University of Connecticut Athletics
Randy Edsall Press Conference Quotes
11/24/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 24, 2009
Head Coach Randy Edsall
Opening Statement:
"We have a tremendous challenge this Saturday at Rentschler Field against Syracuse. We are going against the ninth-ranked rushing defense in the country. They have only given up 92 yards a game, 333 yards total. Doug Hogue Was the National Player of the Week this past week, a linebacker, a very good football player. The defense is very quick and they run to the ball extremely well. They are very, very physical. Mike Holmes is a safety, who is a fierce hitting, someone who is always around the ball and somebody that we are really going to have to contend with. Offensively, Delone Carter is a guy who is right on the verge of 1,000 rushing and it is a team that has played extremely well throughout the year.
"They have had a lot of close loses during the year and they are coming off a tremendous win last weekend against Rutgers so we have to have a great week of preparation, great focus, great mind sets as we go to play this game on Saturday. They also have one of the better kickers in the country in Rob Long, a guy who can change field position on you so again, we have a tremendous challenge right in front of us."
On the Syracuse Defense:
"They are very quick. Their linebackers are quick and play downhill. They do get a lot of guys involved. Their defensive linemen are quick as well but a lot of it are their linebackers and their quickness and ability to run to the football."
On what the UConn plan of attack will be, run or pass:
"Those are the things that you take a look at. You study a defense to figure out what you think could give you the most success.
"It depends on who we are playing and what they do and on what we think will give us the best opportunity to move the football. Again, every game is a different week and every team is a different team. And that is why we spend the hours that we spend to study and dissect the opponent and come up with things that we think will help us be successful in that particular week. I think that you will always have your staples that you know, you always feel comfortable with but you are always looking for things that can give you an advantage."
On Syracuse's Mike Williams:
"Mike Williams was an outstanding wide receiver. He was a guy that made a lot of big plays. He'll probably be playing on Sundays. I am just glad that he is not playing right now. I am glad he decided to leave the team but they have played pretty well even in his absence."
On focusing on the game ahead and not the past:
"In this business I would hope, as coaches we always try to do the job and stress that last week doesn't matter this week. It's a one-game season. Yea, they saw what Syracuse did to Rutgers and all you have to do is put the film on. The film doesn't lie. That's where you always have to be honest with yourself, put the film on, watch the opponent and you can see that they are a good football team. They are a good football team, they have just had some tough luck this year."
On the difference of the team this week than the past few weeks:
"The smiles. We can smile now but we haven't changed a thing, other than the fact that we got a win last week. In terms of the domineer of the players coming in on Sunday, thought we had a good day on Sunday. This week they are studying, they don't have any classes, so they can study, but I think the only difference is that their smile is more thick this week."
On how the team was after defeating Notre Dame:
"I was yelling at them on Sunday when we went to practice. Once we got through the meeting and we went out to practice, like I said it was back to business as usual. They know the routine around here. You get to enjoy the game basically through Saturday night but once you get down here at 2:45 in the afternoon and we start the team meeting, that's reality setting in. Win, lose or draw. Again, there is work to be done, a new opponent to understand, decipher, and dissect. That is just the way it has to be."
On Syracuse's performances throughout the season:
"Well there is only one team that I am concerned with and that is Syracuse and I don't see really the same thing that you see when I sit there and watch the tape. I see a team that defensively that is very sound and very solid. Their stats prove that. I think on offense they do a lot, they give you a lot that you have to prepare for, and I think that what hurt them early on was that they just turned the ball over. When they haven't turned the ball over on offense, they have made themselves a much more effective football team. I see a team that has gotten better from the beginning of the year, from the first game that they played, to game 11. Doug has done a nice job with that club. Like I said, they are a team that has a lot of ability."
On Syracuse's offense and Greg Paulus:
"They are using two quarterbacks. With Greg (Paulus), it's amazing what he has done, to come off from playing basketball at Duke and then coming out and doing what he is doing. I have a tremendous amount of respect for the young man, for what he has done. You can see that he is a leader, he understands what they are doing. He is a guy that can scramble, he is a guy that can throw, then they bring (Ryan) Nassib in and he ran the option on Saturday against Rutgers. So they kind of have a little bit of a two-headed monster at quarterback. It is something that we are concerned about and we're going to have to do a good job of preparing and understanding, but Greg Paulus has my upmost respect for being able to come out and perform the way he did after having that kind of a layoff."
