Bowling Green State University Athletics
Urban Meyer Press Conference
October 30, 2001 | Football
Oct. 30, 2001
"It was great to have a bye week, especially after a win. When you win a game the whole atmosphere of preparation changes. The kids got to go home were able to go to a high school football game, proud to be wearing the Falcon letterman's jacket. The coaches were able to sit with their family and watch a college football game this past Saturday afternoon. It was a good feeling to sit back and know that you won last week."
"A lot of the Falcons are finding out that this is a big football game. Everyone talks about the Toledo rivalry, and that is a great rivalry, and you will never take away from that because the programs are so close. You talk about history and the tradition of the MAC and you talk about these two universities, and you know that this game will be a war. This will be a great game. Growing up I remember Miami and Bowling Green are the two teams that were winning the MAC, and I am really anxious for this game."
"The discouraging thing is that this is probably the most balanced team we have seen. As a coach you try to identify and take advantage of weaknesses of a football team, and it is very hard to find a weakness on this Miami team. You see teams that are really good throwing the ball but can't run. You see a team is very good defensively against the pass, but can't defend the run. This team is very well balanced all the way across the board."
"I am proud that we have had great balance on our football team thus far. We are not one-dimensional and one of our goals is to be very balanced. Our special teams are ranked from the middle to the top in the conference. On defense, we proved that we can defend the pass against Akron. Our rush defense is #1. In turnover ratio, we are #1. So there are some real positives in our program and I anticipate this to be a great football game."
(On the time to prepare)
"Coaches have a lot more preparation time. Now a coach becomes more analytical of who you are playing, and you forget what has made you successful. We are in the middle of that right now, both on defense and offense. Usually you have a Sunday night and a Monday night to finish the game plan, but now you have a lot more time to think about the plan for the upcoming week."
(On finding a way to win)
"I think that is our whole approach around here. There is a phrase that we use around here and that is "winning is extremely fragile." How you prepare your team is that you eliminate your mistakes and execute the things you would like to do with perfection. What happens as a coach is that you are worried about everything going in to the game, and then you lose a game because of something stupid that happens. At Western Michigan I saw things happen, but you are so worried about keeping the good things going and then something goes wrong. If there is a mistake in practice, we stop it at that moment and correct it so that it doesn't happen later."
"This is going to be a classic game. You have two disciplined teams. Miami has won those close games and I can tell you why, because they are well coached, they have some good players, and that usually relates to winning. They prepare for those types of situations and they are well disciplined."
(On Ben Roethlisberger)
" He hurts you as much or more when he gets flush in that pocket, and that is a major concern. A guy that can just sit back in the pocket and throw the ball is a major concern. You can try and disrupt him, but the great quarterbacks are the guys that can readjust and can flush out of that pocket, get their feet reset and throw the ball. Last night we watched him over and over again and we were very impressed at how he could do that."
