Marshall University Athletics
Quotes from Doc Holliday's Sept. 18 Press Conference
9/18/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 18, 2012
Opening Statement:
"We're on the road to play Rice this weekend. Their two losses came from two excellent teams in Louisiana Tech and UCLA. They went on the road and beat a good Kansas team which is a BCS win for them. We have our work cut out for us and have to have a great week of preparation. It starts with the quarterback [Taylor McHargue] with Rice. He can beat you with his feet. He has rushed for over 200 yards and he can throw it. He created issues for us a year ago with the different options and types of plays he runs. We will have to do an extremely good job on defense to contain him."
On the returning players for Rice:
"They're big. They play a lot of two tight ends in there, but they'll flex them out and be lined up in a wing tight end set. They do a lot of things out of 12 personnel, which creates issues because of the four wides and they'll also put them in the backfield. They're very versatile in what they do offensively by different triple, speed and read options. They manufacture a lot of yards because of what their quarterback can do with his feet."
On the similarities of Ohio and Rice:
"They're similar. You mention the two tight ends that they use. They were similar in flexing those guys out and giving you some formation issues. Hopefully some of the preparation from last week will carry over into this week and it should."
On Rice quarterback Taylor McHargue:
"He's not afraid at all to just pull it down and run with it. Tettelton [Ohio] was more likely to throw the ball and make plays on the perimeter. He [McHargue] does a good job at running the football. He's rushed for over 200 yards in three games. He likes to keep the ball in his hands."
On the much needed improvement of the running game:
"There's no question that we have to do a better job at running the football. The inability to run the football didn't lose the game for us last weekend. The turnovers did. If we hadn't turned the ball over three times we would have won that game. As I've mentioned before we have to be more balanced and have to be able to run the football. They've [Rice] played two excellent offensive teams."
On Rakeem Cato pulling it down for the run:
"If it's there I want him to run. He did do it a couple times. He ran for a critical first down last weekend. We don't want him running all the time and that's why we've changed some of the things we're doing. He has to do what he has to do to move the chains and get the first down. He does a lot."
On Cato's maturity following the loss to Ohio:
"I'm proud of him. I'm proud of the way he handled it. I wasn't in there during post-game interviews, but from what I've been told he did an excellent job and that's part of the learning process. You see him growing up right in front of you. You hate what happened to him Saturday night, but in the long run he will learn from it. He will grow from it and become a lot better quarterback because of it. From everything I've read and heard from people he handled himself very well after the loss and in the interviews. Unfortunately that is part of the maturing process. It probably happened to Byron [Leftwich] and probably to Chad [Pennington]. Hopefully it won't happen to Cato anymore. It's part of it and I feel he handled himself very well."
On the team rebounding after loss to Ohio:
"You have no choice. You have to. We come in on Sundays and they look at the film, learn from it and critique themselves. I thought they were excellent Sunday with their preparation. They're not with us on Mondays but there sure are a lot of people in that building. Whether it's watching film or doing other things on their own. The one thing I felt is that there was a lot of hurt in that locker room. I mentioned that after the game. These kids care and these kids want to be good. That's big. I think we'll be fine because of it. They are all a bunch of kids that have worked really hard and have a lot invested in it. Bottom line is to win games and we didn't get that done last week, but our guys want to make sure that happens."
On keeping the drive going and not turning over the ball:
"I've said all along when you are playing to win then you have to take care of the football. You don't turn it over. If you take care of the football you will win the majority of the games you play. We didn't do it and we have to learn from it. You can't turn it over and win games against good teams."
On the importance of rebounding this week:
"It's very similar to what we were a year ago when we went to Louisville. Not a whole lot of difference. I thought they went there and responded well. They have to do the same thing this year against Rice because number one it's the next game and two because it's a conference game. You have to go make sure that you go play every game. No doubt the conference game makes it more important."
On Marshall vs. Rice the only conference game this week in C-USA:
"You look around the conference and see that it's wide open right now. You have to take them one at a time. Last year our kids did a great job at just playing them one at a time and embracing that one game that week then moving on. We have to take care of the task at hand. Rice is the only thing we are concerned with right now. There is a whole lot of football left to play."
On the defensive performance of Rice:
"They've played a UCLA team that has a good offense and Louisiana Tech team is probably in the top five in total offense. They've played two really good teams and looked good against Kansas as well. They tackle very well. They made some big plays against UCLA and Louisiana Tech, but so do a lot of other people. So it's hard to judge. One thing I'll say about that football team is they play really hard. They play the entire 60 minutes and they play extremely hard. They never give up in any way, shape or form and that is a direct reflection of their coach. He does a good job with them."
