Sept. 10, 1996

Off The Practice Field...Coach Lou Holtz

Lou Holtz

COACH HOLTZ: First of all, seems like we've had an open date because seems like a long time since we practiced. We went through a very light workout on Saturday, very, very physical yesterday, physical one again today.

Let me cover the injury situation. A'Jani Sanders is banged up a little bit and won't be able to practice again. Our secondary is banged up a little bit.

Randy Kinder will not be available this week. He wasn't going to be available anyway. I guess he aggravated a little bit yesterday. Malcom Johnson has a sore knee, and Emmett Mosley is beat up a little bit. But other than that, we're in pretty good condition physically.

You always worry about what's going to happen in practice because the practices will be a the bit more physical this week than we normally will have them during the course of the year.

Let me reflect first back on Vanderbilt. I talked about this last Friday, looked at the film again. You know, give Vanderbilt an awful lot of credit, but the opening game always scares you. More upsets the first two weeks of the season than there are the rest of the season combined.

You look at some of the games that happened last week, I mean, you know, SMU upsetting Arkansas, Wake Forest upset Northwestern, Houston almost beating LSU. You say why does this happen?

First of all, everybody's attitude the first two weeks of the season is optimistic. They feel they can go on and have a good season, et cetera, yet you make a few mistakes and you're always prepared for the unknown and you overprepare your football team, cover too many things. Indecision creeps in, doubts, and basic mistakes.

But Vanderbilt played very, very well. We're glad to come out of it to win. Our defense played exceptionally well. The fact that the football team put on a nice drive, overcame a 1st at 27 at a critical time was two of the most pleasing things that happened during the course of the football game.

We feel that defensively one game does not make a season. I think our coaches realized that. I think our players realized it. The thing that was encouraging defensively was the emotion we played and how well we played. We tackled pretty well, had very few missed assignments and played with an awful lot of emotion and heart, and of course football is an emotional football game.

Renaldo Wynn was really outstanding, as was Alton Maiden, excellent game by Bert Berry, probably as good as he's had since he been here. Kory Minor, Kinnon Tatum. Our secondary was very, very productive with the exception, only negative thing was the 3rd down and 38.

Kicking game I played the way Jim Sampson came in and kicked the ball. He had not done that in practice. Why we went with Jim Sanson was we had not kicked a ball well in practice. I mentioned that last week. I think we're like one in eight in field goals from the 20. All I want a kicker to do is kick it aggressively and hit it solid.

We gave Jim Sanson the opportunity and he did that. He kicked his field goal solid, kicked the kickoff very well.

A little disappointed in our kicking game. I thought Hunter Smith punted the ball well. I didn't think we did a particularly good job covering. We're so concerned because Vanderbilt had blocked five punts last year, including one partially against Notre Dame. We worked very hard on that.

Didn't get a chance to really evaluate our return game, but a chance to return one kickoff the entire day. That one was pretty well blocked with the exception of one individual did not perform his task up to the caliber we needed, but the other ten did very, very well.

What disappointed me the most was we let the punt bounce. They're punting from their 13, you know, kicked the ball. We let it bounce, ended up being a 60-yard punt. Then the penalties. We were filled with very, very poor field position the entire day. Our average field position starting I think was a 21, Vanderbilt's was a 41. That's a big difference when you're looking at 13 possessions during the course of the football game.

Offensively in evaluating, Mike Doughty played very, very well. Not being a big play football team, it's going to be impossible to be that type of team.

I think we can be a good, solid offensive football team, but we're not going to be a big play team. Consequently that means we're going have to be far more disciplined and far more than we were against the University of Vanderbilt.

Going to the Purdue, anybody that's covered the University of Purdue and Notre Dame over the years knows this is a war, so to speak. I remember quite vividly the game last year. Why I remember it so vividly was the fact that I was going into the hospital the next day after the game in order to have surgery on my spine. So nobody else knew it, but my wife and I knew it.

I remember the game quite vividly because we were fortunate to win. I think they came back and tied it up 28 all, and we got a good kickoff return, then on the first play, Randy Kinder broke a big play, 53 yards for the winning touchdown. We don't have Randy Kinder this year but Randy ran very, very well last year.

We then kicked off and they went all the way down to approximately our nine yard line for 4th down, Bobby Howard made a critical stop about a yard short of a first down. Coming out of that football game, we won the football game, but have a lot of respect for Purdue.

I think when I heard the score of Purdue and Michigan State, looked at the film. I couldn't believe that was the score. I said to our coaches after we studied the film, "How did Michigan State get that many points?" No disrespect to Michigan State, but they did not move the ball consistently against the University of Purdue.

I don't know how many 1st downs they had, but I was impressed with Purdue. I think Okeafor, I hope I'm pronouncing that right, he is an excellent linebacker. He's an exceptional football player, one of the candidates for the Butkus award. Of course I think you always have to look at John Krick, their defensive lineman. He's a senior. They start quite a few seniors.

I think at their middle linebacker, Chris Koeppen, is playing very, very well, plays emotionally. Doug Winston in their corner is awful, awful good. They return most of their defense from last year. I want to say they returned nine starters from last year, although I believe the one young man is out, No. 19, out of our football game, so they only have eight starters back.

The last four games last year, breaking down the film, they held their opponents to 300 yards, 12 points a game, which is impressive. I can understand why Purdue was optimistic coming into the game.

Offensively, they've always moved the ball very well. They moved it very well against us last year, having well in excess of 400 yards. I know that Edwin Watson is their tailback, been playing fullback for them last year he rushed for almost 600 yards. Rick Trefzger, their quarterback, who started against us the last couple of years, been replaced by Billy Dicken, another senior. You know, have you two veteran quarters there, you can go with which one has a hot hand. That's always a positive thing.

Wide receiver, Brian Alford, is an exceptional wide receiver. He does an awful lot of very, very good things. I don't know how many records he has of Purdue in the reception. Of course, most of their offensive line is back, Chad Manning and Mark Fischer, along with Brian Nicley, Emmett Zitelli. Most of those people started against us last year.

I think Jim Colletto does an excellent job coaching. I think his players are well disciplined, and when we played Purdue, we know it will be a very, very difficult. I've explained that to our football players and we've taken that approach.

The fact that they've had an open date is always a plus because now you can go back to fundamentals, you can go back and change things, change an individual's position, you can install your whole offense if you want in two weeks. But those are things that we really can't control. We better get used to a team having an open day, because I think six or seven times that's going to be the case.

The reason I just walked in here at the last second totally unprepared for this is because John Heisler was kind enough to line up a schedule that included interviews and press conferences and pictures and everything else on top of one another. But I just came from the stadium where the interview was conducted.

I never realized how many airplanes fly directly over our stadium until today. I want to tell you, when you walk in that stadium, you are going to be impressed. Those people have done a tremendous job. I think it's a tremendous improvement. When they get the new press box up, I think it's really going to be outstanding.

Three elevators in the new one. Right now we have one little elevator. We take the biggest usher we can find and have him man the elevator. Just the whole atmosphere.

What is going to be different is playing in front of a half empty stadium; never done that. I had no idea that that stadium would turn out as well as it appears to be. I'm talking about the improvements in a lot of areas from the press room to the dressing room to the training room to the equipment room to the hot dog stand, the restrooms. I just was awed by it. I really was. That doesn't happen to me very many times.

What questions can I answer for you?

Q. You say that Kinder is out. What are your plans tailback-wise? Will we see some Edwards in there along with Denson or what are your plans?

COACH HOLTZ: Well, we really are anxious to have Randy Kinder come back. Kinder was not injured during practice. I'm used to a guy being down. You say, "Gee, I hope he isn't hurt seriously."

I found out Randy Kinder was injured in the office, when the trainer said he pulled a hamstring muscle -- quadriceps muscle. The reason why you're slow to bring them back like that, Jack, according to the trainer, is if you bring them back too early, you have run the danger of a calcification on the quadriceps. When do you that, you're looking at an eight or nine-month -- eight or nine weeks to eight or nine months recuperative period. They're going very, very carefully.

Without Randy Kinder, Autry Denson will start at tailback. Marc Edwards play a little tailback, Joey Goodspeed play a little tailback. Also see Robert Farmer. Our backs practiced better the last two days and we have in a long time. I think our backs are going to respond to the challenges that have been given them, based on the way they practiced.

These are the only people we have and those are the ones we'll go with: Denson and Farmer and Edwards.

Q. Lou, what things specifically have you tried to emphasize in practice to try to eliminate what happened against Vanderbilt with the seven fumbles?

COACH HOLTZ: We run fumble drills. What really surprised me on that was we hadn't fumbled in practice, hadn't fumbled in scrimmages. Then to go out there and have the ball on the ground seven times was really disappointing.

There isn't anything you can really do other than the fact that emphasize certain things. You don't want to make too big a deal about it or else everybody gets paranoid, starts thinking negatively, et cetera. I think may have we've addressed some of the things.

Our fumbles weren't on pitches or handoffs. We fumbled one handoff. Our fumbles occurred because the ball was either knocked loose or taken loose, which just did not happen. Just say you take the ball, put it in the proper position and you squeeze the ball until you hear the ball go "pshhh". When you do, that you back off a little bit, not complicated.

Q. Lou, Bill Dicken is a drastically different quarterback than Rick Trefzger. How does that complicate your defensive strategy?

COACH HOLTZ: It presents some problems because, you know, they do do some things a little bit differently. Billy Dicken had a great deal of success. They have two veteran quarterbacks, not like you say Notre Dame, you have two quarterbacks, the talents lie in different areas, but they're both not experienced. One is right-handed, one is left-handed. I don't know exactly what they're going to emphasize on it.

Once again, with an open date, we're back to where we have been, and that's trying to defend ghosts. That's what you hate about an open date, you defend ghosts. When you defend ghosts, your players get confused, bad things happen.

MR. HEISLER: Any of your people at Purdue have questions?

Q. We're okay, John, thanks.

Q. Lou, how did Kinder injure himself in the office?

COACH HOLTZ: No, no, he didn't injure himself in the office, Reggie. What I meant was I found out about it. Usually if an individual is injured, he will pull up lame in practice or be out of a team period or something along that line.

I went into the office the next day not knowing that Randy Kinder was injured until he was on the injury report. It's one of those where he had a quadriceps strain and didn't tell anybody. He pushed himself, then all of a sudden it aggravated itself to the point where he just could not go any longer.

You know, as soon as the trainers found out about it, they do a tremendous job in treating our athletes. I have great respect for Jim Russ in the way he and our team of doctors handled things. It's just that I can't talk about how he got injured or anything because I don't know anything about it.

The only thing I know is if you rush back the recuperative period and you reinjure it again. There's a chance of calcification on the muscle. If that occurs, then you're looking at a very, very serious injury.

How long does it take him to come back? Quadriceps is much like the hamstring, you really can tell. When you have a pulled muscle, you don't know how far you can strain or push it.

Randy is anxious to come back, he wants to come back. Just on the injury report, I haven't talked to Jim Russ, but he said he aggravated it yesterday by pushing himself a little bit too much.

Now, this is all things he was doing, he hadn't been involved with the team at all in ten days since he had this. When somebody is on the injured list and they have a pulled muscle, you don't sit there and say, "When is he going to be back?" When he's healthy, he'll come back. Until then, we got to play. We got to play and move on.

Q. Coach Holtz, Adam Crawford from One-On-One Sports. Just curious if there's a chance during a Purdue game that we might be able to say Jarious Jackson or if you were considering putting him in any time soon?

COACH HOLTZ: You know, we will play Jarious at the first opportunity we can get that will enable us to win the football game. I cannot say when that's going to be. We would like to get Jarious in the football game, but there is no definite plans at the present time to say we're going to go here, he's going to play here, et cetera. We'll do whatever we have to in order to win or what gives us the best chance to win.

Q. Thank you.

COACH HOLTZ: Thank you.

Q. Lou, you talked about your offense not really having the ability to be explosive. I was wondering why you wouldn't want to put a guy like Allen Rossum back on kickoffs because he would give you that explosiveness. Is it because you can't afford to lose him in the secondary?

COACH HOLTZ: Well, we do have Allen Rossum back deep on kickoffs to start the game or to start the second half. He was back when they kicked it out of bounds. What we do not want to do is we do not want to run him the risk of being injured when he just played and they scored and you got to go right there.

It's a little bit different than, say, a Mosley or Autry Denson running back a kickoff or a punt. They're on the bench resting. But if you just gave up a touchdown, I don't think you're in the best frame of mind to go out on the field.

Now, too, say it was an eight-play drive, touchdown pass on 3rd and 38, you had to run to try to cover it. We felt we were better off to go with another individual. That's the way we had it set up right now, and on Saturday. Allen Rossum will go, then it depends on how much rest he's had at other times. 524.

Q. I was curious to know how you've dealt with the Dee Cooper situation. He was outspoken about not playing, quoted in an Evansville paper. Did you sit down and talk with him? Did you speak with his father about the situation?

COACH HOLTZ: Absolutely not, and I haven't read it, and I don't care. I worry about the football team, period. We're not here to please people. If you help us win, you will be on the field. If you practice the proper way, do the things the proper way.

Dee Cooper is a wonderful young man, I imagine he'll contribute in the future. Dee did not play because it did not give us the best chance to win, period.

Q. Coach, I think it was in the third quarter of the game when Jarious was warming up on the sideline. Was Ron hurting a little bit or were you considering putting him in?

COACH HOLTZ: No. I really wasn't. I wouldn't have had any qualms about putting Jarious in. Ron had some cramps at that time. If he had some cramps and couldn't go, then Jarious Jackson certainly would have played.

Q. In years past your defense is end of the season strong, your offense has always started the season strong. This year looks like defense may be ahead of the offense. What are the reasons you think for that?

COACH HOLTZ: I think if you're going to have a successful season, you definitely have to be strong on defense. I think that's an absolute necessity. That was very, very encouraging.

Now, can we continue to do it? That's always going to be the question. When do we get the offensive problems straighten away? I can't guarantee that. There's no way you can. Will we continue to remain strong on defense? I can't guarantee that.

Every week it's a different situation. If we have a good, solid kicking game, good, solid defense, then we have a chance in every football game.

Q. The other thing is, one of the things Ron said after the game was that he may have been a little tentative and he may have been a little nervous. Did you see anything that made you think that, and two, how does a quarterback, a senior quarterback, get nervous before a game?

COACH HOLTZ: I don't think Ron was nervous during the game. You know, I'm sure he had anxieties and anxious to play. You always talk about the unknowns.

Ron Powlus threw the ball 32 times. I can think of probably five passes that he would normally complete that he did not complete. Yet they were not passes that were wide open; they were passes where the guy was open maybe by a yard or two. I think he has a talent that he could have drilled those in under normal conditions and completed them.

At the same time, the thing that impressed me was he didn't worry about stats or anything else. When he erred, he erred on the side of conservatism and not turning the football over.

One of the things to have a successful team is you have an individual that makes up his mind that he's going to throw the ball and all he worries about is how many yards he gets and how many completions and what his stats are. If that was the case, he would have tried to jam some of those passes, and he didn't.

I have to take fault for it; great ball security, I think he did. He threw 32 passes. I don't think anybody touched the ball on their side in 32 attempts. I thought he did an excellent job for us.

Q. You weren't too anxious to talk about this, but can you talk about breaking Knute Rockne's records, what it means to you, why it's been so hard for other coaches to stay here? A. I think it's perseverance. People are asking me about the question. I never prepared for this. They started comparing you with Parseghian and with Rockne, with Leahy. I want to tell you something, come read my mail, just come read my mail. You're just thankful you have a job, period, at all.

As far as coaching more games than anybody else, that's perseverance, just getting up and forcing yourself to go. I didn't win more than anybody, I coached more.

Let's say that Greg Norman played 73 rounds of golf this year. I played 96, for example. Does that make me a better golfer than Greg Norman?

I've had great coaches, great players. I've had tremendous support from great administrators, and I've been blessed. I don't think I've contributed much to Notre Dame, but I can promise you, Notre Dame has contributed greatly to Lou Holtz and his family.

Q. You seemed surprised after the game when you found out you threw 32 passes. Have you talked to the guy calling the plays and have a long talk with him about what he's going to do this week?

COACH HOLTZ: We had a little meeting. I wasn't aware it called 32 passes. When I looked at that, I was surprised. We did talk a little bit about calling plays, about play selection, et cetera. We tried this past week to analyze everything from top to bottom.

I feel very comfortable throwing the football as long as we don't have any sacks or turnovers, when which is when we had. We had one holding penalty that came at a very, very critical time.

I was pleased that we were able to throw the ball with some degree of success when we had to. I think we were 53 percent on 3rd down, which isn't what you like to be, but it's well above average. We got to continue to be a balanced football team, and we aren't going to be a big play team, so we better be consistent. We can't afford a bad play. We can't afford a penalty.

Q. At the start of the game, seemed like you had success going to Chryplewicz. (Inaudible). Was there any rhyme or reason to that?

COACH HOLTZ: Just early in the ball game we called plays where he was the primary receiver and he was open. You know, we played 89 plays on offense. That's a lot of plays. Peter Chryplewicz played far too many plays, ran his routes very well. But just the situation came to such where the tight end was not the primary sever later in the football game, but I don't think that will be the case.

Q. (Inaudible)

COACH HOLTZ: It was a lot of things. He's experienced, wanted to get him the ball. Peter is going to have to be a very, very integral part of our passing game in the future. I think Emmett Mosley did a very nice job, I thought Malcom Johnson did a very nice job. Peter Chryplewicz, Marc Edwards, Autry Denson are going to have to catch the ball well coming out of the back field.

Q. There was a time earlier in your career here where if a runningback had fumbling problems, you wouldn't use him again, that was because you had more bodies back then. Was it frustrating for you now because scholarship numbers are down and injuries you're put in a position as a coach where you have to play that guy who makes mistakes?

COACH HOLTZ: I think it does put you in a situation where you don't have much choice in the matter. But I still am a firm believer if you fumble the ball, you should not play, you're sometimes not having a good day. You also have to look at depth, experience, leadership, et cetera.

We moved Autry Denson to tailback, but Autry, not having worked there much, could not play the entire 89 plays. Marc Edwards, our captain, leader, protected the ball very well.

Q. (Inaudible)

COACH HOLTZ: There has been a strong message sent that nobody is worth a fumble. I don't know a back that's worth a fumble. Just live with it. I know Johnny Lattner fumbled five times in one game, or at least according to Doyle's history of Notre Dame. He was asked to confess his five mortal sins.

Q. (Inaudible)

COACH HOLTZ: I tell you what, they had a great defense. I tell you what, if a back fumbles, and they understand this, I lose my poise and my vocabulary is not the type it should be to represent the University of Notre Dame, that is the fault of the guy fumbling and he has to be held accountable for that sin. That's not my sin; he caused me to sin.

(Laughter)

Q. On that winning touchdown drive, you complete an 18-yard pass. Beyond that, when you saw that, did you reflect for a minute on how games and seasons can turn on one play like that?

COACH HOLTZ: You know, when I reflect back on it now, I think I could. At that time, I felt that drive would be as critical as any drive we had. If we were going to do anything, that drive would tell us a lot about our football team, what we're capable of doing.

We came out and we completed a pass, then we get a holding penalty and we're 1st and 27. I did not think that was a critical play of the year because the drive was not successful. You know, we still had a lot more yardage to go.

Now that I reflect back, and we succeeded in scoring and ultimately winning the game with that drive, I think sometimes we may go back and say, "Boy, you want to talk about a critical play." I think you'd have to go back and maybe look at that one.

Q. Coach, can you touch on the role Tim Collins in the video department has in your game preparation and how has the use of film changed over your years?

COACH HOLTZ: Are you referring to the actual game preparation or the extracurricular?

Q. A little of both actually.

COACH HOLTZ: Boy, I tell you, it used to be where you had film and you had to thread it, and the threads would get ripped, the things would jump up and down, then you had to splice it, the film wasn't very good quality. Once you spliced the film, you just had all kinds of problems with projectors. I was so glad when I became head coach, "I don't know how to splice films. Anybody know how to splice the films?" Like you didn't know how.

Then you tried to make cut-ups. I remember when I coached the secondary, I would take the film, cut it, paste it up, put all the out cuts. That was forever. Then you put it together, you found out you put the out or the curl long, you came in and the tape dried, all laying on the floor.

Now I go home and they give me a film on the airplane back, it's the whole game in sequence, kicking game, offense, defense. You sit there and you watch it.

Sunday morning they give me an offensive intercut. I get a side view of the game, then as soon as they run that play, they go to the same exact play from the end zone. You get to see it from the side, you get to see it the end. Same play.

You go through the whole game that way. It's clear and it's precise. You say to them, "Give me all the 3rd down defenses." Next day, I don't know how they do it, tooth fairy or something. They bring over the film, here is third and twos, third and longs. Incredible.

Then you say we want to do this on Friday night for a game. It's unbelievable. Tim Collins and Chuck, Tim Collins is in charge of it, and Chuck contributes greatly over there, they're incredible. I wish I did my job half as well as they do their job.

We finish practice at 6:30. 7:00 the practice film is in my box ready to watch, offense, defense, kicking game, pass, seven on seven, all of them over different reels. The game has changed tremendously. We have beta. We made a decision to go to beta my first year here. It was a great decision, really was.

Q. Coach, did the play of the receivers make it easier to move Autry back to tailback?

COACH HOLTZ: The play of the receivers, the way they practiced the week before, made it easier. The fumbles made it easier. I just think the loss of Randy Kinder made it easier. I think it was a combination of all three. We've moved him back there and he will have to stay there, he will be a runningback.

Q. First half Ron Powlus didn't run the ball at all, second a couple times. Seemed to keep the linebackers a little honest. The play was more open. Was that by design or would you like to see him run a little bit more?

COACH HOLTZ: We felt, and I talked to Ron about this, when this isn't season is over, he has to average three yards a carry. He's going to have to average three yards a carry. He averaged four the other night. That means he's going to have to avoid the sack, get positive yardage when he does scramble and run with the football.

If our quarterback will end up with positive yardage each and every week, I think it's going to greatly enhance our chances to be successful.

In addition to that, when you're not a big play football team, your quarterback has to contribute with his arm, with his head and certainly with his feet. If you're a big play football team, and that have big play capabilities, that may not be as important.

I want to tell you, 1st and 27, that is a huge mountain for us to climb. We sure don't want to try that very often.

Q. Kind of a follow-up to Tim's point. Is there a lesson with the injuries and the situations with reduced scholarships to some players that might have shown a little impatience earlier in their careers?

I mean, there's a real chance that a Gus Ornstein, Clement Stokes might be getting some serious carries, those kinds of things. Kids come in a lot of times, they're fourth, fifth team.

COACH HOLTZ: I think that's true. Not only the situation we face, but a situation that's faced around the country. First of all, Clement Stokes is at Notre Dame, he's working on the scout squad, not eligible this year, but he plans on being here next fall. A guy like Gus Ornstein I thought was a good quarterback prospect, came out of a small school, but I thought he had an awful lot of talent.

Now, why somebody transfers, you're siting there with Krug and Ron Powlus, and it looks like you may never get to play, but they're all both in the same class.

Everybody wants to be the editor in chief. I don't know if you all feel that way. I was talking to Skip on Friday. I called him before hesitate game. He played a game with Buffalo. I said, "How you doing?" He said, "Oh, woe is me." I said, "What's wrong?" He said, "One of our players who is our first string long snapper, you know, decided that he wants to transfer." This was the morning they were leaving, their long snapper. So the guy didn't make the trip.

I didn't get it on direct TV, it was on Channel 313. But my son Kevin, who is in Orlando, works for the Orlando Cubs baseball team as part of Vince's major league team, live in Orlando, have direct TV down there, he's watches the game. He's calling me. First time they punt, back up center snaps the ball over the punter's head. Didn't find out till the morning they were leaving that the guy wasn't going.

What happens is you can make any decision you want when the season's over. I can respect that. But it's when people make a decision just before the season or two a days, a little bit unfair to the football team.

Patience isn't a virtue, not of coaches either. Coaches always want it one way. Coaches always want a contract where nobody can break it on their part, but they want an open end on theirs. You know, we all have a tendency to look at, "What's in it for me? What's my interest? How am I going to benefit from it?"

I think that's just sort of a case that we find in athletics and we find in society more and more. I didn't mean to get on a soapbox on this thing, but I think we as coaches are wrong.

I mentioned last Saturday, Friday at the press conference, right at the end, that we blame players. "He fumbled the ball." It's not all that player's fault. I think we all have to take responsibility and share in it when things don't go well. That's certainly true with the amount of turnover the we have.

Q. Last week you said you were pretty happy with the way Mike Rosenthal was playing. You called Rosenthal and Ron Powlus the two smartest players you ever coached. Please talk about them, especially Rosenthal, and why you chose those two?

COACH HOLTZ: I think Ron Powlus is one of the smartest football players I ever coached as far as intelligence. He learns the game plan, has great football knowledge. Some people are blessed with that. It does not have a single thing to do with native intelligence.

I mean, there have been some quarterbacks that have had just natural football intelligence and make good decisions. You tell Ron Powlus this defense, this coverage, recognize he has good peripheral vision, you only have to tell him something one time.

I think Mike Rosenthal is very similar to that, although I think when you say more intelligent players, sometimes you have to understand I do get carried away.

You see, if I ever make a good golf shot, I say, "I'm going to do that the rest of my life." But he is a very smart football player, Mike Rosenthal, particularly with the amount of calls and everything else.

It would be a little bit unfair to a Rick Kaczenski who really makes all the calls in there. But make no mistake bit, Mike Rosenthal is a very intelligent football player.

Q. Lou, I think Vanderbilt took four defensive time-outs. Escapes me how many were Blarney sets. How many were in your memory and is that one of the intended consequences of that? A. I did notice this, mentioned it to out staff on Friday, all three time-outs in the second half were used by Vanderbilt's defense, I do know that.

I think that has something to do with the different formations we run, the fact that we don't substitute, and they may end up with somebody out of position, et cetera, for whatever the case may be. That means in the last two games, the team is allotted 12 time-outs, and ten of them I know for sure have been used by the defense in the last two games.

Do I expect that trend to continue? No. As players get more experience and get used to go against us, I think that will not be the case. Make no mistake about it, late in the football game, that did not go unnoticed at all. Their time-outs were used by the defense.

Q. You used four defensive backs the entire night. Against Vanderbilt maybe that was okay. (Inaudible). What do you plan to do on 3rd down with more defensive backs, and specifically who?

COACH HOLTZ: We did only play four defensive backs. I think we only played 44 plays during the course of the game on defense, something like that. We weren't in very many 3rd down and long situations. They were two and ten on 3rd down, 3rd down and eight they ran the back short, swung the tight end in behind him and hit him for about 14 yards and a first down, then they hit the 3rd and 38.

The one back that would go into a game in certain situations, and we talked about going to the defense, is Hunter Smith. Hunter Smith would go in and play a corner or safety man in long yardage situations. Other than that, I think Benny Guilbeaux, Ty Goode you're going to see on the field. We have to go from there. Four defensive backs are playing well, have practiced well, and seemed to play well last week.

Q. Any or questions from anybody on the telephone?

COACH HOLTZ: Thank you, gentlemen.