Bowling Green State University Athletics
Urban Meyer Quotes
September 25, 2001 | Football
Sept. 25, 2001
Does Marshall having three weeks off give them a big advantage over you in regards to preparation?
I can't imagine it's that much of an advantage. My concern is that this is a Marshall team that is extremely talented. When you have one bye week, you can recoup and get some guys healthy. We better get good at what we do and who we are. We're not a dial-out offense every week, we're not going to change our defense. We're going to play the way we play now. There will always be wrinkles and they'll try to take advantage of what we do, but we're not going to change a thing. We're not good enough yet. Offensively we're still trying to execute. The second half (against Temple) was very encouraging, but we still have forever to go.
Against Temple towards the end of the game, there were a couple guys, in particular Godfrey Lewis, that got in that have not usually been getting to play very much. What are your thoughts on that?
It was heartwarming to see Godfrey Lewis because I love Godfrey Lewis. I love what he stands for and his worth ethic. When he got hurt in two a days, our first day in pads, that broke everyone's heart on the team. When he came back, he ran hard. Coach Brandon put him in and we had the ball on our own 25-yard line. I thought "My God, he hasn't been hit in 2 months." ...or really since April in spring practice. So I took him out so we can wait till he had a little bit of breathing room so I don't want to put our defense in a bad situation to make it a close game. I apologized to Godfrey for that and we put him back in. He finished with about 3 or 4 carries. He ran hard...and yesterday at practice he looked even better. So it's getting better and better and better. Now that gives you three running backs, which is what you need. You've got (John) Gibson who didn't even practice in the spring and he's a different player than he was last year. My hat's off to him and his effort. And he's tougher. Joe Alls is also running extremely hard. So now you've got three running backs that compliment each other.
What about the linemen?
We're still struggling. We don't have the depth. It's good to get guys , but by the time we put them in, the game was over. Defensive line is a significant concern. Will Teague is a guy that has to play. He looks the part and he has the ability. But Ryan Wingrove and Chris Glantzis did not play as well as they've played the first two weeks. This is a marathon, man. We have eight or nine more games left. You just can't play guys 60-70 plays on defense. It's just physically impossible to do that. I think it's starting to show. Our challenge is that those backup D-Lineman have to play. Brandon Hicks only played 44 plays. That's why he played so well So we've got to address that issue, and we did yesterday, and we're going to address it all week.
Your thoughts on artificial turf?
I just watched Marshall lose their best running back in a potential career-threatening hit. It was a clean hit, but the guy got hit, his knee got locked into the ground, and he blew his knee out. My thoughts are not real positive on artificial turf. I was complaining to Greg Brandon. He said, "You know, the more you talk about it, the more an issue it is." I think the NFL, with all the studies done would outlaw it if it were really that bad. I don't know. I know what I feel like after coaching on it for two hours, I really can't imagine how the kids feel like playing on it. I played on it as a player too. I'm not really in favor of it, but you control what you can control. Get them ready to play. We're not going to practice on artificial turf. We're going to practice outside as long as possible and maybe we'll go in (to the turf room) on Thursday because I want a healthy bunch going down there.
How exciting is it with the league race and the divisional race?
That's our focus. I made a big deal that our goal was not to beat Missouri. It never was, and it never will be. The week of is when we started to prepare for that game. Our goal was to compete for the MAC-East. Our goal was to beat Buffalo, and now our goal is to beat Marshall. When you start talking about Marshall, you're talking about a little different tempo. When I was at Notre Dame I used to watch Marshall. I've seen whom they recruit, and I know whom they've got playing for them. I've seen Randy Moss and (Chad) Pennington...and when you watch them on tape they've still got those kinds of players.
How exciting is it? I can lie to you and tell you it's just another week, but I'd be flat lying to you. I'm out of my shoes. I hope our team is too, because this is an opportunity. If you want to get recognition, you go down and beat Marshall. Talent wise? I'm not sure we can. The kids have to play above their heads a little bit this week. You have to be sound and Marshall is the kind of team that if you make a mistake, they score a touchdown. I'm not sure we've faced that kind of team yet. We've faced Missouri who had a quarterback situation. We've faced Buffalo who had a brand new offense and basically didn't have the guns that Marshall has. We faced Temple who had that receiver that was really fast...but you can't make a mistake on defense against Marshall, it's 7-0...they're that good. The excitement becomes reality again on Tuesday when you watch the tape. But the team and staff are extremely excited.
Is there anything to gain from watching last year's film?
No, we're really different. We're trying to compete against what has been the best team in the MAC East. Last year, I watched that tape a couple of times. It's kind of encouraging to know that we can play with them. That's the only thing you can get from it. X's and O's wise, they changed their defense schematically and offensively."
Can you comment on what you defensive line has done. It seems that every time an interception happens, the play before the interception, the quarterback has been sacked or pressured?
What's happening is that Coach Beckman and Coach Ward have come up with a good scheme to get guys there, also the defensive line is playing to their potential. I didn't know much about this team but all off-season I saw guys run like Wingrove and Glantzis and Hicks and realized that they were fast. I will never forget this, in February I put them up against the defensive backs in the shuttle drills in a race because I was so impressed with how fast the guys on the defensive line were running. Of course you had guys like Janssen (Patton) win significantly. But usually at most programs you see those two groups run and you see secondary finish and then the defensive line finish, but that wasn't the case. There is some talent there. It is one thing to have talent but there is also the pleasure of potential. You do not get rewarded for potential, you get rewarded for performance and they are performing at a very high standard right now.
Anything else you can put your finger on that might be the reason that so many things have changed with essentially the same guys?
The biggest thing I see is that we have some pretty good players, but we need more. Not all positions are obviously set the way I would like them to be or I would be at home around 4 p.m. not worrying about it. But you see some darn good players and guys that try hard. Once again you get rewarded for performance not potential, and there is a significant amount of potential, and they are playing and performing to their potential. What we are doing is working and we have a bunch of kids that believe. I think it is easy to motivate when things are going right. You take the example of the kickoff return team. No one has worked harder than we have on that. Then to see that kid shoot out of the cannon on the opening kickoff now makes it much easier for us to motivate our kickoff return team to get back out there and practice Monday. If the ball had been fumbled on the twelve yard line it would have been much harder for us to motivate them to get back out there. It is a big credit to the assistant coaches for working their butts off.
