Nov. 10, 1996
Off The Practice Field...Head Coach Lou Holtz
JOHN HEISLER: Good morning, Coach Holtz is here, he'll make some
opening remarks and then take some questions.
COACH HOLTZ: First of all, I had the opportunity to look at the film, I did
not have an opportunity to study it, which I normally do coming
into this press conference. We got home I guess after
midnight last night and the snow was rather heavy, and by the
time I got home and went up to early mass -- so I've looked at
the film but haven't studied it. I got up this morning and
saw all the snow, I think that while we're expanding the
stadium, we ought to dome it. I think that would be the most
appropriate decision we could make.
I thought it was a
football game yesterday where both teams came out with an awful
lot to be proud of. I thought that Boston College played very
well. I expected them to play well. I expected them to play hard
and I expected them to make some great plays. I thought that
Walker ran with great determination and Hasselbeck played well,
and the receivers made some outstanding catches. On the other
hand, I thought our football team did an awful lot of good
things.
We have some things that concern me. We had four
turnovers, which you can't have. The one on the 1-yard line on
first and goal to go on the one, was really devastating, because
it got the crowd back into the ballgame. That could have put us
up 14-3 early in the second quarter. Not only did they
recover, they recovered at the end zone and proceeded to march
down to take the lead. The penalties were more than I've
ever had a team penalized. I've never had -- we have officials
at all our -- I don't know how you can go one week and have very
few penalties and the next week have 14 or 15 of them. It's
beyond me. Everybody's got different decisions, et cetera, I
don't know. And I'm not going to comment any further on that.
After they tied it up 21-all, I thought our
football team responded very, very well.
Our offensive line
played an exceptionally fine football game, our backs ran well.
The fumble Autry Denson lost was the first one he has lost since
he has been here at the University of Notre Dame. Marc Edwards
and Cikai Champion in the first half put a lot of pressure on
Jamie Spencer, but I thought he responded very, very well. I
thought Jamie has really matured and grown this year and really
stepped up and protected the ball and played very, very hard and
very, very well.
It was a total team effort as far as our
offense is concerned. I was a little disappointed we couldn't
get more people open and throw the ball a little more, but we
had great success running the ball.
Defensively, the only
thing that really discourages me defensively is we don't play
the ball in the air as well as we need to. And we don't play as
well on the goal line as we would like to. And that's one
ingredient that I think really is very important to an
outstanding defense, how well you play on the goal line. But
overall it was a win. We overcame an awful lot of difficult
things during the course of the football game. And we helped
their drives or at least had various penalties called, put them
in better field position, et cetera.
But coming out of
there, winning the football game was the main objective and it's
just about the way I was hoping the script would go. I knew it
would be a very difficult environment, I knew they would play
well, and I hoped we would respond well, which we did. Now
we play Pittsburgh, they've been open two and a half weeks, and
they beat Boston College in the last game and almost beat
Virginia Tech the week before. They're a football team that's
getting better and better. We have three more games left.
I
really feel comfortable with this football team for the most
part. When I say comfortable, where you don't have to say much
to them. As far as work habits, et cetera. And it's just a very,
very relatively easy routine that we have fallen into. I know
the last two ballgames would be difficult, going to Dublin,
Ireland, coming back and playing Boston College. But the players
responded well. And I thought our effort was excellent.
Look
forward to this week. We're going to have to cut back practice a
little bit because of the weather, one, and in addition because
our team's starting to get worn down. You're starting to get
injuries and things of that nature. And it doesn't mean that we
will back off on practice, but we just won't be as physical on
Wednesday as what we have been. Tuesday will remain the same.
We'll try to cut back practice. Yet it's also some situations
that we've got to resolve. A'Jani Sanders, he certainly has
our sentiments and our best wishes. I know how difficult it is
to lose a parent and to lose a mother is a tremendous thing to
overcome, but we're hopeful that everything will go well with
him.
And so we'll just meet with the football team and go
on. And I expect Pittsburg to play the best game they've played
this year. Johnny Major has done a nice job with this game. I
watched them early in the year when they played Ohio State to
how they've developed now, they've really improved tremendously.
Q. I don't know if you're ready to start talking post season,
but could you talk about the five teams that took a fall ahead
of you and what things are looking like over the next few weeks?
COACH HOLTZ: Yeah, I really wished I could. I was really
impressed with Boston College's ladies hockey coach's room.
That's where I dressed. They had a TV in there with about 70
channels. While I was getting dressed I watched a little bit of
Wisconsin, Michigan, and Purdue. After the game watched a little
bit of Alabama and LSU. It was very nice. So I got a chance to
see a little bit of the Purdue game. I thought Purdue played an
excellent game and shut down the run from Michigan. Tennessee
getting beat surprised me. But I'm very happy for Rip Sheer
(phonetic), he played quarterback for me at Williams and Mary
years ago, he'll probably retire in a year or two, that's how
old I'm getting. Just some crazy upsets. Virginia getting beat.
I don't know what it does to us, for us, et cetera. I know we
accomplished our first goal, which was a winning season, which
may not be great by many seasons, but that is the first ultimate
goal we set as a football team. The next goal is to go to a
January 1 bowl and play a Top Ten team, that's what we'd like to
do. But we've got Pittsburgh and Rutgers and Southern Cal. So we
have a lot of games ahead of us. And I don't know what will
happen, I don't know how it will turn out. But I'm just glad
that we still have the opportunity.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: The question is, is the offense
starting to fall into rhythm and dictating when we want to pass,
et cetera. Yeah, I think so, I think we're falling into a
rhythm. I think we're very, very comfortable with what we're
doing. We'd like to throw the ball more. You can sit up there in
the press box and see it's man-to-man coverage, it's one-on-one
out there, but we need to throw the ball more if we don't have
success running the football. But people are playing us with
eight and nine-man fronts. That doesn't really concern me, it
never has. It would be much more productive if we can beat
one-on-one receivers out there on a consistent basis, but I
think we ran four option plays yesterday and the only one that
didn't get a first down was the one Kinder was out there going
in for the touchdown, gets tackled on the one, Jamie Spencer in
front of him, that's the only one that didn't get a first down.
We haven't needed to run the option much. We haven't needed to
throw the ball much. But we still, same old things you see,
fullback down the sideline off of power, things like that. I'm
feeling comfortable with this football team in general. We have
a couple of players that I hope will respond well, but the
people that are playing right now really did a nice job.
It's really gratifying to watch Jamie Spencer. Here's a guy
who I thought would be a good fullback a year ago, but just
never really understood what college football is about, what
Notre Dame is about or what fullback is all about. And, I don't
know, a couple of weeks ago he just all of a sudden started
becoming a good football player, I mean a good fullback, he's
always been a good football back. And Joey Goodspeed has made
great progress. And to have a guy like Jamie Spencer step in and
blocking and running and catching, he just did a tremendous job.
So offensively I feel comfortable. I'd like to throw the
ball more than what we are. We spend a lot of time pass
practicing passing for the minimum amount we do.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: Well, we still have different
formations, it's just that we have -- when you have a fullback
in the back field you can have different angle combinations, a
lot of down blocking and trapping, et cetera, where we split
everybody out it's sort of one-on-one blocking. And that works
sometimes, but sometimes it doesn't, as epitomized by some teams
that used to run the football well have trouble doing it. So
that was the thing that we felt was -- when we split our
tailback out, that we lost some of the angles or we split our
fullback, we lost some of the angles that we could give our
players.
Now we'll still put the slot man up there, and
still have three receivers to one side, but he's also in a
position where we can run back to the other side by putting them
in motion, et cetera. So that was the main thing, that I think
we -- I feel comfortable with what we're doing.
I'd like to
throw the ball more. I really and truly would. But we just
aren't productive when we do it, either in our pass protection
on a consistent basis. We tried to throw just before the half
and got the guy open and protection broke down and Ron got hit
and they ruled it was a fumble. So you're leery.
The amazing
thing, if we don't -- I believe this from the bottom of my
heart, if we don't have a missed assignment, and we don't have a
lost yardage play and we don't have a penalty we think we can
move the ball on anybody now. Just give us three downs, we think
we can get ten yards. That's the attitude you want to have. Is
that true? Not necessarily so. But that's the attitude we have
and our players have. But it's the penalties that are called.
The penalties that are called. That put a handicap in us.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: I think that other than protecting
the football, which has been the most discouraging thing I've
seen in my entire coaching career, that we can't protect the
football better. But I think that Autry Denson the last two
weeks has run the way we would like Autry to run, and the way we
expected him to run. Robert Farmer, he's just got to get the
ball more. He makes things happen. But he averaged about 38
yards, 40 yards a carry the last two ballgames.
I think
Randy Kinder is starting to come back into his own. So, you
know, we're getting good blocking up front and then when the
backs make things happen, that encourages the linemen to block
even longer and harder.
We're getting tremendous down field
blocking from the receivers, that's the one thing our receivers
are doing, they're doing a great job down field. So we have
very, very solid back field, but that's all we have, basically,
is what's on the field. We don't have one or two other backs
even on scholarship at the present time. I'm happy for Farmer
and really happy for Randy Kinder as well. And we want to roll
them more, as long as everybody can be productive with the ball
and playing well without the football, we'd like to play them
more.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: I don't want to be one to say I
told you so, but I think we sat in this room and everybody said
your punt return now is down and is that because you lost this
guy? And I said there's nothing wrong with our punt return
except catching a ball. And since then we've caught the ball and
it's been excellent. It can be a little bit better, I think.
Our return game, a little disappointed in the kickoff return
Saturday, I didn't think we really broke it. It was hard to get
the timing on it, et cetera. But overall our return game has
been pretty good. I think our punt coverage has been good. I
want to play special tribute to Deke Cooper and Randy Kinder,
they're the two sprint players on our punt team. And they have
really done a special job. And poor Deke Cooper has played
safety. He's a sprinter on the punt team, he's in charge of the
sprinter on the punt return team, which is a very difficult job,
and he's done an excellent job. He's on our kickoff coverage
team, not a safety on it. Gee, the guy is just on the field an
awful lot. And so I think a lot of players, Bill Mitoulas,
Wagasy, Babey, Carretta, a lot of those people are really doing
a tremendous job for us in our kicking game. I think Sanson has
done a nice job, Hunter Smith has done a nice job. I just feel
comfortable. You go to practice, there's no screaming or
hollering. There isn't any half hour attitude, motivational
talks before practice. I just say a few words to them and on
occasion somebody's eyes will wander and I don't think that will
happen again.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: No, it was the same atmosphere,
same atmosphere. I mean the people are so close to the stands,
and it's not the first place I've been where some of the
comments that come your way are unbelievable. I thought I was
playing at home. But the fans were into the game and we're
trying to snap the ball, and I understand this. We go on the
road, we're going to have some motion penalties, and they're
jumping defenses, and up on the scoreboard they have "Make
Noise" and inciting the crowd. But our approach has always been,
you shouldn't try to take the crowd out of the game. So we try
to snap it. And we've never asked for a slow down on it, ever.
And I just don't want to take the crowd out of the game. But it
does make it a little difficult, but when you go on the road
you're going to have to overcome that.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: Boy, I didn't know what was
happening, because our players were getting a little frustrated
over a variety of different things and looking at the film I can
see where they did get frustrated. I can see Renaldo Wynn did
get frustrated. But there was some controversy down there, and I
went sprinting over there just to make sure that the -- the
players were standing around. And the referee said no. And I
asked the guy who was a BC official, I said was he in? And he
said no, he hit that far short of the goal line. I said, well --
I looked at the film, there ain't no way. He hit about four
yards deep short of the end zone, and he went over the pylon.
The ball was over the pylon. Yeah, I thought it was a touchdown.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: No disciplinary action or nothing
else. Just we didn't feel that they were in a position to help
us win. There's nothing more to it than that. One thing we made
up our mind, whoever practices well and could help us win. There
were several others that didn't make it.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: Well, it's very difficult to keep
from getting frustrated, and myself as a Coach gets
exceptionally frustrated. But with the communication or the
attitude, I think. And I just tell our players, I'll be in
charge of voicing displeasure with the officials if that's the
case. That's not the result of a player or an assistant coach or
anything else. And I just like them to know that I'm there on
the sideline and I am watching the game, that's all. But you
rise above that. And we covered that before the game that there
are going to be times when calls go against you, et cetera.
I'm not complaining about officiating, but a lot of things
have gone against us for a lot of years. But we just have to do
what we can do and not worry about anything else. I thought
Emmett Mosley was in when I looked at the film. Now, the film is
not conclusive. I thought he scored and they ruled he didn't.
Okay. Next time the guy catches the ball out of game and they
ruled he's in bounds. We hit a screen pass for a big game
and the guy turns his back and Jeremy Akers is blocking him when
he turns, and it's pushing in the back. I thought he turned his
back, the official didn't. There's a difference of opinion. I'm
sure I'm looking at it from one point of view, the officials are
looking at it from another point of view. You just would think
over a period of a lifetime, or at least 11 years, things would
balance out. I'd like to think that.
I'm going to tell you
this, the new coach is really in for some great benefits, I want
to tell you.
Q. (Inaudible)
COACH HOLTZ: He's going to get some great calls
for the next 11 years. No, we're off camera. You know what I'm
saying, it's ridiculous. You see it. Week after week after week.
They ruled that one catch, I looked at that film, person in the
third row had a better shot at it than he did.
