Bowling Green State University Athletics
Gregg Brandon Press Conference Quotes
November 09, 2004 | Football
Nov. 9, 2004
Q. Any injuries or changes to the 2-deep after Western Michigan?
A. Deaudre Perry is still questionable. We'll start T.J. Carswell if Perry [doesn't start]. Bryan Jackson, a good special teams player for us is still questionable. He's a backup safety. Everybody else is pretty good I think.
Q. What is Deaudre Perry's injury?
A. I think he has a high ankle sprain, which I think takes a little longer than the low ankle sprain.
Q. The marquee bit of the match up [against Marshall] is the number one defense in the MAC facing the number one offense in the MAC. Can you talk a little bit about that?
A. Well, I challenged our defense to beat their defense. That is what we did when we went down to Ohio University. At that time, their defense was number one in the MAC and we beat their defense statistically. So, that's what I'm doing this week. Our defense needs to outperform Marshall's defense, and that will be a good challenge for them. When (Stan) Hill's healthy, I think he's as good of quarterback as there is in the league. He just hasn't been healthy. It seems like every week we get a new receiver we have to stop, and (Josh) Davis is outstanding. They haven't been running the ball like you would expect Marshall to run the ball, but they've got capable guys. Their defense is very quick and active, and (Jonathan) Goddard is an outstanding pass rusher and a good football player. Their secondary is very strong. I think they've got eight or nine seniors on that defense that have played the game for a while. So, it's going to be a good test for our offense.
Q. Is there any one thing that makes that defense as formidable as it is, or is it a combination of things?
A. Well, I think that they have great team speed. They've very athletic and they're hard to block. They can run around blocks, they can take blocks on, and they're sure tacklers. Their secondary doesn't get beat deep very often and keeps the ball in front of them. They do all the things that a good defense needs to do. Omar has got to be sharp and our receivers have got to work to get open.
Q. And that seems to be the match up within the match up there? Their defensive line and (Jonathan) Goddard and (Jamus) Martin up against BG's offensive line?
A. Yes and their two inside guys are stout. I haven't seen too many people knocking those two guys off. I just hope that we can wear them out, get them out of position, and then exploit that.
Q. Do you have any words about the quality of your opponent? Marshall will be a better team than you've played over the last month. Will your team have a problem adjusting to that?
A. Well, I would not anticipate that. I think that once the game starts, our guys will adjust to the tempo. Obviously, when we started out at Oklahoma that was a concern, and our players know that hey...Goddard is a little faster coming off the edge than the last four or five guys. But, we have guys in practice that run like that. You practice against guys like Mitch Crossley or Devon Parks, and those guys aren't any slouches. I tell our corners Terrill Mayberry and Jelani Jordan, you're practicing against (Steve) Sanders, (Charles) Sharon, and (Cole) Magner, those guys aren't slouches. So, we play against good people in practice, which helps us go against good people in games.
Q. So you do a lot of one-on-one in practice?
A. Individual type things, like pass rush drills and one-on-one, two-on-two type things with receivers and DB's. As far as team, we don't do a lot of that at this point in the season, simply because it would be too intense. We need to save some of that starch for Saturday. Q. How is it that Omar has been able to step in and progress so easily without really missing a beat this year? A. Well, he's a great student of the game. He's been in the system for two years, which is huge. Our offensive line does a great job of protecting him, which is great for a quarterback's confidence. Our receivers are veteran receivers, and they run great routes and get open. Our running game is such that we can take some pressure off him. We don't have to ask him to throw it sixty times to win a game. I think we're capable of doing that, but we mix it up enough so that we take some pressure off him that way with our running game. I think it's a combination of those things.
Q. What is it that he does best?
A. Well, the intangibles...he's very poised and I've seen that throughout the course of the year. The way he handles pressure, stays in the pocket, and makes good decisions. The things that you can put your fingers on are that he's very accurate; he's completing almost 70% of his throws which is outstanding for that many attempts. I think he's in the top five in the country. And he's taking care of the football. He's not throwing to the wrong color of jerseys. We're leading the league in turnover margin, which is really helpful.
Q. Was there any point during the season where you knew he'd be able to step in and run things like he has?
A. At Oklahoma. I remember telling the team after the game that I thought our kids played hard, and that I thought we found a quarterback.
Q. Was there a certain point in that game when you felt that?
A. The first series. When there were 80,000 going nuts and I couldn't even hear anybody through the headsets, and Omar's out there like... hey coach, it's just another day.
Q. How important is this game as far as BG getting to a bowl?
A. I think it's huge. As far as the MAC, we don't get any respect for the bowls. So, we've got to prove that we deserve to be there [by winning out], and this is a big start, we need to beat Marshall. We're already bowl eligible, but nobody talks about us getting to a bowl game. We've already won seven games. If we were in the Big Ten we'd all be smoking cigars right now. We'd be in one of the 99 bowl games they have, you know. And we've still got a shot at winning this league. If we can get some help from the boys up north tonight, we can stay alive. But, realistically, who knows what's going to happen. We just need to make it impossible for the bowls to ignore us, and I think our players know that. We have an exciting offense and a marquee quarterback. We have a stifling defense that is only giving up eighteen points a game. We have great fans, our students will follow us. At the Motor City Bowl last year we had 30,000 in orange there. Bowls look at all that. It's important for fans to understand that at the Marshall game we need to represent. We need to get 30,000 in there, just like we did for Northern Illinois and Toledo last year. They need to show up with their Thunderstix an hour or two before the game, and greet the team when we're walking down the sidewalk (into the stadium, which happens approximately two hours prior to kickoff) and just be jacked up. Bowls look at fan support. They're going to look at how many people are going to come to their town, so we need to show the world that hey...Bowling Green is worthy of a bowl game. Because, we've shown them on the field; we've demonstrated that we're worthy. Now, it's up to the fans to crank it up.
Q. This week is Senior Week. A lot of the first guys you helped to recruit are finishing their career. Have you thought anything about that?
A. Oh, absolutely, everyday. Anytime a great senior class moves along, you shed a tear. With great programs that is what you're supposed to do. Your seniors are supposed to lead and win games for you and get you in bowl games. And then they move on and your next year's seniors do the same thing, year after year after year. Nebraska has been to thirty straight bowl games. So, you shake those [seniors] hands and bring in the next group. It's not like it's the end of an era, this is really kind of the beginning of one, in my opinion. These seniors have won 35 games in four years, and that's outstanding.
Q. But to see what is was when you got here, BG was 2-9. The impact they've made is maybe even bigger than people realize?
A. Well, I think that anytime you turn a program around, it is the result of a good senior class. And when those kids came in, understand that there were already seniors in the program that bought in. I look back to the first year with Ryan Wingrove, Garry Fisher, Khary Campbell, and the next year with Joe Alls, and Jon Mazur that were part of that too and helping us have success. But, you're right. This class is special because they've been here for the duration. And they've won the most games. So, it will be fun when we introduce them before the game Saturday. It was fun last year before Toledo. They were all out there with their family members and I got to shake their hands and kind of say goodbye one more time, and then went out and won a football game.
Q. Can you talk about Marshall's offensive struggle against Akron?
A. It was uncharacteristic. They dropped a couple of touchdown passes, they couldn't move the ball out of the endzone, they gave up the onside kick, some special teams foul ups. I heard Coach Pruett on the radio say that it was just a comedy of errors. Every coach's nightmare is what happened to him, because they had numerous opportunities to put Akron away. You have to give Akron credit for staying in there and hanging around. Akron's got a good quarterback. I like him.
Q. Marshall did a lot against Akron but they're capable of doing a lot more...
A. Well, they threw for over 400 yards against Akron. Just because Marshall doesn't have Randy Moss and Darius Watts, they're still very formidable. I mean Josh Davis is as good as those guys. He'll probably be a pro player. (Stan) Hill, when he's healthy, is very capable. Our defense needs to keep them off balance.
Q. How much were you involved with recruiting Omar and bringing him here? He was one of the top players coming out of Florida that year, so how was it that you were able to get him up here to Bowling Green?
A. Well, Omar was being recruited by a Big 12 school, and they had called us a couple of weeks before the signing date to tell us that he was going to be available. I think Urban was already in Florida, so he just drove down there and saw him. And then we got him up here on a visit, and I spent the whole time with him and recruited the heck out of him. And then it was just us and Buffalo, those were the only two schools I think. It wasn't like everybody was lining up because no one knew he was available. That happens at the quarterback position quite a bit. Once a team gets their guy, they pretty much drop off guys and there are some good ones available. It's not like lineman. You can sign 5 or 6 lineman in a class. If you get one marquee quarterback, other quarterbacks look at that and go, well I could go somewhere else and be the guy.
Q. Did looking at the success of other league quarterbacks, help to sell Omar on the MAC?
A. I don't think it had anything to do with them. I think he really liked our offense, what we were doing out of the shotgun, what Josh Harris did and the success we had that way. And he knew that he could be an impact guy in our system. He saw a program that was turning the corner that was winning, that our players have great chemistry, and all of the other things that people use to make their decision about what school to go to. I think Omar was right on...it was the people, our program, excellent academics, and a marquee football program.
