University of Massachusets Athletics
Quotes from Don Brown's Weekly Teleconference
October 22, 2007 | Football
Oct. 22, 2007
Coach Brown recapping the Northeastern Game
We knew we had a hungry football team coming in. We have watched them on tape and we are very impressed with the way they played against James Madison and Delaware. The thing that we focused on with our offense is to get off on the right foot as we struggled with that in the first half in our last two games against Boston College and Villanova.
In our first four possessions in the first half, they resulted in three touchdowns and a field goal so we really felt good about the way that we got out of the gate. Liam came out firing, he had an excellent day, 13-17 for 191 yards. He threw two touchdown passes, one to Rasheed Rancher, one to J.J. Moore. Mike Omar was his favorite guy on the day as he had five catches for 74 yards as well.
I was elated with the way that we played offensively against a defense that has really improved; we just had to grind it out well in that end. Northeastern did a good job in their offensive game plan; they came out ready to go and we were fortunate enough to be the beneficiary of a couple of turnovers.
Mike Meggett had a big one in the first half to close out the half. Anthony Orio, their outstanding quarterback, put one on the carpet on an option play and we were able to step up there and come up with the football. It is a big play for our defense. We had five turnovers on the day. We have been playing pretty good defense but we haven't been fortunate to be the beneficiary of a lot of turnovers and Courtney Robinson had a huge interception in the fourth quarter when they were moving the football.
Unfortunately for us we lost our quarterback Liam Coen just before the half but Scott Woodward came in and did a good job managing the second half and defensively, where Northeastern had 225 yards of offense in the first half, we limited them to 90 in the second half. We came away with a hard fought 24-7 victory, I thought highlighted by the way our offense fought in the first half.
On Liam Coen being on the Payton watch list
It is a great award and usually goes to a team that has excellent success. The one thing that I like about Liam is all he really cares about is winning. Some weeks his stats are better than others, we are just going to take what people give us and the reality is, he is such an unselfish player that he just does what we need him to do to win football games. He did tie Todd Bankhead's record for most touchdown passes in a career; we are just elated by the way that he has played and carried the football game. He has certainly showed some mental toughness as well as he has hung in there and battled through this nagging sprained knee.
On Liam Coen's Injury
The reality is it is not going to go away, it is like a sprained ankle. It just seems like he has that one hit during the course of the game that just tweaks it and there is nothing that endangers him in terms of a permanent basis, he doesn't seem to injure it any worse, but if he is tweaked we have to battle through it. He rehabs it every day, he extremely diligent with our trainer Jeff Smith, getting all that done and I just know he will be back out on the practice field mid-week and be physical when Saturday comes.
Brown on Jake Phillips (William and Mary quarterback)
Jake is an excellent quarterback, he has great mobility, and he has a strong arm. Coach Laycock has a very solid offensive structure. Phillips knows where everybody is in the throw game. He is versatile enough to get out and when things aren't there create on the move. He throws the vertical pass game as well as anyone in our league and we certainly have our hands full going down to William and Mary and playing an outstanding offense led by Jake Phillips.
On David Burris getting to the quarterback
David is a guy that was a walk-n linebacker when I got here and we moved him to defensive end and he became a fast defensive end as opposed to a medium speed linebacker. He has just gotten better and better. He is extremely cerebral, he has a great understanding of what offensive lines are trying to do to him. That coupled with what we try to do with him, he just plays fast all the time, is extremely durable and relentless in his persuit of the quarterback. When you have a guy that has a high motor, he is only about six feet tall, 243 pounds, he is as strong as an ox and his first two steps are as good as anybody in college football. He is certainly our defensive leader up front and one of the leaders of our football team in his mannerisms and the way he role models.
On how Burris is what is looked for in walk-on players
You look for that guy that maybe some people don't want at the next level because of his height and stature but his motor runs so high that you just know he is going to be a good football player. He was a high school tailback, also played fullback, he just put his hand on the ground. His first start was against Boston College in 2004 and we haven't taken him off the field since. The only transition that he has made is that he was a tight end side defensive end and now he is an open side defensive end where in this day in age with all the spread offensive is more like a hybrid linebacker, than a defensive end.
On the penalties during the game
I don't know if there really is a remedy. A lot of things go on out there, there are a lot of things that go on in the field on both sides, to be quite honest I was not happy with some of the things that didn't get called, but you just have to move forward and all of the penalties were addressed yesterday during film session. You just move forward. The one thing that you don't want to do is take your guys aggressiveness away. In terms of having dumb penalties, we had one of those. Those are the ones that bug me the most it happened in the kicking game, we had a 15 yarder, those are the ones that you address, and those are the ones that are unacceptable. You just try to do the best you can, move forward, but the one thing that you don't want to do is to make your team into a bunch of basket cases looking over their shoulder as they are trying to play the game. We know we are physical, last year Florida won the National Championship and they were the second most penalized team in the country. We are going to just continue to grind it out from week-to-week and continue to be the best we can.
On UMass' turnover margin going from -1 to +4
I think our guys are starting to get comfortable with the scheme, we started three new defensive backs, one new linebacker and we are playing three red-shirt sophomores on the defensive line, Kyle Harrington was on the scout team last year as a walk-on and is now our noseback, and obviously Burris, but Michael Hanson now is a full-time player and we are mixing Wilner Alexis and Darnel DeLaire. I just think our guys are just getting more and more comfortable with the scheme which allows them to play fast and then take care of the little things on the football field which is running to the football, being great tacklers, and trying to finish plays. Looking at the last four weeks, we gave up seven to Maine, 14 to Boston College, 14 to Villlanova in regulation, and seven last week, so our defense is playing more cohesively and is starting to get a feel for it. That has allowed us to stop worrying about what we are doing and just let the game come to us and play fast.
