Marshall University Athletics
Mark Snyder's Weekly Press Conference Transcript
9/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 22, 2009
HUNTINGTON - September 22, 2009 Press Conference Football Head Coach Mark Snyder
Opening Statement
"It was an exciting weekend and I want to take our hats off to our boosters and our fans for the Johnathan Goddard golf outing that we had. It was a great success. We had a chance to meet his family and we have some ties there that we didn't even know. Between John's father, his son, my brother and nephew, it was a pretty neat weekend. I heard the concert for coach [Rick] Huck went well. On Saturday, we played in a very exciting football game against a very good MAC team. They will not be fifth in their division I can promise you that; that was a good football team that we played. Our kids came to play and now we have a little momentum going in to conference play as we head down to the Liberty Bowl."
On Memphis' wide receivers, Calhoun and Singleton
"We are going to have to rise to the occasion, excuse the pun because they are tall and explosive. Singleton is the guy that they go to and he is very effective in the red zone. The other two guys are their speed guys, who also create mismatches. They have done a great job with their wide receivers. That has been their forte. They will be some of the best that we play and very challenging for us."
On last year's game against Memphis being a defensive struggle
"We made plays when we had to. When they got to the red zone, we were able to make some plays on them by stopping the running game with Steele and made them kick field goals."
On an undersized corner stopping Memphis' tall wide receivers
"They need to go to a hardware store and buy a ladder, carry it with them on the field, climb up it and knock the ball down. You really need to have great leaping ability, great timing, and you can't miss. I think our corners do have great leaping ability, but they have to be perfect because we are not tall like everyone else's corners. Obviously, we are going to have to have a game plan when it gets to that situation to help those guys. Football is all about match-ups, just like basketball."
On stopping the run
"Memphis is going to get their passing yards. We have to stop the run. It's the same thing as last week and same thing as last year against Memphis. We eluded to it yesterday, they have to establish the run and we have to stop the run. When the field shrinks we have to make them kick field goals and keep them out of the end zones, just like we did last year."
On difference between Bass at quarterback instead of Hall for Memphis
"Bass will take off running with the football. They run him a little bit more than they do Hall. It sounds like Coach West thinks he's a little bit of a better thrower too. You guys will have to ask him (Coach West), but I'm guessing it's because of the offensive production that they were getting from Hall that they made the switch."
On Marshall getting their defensive swagger back
"I will be able to tell you more after today's practice. But the game against Bowling Green was much needed."
On Memphis' defense
"It looks like two years ago when coach West took over and moved to a 3-4 defense. They try to create pressure with the linebackers and get you in third-and-long and that's where they are very good. He mixes it up very well. Looking at the film sometimes it's all or nothing. When one pops, it pops whether it is a pass or a run. We have to make sure we pop some on Saturday. Their defensive line is very active up front."
On what Marshall needs to improve on from the Bowling Green game
"We need to get off to a faster start and when I say faster start I mean putting points on the board. We are moving the ball just fine, we just aren't putting points on the board when we are getting down there. We have to take baby steps, whether it is field goals or touchdowns. Just to get the momentum going. When we get the momentum going we are a pretty good football team."
On Andre Booker
"I thought he did well. He got his feet wet in a college football game, caught some passes, had a punt return, it was not a bad game for a true-freshman. He has a pretty good pair of hands and good ball skills."
On Bowling Green's offense compared to C-USA offenses
"They are very comparable to a bunch of the teams we will face. We will talk about that more once we get down the road. I've only seen bits and pieces on TV. There are some teams that look good."
On the health of Marshall
"Troy Evans broke his foot and is out for the season. The good thing is he does have a red-shirt year because it was within the first three games. It's good to have Troy back for the next two years after this season. Unfortunately, it's not the same case for John Saunders, who is out for the year. This puts Michael Rhynes on alert. We were flirting with that anyway, that if the situation arose where he could play, we were going to treat him a lot like John Youboty. We were going to get him ready to play but try to not play him. We will continue to work him like he is going to play and we will see what situation comes about. I can say this though, if someone else gets dinged just a little bit he is definitely going to have to come on. We have been doing that the past two weeks anyway, getting him ready to play."
On the health of T.J. Drakeford, Delvin Johnson and Courtney Edmonson
"They will both play. Delvin will not practice today but will tomorrow. T.J. will practice today. We won't have Courtney back this weekend, we will try to work him back for the next game against East Carolina."
On the first conference game of the season
"Any time you get in to conference play it is just different. For the coaches, players, it's just a little different. Luckily for us, the way our schedule is broken down, you can segment our season. What is hard at times is when you switch back-and-forth between conference and non-conference. In that situation it is hard to segment your season and judge where you want to be. We are fortunate that we can segment our schedule. This starts conference play and I think our guys are excited about that."
On not playing Wayne Bonner
"We just didn't play him. The situation didn't call for us to play him and that's what we did."
On the interception thrown against BGSU
"The route wasn't the best in America. We had a young receiver that didn't run a crisp route and the DB made a great play. It was all of those things. It was a great break by their DB. It was a great play but he was also unimpeded."
