September 17, 2007
Coach Fran and select players met with the media Monday at the Bright Complex on the Texas A&M campus.
The Aggies (3-0) are preparing hit the road for the first time this season, a Thursday night contest at Miami (2-1) that will be televised nationally by ESPN HD.
Audio clips are available in MP3 format to the right. Quotes from Coach Fran's press conference are posted below.
Coach Fran Press Conference Transcript
"Let me make a couple of comments about the Monroe game. I was proud of our team. They were ready to play and took care of business. We had a similar lead at half time as we did the week before and we did not let them build on that. There were a lot of positives in the game. I didn't realize this until today, but there were a lot of zeros in this game--zero punts, zero sacks allowed, zero three-and-outs by the offense, not a single lost yardage play. We scored on every possession except the one we threw an INT, and we had pretty good balance. We got to play 77 guys in the game, that was that we got a lot of them in. Probably the best part of it was we got to rest a lot of our starters after playing a little more in the game the week before. That was really good for us I think.
"This is exciting week obviously and it's a fast week. I can tell you that. This is Wednesday for us right now, so my clock's a little messed up but we'll be fine. It's exciting to be going to the Orange Bowl for me. I've never coached there, so I'm looking forward to it. I know it's exciting for our team. This is our third Thursday night game since I've been here and all involve a hurricane. That's ironic -- Virginia Tech, and Texas State, and now the Miami Hurricanes.
"In regard to these guys, they are a very talented team, very athletic. They are the fastest team that we have faced obviously and maybe as fast as we will face this year. They have some great players. Their defensive end, Campbell, 6-8, 280, he's the real deal. A lot of publications picked him as the defensive player of the year going into the season and he's really good. Their safety Kenny Phillips is really good. I think this is a top-25 team probably before the season is up, just watching them now. I know that the score was lopsided a little bit in the Oklahoma game if you look close at the game, it was 28-13 late in the third quarter. It was not decided. Some things happened and it got away from them. This is a good defensive ball club. They gave up some plays in the Oklahoma game but they're a solid talented offensive team and going through a transition. They seem to be settling at quarterback and I think that probably has helped them a little bit."
Heading down to the Orange Bowl, Thursday night, national TV game...what would a win over Miami say for this program specifically since you've been here at A&M?
"You know, I haven't given a lot of thought to that. I think y'all define those things for me far more than I do. I know a win would get us to 4-0 and get us going into conference play undefeated. And with some great momentum. I know winning on the road is going to be a challenge this year. I feel good about these guys and how they have handled it and the experience we have going forward with it and so I'm not really concerned about personal statements or anything like that or statements for our team other than to try to get this fourth victory."
You sense the players might get a little more pumped up for a Thursday night prime-time game or is it just another game?
"Well, I like for them to approach a little bit like another game but I don't think there's any doubt that, you get to play in this time slot, there's only going to be maybe one, two, or three games on TV that night and so you are kind of the nation's telecast, and I know they'll be excited about that. They've been looking forward to this game for a long time. Back in spring practice this was a game they talked about. To their credit, they did not go through two a days and any of the first three games talking about Miami. That never was something that took the place of comments about who we were playing. I never heard a word about it. They've been very workman-like in day to day activity but I do know they were looking forward to this game a long time ago. It's a marquee game. Our fans love these kind of games. I know we'll have a lot of Aggies in the stands in Miami. I don't know how many but everybody I've seen and talked to told me they were going to be there so I'm sure that'll be a great crowd."
I know some coaches for non-conference like four games they know -- or feel like they'll win. Some coaches like the marquee -- where do you fall on that?
"I think, you know, what we'll always try to do in our non-conference schedule is have one of these. Right now it's Miami for this year and next year - we didn't have one last year and that was scheduling quirks that was involved. But you know since I've been here we've had Clemson, we've had Virginia tech, we've had -- just about always had one and I think it's good as long as you balance things within your schedule and you get some confidence in non-conference play. These are always interesting games from an interregional basis. You are playing somebody for the first time and - you know, you don't know quite as much about them as you know about other teams. It always makes it a little interesting."
Coach Fran, you guys are the ranked team. They're not receiving votes, yet they come out as the favorite in this game. Do you guys feel disrespected by that at all?
"I didn't know it until you told me. I don't care about those things. I don't worry about those things. I'm not concerned about it right now, where we are, if we are ranked. I vote and that's all I -- I take care of my business there. There's been no discussion among our players about us being ranked or where we're ranked. I really think there shouldn't be a poll until October 1st. I think September polls are just for y'all and for the fans and their conversation. I don't think there's a lot of significance to September polls really, and we hope we will play ourselves into a position to be able to talk about them later in the year, but right now nothing surprises me in regard to whether we're favored or not. We're just going to play the game."
Fran, why do you think you guys are perfect so far inside the 20?
"Well, I think we've got a good combination -- we've had the ability to power run the football. We don't get a lot of negative yardage plays most of the time. We've got good field goal kicker. He's done very well for us this year. And then I think our offensive coaches have done a nice job of selecting a play in for the Red Zone that has given us a chance for success. I think at some point in time you have to be able to power run the ball down there in a condensed formation and so far been able to do that."
How much does that feed everything? You know, when your team knows when they get close, they're getting something out of this.
"I don't know how much it feeds the players but I know from the coaching standpoint we know that you only get so many opportunities down there. You hope you make some 75-yard big plays but you know when you play good teams you may not get those. You only get so many possessions and only so many times you get to get to the Red Zone, and when you play good teams like we're going to play Thursday night, you better cash in on the opportunities. Our team has been able to do that. This will be a bigger challenge."
How much does it help having a guy like Jorvorskie Lane to be able to make it?
"It helps a great deal because any time you get into a situation where the field is condensed, DBs come into the box and you can't block them all. The great thing about the big guy is you don't have to block them all. He usually knocks one or two of them down himself. And you need that. You really do down there. The power that he can -- you saw that in the Fresno game, we ran the zone read, we didn't run a power play, and we didn't block it exceptionally well. He bounced off one or two of them, hurt them for trying to tackle him, and pounded it into the zone. He is a weapon in the Red Zone, no doubt about it."
How much does it help you having two guys like Jorvorskie and Michael who are very different but also very special in their own ways?
"You know, it's hard to quantify that, but I know when you're at practice, if you're trying to defend us, you've got Jorvorskie's speed, and then you've got Michael's speed. You've got Jorvorskie's power and Michael's elusiveness. Jorvorskie sets it up for Mike a little bit, you get used to one speed then here comes another, a quicker hiccup speed, and you get used to a guy that may be elusive and another comes knocking you down. So it is a nice complement that can kind of give the defense a change of pace and maybe the speed of the Train sets up the speed of Michael a little bit there and vice versa probably sometimes."
I know you were asked this a couple of weeks ago, but when you look at that, how do you think they stack up against some of the other tandems within the country?
"To take that to the fullest degree you have to include Chris Alexander, and when you include those three -- I put them up against any in the nation. I think they compete very well. You know, I haven't seen every back field in the nation certainly, but for what we're trying to do and what we're trying to do in the Red Zone, for instance, I put those guys up there pretty high."
Coach, can you talk about the challenges of preparing for an opponent you don't know as well as this one and in such a short week?
"If we had just started Sunday morning after the game it might have been a very difficult challenge, and to some extent offensively we had to do a little bit of that, but we spent some time as coaches this summer on both sides of the ball and the kicking game -- we knew this was going to be a short week and we knew that we needed to have as much work done prior to Sunday morning as we could. So we spent about a week just like we were game planning to play on Saturday, working on Miami a little bit, and being prepared for what we might see -- especially because we had never played Miami before and especially because we knew very little about them, with the head coaching change and all those kind of things. Still defensively, going into this game you still had to kind of see some games before you really knew what their new offensive coordinator would lean toward and how he would mix his personnel and things like that. But the few days we did spend this summer in preparation for this game I think were huge in making this week much more manageable."
You mentioned Chris Alexander. How is he doing?
"Doing good."
Going to make the trip?
"He will make the trip. He will play."
Obviously Goodson is still extremely quick but he's put on some weight. Do you see him breaking some tackles this year may be a year ago he wouldn't have broken?
"I think he can. He's gotten stronger and he's put on some pounds as you've said. You know he broke a few last year but I think he's got the ability to do more of that this year. The thing with Michael sometimes is, is it a broken tackle or did he make you miss? Kind of hard to identify the difference sometimes. I remember the Nebraska game last year on our sideline when I thought -- everybody thought he was down and all of a sudden he squirts out of the pile and gains another 15 or 20 yards. You may be able to see him do more of those things this year. Certainly from a strength and size aspect he's prepared to do it more than ever before."
Last year on Goodson you mentioned when he takes a hand off he was going 100 percent, 100 miles an hour and you'd like to see him pull that down -- has he done a better job of slowing it down and finding the hole?
"He's started to -- he did the best job he's done last Saturday night when we ran our zone read play. Sometimes a slower running back is a good zone runner. Monroe's guy Dawson -- I'm not sure how fast he is but he's a good zone runner and sometimes Michael is too quick, too impatient, wanting to go, and when we run our outside zones he wants to outrun everybody. Then when he can't he stops and he starts going backwards and I start saying, 'Oh my God, what are you doing son?' Then some things happen, and he makes 10 yards sometimes. but the other night you saw him hit it and kind of cruise it and what I call control max speed and cruise it just a little bit. And when he saw the seam develop, which on that play that seam can stretch and you don't quite know where it's going to be, and then he hit it and made some nice runs. I think if Michael will continue to understand that concept a little bit I think he'll make a lot bigger carries because he misses a cut once in a while on some of those plays."
Coach, this is Miami's last year at the Orange Bowl before they move to Dolphin Stadium. Can you comment on getting a chance to play there before they move?
"I'm excited to get to coach in one of the legendary stadiums in America. A lot of tradition and great games have been there and we all have grown up with the Orange Bowl being a special place and I'm excited to get to go coach in it. I don't know how much longer that stadium will be in use obviously. I know it's gotten old and everything and needs some repairs so I'm glad the opportunity is there. I hope I say that after the game, too."
Did you think that Stephen did a good job in terms of managing the game with his passes and executing what you guys wanted him to do - also, did the receivers do a good job of making things happen after they got the ball?
"Uh-huh. I think Stephen did a good job. He had one interception and I thought the guy set him up well, made a great break on the ball. He doesn't throw many of those, but watching the end zone copy I would have thrown that ball, too, if I was him. No ill feeling about that one certainly. You never want them to happen. He did a good job with his team, getting us in the right plays. You know, any time you have zero negative yardage plays the quarterback had to do some things, avoiding the loss or whatever it may have been, avoiding the sack, avoiding pressure and things like that. And I did think we saw our receivers play like we think they're capable of. We took a step in that area. We're not completely where we want to be there yet but I do think that was a glimpse of what they can do and what we're going to need them to as we move forward into this schedule."
What are the challenges of facing an offense that you have seen play two different quarterbacks in the starting role?
"Defensively you have to understand there's a large part of their offense that will not change. This is what they do. And there are maybe some facets to the offense that fits one quarterback over the other one that they would maybe utilize them in that way more than the guy that's in the game. So as you call defenses I know who the quarterback is will make a little bit of difference in what we're trying to defend. But for the most part their offense is not going to change a great deal. I think Kirby Freeman, who we all know here really well, is probably a little better runner maybe than the other quarterback but he's still a very capable thrower, too, and can do the things they want in that offense."
Can you talk more about Matt Szymanski, his perseverance from last year, when he lost the placekicking job and coming back this year and what he's done for you in kickoffs and everything?
"That was a tough transition last year that we all recognized. That was something that Matt wanted to and certainly we weren't going to talk him out of it but we wanted him to think well about it before he made that decision. I think coming in, maybe College Station being Matt's home town and wanting to do so well, put a little extra pressure on a 17-year-old in that position last year. Matt's very competitive and wanted to do very well. Had he made his first three or four kicks that might have got him off on a positive note but he struggled there and I think that made him press just a little bit. It was nice to see the change in his maturity level as we went into spring practice. You could tell he was getting pretty comfortable in his surroundings and now turned into a weapon for us. I think he's six of eight on field goals; is that right? And I don't have the number on the top of my head but a number of returnable kick offs in both directions, which is kind of unusual to see. With the kick off yard lines moved back to the 30 and he's still kicking them out is a pretty good statement right there that we're still being able to put teams on the 20-yard line. Right now Matt's in a groove right now. He's hitting the ball good, I think he's got confidence in T.J., got confidence in his protection and center. It's like when you go to the driving range and you're hitting them on the club face, it's got a different feel and different sound. He's hitting them on the face right now and that's good because we need Matt to play up to his potential and I think he's starting to do that for us."