Head Coach Doug Marrone Press Conference Quotes
Syracuse Football
Syracuse vs. USC
Saturday, September 08, 2012
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Syracuse Head Coach Doug Marrone
Opening Statement:
“I was really excited about the character of the kids. It’s something that we have talked about during the week. We’re striving as a program to be an elite team, a BCS-type caliber team. People talk about the schedule being challenging and we’ve been open to that. We talked to our kids during the week about The opportunity to play a team like USC, which is one of the top teams in the country. To be able to go out there and compete, and, in my opinion, win a lot of plays during the course of the game is really exciting for me.
“I think the so called experts had us picked to lose by 25 or 26 points. At the end of the day, it was 13. We feel we could have done better than that. I think that they have three excellent players in quarterback Matt Barkley and receivers (Robert) Woods and (Marqise) Lee. They are elite college football players, first round type caliber draft picks. I was excited to go out there and compete.
“USC is a heck of a football team. I thought our kids went out there and competed. I feel very good about the direction we are going. I obviously don’t feel very good about losing. No one does. But this team that we have is a good football team with a lot of challenges going forward. I talked to them about that at the end of the game. We’re upset kind of like the same thing as last week. We worked extremely hard. We had a good opportunity. There were some opportunities out there that if we could just make one play here or there and it could really change it. We were in it. We felt we were in this football game. It hurts, but in the same sense, we have a long season, a long schedule. We are excited about the direction that we are headed. “
On what it was like to play on a stage like MetLife against a team like USC:
“Now it’s hard for me to answer that question. And I think it’s a great question. During the week we talked about the recruiting, the venue. Right now, it’s hard for me to answer that question the way I would have during the week because I’m hurt about the outcome. In the same sense I hurt but on the other side, we won a lot of downs out there. We looked like a pretty darn good football team. It wasn’t enough at the end of the day to beat a team that has the talent that USC has.”
On the similarities to last week’s game against Northwestern:
“You know what’s frustrating, and it has happened two weeks in a row now, that batted ball goes into the other team’s hands. That’s frustrating. You can understand if you misread it and you throw an interception, but the batted ball thing, I get frustrated with. I think we’ve had like three now that wound up in the opponents hands. That’s how I feel about that.”
On how they approached the game:
“We went into this game from a game plan standpoint. We knew the way we were going to play. We were going to play some three deep, four under. Our goal was that we knew we were going to give up some of the runs. I shouldn’t say give them up. We were going to rally to a lot of the runs. We wanted to play good coverage. At certain times we wanted to bring pressure and knew we had to hold up one-on-one. Our goal was to do that 14 or 15 times during the game. At the end of the day, they have good players. We made some plays during the course of the game. Obviously they were going after it. They are very aggressive on offense. We won a couple. The ones we lost were touchdowns. But it wasn’t from a lack of effort from our kid’s part. It wasn’t from a lack of schematics where they weren’t in position. It was just a matter of a Heisman Trophy like quarterback seeing what he wants to see and knowing exactly where he wants to go with the ball. “
On why his team has played better in the second half in the first two games of the season:
“The opportunities are there. It’s not a matter of schematics. I think that when you’re a team that is aspiring to be a very good team, you go out there and you are trying to feel your way. That’s what I’m talking about when I’m saying finding our identity. We may feel our way a little bit. I have to look at it a little bit on the first two games. That’s not an uncommon thing in all sports. I think that there comes a time of maturity of an athlete or a unit where once it does come together, then you can go out there and you see the plays being made right off the bat. I think you can also say the same thing about our opponent. I don’t think that they got off to a good start. I think that both defenses came out and did some good things early on. Our goal is to be better than that and to come out and go.”
On wide receiver Alec Lemon’s performance today:
“I was nervous. Last week when we worked him out, he said he was okay. When players come back out and say they are okay, that’s not a good sign when you had a lot of time off. It wasn’t from a lack of effort that Alec wasn’t working hard to come back. During the week we worked him out earlier and I asked him how he felt and he said I feel okay. I feel good. That’s still not a good answer for a coach. The trainers cleared him. My concern was that he really wanted to play at this stage and this venue and I was afraid if we played him, do you lose him for three to six weeks after that? Then two days ago, he said I feel great, I really want to play. That’s tough now. He put me and Coach Hackett in a tough situation. I was a little concerned with the timing. We took Ryan (Nassib) out there and we worked him out on Friday. He looked good. He really did. So because of his experience we put him in there. Our goal was to play him about 15 to 20 plays in the slot and be very careful because those routes are not that extended on the deep end. I trust the coaches in that. I’m happy to see he’s back with us on the offensive side.”
On Ryan Nassib having a chance to make himself known as a potential NFL Draft pick and whether or not he played differently on the national stage:
“I think a lot of people know that Ryan Nassib is going to be drafted. At least from my point of view, from the phone calls that I’ve received. Ryan isn’t the type of kid who says, ‘Oh I’m going to go play this team. I’m going to show who I am.’
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the leadership that Ryan has provided for this team and the growth in Ryan. You’re talking about someone who has been a two year starter and someone who could have went along his business and probably could have been a starter again. But, this kid has worked extremely hard to be a leader in this program. I can’t thank him enough for those efforts. And I don’t know how many people would do that.”
Syracuse vs. USC
Saturday, September 08, 2012
MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, N.J.
Syracuse Head Coach Doug Marrone
Opening Statement:
“I was really excited about the character of the kids. It’s something that we have talked about during the week. We’re striving as a program to be an elite team, a BCS-type caliber team. People talk about the schedule being challenging and we’ve been open to that. We talked to our kids during the week about The opportunity to play a team like USC, which is one of the top teams in the country. To be able to go out there and compete, and, in my opinion, win a lot of plays during the course of the game is really exciting for me.
“I think the so called experts had us picked to lose by 25 or 26 points. At the end of the day, it was 13. We feel we could have done better than that. I think that they have three excellent players in quarterback Matt Barkley and receivers (Robert) Woods and (Marqise) Lee. They are elite college football players, first round type caliber draft picks. I was excited to go out there and compete.
“USC is a heck of a football team. I thought our kids went out there and competed. I feel very good about the direction we are going. I obviously don’t feel very good about losing. No one does. But this team that we have is a good football team with a lot of challenges going forward. I talked to them about that at the end of the game. We’re upset kind of like the same thing as last week. We worked extremely hard. We had a good opportunity. There were some opportunities out there that if we could just make one play here or there and it could really change it. We were in it. We felt we were in this football game. It hurts, but in the same sense, we have a long season, a long schedule. We are excited about the direction that we are headed. “
On what it was like to play on a stage like MetLife against a team like USC:
“Now it’s hard for me to answer that question. And I think it’s a great question. During the week we talked about the recruiting, the venue. Right now, it’s hard for me to answer that question the way I would have during the week because I’m hurt about the outcome. In the same sense I hurt but on the other side, we won a lot of downs out there. We looked like a pretty darn good football team. It wasn’t enough at the end of the day to beat a team that has the talent that USC has.”
On the similarities to last week’s game against Northwestern:
“You know what’s frustrating, and it has happened two weeks in a row now, that batted ball goes into the other team’s hands. That’s frustrating. You can understand if you misread it and you throw an interception, but the batted ball thing, I get frustrated with. I think we’ve had like three now that wound up in the opponents hands. That’s how I feel about that.”
On how they approached the game:
“We went into this game from a game plan standpoint. We knew the way we were going to play. We were going to play some three deep, four under. Our goal was that we knew we were going to give up some of the runs. I shouldn’t say give them up. We were going to rally to a lot of the runs. We wanted to play good coverage. At certain times we wanted to bring pressure and knew we had to hold up one-on-one. Our goal was to do that 14 or 15 times during the game. At the end of the day, they have good players. We made some plays during the course of the game. Obviously they were going after it. They are very aggressive on offense. We won a couple. The ones we lost were touchdowns. But it wasn’t from a lack of effort from our kid’s part. It wasn’t from a lack of schematics where they weren’t in position. It was just a matter of a Heisman Trophy like quarterback seeing what he wants to see and knowing exactly where he wants to go with the ball. “
On why his team has played better in the second half in the first two games of the season:
“The opportunities are there. It’s not a matter of schematics. I think that when you’re a team that is aspiring to be a very good team, you go out there and you are trying to feel your way. That’s what I’m talking about when I’m saying finding our identity. We may feel our way a little bit. I have to look at it a little bit on the first two games. That’s not an uncommon thing in all sports. I think that there comes a time of maturity of an athlete or a unit where once it does come together, then you can go out there and you see the plays being made right off the bat. I think you can also say the same thing about our opponent. I don’t think that they got off to a good start. I think that both defenses came out and did some good things early on. Our goal is to be better than that and to come out and go.”
On wide receiver Alec Lemon’s performance today:
“I was nervous. Last week when we worked him out, he said he was okay. When players come back out and say they are okay, that’s not a good sign when you had a lot of time off. It wasn’t from a lack of effort that Alec wasn’t working hard to come back. During the week we worked him out earlier and I asked him how he felt and he said I feel okay. I feel good. That’s still not a good answer for a coach. The trainers cleared him. My concern was that he really wanted to play at this stage and this venue and I was afraid if we played him, do you lose him for three to six weeks after that? Then two days ago, he said I feel great, I really want to play. That’s tough now. He put me and Coach Hackett in a tough situation. I was a little concerned with the timing. We took Ryan (Nassib) out there and we worked him out on Friday. He looked good. He really did. So because of his experience we put him in there. Our goal was to play him about 15 to 20 plays in the slot and be very careful because those routes are not that extended on the deep end. I trust the coaches in that. I’m happy to see he’s back with us on the offensive side.”
On Ryan Nassib having a chance to make himself known as a potential NFL Draft pick and whether or not he played differently on the national stage:
“I think a lot of people know that Ryan Nassib is going to be drafted. At least from my point of view, from the phone calls that I’ve received. Ryan isn’t the type of kid who says, ‘Oh I’m going to go play this team. I’m going to show who I am.’
“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the leadership that Ryan has provided for this team and the growth in Ryan. You’re talking about someone who has been a two year starter and someone who could have went along his business and probably could have been a starter again. But, this kid has worked extremely hard to be a leader in this program. I can’t thank him enough for those efforts. And I don’t know how many people would do that.”
