friday:
"We've just moved everything up one day. Today will be a Tuesday for us. We're going to practice today. We're going to keep it pretty clean. The kids came in last night and we got everything out of the way from Cincinnati. We'll turn the page and we'll start meetings today at one o'clock. Today will be a normal Tuesday. We'll go Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. Thursday will be a walk-through day and we'll have a big Thanksgiving dinner at the Hilton for the team."
On what West Virginia Head Coach Bill Stewart has brought to the West Virginia program:
"They're playing with a lot of enthusiasm and energy. As far as drastic changes, they made some changes as the season went on. I think they were doing some things offensively that for whatever reason, he wanted to make some changes and they've done that. Defensively they're still pretty much a 3-5-3 defense. They've mixed in some pressure and shown some different looks. That hasn't changed a whole lot but you do see some subtle changes. I think if Bill wasn't part of the staff before he became the head coach, the changes would probably be drastic. He's a smart coach and he knows what his players can and can't do and he's done a good job."
On mistakes in the Pitt secondary:
"The touchdown we gave up against Louisville was a mental mistake. We should have had someone in the middle of the field. The one last week, we were in a zero blitz and we had someone assigned to him and the player got beat inside. So there was going to be nobody in the middle of the field. You're looking at two different defenses and two different calls."
On taking sacks and penalties at Cincinnati:
"The noise was a factor. That led to false starts. The sacks, I would say, at least half of them - the quarterback has to get rid of the ball. Whether anyone's open or not, we have to find a way to get rid of the ball and not take sacks, particularly after we got that fumble and had the ball on the 35-yard line after the kickoff. We take two sacks out of three plays. That's unacceptable."
On the new playing surface at Heinz Field:
"I have total confidence that we have the best grounds people in the country. The crew down there at the stadium assured Steve Pederson and myself that everything was in great shape and we'll be ready to go."
On where the Pitt-West Virginia rivalry fits in with other rivalries Coach Wannstedt has been involved in:
"Well I can remember every game I played against West Virginia and of course the last three years as well. It would rank up there (for me) with playoff games and Super Bowl games. The big games that you've coached in and had a chance to participate in - this rivalry would fall into those categories. The excitement of this rivalry never really left me. I came back here in the summers before I was coaching here and I'd be someplace with a bunch of buddies and the stories that would come up would always be about West Virginia, Penn State and Notre Dame games. Those are the games that people talk about as ex-players and alums."
On Noel Devine and the West Virginia running game:
"Noel is explosive. He's as quick and as explosive a running back as we will face all year long."
On avoiding sacks and Cincinnati's pressure:
"There's a fine line between taking a sack and getting rid of the ball. A couple times, they brought a blitz and we didn't have anyone to block. When we stand back and start moving and nobody's open, you have to get rid of it. We also had some drops last week, four of five. That hadn't happened before. They brought a lot of good pressure and we knew that. We didn't really make anything happen when we were under pressure from a blocking standpoint, a quarterback standpoint or a receiver standpoint."
On comparing last year's WVU game to this year's:
"Last year our motivation at that point where we were mentally as a football team is different than where we are today. Our confidence was different back then. We're more confident. We're playing at home. We have a lot of things that will ignite us a little bit quicker than a year ago because of the circumstances. I'll talk to them about it. I think with last year's game, the previous two years they beat the crap out of us. It wasn't even a game. Last year's game was the first to fall into the rivalry category since I've been here. Fortunately all of our players were down there to see it."
On what the win over West Virginia last year has meant to the program:
"I think that win was important and positive for two reasons. It was probably a negative for one. The two positives were that it really jump-started us into a great recruiting season. Not that we recruited any new players but we had a half-dozen or so players who were right on the fence and that win gave them the push to say that in their hearts that they wanted to be here at Pitt. The second positive was that it jump-started our players and coaches into the off-season program. It gave us something to start climbing those hills over at Flagstaff (in nearby Schenley Park). From a players standpoint it was getting into the weight room to do the extra work. Probably the only negative thing was that it went on too long. Our players and coaches were still being asked questions about that game in training camp. It propelled us into the national rankings, which we didn't deserve to start the season. I think we've evolved into a pretty good football team but at that point in the season and coming off five wins and being ranked in the top 25 -- that made no sense to me."
On the importance of establishing the run and getting LeSean McCoy the ball:
"The last two weeks have been different. Louisville did a good job finding a way to defend him (LeSean) and we found other ways to score points. Last week if you look at the play-by-play, we were second and fifteen and third and ten throughout the game. Now all of a sudden to hand him the ball and get five or six yards and punt, it doesn't fit. Because of penalties and sacks and a couple plays that didn't work, we found ourselves backed up last week in long yardage situations more than any game all season. That really took LeSean and what he can do, it really took him out of the game. We have to find a way to avoid those situations this week."
