Temple University Athletics
Postgame Quotes
9.8.07 | Football
Sept. 8, 2007
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Temple vs. Buffalo Postgame Press Conference
Saturday, Sept. 8, 2007
Al Golden, Temple head coach
Would you attribute today to the lack of focus?
Obviously anybody that's a football fan can tell it was a lack of focus, I mean we weren't sharp. I'd like to go back, and I'd look at everyday's practice carefully, and I know the kids have worked hard this week. But I don't know what they were feeling, but I know this, we sat there on Tuesday and showed them about 15 plays that would show how tough these kids are, that #89 (Trevor Scott), that kid's a good player, a tough player, and he kicked our butts today. We showed this team fighting their butts off in Auburn; we showed them all these clips, because I knew it, because I knew everyone was going to pat them on the back and say good job, good job, good job (after last week's game). I knew it. So, that's where we're at. I'm not going to make any excuses; the buck stops with me. We lost on offense, defense and special teams today. I've got to give buffalo credit; they did a great job. They won the game. They beat us in all three phases, and they were tougher than we were today. We tried to convey everyday this week, how tough these guys were going to be. This is a mature group, and we played two seniors today. They played a bunch. They were a much more mature group than we are, and they showed that today. They knocked us off the ball, and that's that.
What was your reaction to the first play? What are you going to do? You got three defensive linemen who don't do what they are supposed to do. You're supposed to put your foot in the ground and retrace your steps, and come back, because that's where the ball carrier is going to go when he gets it. You've got a freshman linebacker outside the attack; he's supposed to go inside. He goes outside, once (Amara) Kamara jumps outside, he's splitting the safety and now you're in trouble especially if the d-line isn't retracing. It's crystal clear on the film, and that's one of the things that really bothered me. Number 1, do the players have a good design? That's the job of the head coach and number 2, are they doing what they've been trained to do? Those are the two things we need to evaluate right now. A lot of guys didn't do what they were trained to do, and if we have to simplify, we will simplify. I know this, were not going to flinch. We're not going to change our values and principles, and we're not going to panic and do all that crap, I've seen this too many times. We've just got to keep plugging away and keep everything in vision from within.
After last week's effort, are you blindsided by today's game?
I'm disappointed. I was disappointed last week that we had the penalties, that we didn't play better on special teams, that we didn't get more takeaways. But anytime you're a coach, that's it. That's your work out there, so am I blindsided. It's disappointing.
What did you talk about during halftime?
I just thought we had to keep our poise and get a couple of stops, and make some plays. We never got it going on offense obviously. We never got any run game going. That's the understatement of the year, maybe the decade. They just came after us after every play.
What do you have to do to get the rushing game going?
You know we've got to find some continuity; we've got to get some continuity in that position. We've got to get some continuity in our offensive line. Honestly, we've got to settle on an offensive line that's going to be around here for a while. We've got to start training some guys who are going to be around and do it the right way and are tough and I don't know who that is, but I'm going to evaluate that tonight. We'll watch the film and evaluate that, and we've got to develop a running game.
When we're three and out, you never really get a chance to get any continuity, all three phases run together. This loss isn't from special teams; it isn't from offense, and it isn't from defense. It's all three phases, and I'm not going to stand up here and make excuses, we got our asses beat, bottom line.
On Buffalo:
They've got a good quarterback. They got the line protected real well. They got going early. I mean getting a touchdown the first play for the game doesn't hurt.
Did you address defense during halftime?
Yes, we addressed their quarterback all week, and we addressed tackling.
What were you thinking when Travis Shelton went down?
I don't know. I think the people who know me know I'm a positive person. I have supreme confidence in myself and my staff. I have faith; we've got unwavering principles; we're just going to keep going. You look back at all the turnarounds in college football. You look at what all those teams were; I know them all; I've studied them. It's not easy; it's not just like you're changing your team, you're changing everything. You're changing the way the whole department approaches football. You're changing academic support; you're changing what the kids hear in the classroom and in the community; you're changing everything, and we're going to be up to the task. We're going to hang in there and keep plugging away. I'm not going to take off all my Temple gear when I go home tonight; I'm not going to do it. I'm proud to be the coach here. I appreciate the fans that came out today. I know we're not going to be home for a couple of weeks. Hopefully we will be a much better team next time we're home. It's day-to-day. We've got to keep working. I think it goes back to what I said last week; I knew it, I knew it, I knew it, I knew people were going to be telling them how great they were, blah blah, blah. All that crap, but that's not the way it works. Every game is its own chessboard, its own bingo board, every single game. You've got to be ready to go and we were not.
Adam DiMichele's running game?
Hard to evaluate, what do you want to do, the kid is as tough as nails. We've got to give him some time. We gave him some time last week, and you see what he can do.
On not taking advantage of the turnovers:
The defense forced a couple of turnovers. I think we still have to be a little bit hungrier, get our hands on the ball a little bit more. We tried everything on defense today. We couldn't get any continuity, and we couldn't get any stops. Obviously we've got to keep taking the ball away and do a better job protecting the ball on the other side. We can't have any mistakes in the special teams.
Did you under estimate Buffalo?
I understand what the kids felt, and I knew what the kids were going to hear from the community, and I addressed it here. I addressed it with the team. I told the staff. We had a meeting, and we got clips, and we showed them how tough this team was going to be. And we tried to bring them right back down to Earth. It wasn't good enough. I don't think they understood what we meant and how tough this team was, and they got a tough team. People were asking me about them at the MAC Media Day, and I said the same thing. They have a pretty good team. They run the ball. They got a quarterback who's played a lot of football. That's a good start in any program,
What did you say to the team after the game?
What I just said to you guys basically- nothing is going to change. I'm not going to change who I am. I'm just going to evaluate everything, including myself, and then we will move forward. But we can't have division from within. It's not the offense's fault; it's not the defense's fault; you can't be pointing fingers. You know we got beat in all three phases. When that happens, you've got to evaluate who you are.
Were you confident on getting the reversal on the challenge?
Yes, I was pretty confident; I wasn't just reaching at that point. The refs did a good job today, there were no issues there.
