Michigan State University Athletics
Mark Dantonio Weekly Press Conference Coverage
9/22/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 22, 2009
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MARK DANTONIO WEEKLY PRESS CONFERENCE TRANSCRIPT
COACH DANTONIO: The Big Ten season kicks off this week, and I think everybody is very aware of that. When I look at where we're at right now, I think we have to bring a tremendous amount of focus and energy again to our game on Saturday. I think we were able to do that last year and it should be a very exciting game.
It's a great atmosphere to play up there (in Madison). I remember in 2007 when we went up there, and we were a 4 0 football team. Consequently, we go up there this year 1 2. What I do remember about '07 is that we lost the football game, then lost the next one, and ended up being 5 5 before winning the last two regular-season games. So the reverse is possible to happen, as well, so feel real good about that.
We start the Big Ten Conference schedule, and that's what it's all about. When you're in our situation right now, whether you're playing any kind of game, when you lose it close at the end, whether you're playing checkers or whether you're playing football or basketball, whatever, you have a feeling that you can be successful. You have a belief, because you're only looking at a couple of plays; you're really looking the last play of the game in both situations.
You know that gives you a feeling that you can have success. I think that's a very positive thing for our football team right now. We very well could be 3 0; we're just a couple of plays from being that.
So we have to hold to that and move forward. We go to Wisconsin and play a football team that's noted for its toughness. When I became a head football coach, I wanted to simulate some of the people that had success running the football, staying balanced and working that toughness aspect into their programs.
One of the programs I looked at was Wisconsin, especially in what they do in terms of running the football with their backs and their play-action passing game. I wanted to do a lot of the same things that they do when I became a head football coach. Coach (Bret) Bielema has taken over that program, and he's been extremely successful.
They return an offensive unit that has quite a few offensive linemen back, plus they're getting some guys who were injured back in the fold as well. So they have a big, physical offensive line, and it probably starts right there. You go to their skill players and (Nick) Toon is back; Isaac Anderson has emerged (as a playmaker); and (David) Gilreath is back. Their tight ends pretty much return intact.
So in Wisconsin, you have a pretty successful and experienced football team. Their quarterback situation, (Scott) Tolzien has really emerged as a starter, and he's playing very well. He's been a real catalyst for the offense; looks like a leader out there and can make some plays.
From an offensive perspective, you always need to stop the run against Wisconsin and that's where it's got to start because the play action passing game falls into place from there.
From a defensive standpoint, I think they are very solid, disciplined. You know where they are going to be; you just have to be able to block them. Culmer St. Jean anchors their defense, from the MIKE linebacker, along with (Jaevery) McFadden. Up front, (O'Brien) Schofield is a very good player at defensive end, No. 50.
Again, we will go in with the thought process that we have to score points obviously, and move the football down the field. On film, you see the special teams hustling and making plays. They don't take plays off, and they are going to make things work. Obviously, Gilreath has been a very good punt returner. He was an All-Big Ten kick returner last year.
So with that, I'll just take questions.
Q. You talk about wanting to be balanced. Is that . . . do you want balance on every drive, or just at the end of the game? What are you searching for when you talk about wanting to be balanced?
COACH DANTONIO: When we talk about being balanced, we want to try and get into situations where we are at second-and-6 and second-and-5. So we have run/pass options on second down and then again on third down. We want to avoid third and long situations.
On first down, we need to be able to utilize the play-action pass and we need to be able to pass the ball straight up and stay balanced there. I don't think we can come out and just run the football. So what we want to do is be an offense that can be unpredictable in terms of what we are doing down to down because we can have success doing either/or. So when we talk about balance, that's what we are looking for.
At the end of the day, I'm not really looking to check and see how many yards did we throw for and how many yards did we run for. What we have to do is present the situation that we can run the football, well enough, that they have to honor the run; and we have to throw the ball well enough, that we don't become one dimensional in terms of running the football.
When we look at balance, that's what we are trying to get. Also I want to make sure that every quarterback, who is being recruited, knows that he's going to play under center just like they do in the NFL. He's not going to take shot-gun snaps all the time, so the possibilities to recruit a pro style quarterback are there.
When, we recruit a tailback. That guy knows that he's going to get 200 plus carries, from the I formation. We're looking for downhill, power runners, who can run the stretch play. Again, those are the things that we do that you see being done on the next level. And then again you see wide outs and tight ends catching the football, again things they have to do on the next level. So that balance is going to help attract those types of offensive players to our program.
Q. Last year, you had a couple of close games where you made big plays that turned what could have been a sub par season into a good season. Now you've not made two plays in particular that have turned potentially 3 0 start into 1 2. Do you worry about how that factors into the players' confidence? Does it make them waver?
COACH DANTONIO: No, I don't think it makes them waver. When you look at what we do and what we practice daily, the field goal and extra point. We've had two mishaps in the last two games, but if we just get those done, we were going to be successful. We work on those things daily and we critique what we're doing, so we are continually working on that.
Again, I go back to what I said in the opening statement. When you look at how you lost a basketball game or how you lost a soccer game or whatever you're doing, the margin of error is very, very close.
So when you have a situation like that, both from a player's perspective and from a coaching perspective, yeah, you're disappointed, you're irritated, but you can look at it and say, we should have won. And I think that gives you confidence. You look at it and say, they are not better than we are in a large way, so it gives you a little bit of confidence and fortitude to push through to the next game and to get yourself ready.
When you become involved in those types of games, you become more dangerous football team. You become tougher, as you go on. You become tougher and tougher and tougher, because you should become more resilient. That's human nature. When you're backed up a little bit, you're going to fight a little harder. That's where we are at with the whole thing.
But you know, I wish it was different. It's a lot easier to coach when you're 3 0, rather than when you're 1 2, but you continue to have faith in your players and most definitely, we have faith in our players and we have faith in each other as a program that we can get it done.
Q. In terms of recruiting, with nine of the 12 losses that you've had here by a touchdown or less, do you find yourself explaining that to prospects, telling them, hey, just hang with us, we were a couple of plays away from doing a lot of special things?
COACH DANTONIO: No, never have. When you're talking to recruits, they are looking at having an opportunity to play; they are looking at facilities; they are looking at relationships they can have with the coaches and players; and they are looking at proximity to where they are going to school a lot of times.
Especially in this day and age, they have usually been on campus 10 or 15 times. Right now, many guys commit before their senior season starts, so those relationships are pretty strong. A lot of our recruits come from programs that maybe haven't won quite as much or are having their tough times themselves, so there usually is a little bit of an understanding there.
I haven't seen us lose a player because of that. You lose a player when there's a lack of trust or a lack of a relationship that starts to come into play there. Sometimes there's a lack of an opportunity to play because you recruited another player at that position, so they changed their mind.
The bottom line is guys want to win, and we have been to two bowl games in two years and we fully expect to go to another one this year and expect to challenge for the Big Ten Championship. We are 0 0 and to think about jumping off the bridge right now is a mistake. And as I said earlier, we went to Wisconsin 4 0 in 2007 and after 10 games, we were 5 5. So we were 1 5 after going to Wisconsin, so we didn't get down. We kept playing through and won the last two regular-season football games and we had a pretty good football team that year.
The key is to just continue to fight through these tough situations. It will turn. Last year, we won a couple of games at the end, and the Wisconsin game was one of them, where it didn't look very possible that we were going to win. And we turned it around and won that football game. So it goes both ways. But you have to make the plays on the field.
Our confidence is high and our energy is high, and our focus will be there. The one thing about this week that we had some last week; we don't have the poor me's. It's not, "oohh"; it's not like that. We don't have the poor me's this week. We're getting ready for the Big Ten Conference schedule, so it's a new ballgame any way you cut it.
Q. Given the success you've had against the run this season and also the way you preach toughness on your team; is this a good week for you to play Wisconsin? Are you looking forward to playing a team that's going to be a more traditional offense instead of Central Michigan and Notre Dame?
COACH DANTONIO: Every football team gives you different problems offensively or defensively. They are all going to be different. So you have to look at who is doing what well. Wisconsin does a great job running the football. They always have. So they are tough to stop in that respect. They have big, physical offensive linemen, and their backs run downhill. They also put a lot of people at the point of attack and they accomplish that in a variety of different ways.
So the key will be adjusting to the different looks and tackling on defense, but we'll have an outstanding plan. We just have to execute the plan.
Q. What has Chris Norman shown you in the first couple of games?
COACH DANTONIO: Chris Norman got his first start last week as a freshman, and as you would expect, he was extremely anxious about that start. But I think that Chris, the more he plays, the better he will become. He is an instinctive player when he turns it loose, but when he's thinking, he's a little slower (to react), just like most of us. And it goes back to that adage that I talk about. I still remember our coaches when we first got here. They had the TomTom in their window just to get down to campus, okay. But sooner or later they figured out a way to get to campus, and they were here like that.
It's the same thing when you're starting or playing a new position, you have to fight your way through that and put that puzzle together. If you put that puzzle together enough times, you can learn to do it in a matter of seconds.
But if you're doing it for the first time, it takes a little bit of time. That's what we have struggled with with some of our young players, so we have to be patient. But at the same time, you can't allow mistakes to happen that will be costly. So we try and do certain things with him in there and try and create a comprehensive defense, allowing it to be a little simpler for him.
Q. With the way you beat Wisconsin last year, do you have to address the fact that maybe they might have more incentive to beat you this year; that they might come at you a little bit harder?
COACH DANTONIO: To be honest with you, whether you're winning or you're losing, I don't think that Notre Dame came at us any harder than they would have had they won the last game. I think a lot of those things are build up toward the game. You need to take every game personal. I'm sure they do. I'm sure they'll get themselves ready to go.
But once the game starts, the game flows and there's energy and enthusiasm and there's momentum that turns in that particular game. That's what I've found. On occasion, there's that one game that sits with you for the entire year. So maybe that's it for them. But our players will be motivated, too. So I can't control what they are worrying about, I can only control what our players think about and when we get on the bus, we will have our heads on straight.
Q. You've talked about tackling and how important it is to be sound fundamentally. Not many takeaways this year as a result of that?
COACH DANTONIO: Well, that's a result of the offense holding on to the ball and making good decisions. I think we saw the last two weeks, two good quarterbacks who did a good job taking care of the football.
Sometimes, turnovers happen in bunches, too. We haven't had a drive, yet, where we have been able to get the ball on the 20 yard line or 30 yard line going in. We have it come the hard way. We have done a good job with those drives, but they have not just been handed to us. We have started most of our drives across the (minus) 40. Consequently, they have had to do the same thing. So we have not turned the ball over very much at all; two times this last week, which was unfortunate, one on the last play. But we have got two (takeaways) for the season.
So we keep talking about turnovers, and tackling, it's about getting the guy down. It's the second guy on the hit; it's the third guys have got from behind that create those situations for turnovers and we need to keep coming and keep working at it, which is what we talk about, which is what we work on constantly. I don't know if it's the result of poor tackling, is I guess what I'm saying. We do need to tackle better, we need to continue to work and tackle better.
Q. You mentioned the two straight tough losses and confidence should not be shaken because they are close losses. Do you see signs already early in the week that things are not lingering, or is that something that you had to work on with your team?
COACH DANTONIO: Well, we don't practice on Mondays, so today is our first practice. But in seeing the players yesterday just around a little bit and in talking to them and seeing them on Sunday and visiting with our coaches in terms of how things are, I think our players are - like most young people - they are resilient. They can get through things and they can move through to the next thing.
That's what I see, and what I've seen. Our offense had a nice showing (against Notre Dame), so they feel good about themselves. Defensively, we have to look at the mistakes that were made. You say, we can correct that mistake. They can make that tackle or they can do this fundamentally a little bit better or structure a little bit better, so we can get things in order. It's the same thing with the missed extra point. You know, we can get things done.
So I don't sense that there's any (emotional) hangover . . . any inadequacy in that area at all. We'll be ready to go.
Q. Just some personnel questions about the secondary. Kendell Davis Clark moved up (at boundary corner); can you kind of talk about that position change and also, Ross Weaver, how is he doing? Haven't seen him as much on the field and how is he competing?
COACH DANTONIO: First of all, we are always going to play the guys that practice the best and give us a chance to win. The next thing we do is evaluate games and see how they play.
Kendell Davis Clark is a guy who has been nicked up early on. He was a starter coming into the fall camp at a safety position. He's also played corner. In 2007, he played exclusively at corner. He's a good blitzer, and he's physical. So he deserves an opportunity to go back out and play at that corner position.
Chris L. Rucker is an outstanding football player, but he's got to make the plays. Ross Weaver has had opportunities on the football field and when he has opportunities, he has to make the plays. He does an outstanding job on special teams, and he's a great leader for us. Jeremy Ware has played well. You can look at the same situation right now with Danny Fortener. Danny has done a great job. He's a great player, great person, and does a great job on special teams, and he had a solid year last year. But Trenton Robinson has come in and played very well, and so you play the players that give you that opportunity.
That's the way we have always approached things here, and we will continue to approach it that way. We are going to try to play the best players, and our players understand that. So when you go out to practice every week, it's competitive. Now with that being said, we can role guys in there and you can see whoever in there because obviously we have quite a few guys we can move in and out of that situation.
Q. You talked about a potential lack of confidence in the defense on Sunday; most of that coming from the defensive backs and when they do get beat on a play, how much do you have to remind them to wipe the slate clean from that play and move on to the next one?
COACH DANTONIO: I think the makeup of anybody is you want to be successful, and if you're unsuccessful too many times in a row, you start to say, well, what am I doing wrong? We haven't come down with the deep ball a couple of times. A couple of times, the Central Michigan guy made outstanding plays. (Bryan) Anderson made an outstanding catch on the one, another one we needed to be better phased position in control.
When you look at us pressing last week (against Notre Dame), we played very well. We went center blitz one time, and they made the long play. We had a busted coverage one time or structurally we were in cover two and it came out the other end. That was the deep-ball play.
When you look at those two things, those are things that are correctable. We will be sound back there. Our players will be focused. They will be ready to go, and they will be confident.
It's the nature of playing back there. In this day and age, there are going to be big plays, so in this day and age, you'd better have a short memory, but remember what you have to do. But you've got to get over it and you've got to move on and be able to play the next play. For the most part, our guys have done that.
Q. After the game Saturday, (Kirk) Cousins gave as detailed a description as he could on what happened the last two plays and seemed to try to take the emotion out where at a time he could not have been feeling at his best. How has he been with you since that game? I think you mentioned that you were going to talk with him?
COACH DANTONIO: He's solid. He's a solid person, solid individual in all respects. He has the ability to put things in boxes and sort it out, this is why this happened, this is why this happened, this is how it shouldn't have happened and this is how it should be.
So he has the ability to prioritize what he needs to do. He's very deliberate in the way he handles his day, his everyday living, and his football. So he's in good shape.
Q. The defense was supposed to be a strength and a lot of people looked at it as a strength going into this year. Now, there's some doubt about this unit, so what kind of coach does (Pat) Narduzzi become when his unit is struggling or being questioned?
COACH DANTONIO: What kind of coach does Coach Narduzzi become? He becomes best coach he is. In those types of situations, that's when your leaders and that's when your coaches respond.
So you go back and you re look at things and try to re organize things and try to make it simpler and reevaluate who is playing, and you try and fix it. But in the end, plays have to be made on the field, too. Players play. Coaches coach. Pat Narduzzi is an outstanding coach. I sit in those defensive meetings daily, and I know what's going on in there. We leave no stone unturned.
There are two ways that you can respond. You can either crush people as a head coach and tell them they are no good and lay the blame on certain people, or you can embrace those people and bring them with you. We have always chosen to embrace the people, embrace our players, bring them along with us, and when it's a group thing, there's solidarity there and more chances of you becoming success.
When you tear down, you tear down everything. After the Central Michigan game, we talked about building a foundation here, and a loss, a close loss, a crack in that foundation has not knocked the building over.
So it's business as usual. We're getting ready for a football game. If I was up here today talking to you and we were 3 0, quite honestly if we were 3 0 today, I would probably be feeling exactly like I do today.
We've got to be ready to play the Big Ten Conference opener. This is a tough football game, so we have to be energized and focused when we go up there. I remember when we went up there in 2007 and we were 4 0, and I remember what happened after that, okay.
So the same thing holds true now, and that's the way I feel about it. So the thing that we have to remember is that nobody really knows what goes on with this football team internally. Even if you have your sources, which I'm sure we all do, okay, because the vocabulary and the terminology on what we do in there is so foreign in terms of the communication and the defenses and the offenses and the schematics of it; that we know when what is broken down and we know what has to be fixed and that type of thing.
So I feel good about where we are at. I wish we were 3 0 from a mental standpoint in terms of what we have to do to win the football game, but I feel good about what we have to do and our mental psyche.
Q. The Wisconsin game is going to bring back a lot of memories from Brett Swenson, and he has continued to have a reliable year. Do you think maybe people have taken him for granted a little bit?
COACH DANTONIO: Take him for granted? No, I don't think so. I don't take people for granted.
Q. On the flipside, does the one touchback between Swenson and (Dan) Conroy concern you at all on kickoffs?
COACH DANTONIO: Does the one touchback? Yeah, it's something we will continue to work towards. We lost Todd Boleski after last year. Todd provided that opportunity to kick the ball 75 yards in the air and put it in the end zone two-thirds of the time. The other third I was irritated, okay, but he did an outstanding job. So we need to make up for that with hang time, and we need to continue to work to getting it there. Our kickoffs this past week (against Notre Dame) were pretty close (to the goal line), down to the 2 or so.
But yeah, it's a weapon. When you have a guy that can put it on the end zone in a consistent basis, it definitely is a weapon.
Q. You talked about (Kirk) Cousins' mental state Sunday night and again briefly today, but there have been suggestions outside your circle that, well, maybe if he can't make those throws, he shouldn't be the quarterback. The fact is, he played great that day. Wouldn't philosophically this be the worst time as a coach to bail out on somebody like that?
COACH DANTONIO: Yeah, which armchair quarterback was talking like that? Well, tell him, have another cup of coffee, okay.
He did an outstanding job in the game. He was extremely poised. He went to work two times in a two minute situation and went right down the field. One time, he scored the touchdown, and the other time, his emotions got the best of him.
But for the people that are sitting out there wondering (if we're going to make a change), that's not going to happen. If we make a decision on our quarterbacks, it will be because one guy is playing better than the other or one guy is getting the job done. With that being said, Keith Nichol went in there he played well in the first half and had limited second-half opportunities. I just felt like from a game management standpoint, we needed to be a little bit better. And if the reverse happens, then we'll go in the other direction.
But again, we are going to try and put the guys in there who are going to win. This is not a popularity contest. So the guys who are functioning on the field are the ones who will get the opportunities. But I guess for whoever is talking like that, they are out there, I guess. The end result is if they if he would have scored, they would be talking about him like he's Joe Montana, rather than Joe off the pickle boat. (Laughter).
So as I said before, the people in that room know what's going on, and I think he did an outstanding job. And again, when somebody fails, I guess I go back to say, it's not the critic that counts; it's the person in the arena, and that quote. And that's where we are at.
Q. You faced two outstanding quarterbacks these past two weeks, maybe guys who will both be playing on Sundays. Does that all change how you evaluate your defensive backs, anything else, because you played two really exceptional guys?
COACH DANTONIO: Well, when the ball goes up in the air, you have to have good deep-ball adjustment, you have to move on the ball and you have to make the plays. Once the ball leaves the quarterback's hands, obviously you have to be able to play it. There are certain things that we do from a schematic standpoint coverage wise depending on what coverage there; there's always a weakness in the coverage and always a weakness in the zone pressure or man pressure. There's a weakness in every defense.
The thing that we have to do or sometimes you are just naturally exploited on that weakness. There are certain things that are good versus this and not quite so good versus this, and sometimes, you're just rolling the dice a little bit.
But the key is trying to minimize those stress points of every defense. Yeah, we played two good quarterbacks, and they have made some plays. I still would like to say that we would have every opportunity to be successful against both those quarterbacks.
Q. Are the three running backs we see on the depth chart the ones that we are going to be seeing the rest of the season?
COACH DANTONIO: Good question.
I can't tell you that. What if one guy gets hurt?
I can't tell you that. What if one guy doesn't play as well as the other?
When you say "rest of the season," that's a long time. All three of those guys played pretty well (against Notre Dame). They all have toughness, and they know what to do. They all have ability, but we have other guys that are very capable, as well. I guess that's the point I want to make. We have other guys that are capable.
Q. Can you provide us with an injury update for Joel Nitchman and Joel Foreman?
COACH DANTONIO: TBA. TBA. That's a good one. I like that.
All right, guys. Thanks.
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