Falcon Game Week Presser
We're back to the weekly press conference. Smart aleck remarks are contained here in orange.
On the health of the team
"Terrel White is still questionable. We need him. We missed him at Akron. It's really starting to show up a little bit now not having Brad Williams or Nick Davis in there for a stretch and then Terrel White not being in there. I mean that's the heart of your defense. I think that got us at Akron. Brad played, but he wasn't at full speed. So now you're playing freshmen, which is the story of the season. I mean Mike Ream, Brady Minturn, Jacob Hardwick...good young players, but going against fourth and fifth year players like Akron's line was, they don't know as many tricks of the trade to hold up in there."
Yeah, we're hurting without White. Even at 1-9, Miami is a threat to beat us, but with us less than 100% healthy, it makes it harder. We just don't have spare talent.
On Freddie Barnes's health
"Freddie hasn't practiced. We miss Freddie, but the offense played well on Saturday in his absence and I think it just goes to show you when Anthony Turner is on his game we have a chance. You know Anthony completed 20 passes in that game and he ran the ball well. He rushed for 100 yards.
See comment about not having spare talent. AT needs to continue to develop the ability to take games over.On Miami's return game with Ryne Robinson
"He's a legitimate threat and we've been down this road before. Our staff has been in discussions about it. You know we went into Ohio State and we weren't going to let Ted Ginn touch the ball and we didn't execute and I think that's the reason now that we're going through these discussions again. I don't just want to kick the ball out of bounds because we aren't consistent enough yet to be able to do that. Alonso [Rojas] is not consistent enough to do that right now. He will be someday, but today he's not. So we might have to cover a few punts, which we can do."
Ryne Robinson makes me hold my breath everytime he takes a kick. I understand if you go to kick out of bounds you are going to get some shanks, but the over-under on PReturns for TD by Robinson is 1.
Is Devon Parks the guy who is the most held by the opposing offenses in the league and is that just the by-product of him being too quick for guys who are bigger than he is?
"I don't know about all of that, but it does seem when we watch film on Sunday that he is getting the clamps put on him pretty good. I think he has great quickness and he plays with such good pad level. To be 250, 255 in there he is probably a tad bit undersized so he has to play low with good pad level and have great quickness. He's great student of the game too and I think that really helps him. He studies the opponent and pays really good attention to all the details."
Parks has been a great player for us. I don't know how often he is held, but he is a great player.
On the 10 seniors and the mixture of guys in the group from scholarship guys to walk-ons
"Everyone of them has brought great things to this program. I mean you talk about the walk-on kids, Tommy Smith is a kid who has been a program guy all the way through. He hasn't played much at all and has helped our offense prepare through the years. Terrel White has blossomed into one of our better defensive football players walking on. He's a walk-on running back, who has turned into a great linebacker. Jon Jakubowski is another walk-on kid that earned a scholarship and has been a great team leader for us. He's a great locker room, quality guy and a great person. He's been a special teams guy for us through the years and done a nice job in that area. We know everyone of those kids has some qualities that you'll miss."
Of course, it is senior day at the Doyt. I wonder about the 10 guys who are actually still here, and how that compares to some of our smallest senior days. The infamous last UM senior day in the frigid weather against EMU might be one where we had a low one because everyone had quit the team when Meyer got here. Still, you got 10 people in the group, and at least two of them arrived as walk-ons. Not going to happen to my programs.
On the wide spectrum of the seniors from guys who have played right away to guys who have had to earn time.
"It's pretty much a mixed bag, I mean you got guys who have been injured a lot through their careers, like John Lanning and Kenny Brantley. They've stepped up in their fifth year to lead and play good football for us and then you have a few guys who have played a lot like Devon and Derrick Markray, who is in his second year as a starter. But really 10 seniors is not enough. I mean with the good teams that we've had here we had no less than 17 or 18 seniors. Those seniors bring experience not only as players, but leadership as well. They've been around the block a little bit and we just don't enough of that right now."
See above (emphasis added).You haven't really been in this position with losing a couple games in a row, how is everyone handling it?
"Well I'm no different a coach than if we win or if we lose. Our plan has been proven and it's time tested and when you lose you start questioning what it is you're doing. That's one thing I've been stressing with our players and our coaches. We're not changing or we're not going to throw stuff out just because we lost a couple games. That's just the way it is right now. You know until it becomes important enough to us again I think that's when we'll win again. That is what so many of the younger players were counting on and need to understand that losing isn't acceptable. So we got to just keep pounding it into their heads what it takes to win and that's what we're doing."
Tomorrow could be an important day for the program. They are really beating the buses on attendance, and if we had a nice crowd for EPSN2, and picked up a home victory to leave that nice crowd with a nice feeling, that would just be a great outcome, in my opinion. It could be a building block. And, the game is winnable.
When you looked at the schedule in the off-season and saw all the road games did you know it was going to be a tough road?
"Yeah the whole deal with the schedule and the eight road games with 26 freshmen I think has made it tough to overcome some things to be able to win more games. But we're still 3-3 in the league and we could win these two games and you knows what could happen. But right now, we just got to figure out how to beat Miami and that's a big challenge. I know they're 1-9, but they've been competitive and that's a storied program too, they have great tradition down there just like we have. In fact, they've won more games in the rivalry than we have and that is something I'm talking to young guys about because the team that went down there last year and beat them at Miami has only 15 to 20 guys on this year's squad who made the trip. And a lot of those guys didn't play. So again it's a process with this team in teaching them how we do things at Bowling Green. How we win games and how we've been successful and they'll get it and I hope it's Wednesday night.
The phrase "eight road games" continues to delight me. As one who complained about giving up a Doytgame for a "home game" in Cleveland, and who said that it would amount to a road game, I am amused that I have heard the Coach use this phrase a few dozen times. Now that Krebs is gone I suppose he can say it without fear of pissing his boss off.The Miami win last year had to one of the highlights of the year for you didn't it?
"Oh yeah, no question because we hadn't won down there in like 10 years I think. Then with there being a two and a half hour delay, we were ready there was no doubt about it,"
So with Miami and their offense do they try to use Robinson a lot in their passing game?
"Yeah. I mean they've been inconsistent moving the football. They do have some big play potential with Ryne [Robinson} and the other guy out there,88, and I think the quarterback has a nice arm. He can throw it and I think both their backs are quick and they run hard with Murphy and Bratton. They have just been a lot like us, inconsistent and unable to sustain some things, but they can quick strike. I mean they beat Western a couple times last week and it kept them in the game."
Could the game come down to whoever has more energy in the fourth quarter?
"Probably. I mean it's going to be that kind of game and I think it'll really be which team shows up with greater intensity and with two teams like this it'll probably come down to a turnover or two."
One final point. Miami is licking its chops as much as we are. They are 1-9, and see this as a winnable game, so they will be ready to go. I think we can win, but our history is that it will be close. Our other wins against 1 win teams (Buffalo, EMU) and winless teams (FIU and Temple) suggest that we won't run away from this team. Even a 2-TD victory would signal progress on that front, but an exciting win in front of a big crowd would be all good.Update: There were fifteen seniors that frigid night in UM's last game @ The Doyt.
SENIOR NIGHT
The game against Eastern Michigan will mark the final home game for 15 seniors who will
play on the Doyt Perry Stadium turf for the last time. Those who are playing their final home
game include LB Marcus Allen, RB Joe Alls, P Pat Fleming, DL Alex Glantzis, LS Joe
Gutierrez, LB Chris Haneline, RB Martez Johnson, OL Greg Kupke, RB Godfrey
Lewis, OL Jon Mazur, DT D.J. Owchar, WR Robert Redd, QB Andy Sahm, DB Jerry
Wagner, and OL Dennis Wendel.
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