Bowling Green State University Athletics
Gregg Brandon Press Conference Quotes
September 07, 2004 | Football
Sept. 7, 2004
Gregg Brandon Press Conference Q. I see that Jelani Jordan is not on the depth chart this week. Is he hurt? A. "Yeah, he's hurt. He got a shot in the side, and he had some internal bleeding. He's going to be out this week. Hopefully we'll have him back for Northern Illinois." Q. Daniel Sayles was out for a little bit too...he went to the locker room... A. "Daniel had a little shoulder AC separation, but he's good to go." Q. Anybody else hurt? A. "No, everybody else is healthy." Q. So Jordan would be the only guy that would be missing? A. "Right." Q. Were there any other changes to the two-deep based on what happened in Oklahoma? A. "With Jelani being out, we've got to move Keon to corner. And then we'll play Perry and Carswell inside and Mayberry on the other corner." Q. I'm talking more based on performance moves. A. "No, we're going to switch Hart and Warren. We're going to put Rob on the backside of Omar. Andrew had a tough time because he was going against probably the best past rusher in the country. So, to say that Andrew can't hold up the rest of the way is probably unfair, but we're gonna give Rob a chance to play on the backside and play Andrew on the right side." Q. Having seen the film now, can you give us an assessment of how Omar played? A. "Omar played well. He took care of the football, and he managed the offense. He made some nice throws. The throws that he missed, his mechanics were not very good. When Omar gets tired or gets rushed, he tends his elbow a little bit, and the ball comes out slinging and goes low. He knows that, and we've stressed that. I thought that completing 24 passes against that defense was pretty impressive, and managing the way he did in that environment. It was loud and hostile and he really kept his poise and that was encouraging to see." Q. Other things that you saw in film...were there other guys that stood out that we would have missed? A. "Obviously, Keon Newson. Keon Newson and P.J. Pope, in my opinion, are the two players on our team that could line up on Oklahoma's team and would fit right in. When they play a game like that, they show up. I remember last year at Ohio State, P.J. Pope played a good game. Keon's a gamer, he shows up, and I thought he had a great game. He was MAC Defensive Player of the Week, and was outstanding on the interception, and really did a nice job. He knew exactly what was coming, and got a visual key, got a tip and exploited it. And of course, the fumble he forced and recovered. That's vintage Keon, I mean he goes in and he's great at stripping and getting the ball out. That's what we stressed from last season. We weren't very good; we were minus 6 in turnovers. At least now we're two to one after the first game, so we've accomplished that goal so far. Offensively, I thought that we were a little inconsistent at receiver. Steve Sanders made some nice catches. We need to get the ball to James Hawkins a little more. P.J. Pope, I thought, did some nice things. Offensive line was outstanding...no sacks, no interceptions. The main thing I think is that we had trouble stopping the run, and running the ball. I knew we were going to have problem with that going in. When you play people like that where you don't match up across the board, you're going to have trouble running the football and stopping the run. And their offensive line dominated. They rushed the ball pretty much when they wanted to. And when we had a chance at the end to win the game, they got the ball back and it was 37-24, 13 minutes to go in the fourth quarter and they ran 17 plays. And we had third and two, third and three, third and four...couldn't stop them. And then the fourth and five, before they kicked the field goal, which could've been a huge play. As it turned out, they convert, we've got to blitz, we don't execute the blitz the way we needed to, and the quarterback flushes out and finds the guy. If we keep him in the pocket, Daniel Sayles is coming free on the backside and sacks him. And now we've got the ball on the 40 with 7 minutes and 26 seconds to go, down 37-24. When you play great teams like that, you have to take advantage of when those opportunities are out there, you've got to make that play. But I thought the effort was good. Our kids were still battling at the end, still running to the football, tackling hard and swarming. And that's really encouraging. We didn't lay down." Q, You mentioned just about everybody on offense that did something, expect Sharon. A. "I forgot Chuck. Chuck made a great catch on the second touchdown. He just laid out and snagged that thing. That was great protection, a good throw by Omar. The first touchdown was Omar was flushed and stayed alive and found him. That's nice to see. Omar's developed a good chemistry with our receivers. That was my biggest concern, was how he'd mesh with our receivers, and that's encouraging." Q. How is Chuck Sharon able to make plays like that...such as the tipped catch against Toledo, the play against Purdue, his first play against Oklahoma...how is he able to make plays like that? A. "First of all, he's a really great athlete. He has great ball skills, a good vertical, all that helps. But then, I think they key thing is instinctive. He knows where the football is and knows how to get it. Zach Azzanni does a great job putting him in position to make those kinds of plays. But still, when the ball goes up, its natural athleticism, playmaking ability, instinct...all those things go into what separates a playmaker from somebody who's just a good player. I think its instinct and great ball skills." Q. P.J. Pope had 51 yards rushing, but you mentioned that you thought he could play for Oklahoma. A. "We weren't going in saying that we're gonna hand the ball to Pope thirty times, because we didn't think we could block them to be honest with you. We thought our best chance was to pass protect, get the ball out quick and let Omar have some success that way. And move the chains to keep our defense off the field. And for the most part that worked. The problem we had was I think at the beginning of the second half, we had a couple three and outs. That's when they jumped in and got the big lead on us because we couldn't keep our defense off the field. If we'd have taken care of business offensively at the start of the second half, it might have been a different game, but we struggled to move the ball." Q. The struggles rushing the ball, if you are going to lay blame, how much of it is BG and how much of it is OU? A. "You would put it on me. No, I mean, I'm just saying I watch them on film, I see them giving up 50 yards a game rushing. It was the same thing last year against Ohio State. And the teams that I'm watching get 50 yards are grind it out football teams that live by the rush and die by the rush. The thing that we didn't do is run Omar as much as we could have. To say that I would do that again, no way. I'm not having Omar run the ball against that defense because I need Omar for ten more games. That's why we didn't run Omar. We didn't have the quarterback run package in the game. The only run play we ran with Omar was the speed option, and that was because we knew he was going to get a chance to pitch the ball. But it turned out the way they defended that, he ended up keeping it, and I'm yelling to Studrawa to not call that play anymore. Omar's a load...when they hit him, he was stout, so I don't have a problem the rest of the way running him, just like we did Josh last year." Q. So, we will probably see a little more of Omar rushing on designed plays? A. "Absolutely." Q. What I'm trying to say about the run isn't to assess blame, I'm just trying to say it looked like you guys struggled to run the ball when you did run it and a lot of that was because of their team's speed, blocking...was it more them than you? A. "Yes. When you're facing a great, fast defense like that, to say you're just gonna go in and dominate and run the football, there's no way." Q. How do you feel about the team's chances for making a run for the MAC title this year? A. "Well, we're not gonna talk about that. We're just need to beat SEMO. I think we've got a good football team, we'll just look to try to win this one Saturday night." Q. What do you need to work on? A. "Our defense needs to work better against the run, and they will because they're not going to see a ground attack like that the rest of the way. They're not going to see an offensive line like that, maybe the rest of their lives. So, if there's anything you can take from that game, when we did stop them, you're stopping one of the best teams in the country. But, we've got to show up against the run, and we still gave a couple of touchdown throws. Offensively, we need to develop the running game and we will, but I thought the passing game looked more like midseason rather than first game." Q. What about SEMO? A. "They've got some talented skill players, and I think they're quarterback's a pretty heady guy. Defensively, they're undersized, but they're quick and active just like you would expect from a team like that. We have to block them. We need to go in and execute. We'll just run our offense. Against Oklahoma, we had to strategize a bit, but hopefully we won't have to do that this week." Q. What are your thoughts on the new scoreboard? A. "I think it's big-time. We're a big-time program here and we need big-time things. We need a nice video board like everyone else in Division I has, so lets get that thing cranked up. I'd like to see 30,000 here...our players deserve fan support. We've got a good product and if you like college football, it'll be a great night. The first home game of the season, under the lights, come on out. Q. Any concern of a letdown, going from the number two team in the country to a Division I-AA team? A. "No, our guys were mad after films yesterday. They were upset because they thought we had a chance to win that game, and watching the films verified that. They went out to practice very determined, which you don't usually see on a Monday. "
