University of Massachusets Athletics
Don Brown's Weekly Teleconference
November 01, 2004 | Football
Nov. 1, 2004
Question: Congratulations on your win Saturday, what are your thoughts on the game?
Brown: It was a heck of a football game if you're a fan. It's the second week in a row that we've been in one of those and two evenly matched teams, two teams that play extremely hard, it was just tough for either team to get away from the other, both sides competed extremely hard.
As I look at our side, I was excited with the play of redshirt freshman J.J. Moore as he had two touchdown catches. Jack eluded to Jason Peebler on his one big catch from Tim Day. Timmy played pretty well he had two picks but threw four touchdowns with a long of 53 to Jason and Steve Baylark ran the ball extremely well. I thought our offense played well all day long, it was our best effort of the year. Defensively we had our work cut out for us containing Marcus Williams who we knew was coming back to Amherst for his last go-round and he gave a great performance.
We really didn't play to well defensively, too many missed tackles but I think Maine had a lot to do with that. We competed. We gave up an early touchdown in the third quarter to put Maine up 21 to 14 but we just kept competing. The disappointing thing was when it was 28 to 21 we had a chance to finish the game but we missed a big sack and two big tackles that kept the drive alive, I have to credit Maine and Ron Whitcomb, they finished the drive. We made one more play in overtime and their kick was low and we got it blocked. That's the way it is goes in the Atlantic 10, some days there is just one more play and we just made one more play that day.
Question: Where is the improvement in this team over the past three weeks and how close is this team now?
Brown: I think the biggest thing is that we are integrating a lot of young players. Right now up front we are playing 4 freshmen, or redshirt freshman, two of them walk ons on defense. Brandon Freeman is a true freshman playing at corner. On offense, J.J. Moore at receiver and Brandon London, played some last year but is another young receiver.
Steve Baylark is only a sophomore. We make a little shift in what we do from a transition stand point. When we went through our tough times in the first six weeks, it's not like we're playing "The sisters of the poor "as I referred to before. As we went Delaware, then we went B.C. and then JMU on the road back to back to back. I think we learned a lot when we suffered through some tough times. We played very well at New Hampshire, I thought we played solidly at Rhode Island but didn't finish the task.
Clearly, we played very hard against Maine. We've got a long way to go but we've got guys that will be around for a long time and I think we are starting to develop a chemistry and camaraderie that needs to be there to be successful. We have a tremendous long way to go, we have to play smarter still.
Question: After the game you said you have to get the ball to Steve Baylark more and he seems to be getting the ball more and is more affective.
Brown: He's one of those guys that I think is better on carry 20 then on carry 10, and better on carry 30 then on carry 25. When he's productive, we're productive. It runs hand in hand, when your running game is productive everything else is productive. You hear coaches talking about it all the time and it is something I absolutely believe in. It gives your offense a chance to be balanced and takes the pressure off your quarterback and spreads responsibility out amongst the offense it doesn't put it all on one guy.
Question: You're at Northeastern next Saturday, what are your thoughts about that game?
Brown: They are playing extremely well, especially on offense. We have extreme respect for their players. They have only lost one in their last 20 home games. The challenge is there for us. We're going to have to play our best game of the year if we are going to have a chance for success.
Question: Do you think you have an advantage knowing their players or do you think they have an advantage knowing your plays?
Brown: I think it's a two way street. Rocky went and hired two of my assistants on defense so there are no secrets in this league. It's a two way street, there is going to be familiarity on both sides. I can assure you that our staff has tremendous respect for their players.
Question: The two big guns on offense that you recruited, Shawn Brady the quarterback and Liam Ezekiel the linebacker, you know them as well as anybody, can you talk about what they are going to try to do to you guys on Saturday?
Brown: They are extremely competitive, I think that's a common trait between both guys. They know how to win They play whistle to whistle. They've got leadership on both sides with Shawn on offense and Liam on defense. We know we are going to get their best effort and I wouldn't expect anything less.
