OrangeXtreme
The Mayor of Dewitt
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Syracuse Head Coach Scott Shafer
(Opening statement)
“First off, congratulations to Louisville on the victory. Obviously, disappointed in the loss for us. I thought the kids were playing hard the whole game, but I thought right there in the first quarter we saw our offense respond well. Guys were playing well. We got to a plus-two turnover margin early in the game, which was one of our big goals, to be up a couple in the turnover margin. And then late there, five minutes left in the half, things went south with the pick six by Louisville. Corner made a nice play and took that down for a touchdown. And then they get the ball back again there and, you guys watched the game. Fourth and two and they throw a late, late delay back to the backside Y, tight end, and make a big play on us. Fourteen points in five minutes, six off the interception and a big play on fourth and two and then they go down and end up making 14 in the last five minutes. That's very difficult to overcome. I thought we went out in the second half and tried to fight, just didn't have enough. Louisville has to get credit for doing a good job against us. I was pleased to see some of the young kids making some plays. (Defensive back Cordell) Hudson, the new starter for us the last couple weeks, nine tackles and an interception. (Safety Kielan) Whitner, another true freshman there, nine tackles, a forced fumble. (Safety Antwan) Cordy, eight tackles, a TFL, and (nose tackle) Steven Clark, two fumble recoveries. That was good to see for those kids. I feel terrible about (quarterback) Eric (Dungey) taking a hit there. The reason I kept Eric in the game is because we were fighting to see if we could go down the field and see if we couldn't get a couple more touchdowns and try to make it a great comeback situation. I feel horrible that he got hit. If I had 20-20 hindsight, I would've taken him out the play before that or something, but I don't. I feel bad about that. Hopefully he'll be ok.”
(On the Eric Dungey injury)
“It was a football play. He got hit. He got tackled. It's upper body. It's his head. He took a hit, a good football hit, trying to make a play.”
(On the offensive struggles)
“I think first and foremost you have to give credit to the defensive side of the ball. On the opposing sideline, they do a good job of making adjustments, and then we have to make our adjustments and try to carry it forth. We haven't done a good enough job with the second adjustments.”
(On dropped passes by Syracuse wide receivers)
“(You tell them to) catch the ball. Catch the ball with your eyes first and then your hands. You know what I mean? A lot of times they take their eyes off the ball and try to peek over their shoulder and try to do something that has to happen after you secure the football. We'll go back and look at it, but you've got to play the game at your speed. You've got to see it first to catch it. Some of those instances there we did a bad job taking our eyes off the ball.”
(On giving up 14 points to end the half)
“It's difficult. It stings bad.”
(On if he has seen any improvement in his team this year)
“Well, I mean not until we win games. That's the number one goal. There's been improvement in different areas. If you go through the whole thing it's good to see some guys making plays. On the flip side of it, we're still making mistakes; we're not as consistent as we need to be in other things. But, there's a lot of encouragement in a lot of ways but there's a lot of things that aren't good enough. You just got to keep working your techniques and fundamentals each day and try and get better. You got to get big and strong in the offseason too.”
(On if they knew Kyle Bolin would be the starter for Louisville)
“No, we had no idea on that. There wasn't an ACC report or anything. I don't know if they were just making sure the other young man (Lamar Jackson) was taken care of. I think they said he was questionable or something. We weren't sure but we were thinking it could happen. So, got to try and prepare for both of them but we didn't do a good enough job of defending Louisville, period.”
(On if they prepared for Kyle Bolin to start)
“We prepared for everybody that they play on offense. He played a lot in the Clemson game as well, so we did, we prepare for anybody that played - both quarterbacks, well really all three because Bonnafon we weren't sure until Thursday if he was out as well. We looked at all of them and had some preparation for each kid depending on who was going to be in the game. So, yes.”
(On the performance of Cordell Hudson)
“I thought he did some good things. It's always hard on sidelines to get a feel for the DBs until after the game where I can watch it. But, it was nice seeing him make that interception. I know he was frustrated because he had a couple plays that he thought he could have made as well. But I really, I couldn't see what he was referring to when he was coming off the field. I really like Cordell. He works extremely hard, real bright. He transferred in with a bunch of credit hours coming in. I really like the way he's working at it. He's gotten bigger and stronger. He put on about 12 pounds last year. So he's got a great future in front of him for the next few games this year and three years after that. I was pleased to see him play with confidence out there. I liked his lift when he came off the field on the drives and I think he's going to be a very good football player.”
(On his message to the team)
“Just what I said to them in the locker room, that the one thing that we know we have is the next day in front of us, the next game in front of us. Extremely disappointed going back a few games – triple overtime loss, the last play of the game against Pitt loss – so close but not close enough to turn it into a W. The thing we talk to the kids about more than anything else is just how important it is to stay true to what's most important. That's controlling the things that are most important, our team, and that's the way we keep continuing to fight back. Keep continuing to encourage each other, not point fingers. It's the hardest thing to coach when things aren't going well. Hardest thing to do with your family when things aren't going well. Why isn't dad making more money, you know what I mean? All those types of things. We look at it as a challenge we put right out there in front of them and talk about it and we say, 'How are you going to take on tomorrow? How are you going to attack through tomorrow? How are you going to listen to what's most important?” And that's what our focus will be moving into the next week as a team, as a family. And that's how we approach it. I've been real pleased in all my time here with the way our kids have responded to difficult situations and continue to fight through it. Because at the end of the day that's the most important thing we can do. Obviously, we've got to win more games to improve and do the things that we want to do and reach our goals, but it's the way you approach the difficult times that makes you a good character young man. That's our focus right now.”
http://gocards.com/news/2015/11/7/FB_1107150422.aspx
(Opening statement)
“First off, congratulations to Louisville on the victory. Obviously, disappointed in the loss for us. I thought the kids were playing hard the whole game, but I thought right there in the first quarter we saw our offense respond well. Guys were playing well. We got to a plus-two turnover margin early in the game, which was one of our big goals, to be up a couple in the turnover margin. And then late there, five minutes left in the half, things went south with the pick six by Louisville. Corner made a nice play and took that down for a touchdown. And then they get the ball back again there and, you guys watched the game. Fourth and two and they throw a late, late delay back to the backside Y, tight end, and make a big play on us. Fourteen points in five minutes, six off the interception and a big play on fourth and two and then they go down and end up making 14 in the last five minutes. That's very difficult to overcome. I thought we went out in the second half and tried to fight, just didn't have enough. Louisville has to get credit for doing a good job against us. I was pleased to see some of the young kids making some plays. (Defensive back Cordell) Hudson, the new starter for us the last couple weeks, nine tackles and an interception. (Safety Kielan) Whitner, another true freshman there, nine tackles, a forced fumble. (Safety Antwan) Cordy, eight tackles, a TFL, and (nose tackle) Steven Clark, two fumble recoveries. That was good to see for those kids. I feel terrible about (quarterback) Eric (Dungey) taking a hit there. The reason I kept Eric in the game is because we were fighting to see if we could go down the field and see if we couldn't get a couple more touchdowns and try to make it a great comeback situation. I feel horrible that he got hit. If I had 20-20 hindsight, I would've taken him out the play before that or something, but I don't. I feel bad about that. Hopefully he'll be ok.”
(On the Eric Dungey injury)
“It was a football play. He got hit. He got tackled. It's upper body. It's his head. He took a hit, a good football hit, trying to make a play.”
(On the offensive struggles)
“I think first and foremost you have to give credit to the defensive side of the ball. On the opposing sideline, they do a good job of making adjustments, and then we have to make our adjustments and try to carry it forth. We haven't done a good enough job with the second adjustments.”
(On dropped passes by Syracuse wide receivers)
“(You tell them to) catch the ball. Catch the ball with your eyes first and then your hands. You know what I mean? A lot of times they take their eyes off the ball and try to peek over their shoulder and try to do something that has to happen after you secure the football. We'll go back and look at it, but you've got to play the game at your speed. You've got to see it first to catch it. Some of those instances there we did a bad job taking our eyes off the ball.”
(On giving up 14 points to end the half)
“It's difficult. It stings bad.”
(On if he has seen any improvement in his team this year)
“Well, I mean not until we win games. That's the number one goal. There's been improvement in different areas. If you go through the whole thing it's good to see some guys making plays. On the flip side of it, we're still making mistakes; we're not as consistent as we need to be in other things. But, there's a lot of encouragement in a lot of ways but there's a lot of things that aren't good enough. You just got to keep working your techniques and fundamentals each day and try and get better. You got to get big and strong in the offseason too.”
(On if they knew Kyle Bolin would be the starter for Louisville)
“No, we had no idea on that. There wasn't an ACC report or anything. I don't know if they were just making sure the other young man (Lamar Jackson) was taken care of. I think they said he was questionable or something. We weren't sure but we were thinking it could happen. So, got to try and prepare for both of them but we didn't do a good enough job of defending Louisville, period.”
(On if they prepared for Kyle Bolin to start)
“We prepared for everybody that they play on offense. He played a lot in the Clemson game as well, so we did, we prepare for anybody that played - both quarterbacks, well really all three because Bonnafon we weren't sure until Thursday if he was out as well. We looked at all of them and had some preparation for each kid depending on who was going to be in the game. So, yes.”
(On the performance of Cordell Hudson)
“I thought he did some good things. It's always hard on sidelines to get a feel for the DBs until after the game where I can watch it. But, it was nice seeing him make that interception. I know he was frustrated because he had a couple plays that he thought he could have made as well. But I really, I couldn't see what he was referring to when he was coming off the field. I really like Cordell. He works extremely hard, real bright. He transferred in with a bunch of credit hours coming in. I really like the way he's working at it. He's gotten bigger and stronger. He put on about 12 pounds last year. So he's got a great future in front of him for the next few games this year and three years after that. I was pleased to see him play with confidence out there. I liked his lift when he came off the field on the drives and I think he's going to be a very good football player.”
(On his message to the team)
“Just what I said to them in the locker room, that the one thing that we know we have is the next day in front of us, the next game in front of us. Extremely disappointed going back a few games – triple overtime loss, the last play of the game against Pitt loss – so close but not close enough to turn it into a W. The thing we talk to the kids about more than anything else is just how important it is to stay true to what's most important. That's controlling the things that are most important, our team, and that's the way we keep continuing to fight back. Keep continuing to encourage each other, not point fingers. It's the hardest thing to coach when things aren't going well. Hardest thing to do with your family when things aren't going well. Why isn't dad making more money, you know what I mean? All those types of things. We look at it as a challenge we put right out there in front of them and talk about it and we say, 'How are you going to take on tomorrow? How are you going to attack through tomorrow? How are you going to listen to what's most important?” And that's what our focus will be moving into the next week as a team, as a family. And that's how we approach it. I've been real pleased in all my time here with the way our kids have responded to difficult situations and continue to fight through it. Because at the end of the day that's the most important thing we can do. Obviously, we've got to win more games to improve and do the things that we want to do and reach our goals, but it's the way you approach the difficult times that makes you a good character young man. That's our focus right now.”
http://gocards.com/news/2015/11/7/FB_1107150422.aspx
