Murray State University Head Football Coach Matt Griffin addressed the media today at his weekly press conference. Griffin talked about the win against Indiana State this past Saturday, the team's offensive improvement and next Saturday's opponent, sixth ranked Illinois State.
After three straight road games to open the 2006 season, the Racers will play their first home game of the Matt Griffin era against No. 6 Illinois State at 6 p.m., at Stewart Stadium.
ON THE TEAM'S OFFENSIVE SUCCESS AGAINST INDIANA STATE: “It's good to score some points, but we're not happy about giving up 40 either so there is certainly a concern there.”
ON POSITIVES AND NEGATIVES FROM THE INDIANA STATE GAME: “Ball control, that's something we talk about all the time. We had the ball for 36 minutes. We had the opportunity even to be over 40, which I would have liked to seen. That's always good. When you run the ball effectively it opens up the play action pass, and that contributes to the ball control. We got five takeaways, unfortunately we had to giveaways, late second half turnover that really shouldn't have happen. We'd like to get rid of that. Negative side, we're missing some tackles that we have to stop missing because it's turning into a lot of extra yards. This week it turned into over 100 yards of offense for the opponent. We've got to sure that up. We just have to play a little bit better defensively. Give our defensive kids credit, they kept playing, they never packed up on us. Indiana State had six or seven big plays, over 20 yards, despite that our kids still lined up and played the next play. Particularly in the second half, they drove the field twice coming out and we held them to field goals, which was huge.”
ON FORCING TURNOVERS: “Four were on defense, the fifth one was by the kickoff team. That was big. I think a pivotal play in the game was a blocked extra point. They erased a 17-point halftime deficit with two field goals and a touchdown to cut it to five, the extra point cuts it to four and they're in the driver's seat. I don't think you can see it until you look on tape but you can see that blocked extra point takes the wind out of their sails. It's something we talk about everyday with them, we preach about momentum. Our offense stepped up and drove the field on the next drive which they had to do or it's a whole different ballgame, a whole different outcome possibly. We're pleased with it but we got some things to clean up though.”
ON THE MURRAY STATE DEFENSIVE LINE: “The thing we're pleased with is they're trying to do the things they're coached to do. There's no question about that, from a technique standpoint, from an assignment standpoint those guys are playing hard. What they've got to learn, and their getting a taste of it now they've had three games, they're learning the game speed is a whole lot different. We can only simulate so much of that in practice. They're preparation each day during the week is so very important to the outcome on Saturday on how they perform. We've got to remain patient with those guys, because they're young. I think they're going to be outstanding, I really do. We're just not there yet.”
ON THE MURRAY STATE OFFENSIVE LINE'S PLAY AGAINST INDIANA STATE: “They played well. There's a couple spots there they were playing real well. There's also a couple of spots that we turned guys loose in situations that I can quite put my finger on why. That's okay, those mistakes are easily corrected. The thing I'm most pleased with that group is their effort. Not only putting a hat on a hat, but getting to the ball. Certainly our backs ran extremely hard.”
ON CHALLENGING THE OFFENSIVE LINE IN THE SECOND HALF: “A couple of us threw it at them. It was up to us. The first two drives we came out and laid an egg. That happens, there's momentum swings in every game. They were the group that really got us back.”
ON THE PLAY OF THE RUNNING BACKS IN THE INDIANA STATE GAME: “There's four kids, and I'm going to mention them all because I think they're all outstanding. Chad [Cook] naturally, had a huge day. He's an outstanding back. He's really a mix, 250-pound tailbacks are kind of uncommon now-a-days. Charlie [Jordan] is more of a slasher, he played well. Dante Woods is kind of a tweener, he can do both, and he played well. Then Josh Jones, a guy you didn't see very much, played just on special teams this week, is another young guy that we can use if we have to and we feel comfortable. What those kids are doing right now, and really our whole team, their effort and their play has been very good. They've played hard and they're going to continue to do that.”
ON WIDE RECEIVER ROD HARPER: “He's a talented guy. He's shown that to us now the last three weeks. He can be a difference maker. He can be that good. He's going to continue to work every day. He works his tail off every day and the results are there. All of our receivers this week, they blocked very well in the run game. They were very aggressive, they were very physical. Not only does that help us as a team in the pass game it helps them in the pass game. Lee McGinnis was wide open because he'd been coming down on that safety the four or five plays before as physical as any offensive lineman had. That kid kind of shied away and turned him loose wide open on the play. Rod can be great, but we can't just go to one guy all the time.
ON THE MURRAY STATE OFFENSE: “We've gotten a little bit better. We've cleaned up some things. We'd like to have seen a little more improvement from week one to week two. Again, this is going to be an on-going process, we know that. Offensively, we got a group of kids right now that not only like what they're doing, they like each other, and that's very important. Same thing on the defensive side. As far as their execution, again a better week of practice than the week before and a better week from week one. Still a lot to clean up, despite what they did, and they know that. They understand that. We won't change our preparation win, lose or draw. We can't get away from what we're doing.”
ON ILLINOIS STATE: “Outstanding football team, and certainly in my eyes, our biggest challenge. They have a tremendous quarterback. The guy is a great athlete and makes good decisions. They've got two receivers that should be at I-A schools. They got a division I transfer at tailback that's very good. They're physical up front. They're where we want to be, what we're aspiring to get to. Defensively they run around. They have 11 guys that can flat out run. We've got to be very good this week.”
ON PLAYING AT HOME FOR THE FIRST TIME: “It's as different as it was the first road game. It's almost like that first game at Missouri. Everything is going to be new to the staff and the players together. We're not changing things as far as traditions or anything like that. It will be great to be honest with you.”
ON ILLINOIS STATE HEAD COACH, AND FORMER MURRAY STATE HEAD COACH, DENVER JOHNSON: “I know Denver. We talk a couple of times a year. He called me when I got the job. Denver and I sat down the first time when I first got to Martin as the head coach. We spent a couple of days together. I like Denver, he's a class act. He does things the right way, and he's done a great job up there. He's recruited well, he's recruited hard. He works hard at it like you're supposed to. It's evident with the team he's putting on the field.”
ON MURRAY STATE JUNIOR LINEBACKER NATHAN WILLIAMS: “Nate played well. Nate only gets in trouble, and I'll say first he played very well, he gets himself in trouble when he tries to be everybody's little helper. It's an easy phrase that we use every day, do your job. This is a credit to his personality and the fact the kid's a winner, he wants to help out when things aren't going well in other spots and when he does that he gets himself in trouble. Nate understands this. He played well and he can play even better.”
ON JUNIOR CORNERBACK DERRICK PARROTT: “Derrick is as steady a football player as we've got, and maybe as steady a football player as I've ever coached. The kid's a good football player. Day in and day out when he comes out to the practice field, whatever he does, and if there are any companies out there looking for winners, this is the guy for you because whatever task you throw at him he gets it done. It's great too because the young guys see it. We have a lot of freshman and we're fortunate to have some good juniors and seniors, not only as players, but as role models as far as academics, as far as practice and work ethic on the practice field, work ethic in the weight room. These guys get to see it and that's great. It bodes well for where they're going to go. If they're the competitors I think they are, they're going to want to do everything better than those older guys have done in the past. Derrick is certainly a leader for us there.”
ON THE INJURY SITUATION: “Again, we're healthy. Just the normal bumps and bruises. I think we're going to get Chris Mauga back on the offensive line, but we'll have to wait and see how he does in practice.”
ON THE ILLINOIS STATE OFFENSE: “He does things the way I want to do things here. He's going to run the football, play action pass, and straight drop back and throw it, but only if the situation calls for it. When you run the football effectively your defense is going to be better because they know how to stop the run. You're not going to win a championship on any level unless you can stop the run on defense. That's what they're doing, and they do a good job of it. They stay consistent. They haven't reinvented the wheel. From a scheme standpoint, we might have seen more looks from Indiana State's offense than we'll see from Illinois State's, but Illinois State is just better at what they do.”
ON THE ILLINOIS STATE DEFENSE: “They're a four-three front, same thing we saw last week. They have a couple wrinkles in it, not very many. Same as their offensive scheme, this is what they do and they do it well. They recruit to that scheme, which is why they're good. They're a top 10 team for a reason and that's the biggest one, they recruit to their scheme.”
ON THE TEAM'S PROGRESS FROM WEEK TWO TO WEEK THREE: “I thought we had a little bit better progress from week one to two, we just didn't show come Saturday night. I want to see progress from three to four. I know our kids feel good about what they did. I know they'll come to work today, tomorrow and throughout the course of the week, they have all year, it's important that we have great attention to detail this week.”
ON GETTING A WIN BEFORE FACING ILLINOIS STATE: “It's great from a confidence level. It's justification for all the things we've done as a new staff and for our players, especially our older guys. They reap the reward for all they've put in. They've put a lot into this thing and they're going to continue to. I know what they want out of this and we want them to get there. It's a whole lot better than sitting here 0 and 3."
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