Transcript From Tulane's Weekly Football Press Conference
Sep 20, 2011 | Football
Sept. 20, 2011
Video Of Tuesday's Football Press Conference
NEW ORLEANS -
Bob Toledo
Tulane University Head Coach
Opening statement
"As a staff, we were really on our players hard last week. The Tulsa game, in our opinion, was unacceptable. We didn't play very well, made way too many mistakes and beat ourselves. The good thing about it, it was great to see our players respond to the challenge. We were on them and they responded to it. As a coach, that's a good feeling because they're paying attention. They were definitely very focused during the course of this football game and they played with a lot of intensity. If you saw the game, you know what I'm talking about. The nice thing about it is we didn't beat ourselves. I constantly talk about it, but more games are lost than won. We didn't beat ourselves, and that's the first thing you've got to do. You've got to keep from losing the game. The other thing is we made a lot of plays. That obviously helped us. It was the largest margin of victory in a Conference USA game in 16 years for us. It's been our best start since I've been here, and hopefully we can keep that going."
On where Tulane goes from here
"The important thing now is we have to show maturity. We've got to put UAB behind us and really concentrate and focus on the upcoming opponent - that's Duke. They've had time to enjoy the victory. Now they have to move on. Unfortunately, there's not a lot of time to enjoy it. We got home late on Saturday night and we as coaches have to be back Sunday. It's a tough profession because you just never enjoy the fruits of your labor until the whole season is over and hopefully you've had a good season."
On Tune learning to overcome adversity
"Hopefully, we're learning to overcome adversity. That's one of the things I've tried to talk to our team about. It's a 60-minute game and bad things happen during the course of a game. You have to be mature enough and understand that those things are going to happen. You have to overcome them. That's the thing we've tried to preach to our guys. I get tired of something bad happening or getting behind, and all of a sudden it's the Tulane attitude of, `Here we go again.' I'm tired of hearing that and I've told them that. I don't want to hear that `here we go again' attitude. That's for losers. We need to start winning and we need to start developing a different attitude. Bad things are going to happen. Overcome them. It's how you respond to them that's important."
On how he attempts to change the attitude of the team
"I constantly preach to our guys, `Never give up. Never quit.' If you never give up and never quit, you've always got a chance. As soon as you give up, the game is over. We've all been in a lot of football games over the years or in sports that we've seen things happen that you can call miracles or whatever you want. But if you keep trying and you keep playing hard, you've always got a chance. That's one of the things I've tried to preach."
On if he is satisfied with where his team is now
"Obviously, we still have a lot of work to do. We're not a finished product by any means. We've got to continue to improve daily and we've got to get better. That's what we're going to practice for."
On Tulane's special teams play at UAB
"Our punt and punt return were pretty good last week. Our kickoff return, we fumbled it and then picked it up and ran it. We averaged like 21 yards and that was okay. But our kickoff coverage was very poor and that's something we've addressed. We've got to change a few people and get better at it. Our kicker, Cairo Santos, has a slight groin strain and didn't kick the last few kicks. He's able to kick field goals, so what we're going to do is we're going to try and rest him up during the course of the week and see if he'll be able to kick field goals next week. Ryan Rome will probably assume more responsibility during the week and of course during the game. Our coverage has to be better. We've got to get in our lanes and stay in our lanes. We had a couple of people, a couple of freshmen actually, run out of their lanes and gave up the touchdown early. We've got to improve that. What they've got to understand is when they get good returns, it's either touchdowns or they're giving up field position. That goes on the defense, so we can't be doing that. Field goal wise, we bobbled a snap. It was a good snap and we bobbled it, so we didn't get any points out of it."
On Tulane's offensive performance at UAB
"Offensively, I thought we played very physical. That's one of the things I preached to them during the week - to play physical and give us great effort. And they did. I thought we blocked very well. I thought we ran the ball hard, threw the ball well - Griffin was hot - and we caught the ball well. We only had one drop in this game. Like we did a week ago, they had about five or six drops which took them out of drives this last week. We met all of our offensive goals. We had four explosives. We didn't turn the ball over. We didn't have any sacks. We were good in the red zone. So from that standpoint, I was really pleased. We were very balanced. We had 262 yards rushing and 272 yards passing. We had 28 first downs and 42 minutes of time of possession. I'm not a big time of possession guy. I want to score points. But what it does, it keeps your defense off the field and our defense got off the field on third downs."
On Tulane's defensive effort at UAB
"Defensively, again we played very physical. We played with great effort and intensity. We stayed focused and played hard throughout the game. In the past, we've lost a little focus at times. I thought we did a good of that. We made some big momentum plays. We had three interceptions and two of them were returned for touchdowns - Mackey and Strozier - and those were huge. We only gave up one explosive play this week and we were good in the red zone. And for the first time since I've been here, we met all of our defensive goals, which was pretty impressive. Overall, we lead Conference USA in interceptions with five, sacks with 10, time of possession with 36:22, turnover margin - which is crucial - at plus-one per game."
On this weekend's opponent, the Duke Blue Devils
"As far as Duke is concerned, they're 1-2. They beat Boston College 20-19. It's another road game for us. It's an ACC opponent and a BCS opponent. I think David Cutcliffe has done a nice job. You're all familiar with him having been at Tennessee and Ole Miss. He's got a very young team like us as well. Last week, they were 43-of-55 throwing the football for 384 yards and two touchdowns. They had seven players catch passes. The quarterback, Sean Renfree, is very patient. He knows where to go with the ball and he is very accurate. The wide receivers Donovan Varner had 12 catches. Conner Vernon had 116 yards and two touchdowns. They've got a defense that is going to be very difficult to move the ball on. They pack the paint. They're going to get eight or nine guys up there close to the line of scrimmage. So we've got to be successful running the football, we've got to take our shots when it's time and we've got to make some plays in the passing game. They've got a defensive end, Kenny Anunike, who has four sacks. He's pretty good. And their safety, Matt Daniels, is a heck of a player. He's up for the Ronny Lott Award and he's pretty good."
On Tulane's game captains for the Duke contest
"Our captains this week will be Trent Mackey - we all know that Trent originally went to Duke and transferred back - and Stephen Barnett. Stephen Barnett is playing several positions for us. He plays tailback and he also plays the fullback position and on special teams."
On Tulane playing better on the road
"I think one of the reasons is there's just less distractions. When you're at home, your friends are around, your family - for the most part - is around if they don't go to the game. When you're on the road, you only take 65 or 66 players with you and it's kind of us against the world. There's no distractions in that sense. When we're in the locker room, there aren't guys coming in and out of the locker room. I'd hate to kick them out of the locker room at home, but the guys that aren't going to play are a little bit of a distraction. They like to laugh, have a little fun and talk, and we don't need them talking. That's something we've got to do a better job of at home. We try to put them in a separate area of the locker room, but they're still there. It's just that there's not as many distractions, I think."
On Tulane getting road wins despite being double-digit underdogs
"That's interesting. I really think it's the distraction thing. There's not as many distractions. You become more focused on the road than you do at home. You've got them sequestered so to speak. I think that's important. It's you guys - your team - against all of those other people out there."
On the importance of having a player like Trent Mackey transfer to Tulane
"Well, first of all, I wish we could have got him originally. He was in our football camp and we knew how good of a football player he was. We offered and he committed to us. The night before (signing day) he changed his mind and went to Duke. I'm very pleased that we got him. When he did transfer, I talked to David Cutcliffe and he said, `You're getting a heck of a player. He's got a great nose for the football.' We knew that and we're just really pleased that he came back home and is playing for us. You watch him, he's on punt team. He runs down and is one of the first guys down on punts. He's running all over and making a lot of tackles. He's on the goalline at fullback. He's a heck of a football player and we're very pleased to have him."
On if he felt five years into his tenure at Tulane that he'd still battle the `here we go again' attitude
"I would hope that eventually it goes away. I have this leadership council group - as a matter of fact I've got it today, every Tuesday at 1 p.m. I meet with them - and that was one of the things going in against Tulsa. Here we are, it's halftime and they scored just before half, it's 10-3, and as we're walking down the tunnel and nobody is excited because it's like, `Oh God, here we go." It's a mentality that drives me crazy and it's one that we're trying to change. When we beat El Paso in that overtime game, I thought, `Man, this is going to change now' and it didn't. Hopefully with the leadership we have in our senior class, these guys are tired of losing. I told them last week that I'm tired of losing. If you just keep hitting home with it, eventually it'll turn. Hopefully it is. They've got to learn to play for 60 minutes when bad things happen."
On Tulane correcting the mistakes it made a week ago in the loss to Tulsa
"Let's put it this way, there were a lot less mistakes. We had a couple of receivers run some routes that we're going to have to put in because I've never seen them before. I don't want to name who, but we've got to continue to improve. It just bothers me that when you practice something and you do it well in practice and you don't take it to the game. It bothers me that when you practice your game plan on Thursday. We rehearse the whole game plan and then Friday we come here, we look at the whole thing. I make corrections and I tell a kid, `Hey, you're doing this. What are you supposed to do? You're supposed to do this. You got it?' `Yeah, I got it.' Then they do it again in the game, and it drives me crazy. But they're kids. Sometimes, their interests are different than our interests. They don't make a living at it. This is fun for them. It is a game. It's fun to win. For me, it's a business. And it's hard when they don't do it right."
On if getting an early lead helps alleviate the mistakes
"I think any time you can get off to a good start, it helps. We've been off to good starts in the first three games. We've been ahead in the first three games. We script the initial drive. We try to make it successful. But again, you've got to perform. It doesn't matter what kind of play you draw up if you don't get the ball off or you throw a bad pass or if they drop a ball or give up a touchdown. It doesn't matter what you draw up. It's a people game. The players have to play the game, and our players really played well on Saturday."
On if he has looked at making a change at the holder position
"One of the things I try to do is give them a little bit of responsibility. They can tell me what they think and one of the things that kicker say is `I like this guy holding, I don't like that guy holding.' You want to make them feel comfortable. It's like if you're playing golf and you say, `I want this caddy and not that caddy.' Cairo said I feel comfortable with this. We said, `Hey, maybe we can put Ponder back there.' Ponder fumbled a snap two years ago against Rice. That happens. I like to have a quarterback do it myself, because then I can run a trick play. It's hard. That looked like a trick play the other day for a minus-three yard pass."
On if he thinks Cairo feels an obligation to Rome since he won the kicking battle in preseason
"The thing you have to understand is that they get the opportunity to practice it all the time. When we're doing something else, they're over there snapping and holding. They go out before practice. When we're meeting and doing things, they're out there working on it. They work at it a lot so they feel more comfortable with the guy that they're working with more than a guy who comes in just to hold for your five-minute PAT/field goal period. I think it's a comfort feeling. That's all I can say."
On Duke taking a lot of shots downfield offensively
"I've known David Cutcliffe for years. When I was UCLA, we played them at Tennessee. He is the most patient coach I've ever seen throwing hitches. A lot of coaches will throw one or two and then get off of it. He will throw it until you throw up. He will just throw it and throw it and throw it until you take it away. Look at their stats and that will tell you a little bit. They're thing is we're going to complete passes and move the ball. Their passing game is very similar to the way we want to run the football. They're doing it by throwing the football sometimes. They do have an outstanding running back, but their quarterback is going to throw high-percentage passes and complete them, so you have to take them away."
On what it would take for the team to enjoy long-term success
"I think it gets back to the leadership of your football team. Who are the leaders of your football team? Are they going to talk to their teammates and make them work in practice. I get tired of being the cop, I tell them. I get tired of yelling and screaming. But if I don't do it, who is? I'm their coach. It's my job to make them reach their potential. I constantly tell them, "I'm going to make you do what you don't want to do to be what you want to be.' So what I'm telling them is I'm going to make them bust their butts in practice so that the games are easier. Players don't like that. Everyone will go easy. If I'm easy, they'll go easy. If I'm easier, they're going to be easier in practice. I've got to stay after them and continue to coach them hard. They've got to respond. That's the thing that I appreciated about last week. I was on them hard, not only on the field but in meetings. I got after them big time, they'll tell you that, but they responded to it. That's what it takes. You've got to respond to what we're doing. I've been doing it for years. They've got to listen to what we're saying and they've got to do what we're telling them to do. If they do that, we will have more success."
On getting Ryan Griffin to duplicate the game he had against UAB
"There's a couple of things and it all starts up front. We moved Harris Howard from left guard to left tackle. I think that might have helped a little bit. It made us stronger up front. It all starts up front. If we can run the football, he'll be successful throwing the football. If we can protect, he'll be successful. We didn't do a very good job of that against Tulsa. We didn't run the ball very well. Then we had to throw it and they teed off on us. We've got to be balanced. I'm a big believer that you've got to be able to run the football because the big passing plays you're going to make are off play-action passes. It all starts up front. If we have more success up front and are able to run the ball, he will have more success like he did."
On if moving Harris Howard to left tackle worked as well as he hoped it would
"It did. Harris is our best offensive lineman. He was our captain for that game, and he's improved tremendously. His attitude is great. When he was younger, I was on him too. He can tell you that. But he responded as well. He understands. And I think it did help us. Now, on the third series, we put him back at guard and we put Husain back at left tackle because we don't want to destroy the guy. He's going to be a good football player. He just hasn't performed as well as we need him to perform right now. But he's going to be a good player as well. We feel that we're playing the best five guys starting right now."
On Tulane having problems in the past stringing wins together
"That's what I'm talking about when I say maturity. We now have to put together games back to back. We can't just win, pat ourselves on the back, say `Oh, that was great,' and then go lose the next one. We've got to continue to work hard in practice. We've got to continue to improve. We've got to go up, not just go up and down. If we can get better in practice, improve the things we're deficient at and win another, then it starts giving credibility to what you're doing."
On if getting a guy like Mackey helps get a higher caliber of recruit for the future
"I think what we do is let them say it more than we say it. Trent does a great job as a host in recruiting. Dezman Moses, who transferred from Iowa, does a great job with families and with recruits on their visits. So it's the players that have to convince them more so than me, the coach. They've got to tell them, `Hey, I made a mistake. I should have come here originally.' Particularly a guy from Louisiana. Here's a guy in Trent Mackey who was one of the best players in the state. He leaves the state and now he's back, and he's back for a reason. He feels comfortable. This is his home. That's what we try to portray to recruits. It's helping because we're getting more players from Louisiana and from New Orleans."
