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Quotes from Kyle Whittingham's Weekly Press Conference
11/19/2013 12:00 AM | Football
Nov. 19, 2013
Opening statement:
First of all, the Oregon game, there were some positives to come out of it. Anytime you win or lose there are things you learn. I thought our offensive line played better. I was proud of the way Adam Schulz came in in a very difficult situation - his first collegiate start against a top 10 team on the road in a hostile environment; I thought he handled it well. He missed some throws, didn't play perfectly, and he understands that, but did a pretty good job. We went in at halftime down 17-7, came out and scored on the first drive, and were feeling pretty good about things and the kickoff return was the play of the game. I mentioned that after the game. We never regained momentum after that. They took all the momentum with that play and were never able to get much going on either side of the ball after that. Defensively, relative to what that team has been doing to everyone else, I thought our defense hung in there and did some good things. But we don't measure ourselves against everybody else defensively. We have certain standards here, and by our standards, we didn't play very good defense. So it was disappointing. Special teams may be the biggest disappointment. We haven't lost a special teams battle. I can't remember the last time that we got handled on special teams like we did in that game. That was another big part of why we came out on the short end.
Washington State. Mike Leach has done a nice job with that program. They've improved. They are 5-5 right now and got a nice win at Arizona over the weekend. Connor Halliday is a very good quarterback. Throwing the ball a ton. We expect anywhere from 50-80 throws. That's what they do and who they are and they are doing a good job of it. They are playing good defense. Beat USC in the Coliseum earlier this year. They are a much-improved team and we've got our work cut out for us as we do every week. I was looking at the schedule - the past six weeks, and five of those teams are top-25 teams. I was thinking that every week is a complete challenge. It's been a tough stretch for us.
On Adam Schulz and the offense:
Adam's numbers were not indicative of how he played because there were five or six drops, balls that should have been caught, which would have improved his numbers greatly. What we can do number one is establish a strong run game. We didn't run the ball very effectively against Oregon. We had over 100 yards, but I think it was like 2.8 a carry, which is nowhere near efficient enough. That is the best way to protect a quarterback and to assist a quarterback, is a strong running game, and we didn't get that done.
The pass protection was pretty good, when you look at what it was a week prior and two weeks prior, the pass protection was much improved. It was good to see Adam get back there and have some time to throw the ball, but now we have time to throw the ball and we don't catch it. So if it's not one thing, it's another.
We didn't tweak much in the offense for Adam. He's got a strong arm, that's his strong suit, the way he throws the football. He is a capable runner. Not as likely to run or as efficient as Travis, but still capable. We tweak things a little bit to accentuate what he does best. I thought he handled himself pretty well given the circumstances.
On Jake Murphy:
It was great to have Jake Murphy back. He's still a little tentative with that hand, as you would expect. There's a bunch of screws or plates in it, I think. It's still not completely healed, but he's a tough kid and he wanted to be out there and was cleared to be out there. We've got to try to implement him more. We need to dial up more for him. Now, we didn't know he was going to be able to play until the end of the week. We didn't have the luxury when we were game planning knowing that he was available. Now we do know, so I'm sure we're going to make him more of a point of emphasis.
We found out that he may have the possibility to play in the last couple of games about two weeks ago, but it was pending another x-ray and some other things had to happen. We didn't find out that he was cleared completely until Thursday or Friday.
On the offensive line and Isaac Asiata:
The decision [to start Asiata] was made by Thursday. Typically if you can't practice by Thursday we don't play you, at least only in an emergency role. With Siaosi Aiono unavailable on Thursday's practice and still limping around, the decision was made at that time to put Isaac in the lineup. I though Isaac responded very well. He played solid football, and you will see him the rest of the way, whether as a starter or in a rotation capacity, but he's going to continue to play. Hopefully we get Siaosi back this week. He's still a little hobbled, but we'll find out tomorrow where he stands.
On what happens if Adam Schulz goes down:
We're one snap away. We've had that discussion with Conner Manning. If he has to play, he has to play. Our plan was to redshirt him and a few weeks back we made the decision to not tamper with that decision barring unforeseen circumstances. These are unforeseen circumstances that we're in right now. If something happens to Adam, it's Conner, if something happens to Conner, its Brandon Cox. The unfortunate part if that happens, you have to burn two redshirts. There are no other options. I guess we could convert a running back into a quarterback or something, but you have to give yourself the best chance to win every week. Those two guys have had that discussion put to them and they are willing and if they need to be called upon they're ready to go.
We do have a plan if the helmet pops off. We do have a situation to cover ourselves for a play or two, or if a player gets the wind knocked out of them, but if there is anything that is beyond that then yes, we would make the adjustment.
On keeping the team's spirits up:
You just have to keep swinging. We've been playing quality teams. The level of play in this conference is very high. From year one, to year two and three it's gotten better and better as a conference and I don't think anyone will dispute that. It's a challenge and we just got to get ready and come back. As bad as we feel right now and as the tough a stretch that it has been, we've got two games left and if we're somehow able to get two wins then we're in a bowl game potentially. That is the main objective right now, is to get those seniors to a bowl game.
On recruiting going forward without Travis Wilson:
Going forward, recruiting-wise, we are going through that right now as to how to handle it. We are not going to have definitive answers for several months, most likely, and so we are in the process of evaluating all of that, and as far as what we do going forward.
We're looking at all options. This came out of nowhere. We thought we were completely set, recruiting-wise and future-wise, lined up. That still may be our thought process, regardless of what happens, but we're re-evaluating and making sure that we have our bases covered. A JC quarterback is not always the answer. Sometimes a freshman quarterback comes in and is more ready and more talented than a JC guy. But we're looking at all options.
On the quarterback position the last several years:
We all know what it's been like. Before the season I was talking about how hopefully this was the year that we were able to start and finish with the same guy, and that proved not to be the case. You look at everything you are doing. Is there something we are doing to put them in harms way? We've evaluated everything over and over to make sure it's not something that is an error on our part as coaches. We can't come up with anything other than just that's the way the ball bounces, and things have happened.
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