September 23, 2003
Coach Dennis Franchione and selected players met with members of the media on Tuesday at Cain Hall. The Aggies host No. 17 Pittsburgh in a regionally-televised game (ABC) on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. (CDT). Click the links above to hear what they had to say.
Here is a partial transcript of comments made by Coach Fran during the news conference.
Do you really want (Jaxson) Appel to make all the tackles?
"No you don't. Safeties are going to make more tackles than corners, and they do get involved in run support more on our defense. But obviously our front 7 has to do better if we are going to stop the run. "
On the play of the D-Line...
"I think the first game they didn't play too badly, but the second and third game the coaching staff has been some what disappointed in their play. Each one of them are assigned a gap to defend, and I think sometimes they have gotten out of their gap and have not defended it well. Those guys are big enough and strong enough to do that better than they have. We just have to continue to challenge them in practice in different ways to get that done. That is a big key. When the front four don't play well, the next level doesn't play as well, and then all of a sudden the safeties have to make too many tackles. We need the D-Line to tie up two guys more often, not just one. If they can tie up, at least for a second or two, two guys, then linebackers will be more effective. Right now neither one of them is complementing the other as well as they need to."
What was your first impression of (Jaxson) Appel?
"Well he doesn't blow you away with his physical presence immediately. You could tell he was an intelligent, committed, team-oriented guy. I am kind of amazed at how many plays he makes out there every week. He seems to be in the right place at the right time. He seems to have good instincts. Coach Smith has done a good job with him. He played with an injured hand in the second game. I am not sure a lot of guys on our team would have continued to play with that injury like he did. I don't think there is any doubt that he is playing with some injuries that a lot of players wouldn't play with. If we just cut off his left arm we would have him reasonably healthy. I don't know if that is an option or not, it might hurt his tackling. He practiced all through two-a-days with an injury and did not miss much. (Is he the QB of the defense?) He is. I think he has been all along. He got voted onto the Leadership Council. I think the players on our team look to him for leadership. Even though he is young, he is a guy that they can count on, they trust, they believe in, and they respect. (Is it easy to forget he is a sophomore?) It is easy to forget that because of the amount of plays he makes. Maybe he will get bigger someday as he gets older. I am not holding out a lot of hope on that. He plays big, that is the important thing."
Talk about (the comparison between Virginia Tech QB Bryan) Randall and (Pittsburgh QB Rod) Rutherford...
"Rutherford is probably a good comparison. He is probably a more accomplished passer. He is a senior, a little more experienced. He has probably got a little bit better receivers to get the ball to. He is a good runner. He may not be as apt to pull it down and run as much as Randall is. But he is not afraid to, and they design some plays for him to run it, too."
Talk about the excitement of going for it on fourth down last Thursday against Virginia Tech...
"A couple of things, number one we are on the 40 yard line. If we punted with the wind behind us, I didn't really know how much we would gain. I was thinking we would gain some yardage, maybe we would gain ten yards here by that punt. The other thing is, I think sometimes as a coach, you feel like you have a play in your pocket that will work, and we felt that way, and that led us to go for it. I always believe a little bit on the road against a nationally ranked opponent you have to be a little aggressive, and that was part of the thinking on that and on the short little on-side kick. (On having a 'bag of tricks') We've got a category in our game plan called 'gadgets', or 'specials'. We've always got a punt fake, a pat/fieldgoal fake, we've always got an option available to us on kickoff, whether is that one (on-side kick) or another one. I just believe that you need to have those things. You need to practice them. I think the key is that sometimes they get labeled tricks or gadgets, and really if you practice them, they're just plays. Yes there is a little more risk and a little more element of surprise to them, but we practice them. I watch practice and see how they're going. If I feel like it's executed well and it's there, then I'm all for using them. The element of surprise against a team like Virginia Tech on the road is I think a very good statement to your football team, especially if it works. Sometimes I think you have a feel for, as a coach, that the percentage is in your favor a little bit. I gather data and then make decisions, and that's what makes me decide to do those things in that situation."
On whether or not the tough non-conference schedule is preparing the team for Big 12 play...
"Well, certainly looking at this schedule before you started the year, in your first year, this is biting off a pretty good chunk. I think we all have found out that Utah was a pretty formidable opponent, and we knew Virginia Tech would be, and probably when this game was scheduled, maybe we didn't know Pittsburgh was going to be almost a top-ten team. I'd like to play Kent State and Ball State maybe. It does help you in some ways get ready for a conference schedule. I have seen football teams that have started 4 and 0, didn't really play a tough schedule, maybe aren't really a good team, but they're 4 and 0 and think they're pretty good. And I've seen teams start 1 and 3, were pretty good, but weren't sure they were very good. There's a mental side to this. There are three aspects to being a good coach-- Xs and Os, recruiting, and scheduling. And I'm not sure which one's first some days."
Will the Pittsburgh game be a good test for secondary?
"We hope so. I think we'll be challenged back there more than we have been these first three games. Virginia Tech might have challenged us more under different conditions. Our secondary is a little bit untested in some ways. We thought we would be tested more last week than we were. But for the most part they responded pretty good. We had a couple of penalties I wish we hadn't had, but when they had to respond they have.
"We haven't lacked for confidence I don't believe. We're lacked for experience, and maybe some of those inexperienced guys are starting to develop confidence because of playing time. They went to Virginia Tech to win, and I think they believed they could win. I believe they'll approach this week that way. Sometimes if anything, I wanted to give them a little more reality than confidence."
On the play of the defense...
"Sometimes I think we worry about making plays instead of just making the plays we should make. And when you start worrying about making plays, you don't make the plays you should make. I have mentioned that to the defense and to the defensive line. They need to understand that it's a coordinated team defense, and everybody will have an opportunity to make plays if they do their job. When one or two guys don't do their job, then others start getting put in compromising situations where its difficult for them to make they plays they need to make. And then all of the sudden you're pressing and trying to do more than you should, and not doing what you should be doing. I do believe that's happened to us a little bit."