Temple University Athletics
Al Golden's Postgame Quotes
9.17.07 | Football
Sept. 17, 2007
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Postgame Press Conference
at Connecticut
Sept. 15, 2007
Did you get an explanation on the field about what happened on the last play?
What happened? I don't know what happened. I just saw the video. He's in. I don't know what to say, o.k.?. I don't know what to say. I just saw the video. What do you want me to say?
You weren't here when the whole thing went down with Temple and the Big East. That the Big East replay official up there, you'd just hate to think ...
I just feel bad for the kids. I'm not going to get into all this other crap, o.k.? But I just saw it.
What did you think when you saw it with the naked eye, when you saw it for the first time? Could you tell anything?
They kid (Bruce Francis) said he was in. The kid told me he was in. The guys (coaches) upstairs said he was in. We have everybody in our families calling us on our cell phones right now, saying he was in. You tell me. I'm sure there has to be some process here. Let's just leave it at that until we review it further.
What did you say to the team?
Just that they fought hard. We're getting little glimpses of what they're capable of doing. But they're very ... when they're young like this, it's a fragile group. Things have to be ... We need some leadership obviously. We're struggling in that department still. We brought one scholarship senior to the game today. I believe we played 16 or 17 freshmen, true freshmen. I'm just trying to stay positive with them, but it's not good enough. We didn't win the game. We didn't win the game. I hope they can get a glimpse of, if they work as hard as they worked and if they prepare as hard as they prepared, and if they're focused and if they try to be really tough, what kind of team they can be. Because obviously, we don't lose anything for quite a while around here.
Your team has struggled recently running the ball. Did you see something today that you could exploit to get it going?
No, I think you guys know how I feel about RG Derek Dennis. I think he's going to be a good player. He wasn't quite ready two weeks ago. He's a 6-4 ½, 305-lb. guard who's incredibly intelligent, and he's bright. I think he and RT Andre (Douglas) did a good job over there. I think Harp(er) had his hands full. I think he's looking like he looked at the beginning of training camp. He was out for three weeks. We just need to eliminate these mistakes.
UConn used TB Andre Dixon instead of starter TB Donald Brown. Did that change the tempo a little bit?
I don't know if that changed the tempo really. I don't think they did anything different. I just think they got into that formation and they wanted to play that numbers game, so we played that numbers game with them. I was a little disappointed that we didn't knock the piles back a little more than that. I think they're going to be a good team. When you have two rush ends like they do, a secondary that can run, a big ol'quarterback and two running backs now, I think they're going to be a pretty good team honestly. I don't watch the tape like they do in this league, but they're going to be a pretty good team. I know he likes his team right now, and obviously Randy's done a great job.
On the shotgun handoff play, what went right and what went wrong?
We were just playing the game. And it was just a numbers game. I've been in that situation that Mark (D'Onofrio) was in today. It's just cat and mouse. If you over-commit one way or the other, you get burned badly when it's three by one. We didn't want to give up the big play. That's what kept us in the ball game; the fact that we ran the ball and didn't give up the big plays kept us in the ball game. We're that close in so many different areas whether it was a kid who was playing the first time on a kickoff return and he's doesn't know where to go. If he goes to the right spot, it's going to the house. All those little things. Or a freshman that roughs the kicker. That's where we're at.
Your defense played tough. Talk about that defensive line and the play of OLB Lamar McPherson.
Well, we played tougher, but I'm going to reserve judgement until I see the film and grade those guys. Like I said, I think we got knocked back a couple of times still. I have high expectations for the defensive line. We play eight to 10 guys over there, and I know a lot of them are babies yet. But I have high expectations for that group and what they'll grow into and what they'll do physically in terms of developing. We just need to get a little more stout at linebacker, and we need to get healthy at linebacker. We need to get Peanut (freshman LB Elijah Joseph) back and get some depth there so we can keep rotating. We just need a couple more plays. We just need a couple more plays.
Last week coach Edsall expressed concern about the quality of the playing field, and that was a big issue here this week. What was your estimation on the quality of the playing field today? Was it playable?
It was fine. If you get caught up in that as coach, then ... Obviously it's your field, but in terms of what I was looking for out there, I wasn't looking at the grass. We have a lot of other things (to look at). We're still out there sometimes coaching them how to line up and do all those things you do with little kids. At some point they have to grow up. We've kept it really basic. We're just trying to teach them how to win. I teach them how to be football players, how to eliminate mistakes. I think our penalties were down today. When was the last time we stopped fourth-and-ones like that? I mean, some kids stepped up and played tough. If a couple of calls go our way, I don't know. I don't know what to do. I don't know what to feel right now to tell you the truth.
I didn't see the same offensive line on two consecutive series the whole game.
We wanted to keep those guys fresh and see if we could get a running game. Obviously, like I said to the team, they're in year nine. They've got depth. Even when you look at their depth chart, there's symmetry in their depth chart. We don't have any symmetry right now. It's freshmen backed up by freshmen in a lot of places. They've got nice symmetry which means, I think they're playing 16 freshmen right now, and 10 of them are redshirt freshmen, which is a great luxury to have. There is symmetry in the way they play, and we were worried about getting worn down a little bit. So we played a lot of people which is good. It's good for morale; it's good for our program. We are moving forward. Now the key is to start winning with these guys. But we're going to learn a lot about each player on this tape today and how they competed.
Can you talk about the complexity of the last play?
Well, it's like, you fight for three-and-a-half hours. I wish we would have gotten more on first and second down. But you have to take a shot. That's one of the things we talked about before the play. Let's take a shot; let's not just do something standard and drop back and wish what would have happened. I don't know if it took guts, but it's what the kids deserved at that point, if that makes sense to you. It's what they deserved; they deserved to have an opportunity to win. So if it fails, I'm the goat. But that's what the kids deserved. They fought their butts off for three-and-a-half hours in a tough environment against a team that knows how to win.
Is WR Bruce Francis working his way back into the rotation?
Bruce had a tremendous week. And I'll look at the tape, but he looked like he was playing better out there today. I think it's very simple; if you run the ball and give this quarterback time, he's going to do a lot of things for us. I don't know if we're a couple of people away yet. And what I mean by that is, are we a couple of players away or are we a couple of people away? Because is it a couple of recruits that are going to change this thing or do we have the guys and they just need to learn how to play? That's what I told the team. I'm going to meet with every guy tomorrow. I don't care if it takes me all afternoon; I'm meeting with every guy on this football team. Just so they understand how they played today, what's acceptable and what's not acceptable, and just go back to basics. This is a process, and we're in it for the long haul.
