Marshall University Athletics
Quotes from Doc Holliday's Sept. 30 Press Conference
9/30/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
On MU vs. Old Dominion:
"Our captains this week on defense are James Rouse and Darryl Roberts and on offense, Chris Jasperse and Tommy Shuler. We have great respect for what Bobby Wilder has done at Old Dominion. It is amazing what he has accomplished in a short period of time. He has a quarterback that may be the best player in the country and be the most prolific passer in college football history. So, that is where it all starts. He has two NFL receivers in (Zach) Pascal, and (Antonio) Vaughan. They score a lot of points on everybody and we are going to go up there into a hostile environment. I had the opportunity, as you all did I'm sure, Friday night and it is a packed house that makes a lot of noise. It will be a great environment and it's and an environment that our kids are going to have to be prepared for. We know it's going to be a great challenge and we have to have a great week of preparation prior to getting on that plane Friday.
On the Herd going into the Old Dominion environment:
I'm not concerned about them going into that environment and being intimidated by it. The snap counts and being able to communicate as an offense is something we haven't had to do for a while. We will work on that this week in practice and get a little crowd noise out there so we are prepared for it. Our kids would rather play like that in that type of environment then play where nobody shows up. It should be a great environment and I know our kids are looking forward to it.
On both quarterbacks being prolific passers:
These two guys, when you watch them on film, are very similar. The one thing, I think, that (Taylor) Heinicke does like (Rakeem) Cato, when he gets in trouble, is number one he can beat you with his feet and his eyes are constantly down the field. He makes a lot of throws in scramble situations, does a great job stepping up in the pocket, and he makes all the throws. You never feel comfortable as a coach when you're playing that team. You take away a couple of those turnovers early on in that game then they get that punt return for a touchdown. That game is right down to the wire. One thing of the philosophy of that football team, when you watch them play, they are always looking for extra possessions. That is why they have that quarterback in punt formation on fourth down and, at times, they will go for it. They've onside kicked three times, I'm sure they have a fake punt, and I'm sure they have something else up their sleeves. They are constantly looking to put the ball in that Vaughan's hands. That punt with the quarterback back is significant, because when you do punt it you have a single safety back there and you are covering with five offensive lineman. It's almost what happened down there with Alabama in that Auburn game, when they kicked that field goal down there and they covered them with offensive linemen instead of skill guys. They need to be a little more careful with that because if you can catch that punt and get a couple blocks on those receivers then you have an opportunity to return a punt, as Middle did. As always, they are always looking for more possessions. We've got to be extremely sharp, at our kicking game and all that so they don't get an extra possession by some kind of trick play or onside kick or that type of thing.
On Old Dominion:
It was a ten-point game several times. They just throw it. You look at down and distance and all the things they do, they are going to throw it vertically down the field, regardless. It could be third and one and they are going to take a shot, it could be second and long and they aren't going to try to make it third and five, they are going to take another shot. The constantly press the ball down the field to those receivers, and they have really good receivers. You look at them on tape, and I have mentioned Pascal and Vaughan, but that back-up quarterback, David Washington, is also a receiver. They are all big physical guys that can play. They do a great job throwing and catching. Again, they stretch that field vertically but they can also throw in their immediate routes. They are a talented bunch and physical players.
On the aggressiveness of Old Dominion:
No doubt it is going to test our defensive backs, it is going to test the second level backers and it's going to test the front four, because at some point you have to get some pressure on this guy. If you look at where he's aligned, he lines up deep to begin with. Those guys can get edge pressure a little bit but he does a good job at stepping up because he's so deep. It's hard to get that press up the middle to get hands in his face. It's a difficult task but our DBs will have to play better than they have all year. Again, it's going to be a great challenge for our defense to see how they respond and how they play.
On Marshall's start in the last 4 games:
You always want to start fast, even when you're on the road. What I like about this year's team, is that it doesn't matter where we play, we've been able to start fast regardless. That's going to be critical again on Saturday. I had an opportunity to watch ODU vs. Middle Tennessee. In the first series, ODU took the ball down the field and the defender did a great job of stripping that ball. Rather than starting out 7-0 ODU to begin with, they got a turnover that was a big play in that game. It's nice when you can start out fast, and we're going to continue to try and do that. It will be a great challenge playing up there.
On ODU's ability to strip the ball:
When you watch that game, ODU did a great job of stripping the football. There's no doubt they coach it. We constantly coach ball security, whether it be this week, last week, or six weeks ago. We emphasize it every week, but it will be emphasized a lot this week with our scout team guys. They're doing a great job of trying to get that ball stripped. There's no doubt, if you don't take care of the football, they're going to find a way to come up with it.
On ODU's linebackers:
It's obvious when you see it on tape, they coach it. So we have to do a good job making sure we coach our side of it too, and take care of the ball.
On the bye week:
We treated that bye week like we always do, no different than we did a year ago. We had a couple guys with some nagging injuries that when we started on Sunday were back. Rock [Devin Johnson] had taken a beating the last several games and was banged up, but was able to come back 100%. A couple of our offensive linemen feel better than they have felt since the season started. I think that's huge. When you play a team that throws the ball around like they do, it's always nice to get extra preparation. Last year we had that week prior to UTSA, who was extremely good on offense at this point, and we played really well against them. Hopefully that off week translates this year like it did a year ago against UTSA. These teams are very similar. Looking at where they have come from, they have become a good football team and are competing at the highest level. This team is doing the same thing. Again, it's going to be a great challenge for us.
On putting pressure on the QB:
You've just got to play. You've got to be able to cover, you've got to be able to pressure. You can't just stand back there and let him pick you apart, because he can do that. You watch him play and he can make all the throws. There's a reason he could end up being the most prolific passer in college football history. He's good. He's really good at what he does and he has good players around him. He's going to make some throws. He's made throws against everyone. They took NC State right to the wire, who last weekend went toe to toe with Florida State. They've played some really good teams. They went to Rice, who won our conference championship a year ago, and beat them. We have great respect for him, those receivers, and that entire offense. We have to do a good job of defending that, and playing extremely sound, with great fundamentals and technique.
