Excerpts from Bob Toledo press conference

[Big Easy Pony]

Here are the parts that are related to Saturday's game. The whole transcription can be found here:
http://www.tulanegreenwave.com/sports/m ... 10aad.html



Quotes From Football's Weekly Press Conference
Head coach Bob Toledo reviews the UTEP win, previews upcoming C-USA contest vs. SMU

Oct. 26, 2010

NEW ORLEANS - On the state of Tulane football at this point
"Now we have a 3-4 record and the nice thing about that is it's our best start since 2003. It's our first ever win that we've had against UTEP in El Paso or against anybody in El Paso. Obviously, it was great to see our kids in the locker room after the game. They constantly tell me, like every player to their coaches, `Coach, we want to have fun.' And I constantly tell them, `You have fun in winning. That's when you have fun.' Believe me, they had a lot of fun in that locker room after the game. I've said it all along that their attitude has been great. I've meant it and it's shown. They've never quit practicing hard and I don't believe they've ever quit playing hard. Now we've got to take that work and effort of lifting weights and practicing, and you have to take it to the game field. They finally did. We played like we practice. I constantly tell them that performance is what counts. You can have all the potential in the world, but that just gets you beat. You have to perform. We really did a nice job of going out and performing this last week against El Paso."

On the Green Wave's rushing effort against the Miners
"The one thing that was nice is that we started out fast for a change. You look at the first two series, our defense went in there and it was three-and-out. We haven't done that this year. Offensively, we take the ball the first series, go down 10 plays and miss a short field goal. Then we get the ball again, we take it down nine plays and we score a touchdown. We were getting after them pretty good those first couple of series. The game was tied three times during the course of the game, and in the second half I believe we basically wore them down with our running game. It was obvious in watching the game unfold. It was our best performance running the football this year. I thought our offensive line - which includes our tight ends, who blocked better than they probably have ever blocked since I've been here - they really got after it. It was a physical football game up front and of course we had several backs that ran extremely well."

On the performance of sophomore quarterback Ryan Griffin
"Ryan probably did his best job of managing the game since he's been here. We give him `check with me's' where we give him a couple of plays to call at the line of scrimmage depending on the defense, and he did a great job. We called some plays and he got us out of bad plays by audibeling. When I talk about audbiling, I tell Ryan there are basically two types of audibles. One is a must audible which means you must get us out of a bad play, and the other is an advantage audible which means take advantage of what the defense is giving you. He is getting to that point. It's like the light switch went on last week. It was really fun to see him totally manage that football game. There were a couple of times where we called a play, I looked out there and we had a four-man side where we couldn't run a play into. I was saying to myself, `oh man, this is going to be a dead play,' and he changed the play. He really did a great job."

On the performance of senior wide receiver Casey Robottom
"Casey Robottom had a big-time game. I mean it was a phenomenal football game. He was banged up and beat up. He had a sprained ankle, he had a bad knee and he just kept battling. He had 10 catches for 151 yards and two touchdowns. You all know that he was named Conference USA Offensive Player of the Week and he also got one of those ESPN Helmet Sticker Awards. He was very deserving of it. I'll tell you, he's had a heck of a year for us. He's a go-to guy. If you're going to put your money on a guy, you put it on Robottom."

On the job the defense did against UTEP
"Our defense played really well, too. They were very aggressive. They ran to the ball better in this game than in any game this year, and I think they've been playing pretty well. They lit it up a little bit. The answered the bell. We do things grading wise where we grade loafs. If a guy loafs, we downgrade them. We didn't have many loafs in this game. Guys were running to the football. I know (defensive coordinator) Steve (Stanard) talks about it all the time. You've got to run to the ball and you've got to tackle. If you can do that, you'll play pretty good defense and we did. We tackled better than we have in the last couple of weeks."

On creating three turnovers in the fourth quarter
"The big key was we had three turnovers. Last week, I talked about how besides the final score on the scoreboard, the most important stat is turnovers. I think some of our friends in the state found out the same thing. You can't turn the ball over and win many football games. It's hard. We didn't turn it over but one time and they turned it over three (times)."

On what he may be disappointed with following the win
"Special teams wise, I was disappointed with our kickoff and kickoff return. It's putting us in bad field position. We're kicking the ball relatively well, but our coverage and our tackling has been poor. We've talked about it. Doug Lichtenberger, our special teams coordinator, and I have talked and we're going to change some scheme a little bit. We're going to change some personnel. Hopefully that will help us this week."

On this weekend's opponent, the SMU Mustangs
"SMU is 4-4, 3-1 in Conference USA and they're tied for first place. They've got the No. 1 rusher in the conference, they've got the No. 1 passer in the conference and four of the Top 10 receivers play for SMU. They've got a heck of an offense. Defensively, they're playing better than they've ever played defensively. They are huge up front. Their guys are 6-6 and almost 300 pounds, 6-8 and almost 300 pounds and 6-3 - the nose guard - at 298. They are huge up front. They're playing a 3-4. They've got outstanding linebackers, and one of them is an all-league caliber player in my opinion. They're playing really well. They've blocked six PAT/field goals this year. One guy blocked six of them himself last year. They really get a lot of push and they present problems for you in the kicking game."

On the SMU contest opening a four-game home stretch for the Green Wave
"Obviously, it's the first of four home games. We're looking forward to coming back home and playing in front of our crowd."

On Tulane's injury status
"The new injuries, and I won't talk about the old ones, but basically Stephen Barnett made a 38-yard run and probably would have taken it to the house but he pulled a hamstring. He pulled up during the run and is out. They say he may be out anywhere from three to four weeks. It's a pretty badly pulled hamstring and he really did a nice job for us. Taylor Echols got a concussion during the game and its one of the bad type of concussions. He's very doubtful for the game and I'm not sure if he'll even practice this week. Austen Jacks also had a concussion but he's probably for the game. Hopefully he can practice by tomorrow or Thursday. Alex Lauricella had a real bad elbow injury. He is very questionable for the game. And of course we've got some guys with nicks, bumps and bruises, coming off ankle injuries and those types of things, but they are all able to play. We're relatively healthy. As I said during the beginning of the year, we now feel like we have some quality depth where guys can step in and we don't drop off that far. That's good for a football program."

On Tulane playing better on the road than they do at home
"Well, in talking to some of our kids there might be a reason. When you go on the road, you take 66 guys. That's our policy. It's a Conference USA policy. We've changed our routine at home. We need to look at that. The big thing is we're not staying in a hotel. I approved it when it was brought to my attention. We're trying to save some money so we're not staying in a hotel during home games. We're letting the kids stay in their dorm or their apartment and that's not an excuse. Some of the kids have expressed that to me. We won the first game and we stayed there and maybe that's a bad excuse. I'm only mentioning that because that's what the players have mentioned to me."

On if this SMU offense is a more conventional one than June Jones has coached in the past
"Last year they ran the ball well, too. They had the kid who came out (to the NFL Draft) as a junior. This young sophomore, he's a big guy. He's 6-1, 240 and he bangs in there pretty good. They don't run a lot of runs. Basically, it's a draw and they run him on a little roll screen and such. Basically, their draw is off the passing game. You're trying to defend the pass and you're vulnerable to the draw. He's a big, physical runner is what he is. If you're on your heels defending the pass, then all of a sudden you're vulnerable to it. We've got to stop the draw. We've got to stop him from running the football first and foremost, and then pressure the quarterback."

On how Tulane stops the running game
"The big thing is you have to emphasize to your front people is that you have to stop the run first. You can't just pass rush. You have to be aware of draws, you've got make sure that he's not carrying the football, and you have to be aggressive on early downs trying to stop the run. June doesn't just drop back and throw the football. He's got great balance in his offense. That's one of the things that is a concern to us - not just throwing the football, but running it. If you look at last year's game, they took the ball at the end and they ran it down the field and scored to beat us by five points. We've got to stop the run game first and foremost, and hopefully rally to the pass."

On if he feels his team is growing up physically and maturing mentally
"Yes, and I've said that from the beginning. I think we are a more mature football team. We are a bigger, strong, more athletic football team. From a personnel standpoint, we're better. I wear that on my sleeve all the time. But yes, we're better. I think from a maturity standpoint in talking to some of the seniors, they've been down this road before. They know and they've seen us - I hate to say quit or give up - but they've seen us in the past kind of just go through the motions. They're not doing that. They've been playing hard through our losses. They've played hard. A lot of people last week thought we would go down (to El Paso) and lose. I really felt good about it because I them every day. I see how hard they're working. I see their attitude. I see how they feel about things. And that's why I challenged them too last week. I said this is a must-win. That's a lot of pressure for a young guy. This is a must-win. You've got to win this football game, and they went out and one it."

On if there is a specific reason the Green Wave defense has struggled against the run
"Well, you can ask yourself why are you No. 1 or No. 2 in pass defense? Because people are running on you. They're not passing it on you. So the stats are deceiving. But let me say this: Army was a different kind of running team that we've faced. Tulsa and those people that run all that misdirection - look at LSU. They had some problems against the run too with that offense. That's why I felt good about last week. When I said we matched up well, I wasn't just talking about personnel. I was talking about schemes. I thought we matched up well with what they did. This week, we have to fend with four guys running down the field deep and fast, running great routes and catching the ball. They catch the ball well and they run after the catch. But if we don't stop that running back, it'll be a long day. They don't have a lot of runs, but what they have we have to stop."

On if he is concerned with rotating defensive backs due to injury
"No because we'll still rotate some other guys. The Washington twins will probably play a little more. At the safety position, Devon Walker is still there. Kyle Davis, a freshman, has played a little bit and played on special teams. We've got some back-up depth there. If we can stay healthy back there, we'll be alright. Corner wise, we've got some depth. I feel good about it."

On what personnel changes he plan on making on special teams
"(Trent) Mackey and (Darryl) Farley are going to be on the kickoff team this week. They're tired of starting on the 50 yard line. I asked them if they would rather be on the kickoff teams or start on the 50? They said, `Coach, we'll help.' So they'll be on kickoff this week."

On the overall performance of Trent Mackey
"As I said last year, if he would have been eligible he would have started along with Moses last year. He's got a great nose for the football. Sometimes it gets him in trouble because he doesn't protect his gap like (defensive coordinator) Steve (Stanard) wants him to do, but he makes a lot of tackles. He's all over the field. He's got great effort. He's a great football player. He's like a Mike Singletary - not real big but he's got really good speed, he's strong and he's tough. Again, he's got those eyes and he's got that nose for the football. He goes and gets the ball."

On who will start at running back this weekend against SMU
"Orleans Darkwa will start. Orleans didn't play in the first half (at UTEP). He was coming off of a concussion. We were kind of wearing them down a little bit and it was our feeling that in the second half we'll see how he goes. He went really well. They were getting worn down and he wore them down even more. A lot of people have asked why he hasn't played more. Well, first of all, we've got some pretty good running backs. We've got some good quality depth and they all deserve a chance to play. But on the other hand, he's had some injuries too. He had the elbow that bothered him. He had a concussion which put him out. He's had some injuries. But if he's healthy, he's a pretty good player so I'm going to ride that horse a little more this week."