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First, the following quotes mysteriously did not make the transcript (HA!) but The Blade ran them this morning, though they were scooped by azz.com.
- Joe Schaefer will undergo an MRI, could be worse depending on what they find but he is definitely a no go this weekend.
- Ream is under an indefinite suspension for disciplinary reasons...Corner has academic troubles and Lawrence is not likely to return to the team. (Note that Nick Lawrence was given a second chance at BG, after the story that follows here.)
QUOTING HEAD COACH Gregg Brandon
Where on the scale is Western Kentucky, are they more like their opponent Florida or are they more like West Virginia Tech?
"What I told the kids last night is they beat Middle Tennessee, who won the Sun Belt and played in the Motor City Bowl last year, so that gives you a little bit of perspective of what they are capable of. They're a pretty fast team that gets some good athletes. Size wise I think we have an advantage there, but speed and quickness I think they match up pretty good, they have some talent. Their quarterback is a pretty nifty guy and they run a lot of offense that we have run through the years with Josh [Harris] and with Anthony [Turner]. Defensively they move a lot, stunt, and pressure, so it's like every week we have to block and tackle. I say that and sound like a broken record but it's true we have to block them and we have to tackle them."
This team absolutely will beat us if we don't show up to play. They are probably as good or better than Temple and perhaps more dangerous due to the running QB, which we have not faced and typically struggle with. This is a trap game, coming right before BC. I don't think I'm paranoid--BG had better be ready to play Saturday.
What's your blocking shaping up to look like after watching Saturday's game film, the pressure that Temple was getting was Tyler mention that sometimes they would rush three and drop eight and then rush seven and drop four were they disguising it that well?
"Temple did a nice job of mixing things up. I thought they had a good plan; we still threw for 350 yards so we are going to get our yards but you have to work for them a little bit Saturday. We had some drops, I think we had five drops, but they did a good job of mixing up their coverage and the rush scheme just to keep Tyler off balance. As we progress through the season he is going to have to be able to handle that. He is still a young quarterback and every week is a new adventure with him."
Well, I think WKU probably saw some things you can do to try and keep Tyler off balance. I didn't think we protected him very well--he seemed to be scrambling a lot. I hope that against a smaller team, we should be in a better position.
Having said that, the more he sees things the better he is. Is he smart enough that he can continue to pick things up?
"What I like about him is his ability. In the touchdown he threw to [Marques] Parks there was a guy right in his face and he just hung in there. They blitzed everybody, went no deep and the guy that was covering [Peter] Winovich rushed right into the A Gap and was right in Tyler's face. He had the poise to just stand there and let Marcus just get a second to beat that guy and threw a strike. That really impressed me. He is poised, he's not going to run out [of the pocket] and when he does he makes some throws and he makes some plays. He has done that consistently; he can scramble, throw and complete balls. I think that is something from a defensive prospective that is hard to cover. DiMichele's ran around making some throws on us. You've got a scrambling quarterback that can complete passes I think that is hard to defend."
A Gap....ah, rich nuggetty football goodness. Excuse me...Tyler has ability, no doubt about it. As a sophomore, he is way ahead of where Josh Harris was, and while not where Omar was, he doesn't have the support either--as in 3 receivers who each got NFL looks. See below....again and again and again.
Tyler was able to hit Freddie a couple of times on the sideline throws - the only way they would stop it was if Freddie dropped it or they interfered with him.
"He's accurate for the most part. The second interception was a poor throw and it wasn't a great call on our part. It was third and one and we're throwing the ball down field but the play was designed to hit the guy in the flat. I think when he saw that it wasn't open but it came open late but he already let the ball go."
As far as Tyler's game action last year, in four appearances there really wasn't anything that would indicate what he has done the first three games of this season. Did you see things in practice that the rest of us didn't see, did you expect this type thing or are you surprised too?
"The only thing that I am surprised with is that he has picked it up this quickly as a true sophomore. Omar [Jacobs] had the benefit of being in the system for a couple of years and it took Josh [Harris] a little longer. Tyler is a great student of the game. I think that we know our system pretty well now as a staff, at least myself, Coach McCall, Coach Campbell and Coach Rothenbuhler, we have been together long enough now that we know our problems so that helps Tyler as well. He has done a great job and is a good student of the game. He is always in the offices as if he was a gym rat watching film all the time. I knew out of high school that he had the arm to what we wanted to do for sure."
Doug Philips is a defensive line coach who went to school at Toledo, coached at some area high schools and then spent some time with Coach Tressel at Ohio State. What do you like about him as he replaces Coach Mike Ward as the defensive line coach?
"Well, he is an excellent football coach, he is a good motivator of kids and a good technician. He understands the game and brings a lot to the table for us especially in terms of recruiting in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. He is just a guy that I wanted to have on my staff for a couple of years and just hadn't worked out, so when it came around this time I was able to hire him."
Peter Winovich is a guy that has just moved all around the field. He made a couple of catches on Saturday and in addition he can block out of the backfield. He seems like a guy that maybe won't show up on the stats but contributes in other ways.
"He's really accepted his role and really embraced it well and I think. He doesn't get a lot of touches and he's kind of a sixth offensive lineman for us in protection and does a great job. The offense is designed that we can use him is screens, in protection, or let him carry the ball every now and he gets a little fired up when we get that going. He's doing a nice job. He's a kid that has been around now and is a good leader. He has made some sacrifices trying to find a home in our schemes, and he has found it now."
Are you guys to some degree a more of a passing offense now than maybe you were even with Omar [Jacobs] and Josh [Harris]?
"Probably not more than with Omar but definitely more than with Josh Harris. The things we did with Josh, for what we did in '02 and '03 with him, he was pretty good. He could rush for 50 or 60-yards a game and then throw for another 300-yards. We haven't had a guy like that since then. Omar would through for 350-yards but he wasn't going to rush for those kinds of yards. I don't think Tyler is that kind of guy either, although Tyler has demonstrated some scrambling ability. I hadn't seen him under duress till this year; we don't manufacture those situations in practice, we blow the whistle and keep everyone safe from injury. Tyler can run the ball and will surprise you that way. Having Omar go 41-4 [touchdowns/interceptions], I don't know when you will see that again."
You mentioned that Temple's DiMichele the illusive (HA! BG hires its own graduates) quarterback who could give a defense you some troubles, what does Western Kentucky have?
"They have the same deal but they are playing with two guys. The kid that played the last half of their last game against Middle Tennessee is a pretty good run around type guy. We're going to have to do a good job of just not letting him out. We did a good job against DiMichele of not letting him out, we just missed him. There were times when he stepped up and made a move. He was good and pretty nifty. [Diyral] Briggs did a good job of running him down a couple of times. He is a good player and made some plays. So their guys are like that."
Does Freddie [Barnes] look more like a receiver now than maybe he did even a month or two ago?
"Yes, I think he is coming on. He still has to get stronger and learn all the little things of playing the position. He's matured every week he gets better out there."
On a scale of one to ten, if Omar [Jacobs] and Josh [Harris] were tens as the finished products where is Tyler now and where can he get to?
"He could be a ten. He's got all the tools. The thing that I've said all a long that I've wanted to in all my quarterbacks, Tyler knows this, is accuracy. I think he is about 64-65 percent right now. We stress being above 66 percent. That is something I challenged with Josh after his junior year, he was about 60 percent and I said you have to be a 65 as a senior he did, he was at 66. Then Omar was like 66 or 68 somewhere in there. That's my expectation so to me if you are going to throw the ball 50 times a game and if you're not completing at least 65 percent of those you're not going to be effective."
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