Nov. 18, 2014
Mason | Scheu & Weatherly | Gameday Central | Game Notes & Depth Charts
Vanderbilt head coach Derek Mason, tight end Steven Scheu and linebacker Stephen Weatherly met the media Tuesday to talk about the Commodores’ next game against Mississippi State. Kickoff is slated for 6:30 p.m. CT Saturday in Starkville. The conference matchup will be televised on the SEC Network.
Head Coach Derek Mason
Opening statement:
“It’s Mississippi State week. We have to travel down to Starkville to face the No. 4 team in the country. They are a really good football team who’s mature in terms of their junior and senior leadership. They play well together. I’m a fan of Coach Mullen and what he has done there, they are 45-29 in his six seasons. I think he has built the program from the ground up and is starting to see the fruits of his labor. They were playing in the Gator Bowl last year and have steadily improved. What you see now, with a quarterback that is playing off the charts and skilled people all around him, is a football team that has been primed for success. When you look at their football team, it all starts with QB Dak Prescott.”
On Mississippi State’s offense:
“When you look at their offense, they are putting up over 500 yards of offense, 269 yards passing and 249 yards rushing. They are as well balanced a football team as you’re going to find. They make you play 11-man football defensively and Prescott’s ability to distribute the football out of the zone read is pretty incredible. He does a great job in terms of spreading the wealth, weather you talk about their top receiver De’Runnya Wilson, tight end Malcom Johnson, who has played ridiculous for them this year, or you look at running back Josh Robinson. Robinson has to be the most underrated back that I’ve seen this year. I think he doesn’t get enough credit for what he does. He has 25 catches for 347 yards, that’s close to 14 yards a catch. He runs the ball as efficiently as any back we’ve seen. He’s hard to tackle and hard to bring down. The thing he does better than all of that though is pass protection. He’s a three dimensional back and that’s what you’re looking for in a guy that can play every down. When you talk about having balance at receiver, tight end, running back, and then with a quarterback who can run and throw the football as efficiently as Dak does, then you’re talking about a really good football team. They’ve been able to overcome some adversity because when you look at them in terms of turnovers, they rank 13th in the conference and we are right behind them. We have one more turnover then them but with the wealth of talent and what they do with balance, they just do a great job.”
On Mississippi State’s defense:
“Their defensive statistics probably don’t overwhelm you but I will say athletically, they are good. When you look at Benardrick McKinney and Preston Smith, they are as good of two players at their position defensively that you’ll find in the country. Their biggest statistic has been red-zone defense, where they are the best in the country. They have been able to leak a little bit of oil and bleed a little, but they still keep teams out of the end zone and that’s the bottom line. If you’re playing well in the red zone and you don’t allow touchdowns then you can be a really good defense. We’ve got our hands full; we understand that we have two games left in the season and the postseason is not looming for us so this is our postseason. We have two games to play extremely well. The one in front of us is the biggest one and our guys are extremely excited about this game. We are going to make sure we are prepared.”
On the challenge of defending Dak Prescott:
“He has ice water in his veins and he doesn’t panic. Prescott does a great job of sliding off the pressure and keeping his eyes down the field. He delivers the ball on the spot. When team’s take away the down field option, he runs. He has run for as many first downs as he has thrown so when you look at it, again, you have to be always be careful of their balance. If you play too much coverage, he runs the ball, if you key too much on him, between his tight end, receiver or his running back, they’ll find ways to get you. That balance is what is really tough to defend.”
On the importance of Vanderbilt finding offensive balance:
“I think what we’ve made way too much mention of is the run game. As much as we focus on the run game, there has to be a greater balance in what we do in the pass game to help the run. There has to be a better balance. Putting all that pressure on the run game has made it extremely hard for us to be as versatile as we want to be. Our pass game has to show up for us in this game because the run game is going to take off when the pass game takes off. Those two need to be balanced. You want to be as balanced as Mississippi State in that process. We need to find your targets, open up some running lanes and make sure you get your ball to your playmakers. Their playmakers are all across the board. That’s the balance that you’re talking about. Whether you’re talking about tight end, receiver, or running back, you have balance so it doesn’t matter who you’re throwing to, those guys will be able to make plays.”
TE Steven Scheu
On chances of eliminating MSU from the playoff:
“Yeah there is a little incentive in that, but obviously every week in the SEC we play a great opponent. This week is no different. It definitely adds to some of the excitement that we’re going into a hostile environment like Starkville. It’s really exciting and hopefully we can knock them out and get a win this weekend.”
On playing despite being eliminated from postseason:
“I don’t think it’s too tough to do. All the players are behind coach Mason 100 percent. We trust in whatever he says, and whatever he says we’re going to try to fulfill to the best of our ability. We’re all excited to go and play these next two games.”
On the MSU’s stadium environment:
“It’s definitely going to make it a little harder, and a little tougher. We’ll see how it goes. I’m sure there will be a little noise at practice this week just trying to kind of match what we will hear this weekend, but it definitely won’t be an easy task.”
On implementing the silent count:
“We’ve done it a little bit in our past three away games, but we haven’t played away that much this season so we haven’t utilized it much. We’re still comfortable with it.”
On quarterback continuity:
“It definitely helps. All the guys on offense love playing for Johnny (McCrary). He’s a really great guy to play for. He brings a lot of great energy and positive energy to the team. Every time he steps into the huddle we’re confident. It’s definitely helped us start clicking on offense so we’re happy with his progression.”
On offensive strengths:
“We know that the strength in our offense is our offensive line. You definitely want to run the ball because we’re very effective at that. And teams are going to key on that. The more we can pass the ball effectively it’s going to open up holes in the running game so they cant just load the box with seven to eight defenders. We’re improving on that and we’re working on that in practice.”
On combating Mississippi State’s red-zone defense:
“We just have to get explosive plays; 20-30 yard plays something like that. When you do get in (the red zone), you just have to buckle down because you know you’re under a lot of pressure. They have a veteran group of guys up front that are extremely skilled so we just have to focus on their fundamentals and the things they can do.”
On offense:
“We’re very happy with the strides we’ve made these past couple of weeks. We’re not content with them, we know we can improve in certain areas in our offense and we’re happy in the direction we’re headed.”
OLB Stephen Weatherly
On emulating Mississippi State QB Dak Prescott in practice:
“Dak Prescott is a mobile guy, big bodied. We do have a mobile quarterback on the scouting team, Shawn Stankavage. He gives us a lot of great looks and hits the holes hard. He does a great job of emulating.”
Preparing for MSU’s dual-threat offense:
“We feel like if we take away one, then we will can prepare heavily for the others. So if we take away the run, then the only thing we have to do is focus on the pass. So we try to eliminate one from the game.”
On excitement of game:
“We approach every game like it’s the last game. We need to go 1-0 that week. I don’t want to say this game is bigger than any other game, but you can’t get away from the fact that it is since they were No. 1 for such a long period. Everyone is really excited to go to Starkville and try to get a W.”
On playing the 3-4 as the season has progressed:
“Yes it’s gotten easier. Going from putting my hand in the dirt and only worrying about one man at a time, maybe two if the tight end is on your side, to standing up and reading offenses and wide receivers, all that stuff. … But as the season has progressed, Coach Thompson, our outside linebacker coach, did a really great job of taking the defensive ends and molding us to a 3-4 outside linebackers.”
On working on forcing turnovers:
“It starts with practice. Coach always says `practice on making plays,’ so if we focus on converting more loose balls in practice to turnovers then it will change in the game. That’s something we’ve focused on in practice this week is creating turnovers.”