|
Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference 9/8/2003 Coach Johnson Holds Weekly Press Conference 9-8-03 Coach Johnson will address the local Nashville media every Monday at Noon CT of a game week. Click below for archived audio of the press conference, transcript, and game notes for the upcoming game. Game Notes | Archive of press conference Transcript Opening statement? “Well, we are always a little afraid of games like that (against Chattanooga), but I think that one worked out about as well as we could have scripted it. We came out and executed fairly well in the first half, except for the kickoff coverage team. We were able to rest some starters and get some young guys in there who got some valuable experience in game situations. Hopefully that’s going to help us down the road. Obviously, the schedule gets a lot tougher right now, but our guys are excited and ready to start on the rest of the SEC schedule.” On playing Auburn when they are 0-2? “I don’t know [if this is the right or wrong time to play them]. I’m sure they are pretty upset and that they are going to work extremely hard to try to work out some of their problems. But if you watch them on film, they are awfully talented. They have some great athletes. It looks like they are just inches away from making the plays they’ve needed to be 2-0 right now. They haven’t had a lot of offensive success, but they’ve had a chance to win in the second half of both of those games because of their defense. They’re still very good on defense.” On why Auburn has struggled running the ball in their first two games? “You’ll have to ask them. Probably playing two good defenses was the main thing. Southern Cal has excellent athletes on the defensive front and Georgia Tech was swarming all over the place — they were just really fired up and playing well. I think that was the gist of it. I hope they continue to have problems. On the difference in last year’s Auburn game? “Well, we turned the ball over and their defense scored two touchdowns on us — that makes it pretty easy. We dropped a pass in the end zone. We had some key penalties during a drive in the third quarter when we had a chance to get back in the football game. All the things that happen to teams that don’t expect to win. Hopefully we expect to win and won’t do those things this year. We need to make better plays. That was the story of that game. And Cadillac (AU RB Carnell Williams) cranked it up in the second half and really had a great game against us. He can make you look bad sometimes.” On his frustration during last year’s Auburn game? “I was really frustrated a lot last year — I can’t pick out one or two games. But it was frustrating, yes. We had some success moving the ball. We ran a little different set than what they expected. We got a bad call from the officials that nullified a great play and added 10 more yards of penalties — that sort of took us out of the game in the second half. When you’re playing a good team and you have a chance for success and we just let it flitter away, that is frustrating.” On answering questions about VU’s kicking game against Chattanooga? “Well, we tried to. When you’re ahead 48-6 there is not a lot of pressure on your field goal kicker. But he (Tolga Ertugrul) kicked it well — he stepped up and drilled the ball through with plenty of distance and height. He kicked all the placements well. The punting game wasn’t challenged very much, but we did down the ball inside the five one time, about as well as you could do it. Our kickoff team was very poor. So, we still have questions, but if you look around the country everybody has questions in the kicking game here and there. It’s an on-going process, especially when you have guys, like we have, who have not performed in games. It’s just gonna take game experience. Hopefully they will feel more comfortable with what they are doing, they’ll start carrying practice habits over the game and we’ll be fine.” On players who performed well against Chattanooga? “It wasn’t a surprise, but Norval (McKenzie) had an excellent game. He ran with power and speed. Marlon White proved what we were saying about him, that he can be a very good player for us. Some of our defensive linemen, like Matt Clay, played well. He was very productive on the inside. Several young guys stepped up and played well — Kevin Joyce made some plays as well as Herdley Harrison.” On replacing DT Ralph McKenzie due to injury? “Well, we don’t have any others. It’s just going to be Trey (Holloway) and Matt (Clay). Robert (Dinwiddie) may move inside a bit. But that’s going to be a revolving situation down there. They’re just going to have to go in and out and play different positions. And hopefully Ralph will be available for some play.” On stressing the positives from last year’s Auburn game? “I think we did that last year after the game. We pointed out that if we execute we’re going to have a chance. We’re not totally void of players, believe me. If we execute, that allows them to use their talents and they can match up with a lot of people. But not if we slop around and turn the ball over, which we did against them last year. And then when we got the ball it was one of the worst rainstorms I’ve ever seen in my life. We were behind the eight ball in that game.” On how much Vanderbilt has improved since the last meeting with Auburn? “I think it’s a lot better. We played better than we played in the first game, obviously. But at the end of the season last year, if we hadn’t have been so beaten up, I think we were making a lot of progress. I don’t know how much better we are now than we were at the end of last season. Chattanooga didn’t give us any answers. I’m proud of the way they played. We won the game convincingly, and we should have. But I think this will be a true test for us this week and it will give me some answers. Check with me Monday.” On the 11:30 a.m. kickoff? “I think they like it, as long as it’s not 95 degrees. It’s pretty tough. We love the exposure, but I don’t think those TV executives have ever been suited up with a helmet on when its 95 degrees, getting ready to play. But we’re excited about being on TV. If it’s like this past Saturday, we’ll love the 11:30 game.” On the opportunity presented by Saturday’s game? “It’s a great opportunity — I don’t think you can overemphasize that. We feel like we’re better; we’ve gotta prove it. We feel like we’re making progress, but we’ve got to show it. I think our guys realize that. They’ve been working hard to get into situations where they can prove they’re a better football team.” On putting 8 or 9 men in the box to defend Auburn? “[Auburn’s first two opponents] had a bunch of guys up there. The obvious risk is that you’re putting your defensive backs in one-on-one situations. If they start anticipating that and keeping a lot of people in to block and pick up blitzes, they will have ample time to through and you’re in a one-on-one situation out there. You have to pick your spots and do it in a way that they won’t be able to pick up. But they’ve seen a lot of defenses, so I’m sure they’re getting a lot of experience in picking it up. Hopefully we can be effective in doing that. But we have to be able to play our base defense, too. We have to be able to play zone defense and cover out there and get four-man pressure and not put our corners in that situation over and over. I think that’s just too tough. It will be nice if we can pick our situations and not be in do-or-die scenarios. If we can control the running game, and that is a big, big if, we’ll have an opportunity to do those things.” On the importance of the Auburn game? “We always talk about the next game being the most important. Our guys are aware of the situation here — they’ve lived the history of the last few years. We realize that we have to pick it up and play better. The gravity of the situation is evident to our players, but we’ll keep pointing it out to them. We’re not going to let them go by a single practice or meeting without telling them that it is time for us to do something, don’t wait on the other team to be bad, let’s go out and try to win on our own.” On the play of Auburn QB Jason Campbell? “I’m sure Jason is a lot more confident than people think. I don’t think he is their problem. He’s made plays before and he’ll make plays again. But I wish I knew exactly what we could do to keep things going the way they have [for Auburn].” On Auburn’s running attack? “I’m sure they’re going to try to pound us, because they pounded us pretty good last year. We haven’t been tested by the run yet this year. I’m sure they’re going to see if we can’t stop the run. They’ve got a stable of running backs that ought to be able to run against anybody. Getting behind early took them out of running opportunities against Southern Cal and Georgia Tech and those teams didn’t have to worry about it. But from the start of the game, we’re certainly going to be worried about their running attack.” On the keys for the down linemen? “Defensively, we will try to stay as fresh as possible and injury free. We’re so thin there to begin with — they’re going to have a long, hard day. They’ve gotta be prepared to play a lot of plays. If we can help them out by controlling the football a little bit that would be a plus. Offensively, we’re looking at some fine athletes across the line. We just have to make sure we don’t give up the bad plays like last year when we let somebody come right in and clobber Jay, then they picked it up and scored. We have to eliminate ugly plays like that.” On the VU running game? “We always try to run the football. Our passing attack is based upon it. We will try to run the option if they will give us the opportunity to. That all depends on how they line up. We’re going to try to find a way to run the football. I think that’s extremely important for our defense — to try to keep control of the ball and keep it out of those running backs’ hands.” |
