Brandon Presser
Typical, really strong Brandon presser today. Here's the link, and here are some snippets, with my own peanut gallery commentary.
Brandon:
Erique Dozier is a kid who we are going to move to linebacker. He will play at the Sam position. Terrel White is playing at the Will position, and Teddy (Piepkow) and Jamien (Johnson) are splitting time. Neither of them have been 100 percent healthy, so we have been reluctant to have a starter, per se, at that (middle linebacker) position.
This is another shot, probably relatively desperate, to help out at that LB position. We already tried two safeties there, and it obviously didn't work. With Piepkow and Johnson healthy, that should help, but LB remains a weakness.
Brandon:
It was a game where we just got out-hit, in all phases. So, we got after it pretty aggressively on the weekend. Saturday, we did a three-on-three `hamburger' drill where we just blocked and tackled; basically pounded on each other for an hour, to send a message that `hey, that's not Bowling Green football.' When we go into any place, especially on national TV, we need to be the hitters, not the hittees. That was the thing that really showed up, I thought, after watching the Boise film a couple times. We are not anticipating defensively. We're catching too many guys, and not striking. Offensively, we were not sharp, for whatever reason. I mean, we can analyze it until we're blue in the face, but Omar Jacobs has had 14 or 15 starts here, and he's had one bad game. If I can get 14 or 15 more, with one bad start, I'll take it. He'll be the first to tell you that it was by far his worst game. You're dealing with 18- to 22-year-old kids, and they're going to have a bad day. It's hard to win every game in college football; you only see a handful of teams run the table. Where we are right now is about where we were last year. You look at the stats; we went into Oklahoma (last year) and gave up 500 yards and 40 points, and we went to Wisconsin and gave up 56 (points) and 500 yards. We went to Northern (Illinois in 2004), and Garrett Wolfe rushed all over the field against us. We went to Boise, and couldn't stop the run. The one huge difference is that we are 1-0 in the MAC East.
This says a lot. Not much to add, I guess. Problems need to be addressed--its a test to our program.
Brandon:
Q: Have the injuries to P.J. Pope and B.J. Lane been a big part of the problems with establishing the running game?
GB: Absolutely. That's where we're struggling right now; we're missing the one-two punch together. P.J. has not been himself, and we are struggling to run the football. Bobby Thomas has given us a boost, but he's a young guy. But, he is going to be a great player for us before he is through.
Amen. We have to run the ball in our offense...yet, Coach feels good about our line play.
Brandon:
They are doing a nice job. Jon Culp is really playing well at center. He's a fifth-year kid, who has never really had an opportunity to start, and he is stepping up and doing a good job. (Derrick) Markray is a beast in there at right guard. He's doing a heck of a job, and Drew (Nystrom) keeps getting better and better. We're protecting Omar, the problem is not protection.
I'm not sure this isn't a little optimistic, but I could be wrong.
Brandon:
I think Omar is overanalyzing a little bit, instead of taking what they are giving us. I told him after the (Boise State) game that it was the first game where he didn't manage our offense. That's the number-one thing we talk about with our quarterbacks, manage the offense. Omar has put a lot of pressure on himself, and that's natural. He has gotten a lot of pub and a lot of hype, and he's got to deal with the good and the bad. Right now, he's dealing with the bad.
Omar will rally. I don't really doubt that. I don't think, today, that he has the supporting cast he had last year, anywhere--RB, line, or WR.
Brandon:
We wanted to be able to keep the ball like they did, to keep their offense off the field like they did to us. So, we wanted to run the clock a little bit. I think that was mistake number one, because, when we have been successful over the past couple years, we're moving at a fast tempo. That's a double-edged sword, because if you are moving at a fast tempo and you are not having success, your defense is back out on the field. So, my whole thing was, `let's use the clock; let's settle in there.' Everybody that we talked to said that, when you go to Boise, you have got to survive the first quarter. If you can survive the first quarter, you'll be all right. Well, we did survive the first quarter, but we didn't survive the rest of the game. We used that information, and it backfired, and it was my mistake. We should have gone in there and used what we call `fastball,' our up-tempo offense, and tried to tire them out. They did get tired when we went to some fastball later in the game, to try to get back in it. But, none of that matters if we aren't sharp. We were dropping passes, we weren't throwing to the right guy, and we were struggling to run the football when we lost P.J.
This is a very interesting quote. So, our strategy was to cling on in the first and control the ball, and then win from there. Our normal strategy, as he mentioned, is to just run right over them. He's right--we didn't execute. Having said that, we need to stick with what works, which he admits, to his credit. I'm not sure we haven't sold ourselves short in other big road games, too.
Here's too unleashing fastball with fury Saturday. Oh, there was lots in the presser about how Temple doesn't suck as bad as everyone says they do. Which they may not. BG needs a solid win to wash away some doubts and fears about 1995, and give us some confidence with OU coming to town.
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