Presser, Steve Austin edition

Here's the news from Coach's weekly presser. As always, it less interesting after a win than a loss.

On the injury report:

He said it was the usual suspects. Angelo Magnone tweaked his ankle.

Someone noted that Joe Schaefer stepped up did a nice job with Magnone was injured and coach said he was, "kind of wired together like the Six Million Dollar man."

Just stop for a minute. Would that be cool or WHAT? I mean, if he really WAS wired up like the Six Million Dollar man, he would be unfrickin believable. Remember the wheels that guy had? Oh, yeah, baby, we can rebuild him.

Just joking of course. Coach calls Schaefer a "warrior" and I salute him.

Derek Brighton is back but only to hold for kicks. They thought it might make Vrvilo feel comfortable again. He was 1-2 on Saturday, but he did hit a really big one, too.

It was also noted that James Schneider, a JUCO transfer, has started to get some reps at LB. Coach said they are working him into the rotation, where he backs up Haneline and Sanderson. Obviously, the more depth we get the better.

They were asked what position AT is now. Coach said "probably a RB." The depth chart in the game notes shows him as #2 TB. ??

Coach acknowledged that he did a great job at Akron.

He was asking about the Miami Whammy and he said he doesn't believe it that stuff, attributing Miami's scintillating run over BG to "playing better when we played them." That stuff is all in the head and it only hurts you if you let it.

In response to a follow up question that is admirable in its smart-assy nature, he said that they don't remind the kids when we have a big winning streak over them, either. Which, I kind of doubt.

He went on to note the Kafkaesque qualities of the series recently. The crazy, rain delayed three safety Miami debacle three years ago, then the Mud Bowl, then the 47-14 pasting they put on us in Oxford last year.

The media wanted to talk about our 0-2 home record. Coach says that you have to win at home and on the road, but that Minnesota is looking like a pretty good team and the EMU thing was a huge disappointment, but he isn't drawing any big trends yet.

He says Miami is a solid program that has struggled lately to score. They had also been struggling to score last year and they beat us 47-14.

They have the conference's leading defense....which "gets your attention." Miami also has sood special teams. Any team in the MAC has enough talent to win. As to why, in fact, they are NOT winning, he said they are struggling to rush and that makes it hard on the QB.

Here is our strategy to win: (I can't believe he is giving this away in public before the game.)

• We gotta score some points.
• Convert on 3rd down
• Finish in red zone.
• (no mention of turnovers. I don't know if he lost religion on "taking care of the ball" when we lost the turnover battle last week and still won the game, but anyway. Probably an oversight.).

He was asked about the pass rush, which appears to be down. He said it had been a problem, but he was happy with the pressure in the second half at the Rubber Bowl, and that there was better coverage too.

Kenny Lewis is doing well on kickoff returns. There is no hesitation. He goes, and he's fast.

Antonio Smith was defensive player of week
Kenny Lewis Special teams player of the week
AT offensive player of the week

Coach feels that Antonio Smith's INT was huge.

There was general talk about our coverage, and while its generally pretty good, the last minute against EMU is not a proud moment.

The two point play was Rub Right Minturn. He's actually not eligible on the play, so its a lateral with a run. Steffy was supposed to block for him, and Coach suspects he didn't out of jealousy for Minturn getting the ball. Now the play is Rub Right Done or Rub Right Over.

And with that, the presser came to an end, and we were all left to picture...