Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Transcript (Nov. 27, 2010)
Syracuse vs. Boston College
November 27, 2010
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement
“Obviously it is disappointing. More disappointing for me that we weren’t able to go out and send this group of seniors out the right way. When you look at the game, credit to Boston College, they did a nice job. They were able to hold onto the ball early, their first drive was about seven and a half minutes. They were able to run the football on us and they did a very good job. Early on we started running the ball well but then we miss a play. What has gone on offensively, it is frustrating because the players understand what to do, we go ahead and execute in practice but we haven’t had it carry over on the football field. That is the normal progression of how you build, you get it done in the classroom, you go out on the practice field and practice it, you execute on the practice field and then it carries over onto the field. We haven’t had that transition yet with our offense. We’re a very young offense and we’re excited and looking forward to making that transition in these upcoming practices that we have. The most disappointing thing is that the seniors who have done such a nice job really gave great effort out there, they have all year for us and really built a foundation that we’ve just scratched what our potential is. They set some standards for us, they’ve taught us how to work through a lot of adversity and we have to make sure our young players follow that and continue to work hard. We still have a lot of things left.”
“It gets quite hectic now but all for good cause. Tomorrow morning the coaches head out, we go on the road recruiting, out for a week and come back with the recruiting weekend. We’re going to try and recover the players, we’re a banged up football team right now. We’re not going to do anything with our players, we’re not going to lift them in the morning. We’re basically going to try and get them to recover their bodies with stretching so we can get ready and have competitive practices and get ready to compete in whatever game we wind up being in. We have two weeks left of school, which are important for us. We have to mentally get ready and prepare for that with finals coming up the week after next. We have a lot of work in front of us but it is all for a good cause. We’re headed in the right direction and we’re very disappointed about the way we performed today and the outcome of this football game.”
On his decision to punt on fourth and two in the fourth quarter:
“I had two timeouts left and I thought I could gain a lot of field position. We would have gained field position and gone ahead and went after a block or try to get a return. With 5:22 left in the game, we go ahead and punt. We just went and threw a poor pass to (Nick) Provo on an out route that is just a simple route. We weren’t able to execute that and we weren’t able to execute those routs throughout the game. For me, I thought to myself if we went ahead and punted with 5:22 left and were able to stop them running the football on first down, second down. You talk about four seconds, being able to stop the clock then I still have enough time to regroup with this offense and still have a chance to win the game. If you stop them three-and-out you’re going to get the ball back with four minutes and 30-something seconds, I may be off a couple of seconds here or there. They could also go ahead and throw it on third down, then the clock may stop and you get more time to throw the ball vertically down the field, on-side kick it and still have time to kick a field goal to win the game. If you go for it and miss it then it is game over right there for sure. They may go in and score, I don’t know what happens. I was playing the percentages and going through that. In hindsight someone may say, ‘You should go for it there and if you make it then it is 5:22 left.’ But you’re talking about four seconds to 40 seconds for the maximum time (BC) can run off. You take that risk, it is just time management.”
On how frustrating it was to have BC succeeding on the run in the second half:
“It is frustrating. It is frustrating not only for the coaches, but players as well. The players don’t want that going on. It is frustrating and you just try and say here we go, we’ve given this up lets go try and make a play right now. You regroup and go after them.”
On why BC was able to run in the second half:
“Credit to them, they are a good running football team. They were able to knock us off the ball.”
On going with Antwon Bailey at running back instead of Delone Carter:
“He got nicked up, injury.”
On Anthony Perkins’ called horse collar tackle in the fourth quarter:
“I know this, player safety is the most important thing to myself and the officials. If I’m erring on the side of a call, I’m all for player safety. I would err on the side of player safety.”
On the difficulty with the offense:
“If I knew the answer for that I would attack it and go. There are a lot of different things and different personalities. A lot of times people naturally think that when you press, you become highly competitive and you don’t perform well sometimes in games. If that is the case with our players, then that is my fault because we have to create practice situations where you have to be highly competitive. That is what we try to do, making those situations as game-like as possible so that when a player transitions to the game field they are able to perform. No different than players that I’ve developed as a line coach or coordinator. You go out there and develop them. Then they transition to a game mode. I have to find a way to get that done.”
On how difficult it is to not be able to get the vertical passing game going:
“It is tough because you have to do a couple things to get the vertical game going, you can’t just take one person and run them down the field. You have to do a couple things to sit people down in coverage, but Marcus Sales has been a great surprise for us, he has done a nice job and caught a couple of balls. Today he had five catches for 73 yards, caught the corner route early on in the game. I was happy with that, but you need multiple threats to be able to get the ball downfield, unless you just have someone who is outstanding that can out-jump key players.”
On the penalties:
“It is frustrating. We have seven penalties and the other team has one penalty. We talk to the players, I’m a big believer in the fact that if you feel your hands get outside you, then it is not worth it. It is never worth it. The worst thing that is going to happen will be no gain. We preach to the players and they put themselves in situations where they make mistakes. We have people who are good enough athletically not to be in those positions but sometimes it is difficult when someone turns their body or we have a player who is not athletically good enough to get themselves out of that positions. It goes back to me, I have to do a better job with the players so we don’t have those penalties. That has gone on at times throughout the year, especially in our losses.”
On junior wide receiver Marcus Sales:
“He has been able to really get open and separate. He has been consistent. He has really risen above, whether that is because other players have been playing and they’ve lost their legs or they’re tired and Marcus is fresh, no matter how it happened I’m happy for Marcus Sales. What he has done is something for us to look forward to and something for us to build upon as we get ready to start practicing and move on to win more football games.”
On whether BC’s 31-yard passing play was a breakdown in the secondary:
“Yes, we didn’t make the adjustment. We had two breakdowns on the nakeds.”
On whether there is one thing he can attribute the home losses to:
“Not outside the way we have played. The formula of why we have lost football games has been the same every game. That is something that is easy for us to look at and see that we haven’t won a game at home because the games we’ve lost at home, we’ve turned the ball over – which today we just turned it over on the last drive. We didn’t create as many turnovers or have as many opportunities. We haven’t stopped people from running the football. You can look on a piece of paper, get the final stats for all the games we’ve lost and see why we’ve lost. As far as everything else is concerned, we’ve mixed and it up and done a lot of things. You have to be careful what you do, as a football player you compete to play a game. It doesn’t matter if you’re in a corn field, a farm, a 200,000 seat stadium, 50,000 seat stadium, 10,000 seat stadium, you play, you’re a competitor. I’m sure a lot will go into it because it makes for great press and a great story about what is going on but we just have to go out on the football field and win football games.”
On how important having an extra two weeks of practice is:
“Both sides of the ball because we’ll lose some players on defense. It is one of the most important things and one of the key things that you need to turn a program around. Now we’re going to have 11 to 13 practices, at least, before we’re done. We’re going to be able to go there and develop the younger kids, get them back into it, transition them after the break right into an offseason program which is about six weeks before we start spring. Basically you get an extra Spring football.”
On playing against coverage defense:
“I stand up here and everyone would talk about how people were pressuring us and I told you guys honestly, that was good. We want people to pressure us at the stage we’re in right now because that gave us a chance to get behind the defense. If you look at the past couple of games it has been all coverage. I said it in here, and maybe I gave away the game plan, but I said that I was more concerned if people play us in coverage than if they pressure us. It is very difficult when you don’t have enough people. We’re not good enough to overcome some penalties or negative plays where we can just go ahead and run the football and know we can get five yards every snap. Today was one of those times where we proved we couldn’t do that.”
On what he would say about the season:
“We accomplished our goals. It is very difficult to comment on the season after a loss. I’m very disappointed and I’m emotionally upset. I’m down, I didn’t go out there and expect to lose a football game. In the other sense of what is fair and what credit should come to this team? That will come out. It is important that there is a right time and right place for that and right now it is extremely difficult. I’m very disappointed that we didn’t perform and play well today.”
On being able to continue playing after the regular-season:
“The thing I’m looking ahead for is to get our players academically ready to go and get them pumped up for what we have to do from an academic standpoint with two weeks left of school and exams and then recovery. I’m going on the road tomorrow recruiting along with the rest of the coaches. That is where my mind is right now.”
On what he said in the lockerroom after the game:
“I thanked the seniors. I told them it is very disappointing we didn’t go out the way we wanted to. There is a foundation here now and an expectation we have to understand. Tomorrow morning we’ll have an academic meeting just to make sure the tutoring is all right for our players. It is a little bit earlier than normal. Then I told them I’d give them the rest of the schedule but we’re going to try and get everyone recovered, get everyone doing a good job academically. I’m going to be on the road so I want to make sure everything runs smoothly."
