Murray State head football coach Matt Griffin met with the local media today for his weekly press conference, held in the Racer Room in Stewart Stadium. During the press conference, Griffin talked about the season-opener against Louisville, next week's contest against Illinois State, seeing improvements from Week One to Week Two, and breaking down film.
The Racers return to action this Saturday, when they travel to Normal, Ill. to face the Illinois State Redbirds. Kick-off time is set for 6 p.m.
Click here to watch Murray State Football with Matt Griffin television show.
Here are Matt Griffin's comments during the news conference today.
GRIFFIN ON THE RACERS NEXT OPPONENT, ILLINOIS STATE: "They're a good football team. For them to get upset (by Drake), that will certainly re-focus them a little bit. I know (Head Coach) Denver (Johnson) will have them ready. Regardless, we had to be ready for them. The thing we've talked about all weekend with our kids, and the approach we have to take this whole season being so young, is just take care of ourselves and everything falls into place.
ON LOUISVILLE: "As I said so many times in the preseason, we won't see their speed for the rest of the season and I said it after the game and I'll say it again - that team is awesome. We as a staff hope they win the national championship. It'll help our power rating in the end and it will certainly help us in the long run. They've got the talent to compete, and they should be in the top five this week, if not next."
ON ILLINOIS STATE'S 27-24 SEASON OPENING LOSS TO DRAKE: "They had some turnovers - they threw three big interceptions. The winning touchdown for Drake is as fluky as you'll ever see. One of their corners has a pick, he has his hands on the football. It goes through his hands, pops up in the air, another receiver catches it, makes a guy miss, and goes 50 yards for a score. It was crazy but give credit where credit is due, Drake came in there prepared, they executed well, and they played their tails off. They played hard in all three phases."
ON IF ILLINOIS STATE LOSING THURSDAY WORKS TO MSU'S ADVANTAGE: "I can't guess as to how it will work for them, I can just take care of our kids. I've said it all along - I like our team. I like the kids we have on our team, and I love our staff. I like the approach our kids take day-to-day. There was no real low (after the Louisville game) and we practiced a little bit Sunday night. Our guys know what that first game was, and it's gone. Now let's re-focus on the next play, and the task at hand, which is Tuesday's practice."
ON TEAM REACTION TO THE BIG STAGE DURING THE LOUISVILLE GAME: "I was pleased with that, I said today in our (Ohio Valley Conference) conference call that, and I'll kid him about it later, but I think Chris Franklin was a little nervous in the second half, starting off. And he should've been. They still had their first group in. But when he settled in, he played very well, I was pleased with him. Really, our kids didn't back down. We graded the tape and defensively, we didn't have any loafs, and we take those very seriously. That's a great thing to see. Offensively, defensively, and in the kicking game we didn't have anybody back down. Was our reaction time good in some areas? No it wasn't, but that's coaching from Game One to Game Two. That was encouraging."
ON SEEING IMPROVEMENT FROM GAME ONE TO GAME TWO: "From One to Two, the biggest thing is cleaning up your mistakes you made in Game One. We had a punt return where our protection could have been a little bit better, and then we give one up where a guy blows a lane assignment. That's Game One stuff, and we're looking forward to this week. Really, it's a great challenge because it's not like we're coming off and playing a team that's less talented than us. We're playing a team that's more talented. We have to come out and play well."
ON OFFENSIVE LINE PLAY AGAINST LOUISVILLE: "The offense did play well, and I give credit both ways. I've coached the offensive line - that's my favorite position to coach, and I've played quarterback. Those two in the pass game work so much hand-in-hand. If the quarterback is on his reads, if he's effective and locked in sort of speaking, then we could be poor in the pass protection and you wouldn't know it. If the quarterback's getting knocked down two or three times in a series, people say the o-line isn't good. There's more to it than that. Our plan was to get the ball away quick to offset Louisville's speed and make them re-direct while we're going one way, they're going the other. I think we executed that fairly well, and we'll try to do the same thing this week against Illinois State. They're very good defensively."
ON COMPARING FORMER ILLINOIS STATE RUNNING BACK PIERRE REMBERT TO CURRENT ISU RUNNING BACK RAFAEL RICE: "Rice is more of a Charlie Jordan type. I don't think he is as dead-fast in the 100-meter or 40-yard as Rembert, but boy, he's a good back. He sees things very well. His first or second long run, he broke three long runs against Drake, there was just a small crease up front and he found it and got through it, then made a couple guys miss on the second and third level. He's impressive. They haven't fallen off a great deal (at the running back position). Maybe from a size standpoint, I think Rembert was bigger - he was more in the 230 pound range. Rice is every bit as fast and quick (as Rembert)."
ON ILLINOIS STATE'S GO-TO RECEIVER: "There are two guys - (Jason) Horton, number 86, he's a good player. And then (Kevett Mickle) they had two years ago but he wasn't with them last year - he went to a junior college and came back, he's pretty talented and he's number 88. I think they have a couple guys that they go to, they utilized at least four guys against Drake."
ON ILLINOIS STATE QUARTERBACK LUKE DRONE: "Excellent athlete with an extremely strong arm. I'm impressed with him - I was last year. I think he's got great feet, he sets up well, and his arm strength is excellent. He's very competitive. He was affected by this past game, as was the whole offense, they had three or four drops that were big plays. Two of them were going to be 25 yards-plus, or home runs if they're converted. That I'm sure will get cleaned up. They'll clean up their mistakes as we look to clean up ours."
ON BREAKING DOWN FILM AS A STAFF: "We have a great system. We've piece milled our video system in and we have an alum who was instrumental in getting us that in Ed Walpol. Without getting into too much detail, it's gotten better from last year to this year in what Ed has done for us, but it's really kind of unique. Each laptop is a viewing station TV and VCR combined. How we break stuff down hasn't changed as far as assignment, what we do as far as fields being down distance and so forth. But I know right now it's a little bit better, and next year we hope by Christmas we'll have our own server there. As far as utilization and storage, we'll be able to store for a recruiting tape from five or six years ago, game tape from five to six years ago, once it's converted. Our system is better, but there's no real change. We look at different fields, being 3rd-and-long, 3rd-and-short, same with fourth down, same with second, and with first. Then there are areas of the field - the red zone, and the rest of the field. It's not a whole lot different than what's done at the NFL or high school, it just goes back to utilizing the time. I say this all the time, it's not what we know as coaches on Saturday that gets you the wins, it's what your kids know. I'm a big subscriber to the K.I.S.S. principle, Keep It Simple, Stupid. Hopefully, we're doing that, especially with a young bunch. Most staffs, and it's starting to matriculate to the Football Championship Division level. A lot of schools at our level have video coordinators and that would be awesome. I think the way you utilize it is to have one for the whole athletic department."
ON WHY QUARTERBACK JEFF EHRHARDT DIDN'T PLAY IN THE SECOND HALF: "It was simply to get Chris some reps. Chris is our number two guy, he's proven that through camp and as I said back in preseason, when Jeff went out with a thigh bruise, Chris came in and we didn't miss a beat offensively. The only thing Chris was lacking was game reps, and again to throw him into that fire with that speed on defense is certainly going to help him down the road in case something happens. We also have Zach (Barnard) as a guy who has ten games experience."
ON STATUS OF SENIOR LINEBACKER NATHAN WILLIAMS: "He's hurt. We won't have him this week. That's difficult. He will travel with us. Nate, as I've said so much, I think the world of this guy as a person, as a player. I think he's awesome. His work ethic is as good as any player I've coached in 15 years and I want him around as much as possible and as we get through paperwork, we'll look at a possible six-year medical redshirt and I would love to see that happen for him. But injuries are part of the game, they happen against everybody so we have to find the next guy, get him ready and go. It's his knee that's hurting him, and there's a possibility that in five weeks he could be back. We're going to be day-to-day with him."
ON LINEBACKERS PICKING UP THE SLACK IN WILLIAMS' ABSENCE: "Speed is so important and when you watch Louisville play, you got to see how fast those guys are and that's why they're contending for a national championship by the end of the year. You find your best athletes, the best players play, we say that day-in and day-out. Zach Kutch will now go into the starting lineup and he was a backup and played really significant reps for a first-year freshman. I like Zach - he's a good player who can run and tackle. We just put the best three out there that we have."
ON RUNNING BACK PAUL McKINNIS' PLAY AGAINST LOUISVILLE: "I'm pleased with Paul, I really am. He reminds me of the kid we had at Martin, I think he's a little more physical, more stout, more put-together. He's a real talented kid. I'm excited to see what the season holds for him. He will get more touches this week."
ON DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PREPARING FOR LOUISVILLE AND ILLINOIS STATE: "We wipe it away, throw it out and I told the kids that in the locker room the minute after the game that there wasn't going to be some kind of ritual where we take that tape and bury under the practice field - it's over. It's gone. It's done. We're not going to talk about it. We accentuated the positives on Friday, that was our plan. We knew that on Wednesday that's what we were going to do, and now move on and get ready for Illinois State. I can't say it enough, we just have to take care of us. We have to make sure we're sound, assignment-wise, offensively, defensively, kicking game. We talk to our kids about Racer pride is defined as three simple things - unconditional effort, smart play, and physical play. If we adhere to that scripture, we'll be ok."
ON ANY STANDOUTS THE COACHES SAW AFTER REVIEWING THE LOUISVILLE TAPE: "A couple of kids played well in their first start. Stephen Huff, at tackle, did some good things. Vincent Rivers, another interior guy, offensive lineman, redshirt guy, first start. Vincent's starting to believe and he's a tough guy and I like Vincent a lot. Quinton Hankins, went against I think one of the best defensive linemen in the country, and the guy got the best of him at times but you know what? Quinton never backed down. He kept fighting the fight and he got the best of him at times. Defensive line-wise, Will Roach, Danny Blakemore, Blake Booth, those guys just played their tails off. It's fun to watch, you sit there as a head coach in the fourth quarter and you look out there and you see your first defense and on the defensive line your oldest guy is a sophomore. It's really two sophomores, then two redshirt freshmen, a true freshman. Then the second group goes out there and it's again, three true freshmen and a sophomore. We can't speed up the aging process, nor will we try, we just have to be patient and keep bringing them along and keep coaching."
ON RECEIVER DERRICK TOWNSEL AND HOW HE WILL BE UTILIZED AGAINST ILLINOIS STATE: "He'll be used the same. Derrick is a guy who's extremely talented and not a lot of people I'm not sure were aware, some were coming out of high school. He only played two years of high school football. He's from Miami, Florida and went to Overton High School his junior year and senior year in Memphis and was more of a basketball guy. We had recruited a couple of kids at Overton and had great success with it and we recruit there every year and we found him. Last year was just a learning experience from start to finish for him. The length of the season, the length of games, the length of practice, how you practice, going from being a receiver/defensive back/kick returner/punt returner to just playing receiver. I think he's an outstanding athlete. I think one of his first catches in preseason camp a year ago, the same scrimmage where Jeff Ehrhardt broke a 60-yard run, Derrick makes an unbelievable one-handed catch on a vertical and never breaks stride and scores. That was as a true freshman now he's a sophomore and getting a little bit better. He's a guy that I think a year from now, after we play Indiana, we'll be talking about and people will be asking about Antoinne Lightfoot. He did some things early and he's going to continue to do some things but what he figures out after that year experience, he'll just get better."
ON TEAM REACTION OF TOWNSEL MAKING THE TOP TEN PLAYS (#6) ON ESPN SPORTSCENTER: "There were some good comments when we came out to stretch on Sunday night. But it was typical Derrick - he's a very humble kid and our kids in true Racer fashion understand they understand humility is most important and they'll continue to do that. As I said, I just think the world of the group we have, I really do. If we keep working hard and we just do a good job of keeping it simple, we'll be fine."
ON ILLINOIS STATE'S DEFENSE: "They're very sound. They don't make mistakes. They tackle well. Kye Stewart, their weak-side linebacker I think was second in the Gateway (Conference) in tackles or second in I-AA. He's a heck of a player, he's a Nashville kid out of Pearl-Cohn. He's a great player and their defense kind of revolves around him. Secondary-wise, they return their safeties, they have a couple new corners and one's a transfer and pretty good. Our kids will understand who they are, what they do, but it's more about us."
ON SCHEDULING EFFECT OF APPALACHIAN STATE DEFEATING MICHIGAN THIS PAST SATURDAY: "I'll be honest I'm surprised that Alabama is playing a FCS team, they played Western Carolina. I think they have one next year, I think they've even dropped our name in the mix, but we're not going to do that. I like what Coach (Phil) Fulmer does at Tennessee, I have a lot of respect for that where him and their Athletics Director just don't feel their fans get their money's worth for that game. At the same time from a scheduling standpoint, it's good for those guys. If I were in their shoes, I like what Houston Nutt does, where he schedules (a FCS team) for Week 5 or Week 6. It's almost like a bye-week where if you have that beat-up tailback, quarterback, or linebacker, you may have the luxury of sitting them and get them an extra weeks rest. I don't think it will change the scheduling at all."
