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Head Coach Doug Marrone Postgame Press Conference
November 20, 2010 vs. Connecticut
Syracuse vs. Connecticut
November 20, 2010
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Transcript
“There were some opportunities out there and we didn’t take advantage of them. We had some penalties and put ourselves in unmanageable situations. The defense did a nice job keeping us in the game. We had turnovers. At the end of the day we lost a football game. Our players fought hard, I told the kids afterward to keep their heads up. We didn’t make plays, we have to find a way to make plays on offense and score points. We have to get ready, come back and finish strong here at home.”
On whether he thinks the team is emotionally drained:
“Absolutely not.”
On what the problems were on offense:
“Just execution, lack of.”
On whether there was too much doing on with the addition of new plays and formations:
“No, not at all. Last week we got exposed on two snaps in the shotgun where we had to squeeze the guard to take care of the ‘A’ gap. We took care of it the first time and Antwon (Bailey) had to cut the three technique. Then our next snap against Rutgers they plugged the guys in the ‘A’ gap, the guard went down and they dropped out. (Quarterbacks coach) Nathaniel (Hackett) and I knew that after 10 games we were finally exposed. We had to go back and we put Macky (MacPherson) in there in some shotgun situations. We were able to take up the pressure because in their plan they did have some mugs early on and then we were able to go shotgun which gave us a chance to take up the pressure, which helped us. We were just adjusting, knowing that down the road they were a pressure team on third down, which they didn’t play today, they played more coverage. We knew we had to make that adjustment to try and be successful.”
On getting Antwon Bailey involved:
“We tried to. We missed a couple of crossing routes, we dropped a couple balls, but we tried to get him involved.”
On struggling at home:
“Lack of execution at home really. Focus and level of play prior to the week in practice (has been good all year). When we get on that field the level of intensity is the same we just don’t execute.”
On how the team prepares for home games versus away:
“I’m proud of this football team because we’ve been very consistent on how we prepare for each game. We’ve had good practices. You can ask the players, we’re not an up and down practice team, we practice hard. We just haven’t executed.”
On whether fatigue led to the lack of execution:
“No, I would say it is my fault then. Maybe I have to put them in better situations where they have the ability to execute. We’re trying to put them in situations to win the game. If anything comes from the execution it would be my fault.”
On Macky MacPherson in the shotgun formation:
“He did a nice job. He is very consistent with the gun snaps. We’ve been working out there with him. We’ve had some issues with (Ryan) Bartholomew, but he does a great job for us on normal downs. He went out there and did a nice job for us today.”
On how disappointed he is with the offensive showing:
“I’m disappointed, I think we all are. Not just for myself or the coaches, but the players. It is very frustrating, there are times when you start moving the football then all of a sudden you’re stopped. We have to keep a positive attitude, just keep working and find a way to make plays at the right time.”
On what the team mindset is following the loss. Was it a missed opportunity to stay in the race for the BIG EAST title or a BCS Bowl game:
“I’d be a fool to say we hadn’t lost an opportunity, but an opportunity to win a game. I don’t think about the other stuff, every game is important. When you lose a football game you lose an opportunity. For us, we have been very successful in our quarter system of how we break down the season and we’re 1-1 in the fourth quarter. It is important to win this fourth quarter and go out with an eighth win. It is important for our seniors to win their last game at home. We have a lot of things to look forward to where we can’t afford to get too low. We have to look at the mistakes, see how we can get ourselves started offensively and move on to this next game.”
On whether this is the most frustrating loss of the year with penalties and turnovers:
“They’re all frustrating, trust me. All the losses are frustrating, all the wins you feel good about and you move on. I don’t label one or the other.”
On what sets this loss apart from the others:
“It happened right now. I mean that, I’m not playing any games, I really do look at it that way. The losses hurt.”
On whether there was frustration with UConn not playing the expected third-down defense:
“On third down we had man, which we were preparing for. We had some situations where we still had some people open and we weren’t able to execute. There is a level of frustration in all of us. What you do with that level of frustration if it becomes overwhelming then you can have some issues, but I didn’t see that in Ryan (Nassib). I see him as a very competitive kid who tries to make plays.”
On whether he considered putting Charley Loeb in:
“No, Ryan Nassib is our starting quarterback. We feel we have the best chance to win with him in there and we don’t have any quarterback situation at all where we’re thinking about putting someone else in for Ryan in a game where we still have a chance to win at the end. “
On what he attributes the dropped passes:
“Lack of execution.”
On whether the team was pushed around by Connecticut:
“Every team that we’ve played is very physical in this BIG EAST, I really believe that. It is a physical game on both sides of the football. We did a nice job containing the run early on and at the end we missed some tackles and gave up some runs. That is really what happened.”
