Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Transcript (Sept. 24, 2011)
Syracuse vs. Toledo
September 24, 2011
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse Head Coach Doug Marrone
Opening Statement
“Obviously we’re excited to be sitting here 3-1. We played a very good football team in Toledo. They played extremely hard and did a nice job. They have a lot of good athletes on that field. We tried to come out there and throw the football, and I think we did that well at times. That helped us out. Early on we had a little miscommunication, and we ended up being down 10-0.
“I give credit to the kids. We have a great bunch of kids. They kept playing and kept fighting until the end of the game. I challenged them early in the week and told them that I was concerned because this Toledo team looks like they plays sometimes harder than we do, and I mean that. Our kids took that to heart, and I just told them coming out of the locker room that I’m glad that they were up to the challenge because we needed to play hard to win this game, and if we let a little bit down we would have been in trouble.
“There were a lot of little things that went on in this game. (Wide receiver) Jarrod West made two plays on third down, which were big. (Freshman cornerback) Ritchy Desir did a good job in punt protection and saved a lot of field position. (Senior wide receiver) Dorian Graham catching the ball on the sideline. We got a lot of good yardage there. (Redshirt-senior cornerback) Kevyn Scott comes up big with a play, an interception which was his second in overtime.
“They did a lot of nice things. A credit to their staff. (Toledo head coach) Tim (Beckman) and I both got our jobs in the same year, I believe. We were doing a clinic, and I’ll never forget it. We were talking about it before the game, and I commented on how well his assistant coaches were at the clinic that they did, and I told our staff that I have heard them speak before, and that this was going to be a battle. So hats off to Toledo.
“In saying that, I’m happy to sit here 3-1, but I do realize that we have a lot of work ahead of us. It was a noon game, and we won. That’s good. We were minus one, I believe, in turnovers, and Toledo has won 93% of their games when they have been +1 or better. We came across some odds that weren’t in our favor, and we were able to overcome that, which I’m excited about.”
What was the plan to stop (Toledo wide receiver) Eric Page?
“We were just going to try and know where they were. They went a little more vertical than what’s been done before. He had a good game. I don’t think you can ever stop a player like Page. He’s a talented kid. We were trying to take away the little bubbles jail break screens, but they ended up hitting us with play action pops, and things like that down the field where he was able to get open. I think he’s a good football player, and we tried to contain him, and he did a nice job. Their whole offense did a nice job keeping us off balance.”
On the running game with (senior running back) Antwon Bailey and (sophomore running back) Prince-Tyson Gulley. Was there an emphasis on a tandem today?
“I don’t think there was an emphasis on a running back tandem, but I think that there was an emphasis to make sure that we start getting in some of these players working in the game. Obviously, it helped us when you start looking at what Prince did and what Jarrod West did. (Tight end) David Stevens caught a big pass on third-down, and there are a couple players out there that did a nice job.”
On the extra point following the (senior wide receiver) Alec Lemon touchdown catch:
“We kicked the point after, and we were getting ready to line up and all of a sudden they buzzed the official, and my first thought is, ‘What’s going on?’ One of the officials came over and said that they were reviewing the extra point. I said, ‘OK.’ You’re only allowed to review it if it goes above the bar, to my knowledge. My knowledge of the rule is that if the ball goes above the bar, you are allowed to go ahead and review it. I don’t know if it did or not, and then they came back and said that the extra point was good. But that was really the explanation that they told me.”
On (sophomore linebacker) Marquis Spruill not starting:
“Everyone here knows where I stand with the injury rule. I wish it was like the NFL where you could just tell everyone because I know that the media has a job to do, and I have a job to do to protect the team. What you have to understand is that we have a lot of young players, and our training staff and doctors do a very good job. There are a lot of checks and balances that we do, and parents are involved. Those players during the week, if they can’t practice, it’s not really fair to throw them out there if they haven’t practiced during the week.
“Marquis was struggling during the week, getting a couple of reps here and there. He defended a pass out there, and (junior linebacker) Siriki (Diabate) went in there and started. At the end of the day it’s going to help us, playing those kids.”
On what SU still needs to continue working on:
“We need to improve in all three phases. We still haven’t put together a complete game in all three phases. If you look at the game, Toledo did a good job of going down the field on the first possession. Our defense did a good job of holding them to three points. Then we have that turnover and we are down 10-0 right off the bat. But throughout the course of the game, when our defense needed to hold them, they would put drives together. Offensively, when we had good field possession we failed to move the ball. So at points, they didn’t respond to each other. I thought special teams was solid though, but that what I mean when I say we want to improve in all three phase, it’s because we haven’t done that yet as a whole and that is what our goal should be.”
On the defensive rotation:
“Toledo does a lot of good things out on that field. They play two quarterbacks; they do empty formations, three by two, tight ends split out wide, so a lot of thing are going on. We knew going in that we might throw the Okie package out there and to match with them, not so much try to trick them, but just match them. They did a good job of going vertically down the field so we tried to stop a very good offense with great skilled players.”
On Jeremi Wilks filling in for Shamarko Thomas:
“I’m sure there are some things Jeremi wish we could have back, but I think he did a good job today. At the end of the day the goal is to win and everybody on that field knows they have to get better”.
On Toledo’s 22-play drive to open the game:
“They did a great job. You have to remember, we prepped our team on how good Toledo is. They converted third downs and did a good job of catching the ball and turning it vertically. They kept down and distance very obtainable and converted on them. Credit to them, they are a veteran team with great coaches and good players.”
On Alec Lemon’s touchdown catch:
“We went empty. It looked like they were checking the pressure throughout the game. They went all-out pressure; cover zero. Ryan Nassib bought a little bit of time and put some air on it. That is tough for a defender to cover. He is one-on-one, there is no help, and the receiver gets an edge on him, that’s tough to defend. I think Toledo did a good job defensively, but that is a heck of a play between the two kids. Ryan did a great job to buy some time. Those kids were coming hard. The line did a good job to make all the pressure come from the outside, and once again it is hard for a defender. It was an outstanding play.”
On the offensive line:
“I think there is some improvement there. There are some things we have to work on, like converting on a third-and-one. There was improvement in the run game at USC and there was improvement in the run game against Toledo, but there are still some things that bother me because we have to improve as the season goes on.”
On the balance of the offense:
“I thought it was good. We are going to have to be able to run the ball. Against Rhode Island, we strategically wanted to throw the ball. Today, we wanted to establish the run. We had to start running the football because a couple of games got out of hand. I knew the defensive scheme we saw today was going to be difficult because you have to be in different formations. But we had to start doing it now because if we waited until game five or game six, it may have been too late, so we just went after it today.”
On the health of the defense:
“I am always optimistic and you always get closer when they are on the sideline. We are banged up, but I bet we will be less banged up this week than the week before. The kids have done a good job of taking care of their bodies. No excuses though. When you are in there you are expected to perform and some of our young guys have and I think that is going to help us in the long run.”
September 24, 2011
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse Head Coach Doug Marrone
Opening Statement
“Obviously we’re excited to be sitting here 3-1. We played a very good football team in Toledo. They played extremely hard and did a nice job. They have a lot of good athletes on that field. We tried to come out there and throw the football, and I think we did that well at times. That helped us out. Early on we had a little miscommunication, and we ended up being down 10-0.
“I give credit to the kids. We have a great bunch of kids. They kept playing and kept fighting until the end of the game. I challenged them early in the week and told them that I was concerned because this Toledo team looks like they plays sometimes harder than we do, and I mean that. Our kids took that to heart, and I just told them coming out of the locker room that I’m glad that they were up to the challenge because we needed to play hard to win this game, and if we let a little bit down we would have been in trouble.
“There were a lot of little things that went on in this game. (Wide receiver) Jarrod West made two plays on third down, which were big. (Freshman cornerback) Ritchy Desir did a good job in punt protection and saved a lot of field position. (Senior wide receiver) Dorian Graham catching the ball on the sideline. We got a lot of good yardage there. (Redshirt-senior cornerback) Kevyn Scott comes up big with a play, an interception which was his second in overtime.
“They did a lot of nice things. A credit to their staff. (Toledo head coach) Tim (Beckman) and I both got our jobs in the same year, I believe. We were doing a clinic, and I’ll never forget it. We were talking about it before the game, and I commented on how well his assistant coaches were at the clinic that they did, and I told our staff that I have heard them speak before, and that this was going to be a battle. So hats off to Toledo.
“In saying that, I’m happy to sit here 3-1, but I do realize that we have a lot of work ahead of us. It was a noon game, and we won. That’s good. We were minus one, I believe, in turnovers, and Toledo has won 93% of their games when they have been +1 or better. We came across some odds that weren’t in our favor, and we were able to overcome that, which I’m excited about.”
What was the plan to stop (Toledo wide receiver) Eric Page?
“We were just going to try and know where they were. They went a little more vertical than what’s been done before. He had a good game. I don’t think you can ever stop a player like Page. He’s a talented kid. We were trying to take away the little bubbles jail break screens, but they ended up hitting us with play action pops, and things like that down the field where he was able to get open. I think he’s a good football player, and we tried to contain him, and he did a nice job. Their whole offense did a nice job keeping us off balance.”
On the running game with (senior running back) Antwon Bailey and (sophomore running back) Prince-Tyson Gulley. Was there an emphasis on a tandem today?
“I don’t think there was an emphasis on a running back tandem, but I think that there was an emphasis to make sure that we start getting in some of these players working in the game. Obviously, it helped us when you start looking at what Prince did and what Jarrod West did. (Tight end) David Stevens caught a big pass on third-down, and there are a couple players out there that did a nice job.”
On the extra point following the (senior wide receiver) Alec Lemon touchdown catch:
“We kicked the point after, and we were getting ready to line up and all of a sudden they buzzed the official, and my first thought is, ‘What’s going on?’ One of the officials came over and said that they were reviewing the extra point. I said, ‘OK.’ You’re only allowed to review it if it goes above the bar, to my knowledge. My knowledge of the rule is that if the ball goes above the bar, you are allowed to go ahead and review it. I don’t know if it did or not, and then they came back and said that the extra point was good. But that was really the explanation that they told me.”
On (sophomore linebacker) Marquis Spruill not starting:
“Everyone here knows where I stand with the injury rule. I wish it was like the NFL where you could just tell everyone because I know that the media has a job to do, and I have a job to do to protect the team. What you have to understand is that we have a lot of young players, and our training staff and doctors do a very good job. There are a lot of checks and balances that we do, and parents are involved. Those players during the week, if they can’t practice, it’s not really fair to throw them out there if they haven’t practiced during the week.
“Marquis was struggling during the week, getting a couple of reps here and there. He defended a pass out there, and (junior linebacker) Siriki (Diabate) went in there and started. At the end of the day it’s going to help us, playing those kids.”
On what SU still needs to continue working on:
“We need to improve in all three phases. We still haven’t put together a complete game in all three phases. If you look at the game, Toledo did a good job of going down the field on the first possession. Our defense did a good job of holding them to three points. Then we have that turnover and we are down 10-0 right off the bat. But throughout the course of the game, when our defense needed to hold them, they would put drives together. Offensively, when we had good field possession we failed to move the ball. So at points, they didn’t respond to each other. I thought special teams was solid though, but that what I mean when I say we want to improve in all three phase, it’s because we haven’t done that yet as a whole and that is what our goal should be.”
On the defensive rotation:
“Toledo does a lot of good things out on that field. They play two quarterbacks; they do empty formations, three by two, tight ends split out wide, so a lot of thing are going on. We knew going in that we might throw the Okie package out there and to match with them, not so much try to trick them, but just match them. They did a good job of going vertically down the field so we tried to stop a very good offense with great skilled players.”
On Jeremi Wilks filling in for Shamarko Thomas:
“I’m sure there are some things Jeremi wish we could have back, but I think he did a good job today. At the end of the day the goal is to win and everybody on that field knows they have to get better”.
On Toledo’s 22-play drive to open the game:
“They did a great job. You have to remember, we prepped our team on how good Toledo is. They converted third downs and did a good job of catching the ball and turning it vertically. They kept down and distance very obtainable and converted on them. Credit to them, they are a veteran team with great coaches and good players.”
On Alec Lemon’s touchdown catch:
“We went empty. It looked like they were checking the pressure throughout the game. They went all-out pressure; cover zero. Ryan Nassib bought a little bit of time and put some air on it. That is tough for a defender to cover. He is one-on-one, there is no help, and the receiver gets an edge on him, that’s tough to defend. I think Toledo did a good job defensively, but that is a heck of a play between the two kids. Ryan did a great job to buy some time. Those kids were coming hard. The line did a good job to make all the pressure come from the outside, and once again it is hard for a defender. It was an outstanding play.”
On the offensive line:
“I think there is some improvement there. There are some things we have to work on, like converting on a third-and-one. There was improvement in the run game at USC and there was improvement in the run game against Toledo, but there are still some things that bother me because we have to improve as the season goes on.”
On the balance of the offense:
“I thought it was good. We are going to have to be able to run the ball. Against Rhode Island, we strategically wanted to throw the ball. Today, we wanted to establish the run. We had to start running the football because a couple of games got out of hand. I knew the defensive scheme we saw today was going to be difficult because you have to be in different formations. But we had to start doing it now because if we waited until game five or game six, it may have been too late, so we just went after it today.”
On the health of the defense:
“I am always optimistic and you always get closer when they are on the sideline. We are banged up, but I bet we will be less banged up this week than the week before. The kids have done a good job of taking care of their bodies. No excuses though. When you are in there you are expected to perform and some of our young guys have and I think that is going to help us in the long run.”
