September 14, 2004
Audio from Tuesday's football media luncheon is available through the links to the right. Files can be downloaded and are in MP3 format.
A transcript of Coach Dennis Franchione's press conference on Tuesday at the Bright Football Complex is posted below.
Coach, throughout your career and other places you've been you talked about how you had those -- for lack of a better word, cornerstone victory. Those wins that finally got things going in the right direction. Was there a -- as you look back, anything in those wins where you were ever able to anticipate right there and just need that -- you know, that big game or do they come as a surprise to you, too?
"I don't think you realize that you hit one until you look back. I think that it's what you do with it after you get it that counts. If you -- provide emphasis to go forward win some more games and improve and it becomes the game you look back on. And sometimes you look back at a play and provides that. But -- you know, I don't think you -- I don't think you know when it's happening. Normally you know when it has happened."
What did you guys see from Kirk Elder from last week's game getting the start and what did you see from him in his first start.
"Kirk's just been one of those young guys that's kept getting better. He played very aggressively. Played very aggressive in practice. If he makes a mistake it's going a hundred miles an hour and he played that way Saturday. Even made a couple of -- you know two or three mistakes; but it was with great effort and physicalness and intensity and all those areas and -- really for a first -- first full-time start, first full-time game I thought he played pretty solid."
You feel like the schedule got any easier after last weekend?
"No. Wish I could say that. I guess we know that some of them can be beaten but -- I've been watching too much of the Clemson film and seen how fast these guys are how athletic they are. Georgia Tech was very fortunate to win that game. In actuality, Clemson is a couple of plays away from being 0 and 2 also with an overtime win and maybe a play away from being 2 and 0. Fine line between winning and losing but you go through and still have great respect for them and the Big 12 north championship still has to go through Manhattan."
When a team loses like Clemson, does that provide any impetus for them or is that more myth than fact.
"I know that Tommy's record is pretty good after a loss. So -- not sure if it provides a lot for us in that regard."
What have you seen on Kerry Franks to be the only true freshman to have played so far?
"Great speed but -- to go with the great speed is probably his ability to learn, and adjust and handle different situations, coverage changes and assignment he had to read it. And consistency. He stayed healthy, he got better every day. Made the adjustment to college offense pretty quickly. And then he can make a mistake and make up for it a little bit with his speed."
Did you sense that he (Kerry Franks) was going to stay true and stay with you guys or kind of a dicey deal at the end there with LSU coming in the picture?
"Well, I think our guys would always say they felt good about Kerry. You know, we all know not to put any money in your pocket until the name's on the dotted line but -- you know every conversation we had with him he appeared to be solid. So, no you don't quit worrying."
Those things you saw about him learning so far and things like that all the more remarkable considering he played running back in high school agree with that or seemless transition from that position to receiver?
"We did. He did play running back in high school. And there's been a day or two they thought about looking at him at running back. With Jay Lucas and Samson Taylorthere. And the other guys that we have and -- we had always thought of Kerry probably going to end up being a receiver for us. Obviously that can change if he -- you know, as time goes on here. I think we found a pretty good receiver right now. I think maybe because of his size speed we always kind of wanted him to play wideout."
It's pretty common for high school quarterbacks to go to college and start at different positions. Is it equal as possible for -- I know a lot of high schools put their best athlete at running back, too.
"Probably say that. It's probably just about as true at both positions running back and quart backs make good defensive backs and wide receivers and some quarterbacks can turn into tight ends. So Kerry's adjustment from running back to receiver was pretty good. I mean, he did very well. What separates freshman from contributing I think is not talent it's the ability to get bar every day and grow in their understanding of what they're doing every day and be consistent -- you know, have a number of guys that have a great day and then the next day it's like starting over a little bit and then back down. And most of our freshman go through that. Physically they're ready to play it's just mentally and making the adjustment to college is the question -- between offense and defense and those kind of things and playing consistently."
Coach, do you look at a season in terms of groups of games when it comes to deciding whether or not a guy will play as a true freshman or is there a point where you go okay we're six games into this now, we're four games into this? How does it work?
"Well, we don't go into the season thinking anybody is going to red shirt. And we just kind of see how they're -- where their fit is on the depth chart and how much we need them to play. And we are a cautious staff in regard to wasting a year for a few plays a game. We don't believe in doing that. And you know, there's still a chance some of these freshman may play some this year. But probably about fifth or six ball game we reach a point and bite the bullet and say we're not going to do that. One final my coaching career we were red shirted a junior because we had depth in the secondary and somewhere around the seventh game we lost two safeties and we went to him and said look the choice is totally yours; but if you take the red shirt off you'll start, and that's what he wanted to do. We didn't force him to do that. So it's kind of got to be a little bit of a give and take. I mean, we both -- the player and the coach work together on it and have an understanding."
One of the things that -- I know the subject -- sitting here in this ten minutes I don't know how many times speed has come up: Speed of Kerry Franks, speed of Clemson. I know you added some speed on defense. Not trying to turn this into a horse race or anything but how important is that? Can you survive without it?
"No. You have to have speed. Speed is the one thing that you cannot develop a great deal. You have to have some speed to improve it. The greater your speed is, the more you can take a bad step, the more you can be fooled, the more you can take an average play and make it into a home run. There's no replacement for speed and we know from last year at times we can't keep up with the offense if we don't have speed across the board on defense. And you can't hit home runs without speed on offense."
Defensively how much better did you see your speed the second week than the first week because of the few subtle things did you? Was it better?
"Well, it was better. Was it better because of the change in personnel? Maybe a little bit, yes. It was better because of game 2 than game 1. It was better maybe because we were back home playing at Kyle Field instead of on the road. It was better because there was some nervous guys in that first football game in their career. It was better because they were more confident. There were a lot of areas that touch on why it was better I think not just the changes in personnel completely."
Will the offense that you face this week be a better test?
"Oh, yes. Wyoming as much as we respect them come anything they did not have speed across the board that you had to contend with this team has speed across the board. It's going to be as fine athletic as anybody we're going to see. Obviously got two or three outstanding teams on our schedule going to have great speed, but across the board speed this team has it."
How about your offensive speed? Does your offense test another team's defense with their speed?
"Well, I don't think we're deficient in speed on offense. I don't know if people sit and watch our tape and go "we've got to respect that" because I would think they would with Terrence Murphy and Kerry Franks and Terrence Thomas and Courtney and Reggie and -- I think they'd have to have some respect for our speed on that side of the ball. Chad Schroeder can run -- we've got more than respectable speed on the offensive side."
How close are you or are you there as far as having personnel that you would envision to run your offense to maximum?
"We're not there yet completely yet and part of its inexperience and part of it's strength. I don't know if there are many years in your oaching career you sit back and say we're right where I want us to be. I think as a coach you're sitting there warranting to improve your team and you're going to look at this position and see how it can be better and this position. You can ask me that question probably for the next ten years and probably give you about the same answer every year. Get lost in the year and you know your strengths and efficiencies and what you want to improve and what you want to recruit to improve."
One more question on that note. Your root philosophy -- where do they come from? Always been a very multiple guy and -- your thoughts on just why you run the offense, what makes it right for you and this team now.
"I got any start in college coaching with some great offensive minds, (people like) Jim Donnan. So they kind of gave me my on-the-job training and my foundation when I was with Coach Dickey at Kansas State. But I -- I probably always been a little bit more of an offensive coach having played offense and been more interested in -- always coached offense so when I was an assistant coach, too. As far as what we do -- I think it's constantly involving -- there's not anything -- there's not an offense you can come up with hardly that I haven't been a part of running at some point in time. It's the wish bone or throwing a bunch every game. So my years as an assistant and then as head coach and working up through the ranks and watching what hurts what I think can hurt people and then giving us the ability in a chess game to move people around in formations and motions movements to try to gain some kind of advantage or at least an one to one -- if not an one and a half to one advantage then -- and that's probably my -- one of my passions in coaching is doing that."
When you watch the Wyoming film did you notice any examples of defensive play where anyone gained a step with their speed? Any examples that have you noticed?
"I think so. I can give you one example. Renuel Greene made a play on their bench 35, 40-yard line and their quarterback broke out and he quickly ran him down and made a tackle from behind -- I think it was for a loss. Not much gain if any. And that -- that was pretty good of a play for me to see his speed out there."
Coach, when you talk about what Wyoming presented then you say Clemson appears to be a much bigger challenge. Would that win then if you were able to beat Clemson would that mean anything more than being 2 and 1.
"Well, we would beat a top 25 team. And a team that's been picked very high in the preseason stubbed their toe last week against a Georgia Tech team. It would have significant meaning in a lot of ways for us, confidence going into open week on a "w", getting ready to go into conference play. Clemson is a traditionally respected national program from where we've been and trying to go I believe it would be a -- I don't want to say a landmark win or anything -- I believe it's what you do with them when you get them that makes them into those. But it would be a significant win. We're going to probably be under dogs in the game ... we are playing at home and we are getting better."
Coach, talk about -- I think Several of us saw Joey Thomas play in high school talk had been about him more around his practice than what he did at spring ball. Actually went out and did something in the game and I think so many people saw what we expected out of him. Can we expect even more out of him after that? Can you put into words how big that may have been for him to get that game under his belt?
"Well, you know, he's a red shirt freshman and that was his second collegiate football game so going out and doing some of those things in a game is going to give him something to build on. Y'all saw Joey's catches and runs which were excellent. Joey knows just like I do he's got to block a little better and play a little more physical. So not everything he did was maybe as outstanding as his catches made it look. I'm not trying to be negative about his performance. Great to see him do that. He learned from both. He knows what he had to blocking and he got positive reinforcement for what he did catching the ball and running with it. So the learning curve was good from both angles."
What about getting both him and Boone involved in the passing game?
"Well, you know, I think sometimes people think that we have these plays in our offense where we say drop back and throw to it Joey and you don't really have that. You have -- you have a progression of reads and if the tight end is open he's going to be one of them. If not you're going to go to the next player. It just so happened that looking at Wyoming and one of the feelings we got watching their tape from last year and this year was that they had trouble covering the naked boot leg to the tight end, so we made sure in the game plan we had two or three different ways to utilize that and we had good timing, we could run ball with some success so it help us set up some play action and those guys did a good job of getting open and doing something with it after that."
Boone said he thinks of himself more of a lineman who can catch where Joey is a guy who can catch?
"Boone's improved our athleticism at that position from last year. We really only had guys that were blockers last year. We've sacrificed some in the physicalness of the position, but we've gained in the athleticism of the position. And I don't look at Boone quite like he looks at himself there. I would like for him to be a little more physical blockers at times but there's a trade you good and it's our job as coaches to adjust to some of those things. Some blocks they've just got to make now for us to move the football they have to make them or take them out of the game and play with four wide. The give and take of the athleticism of him and everything is something we try to utilize."
Clemson's no huddle offense do you -- do you meet with officials and remind them they're supposed to stop that ball? Do you get a chance?
"I meet with the officials before every game I think everything I remind them of they forget about. That's the way it feels. But, no, we -- you know we talked about -- we'll talk about that because of the change in the rule where the defense has got a few seconds to start their substitutions and react to an offensive substation in a no huddle. That's the pivotal part. If they're changing personnel from tightend to receiver or whatever it might be we need to have the opportunity to match up and that is a point of emphasis with the new rule it's a new interpretation so hopefully they will manage it as they are asked to do. But I think there will be some reminders before the game. In fact I know there will be and probably a few during the game."
Coach Torbush said no advantages for a defense to face a no huddle. Is that so.
"I think so. I don't know what they would be. You know, it makes you be on your game communication and it may limit your ability to move around and prowl a little bit. Hopefully not but it can."
Are offenses like that typically more successfully on their home field as opposed to when you come in here? I know they do a lot of -- signals are done hand wise. Not so much vocal but if it's crazy and loud?
"We hope that has an impact on Clemson's offense. They do not count on the quarterback - at least it does not appear they count on the quarterback delivering the play to all the other guys because when they don't huddle, they all -- all except the lineman look to the side lines to get the signal then the quarterback steps up and gives it to the offensive line men, the play. They got to be on their game communication wise and we got to be on our game plan. That's part of what they've done for a long time."
Coach, what's your relationship with Tommy Bowden? How well do you know him.
"I know him. Tommy came to visit in Alabama when I was there. Coaches went to Clemson when we were at Alabama -- so known Tommy for a while."
How -- coaching is hard enough as it is as you well know. The pressure of it is incredible. How tough is it what he's had, where he's the son of a legend and trying to march out in the same field that his dad is -- how tough is that?
"I don't know if I'm a good one to ask that question. My son -- not that I'm a legend. Brad maybe could tell you better than I could. I haven't been in that position. I know that there's always a constant comparison to your father and a contrast and -- I think Tommy's done a great job of being just Tommy, though. You know, he does things differently on offense and defense than his dad does and he's gone his way as an assistant coach. I don't doubt that the Bowden's share a lot of philosophy about football. But I see Tommy as really kind of -- he's had the fortunate side maybe of having the Bowden name, but I believe Tommy's went out and worked for everything he's gotten and worked hard and done a good job and created his own niche in this game."
In your position when your son wanted to go into coaching were you proud or did you say are you sure about this? What was your reaction?
"I asked him if he could live without it? And -- this is not a job for everybody. A lot of people see the few hours during the game where the maybe the grandeur. When my son made the decision I was in the middle of winning 45 straight games and so kind of shocked me with it because I thought he was going to major in computers. I won't tell you the whole story. It's a unique story. But he came to tell me he wanted to change his major and said okay what do you want to change it to? He said well that's what I need to talk to you about. I want to be a coach. And the first thing I said was "are you sure?" And he said of course, yes. I said "Can you live without doing this?" and he said he didn't think so. And he just had an opportunity to take a high school job for about twice as much money and he wants to be a college coach. That's what he wants to do. And he's done a good job with doing his own thing. You know, this -- coaching is -- it's a lot of hours, it's a -- you have to do this because you love this. You don't just do it because you think it would be a neat occupation. You have to love it and want to it and understand the highs and lows and the demands. Fortunately he came with me to New Mexico and was a student coach so he got the other side of winning there for a while."
Do you talk much with him during the season -- does he call and -- like when he's up high or down low and you talk a lot.
"Yeah. He usually calls -- we usually talk at least once a week. Some weeks we both get too wrapped up and miss each other. Usually talk once a week. When he was first in coaching he would come home every year at the end of the season and for two days he'd tell me all his problems and I finally had to say Brad I can't solve yours and mine both: We talk a lot of about how things are going for him."
Going back to Olin's question, the landmark victory thing. At TCU was it the Sun Bowl victory?
"I know the landmark victory. It came down to two plays. By our second year we were at Hawaii and I believe our record was 3-4 if I remember correctly. And Hawaii was driving the ball. They were -- I believe they were ahead at the time. And we tipped a pass and Russell Gary picked it up and ran it to the 50-yard line. And the very next play we run a hitch and go for a touch down. We won that game. That -- to me as I look back was the turning point. Obviously you can look at the Sun Bowl and say maybe that was. But that was the year six and five we found it hard to get that we had a great day in the Sun Bowl. But I don't know -- that probably had a lot to do with our ability may be to make that play and win that game but I still believe that that occasion right there in our second season was when we turned the corner."
When that happens -- don't know when that happens until afterwards like you said. Did you have one of those games at Alabama your second year and do players see themselves differently once they believe they've turned that corner?
"I believe they do. You know, my first year at Alabama we were three and five and of course the -- the team the year before was three and eight and you know a lot of people say well that's the same old Alabama. And I never believed that because I could see we were getting better. It was our first year, but I could see things were fitting and coming together a little bit and how the players were adjusting and I talked to a lot of players about it and how they felt and they -- they in their own words conveyed that to me and a win then was the Mississippi State game which made us four and five which was a hard fought come from behind game and we won the game and went onto beat Auburn the next week then beat Southern Miss the next week and then Ohio State in the bowl game. So there was -- that was very clear to me as I look back in year 2 when the turning point actually happened."
Last week at this time seemed like talking a lot about Erik Mayes and how you knew he could do better than he did against Utah. How encouraging was it to see him bounce back the way he did against Utah.
"I tell you what. It was very encouraging. Erik is a good corner. He stood back there on that punt and -- I don't believe the guy has anything that makes his heart beat out of rhythm now. He was ice water back there and -- believe me I was kind of nervous when it was coming down. Still not over last year yet...but Erik played well. He played very well. He played like I believe his career is going to go. It's been a redshirt freshman proven he can play in this game in practice leading up to the Utah game it was Erik, and you know I talked to him last week, the play that he let go for a touch down that's not Erik and Erik knew that wasn't Erik, but that was a red shirt freshman playing his first game on national TV. He put his eyes in the back field, he knew what he did wrong and at corner when you do something like that and they throw in that direction it usually lights up the score board and -- but again, that was an experience that Erik learned from. Erik's got a great demeanor. He's fearless. I've seen him make plays against T-Murph and guys last spring that really made me proud to know I had a redshirt freshman corner coming like that."