University of Massachusets Athletics
Coach Don Brown's Weekly Teleconference
October 15, 2007 | Football
Oct. 15, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. - Coach Brown on coaching Saturday's 4-OT game:
"Well it's certainly a grind. There's never any let up and we did not get off to the greatest start in the world. I give all the credit to Villanova. They certainly did a nice job of being conservative on offense and choosing to run the ball. They're selection process with [Chris] Whitney was right on track and we just didn't get out of our own way on offense in the first half. Although we did have a missed field goal, we had a field goal blocked and we had a touchdown called back in the first half--actually had two called back on the same drive. So that was disappointing, but we're still sitting here at the half 6-0 and we do put together a third quarter drive and go up 7-6. That's when I thought Whitney had his best drive of the game in the fourth quarter. They finished it with a Matt Sherry pass and I thought we had done a good job for really the whole day taking care of the receiving game. Sherry had the big catch and we knew we weren't going to shut him out for the day. [Brandyn] Harvey had on a scramble from Whitney a 42 yard reception. Outside of that I thought we had done a good job in the throw game. We're down 14-7 and we had a really huge drive for us that culminated with the Joe Sanford reception from Liam Coen to tie the game at 14 all. We were able to stop them late in the fourth quarter and move back down the field and give ourselves a field goal opportunity that clanked off the left upright which then opened the door for the four overtimes. It was really classic, we intercepted Whitney in the end zone in the first overtime, Matt Lawrence fumbles on the twelve. Then we go back and forth with field goals, touchdowns, and then in the fourth overtime we were able to get the our last touchdown with a Matt Lawrence run and then J.J. Moore completed the two-point conversion and then we stopped them on their fourth down drive. They had a chance to catch the ball, but Jeromy Miles, our safety, came up big all day--had four pass break ups in the end zone. Not a classic, but I thought both defenses really played well. It was a 14-14 game at the end of regulation and I think Villanova is an excellent football team on both sides and in the kicking game. I didn't expect anything else. I credit Villanova with getting Whitney ready. I thought they did a nice job in having a plan that made sense for them and kept it close. Their defense played well enough for them to give them a chance."
Coach on the last two games not being able to score it the first half:
"Well I don't think it is a major problem because we did move the ball some. I don't think Liam had his best half of football, but like I mentioned, we did have a field goal that got blocked. We did not protect it very well so we moved ourselves into field goal territory and then we had a touchdown called back and really called back in the same drive twice. That certainly hurt us. Otherwise it's a different deal if we can even have a touchdown going into half, I think you feel even a little bit better. Obviously a sluggish start may have resulted in being a little bit sluggish coming off the bye week. You can't really predict that, but reality wise, we got it going in the second half, played much better on offense and we were able to give ourselves a chance to win a football game."
Coach on having a 4-OT game giving the team a chance to grow:
"Well, really the biggest question is where we place the eleven starters from a year ago. I challenged the guys on their chemistry and their coming together and handling adversity as a football team and not as a group, not as an offense and not as a defense and not as special teams, but as a group. I thought we did that. We picked each other up when we needed to, we made plays when we needed to. Liam ended up with 355 yards. Rancher had a big day and a couple of big catches and ended up with eight catches for 155 yards. J.J. Moore had seven [catches] for 138 yards. That's what happens when the defense gives the offense a chance to kind of get their feet underneath them in the first half and then offensively when we needed a big drive in the fourth quarter to respond to Villanova's key drive. We were able to do that and that's what you look for out of your football team. Some days the offense is going to play better than the defense and vice versa, but you've got to keep moving forward as a football team and face adversity together as a team. I thought we did that on Saturday and I let the guys know that."
Coach on a home crowd of 16,174 at McGuirk Stadium:
"We've had several good crowds over the last year and a half. I can think of the New Hampshire crowd in the playoff game last year, which was well over 17,000. Even in our opener this year when it was Labor Day Weekend, we had well over 10,000 so we're certainly getting the fans support that you like to see. Your players have a chance to play in front of a good crowd and it certainly gives the guys some juice. We all talk about it as coaches, winning on the road in the CAA is a difficult process and it doubly tough when you have a great crowd."
