University of Massachusets Athletics
Don Brown's Weekly Teleconference
November 26, 2007 | Football
Nov. 26, 2007
AMHERST, Mass. - UMass head coach Don Brown conducted his weekly teleconference on Monday and answered questions from the media.
On the Fordham game:
Just starting with the positives, we certainly came out of the blocks ready to go. We came out, had a three and out and then went 11 plays, for 67 yards and a touchdown, capped off by a Liam Coen/Ian Jorgenson touchdown. Another three and out, Matt Lawrence then has a 2 yard runs, caps off a 74 yard drive. We are in pretty good shape coming out of the gates. Things were going pretty well, but we did have some mistakes. They ran a fake punt on us and to their credit they go in and score. I was very impressed with their quarterback John Skelton. We answered the bell right back in the second quarter with a 9-play 97-yard drive capped off by Rasheed Rancher's reception from Liam. Then with about three minutes left in the half we had a fumble and a blocked punt that kept them in the game and really made our lives difficult as we went in with a 28-21 lead at the half. We gave them three short fields for scores in the first half and we're even steven in the third quarter and then in the fourth quarter we started with another excellent drive. We got the run game going. Matt Lawrence had two touchdowns in the fourth quarter, one was a two-yard run and he ended up having a tremendous day with a net of 167 yards rushing, Liam Coen had threw for 419 yards. Rasheed Rancher and J.J. Moore both had 8 catches for over 100 yards. Rasheed was just short of 200. We needed to just step up and finish the day when the game was close Charles Walker our middle linebacker had an interception which led to our 14-point lead and again we still had to survive another punt gaff. The positives are there, 647 yards of offense, we knew we were going to have trouble with Skelton the quarterback, he's 6-5, 230 lbs. with a gun. They throw the ball around to eight receivers, they did a nice job of throwing it short and moving the chains but when we needed to step up as a football team we were able to do that and just a hard-fought football game, a typical playoff football game. I'm just glad to be moving on.
On Southern Illinois:
Well you know, I'm obviously very impressed with their offense, you know the quarterback is an excellent player, he moves the ball around. Lefty, this might be the first of second lefty we've seen in a long time so that's always an interesting deal when you have to deal with a left-hander. Excellent receiving core, their offensive line is very in sync and we know we have our hands full, that's for sure. I really like John Randall, the tailback. They are multiple in terms of their formations, they can give you two types. They can give you eleven personnel with one type and three on the field. They can run it, throw it and we know we have our hands full that's for sure. On defense, I'm really impressed. They base out of a 4-down scheme. They played extremely well last week, holding Eastern to under 200 yards of offense. They've got excellent team speed. As you just look at it, and again, I don't claim to be an expert yet because we just started looking at them last night but we're getting a good feel for them. We know we have our hands full with a very, very good football team.
On the punting situation:
Well we're still looking at it and I'm going to reserve that right until Tuesday and I want to get out in the practice field and obviously we've got some thoughts on it. I just want to see it translated on the practice field before I make a firm decision.
On possibility of five CAA teams advancing:
Well, I think we say it on a year to year basis, if you don't show up ready to play you're going to get beaten and that's just the reality from top to bottom in our league. The thing that is difficult about our league is that it's not just three or four teams at the top and then you have a group that are in the middle and group that are at the bottom. The pecking order changes on a year to year basis but the bottom is never that far from the top and the top is never that far from the bottom. So you know, the difficult thing is just your week to week preparation and your week to week execution. If you just have a bad day in either one of those areas you can guarantee you're going to get beaten. Obviously, I have a great respect for New Hampshire. We played them a few weeks back and probably played our best game but I listened to a good chunk of that game and they certainly had their chances to win that football game. Ricky Santos was as good as advertised. Scott Fickel, their tight end, had a great day. Obviously, you're seven seconds away from victory that says enough against the number one team in the country. I also think it validated their entrance into the playoff structure because there was some discussion about that but I think the bottom line it proves all. I think that the committee did an excellent job choosing New Hampshire as one of the entrance teams. You look at JMU and I know first hand how good Appalachian State is so for them to be one point away, inside the 10-yard line to win the football game certainly speaks volumes about the coaching job that Coach Matthews has done and how good that JMU football team is.
On playing on the road:
You try to get your work done at home that's the most important thing, just trying to get all your preparation work done at home. Right now our plan is to practice at home Friday morning, get on a charter mid-day, and get out there around 2:30 central time and let the kids wind back then get into our preparation. We don't play until 3:30 eastern time, 2:30 central so it's a little bit easier morning for us on Saturday. We have to manage that a little bit, we'll probably have a meeting but it's nothing that we haven't been through before. I feel good about our time sequence and getting our guys out there on Friday and I know we'll be ready to play mid-day on Saturday afternoon. That's for sure. I do think you can draw, especially with the core players showing the younger guys, how to go about getting ready for a playoff game. I think the experience does come in to it in terms of playing a road game on the road in the playoffs.
