Bowling Green State University Athletics
Gary Blackney's Weekly Press Conference (Buffalo)
September 18, 2000 | Football
Sept. 18, 2000
Blackney Press Conference 9/18/00
Q: Give us your thoughts as you prepare for the start of the MAC season?
Blackney: From a positive point of view, I think that one thing we've done pretty consistently throughout the last three games is protect the ball offensively and we've taken away the ball defensively. If we continue to do that, that will compute into something positive because that is an important statistic, takeaways. Right now I'm pleased with that part of our team. There is certainly disappointment and frustration at the overall record. But, just try to be realistic about it. I don't think anybody can predict just how good, well I think we can all predict how good Michigan is. But, as far as Pitt and Temple, I think they are really good, solid football teams. Except for the injuries, it would be my guess that we just played against three really outstanding teams. We're as banged up as we've ever been and basically we need our young players to step up until we can get some of these injured players back. My concern, coming out of the Temple game was the state of mind of our football team. We met yesterday and practiced, and the team showed a great deal of resilience in terms of bouncing back and having a good attitude, so I was happy with that.
Q: What about an update on the injuries
Blackney: It's a long list. Mitch Hewitt has a possible ACL, so he's probably lost for the season. Malone had a hip flexor. His status is up in the air. Alexander is out with a bruised kneecap. Kupke is out with a MCL. Godfrey Lewis is out with a stress fracture. Obviously Kurt Gerling is still out. Eric Curl ran yesterday and I would say that his status is doubtful for this week. There are some other guys with bumps and bruises, but those are probably the most serious.
Q: What about Andre Davis?
Blackney: Andre Davis is going to have surgery on 9/28 for a torn ACL, so he's a definite redshirt, because he wasn't redshirted as a true freshman. Godfrey Lewis could be in the same situation. He could be redshirted because he wasn't as a true freshman.
Q: So, the injury situation here is probably the worst you've faced?
Blackney: Yes, we've got two starters in the offensive line down. We've got both our starting wide receivers down. Hewitt was a part time starterand was playing real well. Malone was a starter who was coming along. I don't know what his situation is for this week. But, as of today he's out. He was pretty sore.
Q: How do you look at that all together? Is that obviously part of the game, or the price that you might end up paying when you play Michigan and Pittsburgh, and go against some of the more physical teams in college football, they're gonna pound you a little bit?
Blackney: It might be the fact that they were three in a row. I can't ever remember playing three opponents like that in a row and I don't think the turf helped us. Hewitt's might have been a turf related injury. Although I'm not sure, because he actually said he felt it pop before he went down the second time. So, it might have been something, and then he might've finished it, because there was little or no contact when he went down the second time. I know any time we play on that stuff, it takes a toll on you. We've got some other players with turf toe, and strains and sprains and sore today. I don't know if it was an accumulative effect or not, but we've never had this many guys out. We've still have enough good players. I think if we get them in the right position, I think we can have success. I still like our defense versus the run. I think we played a little bit better against the pass.
Q: After meeting with the kids yesterday, do you feel pretty good about their confidence level? Are they upbeat as they go into the MAC games?
Blackney: I think they know that we played some quality opponents. I mentioned the fact that you always try to find positives and something to lean on when you lose. I just mentioned the fact that I read where Barlow (Pittsburgh tailback Anthony) rushed for 99 yards against Penn State. I can't remember what his stats were, but overall we shut him down pretty well. Had we played better against the deep pass, that score would've been closer. I just try to pull those kinds of things up, some of those different kinds of comparison. We've played against three pretty good football teams and our record is not where we want it to be, but now it's the start of a new season. For us, this is the most important part of our entire season.
Q: What can we look for offensively?
Blackney: We're just gonna have to manuever and make sure we plug some people in positions where they can help. For example, we moved Pinchem from flanker to split end, because we weren't getting it done at the split end position without Alexander. It appears that our two best receivers right now are Pinchem and Bautista, so we're going to make sure that we can get those guys on the field together. Our tight ends have done a nice job in the passing part of the game for the first time in a long time. I think that is because they're getting a lot of individual attention from Jim Bridge. They're getting a lot of individual coaching, something new which we haven't done. I think that productivity is starting to take place. Because of the lack of wideouts, we're gonna try to get those guys involved. We're gonna try to get Gibson and Alls in the same backfield a little more because those are two productive guys. I think that is going to be the key to our success.
Q: What do you see with Buffalo?
Blackney: I see a team that's well-coached. They are playing very hard. In some ways, they're like us. They are 0-3 and I think this is a critical juncture in the season for both teams. As it always is, it's difficult to play at night on the road, but that's one thing that we're going to have to adjust to. They're a solid football team. You can't judge their performance against Syracuse, because Syracuse is a pretty good football team with great speed. They do some different things on defense. They are a 3-4 type of team. They slant and angle, they move quite a bit. They zone blitz like we do. So, those are some of the problems we're going to have to contend with.
Q: Is there an inherent danger in a team like Buffalo? Getting your kids ready for Michigan and Pitt, you don't have to sell them a whole lot on how they've got to bring their A-game? And everyone knew that Temple was much improved, but with Buffalo going winless last year and they've lost 18 in a row, they're going to beat somebody sometime. Is it tough to get kids to buy that they can't go up there and play 80% and assume that's going to be good enough?
Blackney: That's absolutely on target. We've got to go up there and play as well as we're capable of playing. Even if we're at full strength, I think we have to do that. We proved that last year against Kent. We went into Kent and slopped around for 20 minutes of the game, gave them a 17-point lead and tried to battle back. I don't think that there's anybody good enough in this league to walk out on a field, and not have their best performance, because there is always the threat that somebody can beat you.
Q: Anything you are considering additionally as far as getting your team moving the ball on the ground better? I know that when you guys have been the most successful, that has been the foundational piece. The last three games has been tough going there.
Blackney: We have to make sure that we're getting the ball in the hands of our best players. And right now our best players are our quarterback, Joe Alls and Bautista. However we're able to do that, we have to make sure that happens. Because it's clear cut that those three guys are right now our marquee players on offense.
