Comments From Coach Mason From Media Conference For Illinois

familGlen Mason Quotes From Press Conference vs. Illinois (10-19-04)

"Thank you all for coming today. I don't know if it's appropriate or not, bur our sympathy goes out to the Dick Carlson family. I didn't know him very well, but you always hate to see that. I was telling the coaches this morning, it must have been about a month ago, that Mr. Carlson made an appointment to come see me, and we sat and had a cup of coffee, and he asked me how old I was. I said, `I'm 54.' He said, `You look pretty good for 54.' I said, `Well, how old are you?' He said, '60.' Well I said, `God bless you, you look pretty good too.' He said, `Well I've got to go in for heart surgery.' I said, "Sorry to hear that.' He said, `It's no worse than going to the dentist.' I said, `Well I sleep with a dentist (Mason's wife Kate is a dentist) every night.' We kind of laughed and joked about that, and I'm really sorry to hear that. I tell my players that the most precious thing in life is time, the problem is you don't know how much you've got left, and whether you are going to get it back. That helps you put things in perspective I guess. We do send our sympathy out to his family."

"I'll recap the Michigan State game. Quite simply put, Michigan State played extremely well, University of Minnesota - we played poorly, and we got beat 51-17. I'm not very proud of that. I said after the game, I don't know if it's the worst, but it has to be one of the worst games that we've played, coached, participated in, performed in since I've been here at this university. You look at our offense, I keep talking about the two things you need to do offensively - big plays and consistency. If you get a lot of big plays you don't need to be consistent, if you are real consistent you don't need a lot of big plays. If you are short in one area, you better be good in the other area, and we missed opportunities. I guess this is true at any level, if you are real good some day on offense, you don't have to be so good on defense, or if you are not good on defense, you better be good on offense. At least the programs I've been in, you have a chance if you are at least good in two out of the three areas, whatever they may be. We weren't good offensively, and we weren't good defensively. We made some things happen in the kicking game, except that we gave them good field position on the opening kickoff."

"We had missed opportunities. We have not enjoyed good field position on offense, and Saturday we did because of some turnovers on defense and some kicking game turnovers, but we didn't capitalize on that. We had to turn some good field position into field goals rather than touchdowns, and we were absolutely horrid on third and even fourth-down conversions, which means you are not controlling the ball, you are not getting points, you are giving it up."

"On defense, at least early in that game, we'd get them exactly where we wanted them, third and long, and let them convert, or they were good at converting, whatever way you want to look at it, and you can't do that. The last two games we played, it has been lopsided, the number of offensive stops our opponents have compared to our offense, and it's a combination of both, that's not a criticism to the defense - sure they have a hand in it, when we don't get off the field on third down. The second thing, if you don't convert on offense, on third down, or fourth-and-short, you give the other team more opportunities. Those two things go hand-in-hand, and we have not been very good there."

"We continue not to tackle like we need to tackle. I'm like any coach - if you don't play well defensively, you say you really tackled poorly. To be quite frank with you, after watching the film we didn't tackle as poorly as I thought, but we still missed tackles that really hurt us. On a positive note, the thing we couldn't get last year, that we're getting this year is turnovers, we are just not doing anything with the darn things. I remember at the end of last year I told you guys, the one thing that didn't coincide with a 10-3 football team was our turnover ratio. It wasn't because we turned the ball over very much, it was that we were not getting the ball from other people. Now you look at us, and we look pretty darn good in that turnover margin, but it's not having a significant role as it should in the success or lack of success of our football team because we are not capitalizing on it,"

"As I said, the kicking game, we are getting big plays out of the kicking game, some turnovers, which we haven't before, and it was pretty darn good with the exception of the opening kickoff, that we seem to continue to have some problems with, and we gave them good field position. I looked at it and you hear the talk of momentum during a football game so much. What we were not able to do is swing that momentum, we slowed it down sometimes, but we didn't swing it back the other way. To Michigan State's credit, every time we did something good, they countered it, and got it going back their way. That's why we performed the way we did, and when I say perform that takes everything, I'm not just talking about the player's performance, I'm talking about the performance of our football team. It takes everything into account."

"This week we've got the Fighting Illini of Illinois. I could tell you, that I was really impressed with how they played against Michigan. They could have very easily won that football game, and probably if you talk to Ron Turner he thinks they should have won that football game. Late in the game, they had a couple turnovers going into score in a very close football game. I understand they've switched quarterbacks, I don't know whom we are going to play, but we defend their system, I don't think their going to totally change systems, there's really no need to do that. They have a big line, like just about everybody in the Big Ten. They have very good running backs. This is probably a typical year in the Big Ten, there's always good running backs in the Big Ten, so we'll have our problems on defense."

"They're much improved defensively, than over a year ago. They are very sound, I'm not saying they weren't sound last year, but they are sound. They are well-coached; they are playing extremely hard. They are very good in the kickoff return, which is another headache that I have right now."

"Quite simply, my approach or evaluation has been, that our performance has been unacceptable, at least in my eyes, that is the best way I can put it. So what happens when you are there, you go back and you evaluate, and because you are in season, you have to prepare at the same time. You evaluate the job coaching you are doing, you evaluate what you are doing, you evaluate the players, you evaluate the situation, you try to be very systematic about it, and that's what we've done. Also, we've gone back to make sure we are working on and concentrating on the basics of football. Why do I say that? There is nothing more basic than tackling. There's only so much time you have to work with your players, and you have to be emphasizing the things that have to be emphasized and working on it, otherwise you'll continue to be bad in that area."

"On offense, I'm being redundant, our focus has to be on consistency and big plays. We have to do a better job of controlling the football. That's what you're supposed to do on offense; you are supposed to keep the football, move it, get in field position and ultimately score. On defense, you have to get the ball back. The way to get the ball back is to get them in third-down situations, and the longer the third-down situation, the better chance you have to be successful. So if you are good on first down, and you are good on third down, and make sure they punt the ball back to you. We've got to tackle better, we have to gain field position by not letting the offense control the ball against us, and ultimately defend the score. In the kicking game, it's first and foremost a field position battle, football's a game of numbers and it's a game of field position. With that I've said a mouthful and probably said nothing, I'll answer your questions."

Question: You've talked about team defense, is that something that has been struggling as of late?

"Well any time you have a lack of success like we have I think it's easy if it's one player, but it's never one player. It's not, it's one guy one play, one guy another play, this guy on that play. Sometimes it's the pass defense, sometimes it's the run defense, sometimes it's a missed tackle. That's easy to evaluate and try to fix because if everything is good and a guy misses a tackle that he shouldn't miss then you are okay. If I get you in a phone booth - I should be able to tackle you, if I get you in a parking lot, I'm probably not going to be able to tackle you. That's where the whole concept comes from."

Question: Are there schematic game-plan concerns defensively?

"Sure, if you are not being successful you try to re-evaluate everything you are doing. We are not re-inventing the wheel. There's a lot of different defenses that you can play out there. What we're doing from what I've went back and evaluated, we are not doing it very well. I can beat you on the board with the chalk, but that doesn't do anything, it's the execution of that, that is lacking. I'm saying that, and if it seems like I'm pointing a finger at the players, I'm not. I hold myself responsible, I hold the coaches responsible, because then you come back to the question, why aren't we executing it better? I know a lot of people out there think football is a very simple game, it's not. I'm a football coach, and I really believe what goes into the preparation and the technology makes all the other sports pale in comparison because of the multiplicity of what we face out there, it's different. Especially in college it's a different offense, a different defense, a different philosophy each and every week. You have to be careful on how good you are teaching what you are doing, and what they can handle or can't handle, and I think we've done a very poor job of it, and I'll state that. We need to do a better job."

Question: Why is the team having problems with consistency as of late?

"Well, this is not earth-shattering, it's the reason we are getting a lot more big plays too. Saturday we faced a nine-man front. If I were to draw up the way they played us, and you count them up, you'd say, `Coach, you can't block all those guys.' That's why we are not as consistent, sometimes you make them miss, but there's a reason why we hit a couple home runs too. We could've hit a couple more homers; they were wide open. That's why you have to be multifaceted and we're gaining it. I don't think we've ever been one- dimensional. We've had more big plays than we've ever gotten. We'll get people to play square up, or it they're not, we'll keep throwing that deep one."

Question: You've stated that the blocking isn't as sharp as it could be, what goes in to that?

"We practice it hard, but I think the other thing is that people when they play us, work extremely hard on that know. If people don't cut, you don't have to work on it, if people cut, you have to work on it. I know when we were getting ready to play Michigan two weeks ago, I watched them warm up, and every defensive drill, they had cut drills going. We forced them to be better defensive players. We used to be really good at something they weren't prepared to play."

Question: How concerned are you with the mental state of this team?

"I'm always concerned, regardless of what happens about their mental state, because I feel 90 percent of everything you do is mental, and if it's not right, it leaves you open for things. These guys have a lot of things going on in their lives. This is my job, I'm a professional, they are not. In pro-football those players come early in the morning and stay until night. My kids are going to class, they have girlfriends, they have problems at home, they got this, they got that, they show up and we work with them. So even when things are going good I worry. Sometimes, all of a sudden I'll say, `So and so's not right today, he's not playing very well.' Then I'll find out he just failed an English test. I know where you are going with this though, because we had high expectations and we've lost two football games, and you're either getting better or you're getting worse, and if you look at us, we are going the wrong way. It's just like momentum, if you are going the wrong way, you have to slow it to a halt, before you get it back up and get going. In my observation, their attitude has been excellent, and they are eager to right the ship."

Question: Have you been using cut blocking since you came here, or is that something you've worked in over the years? Why are teams preparing more for it now?

"We've always done it. We're consistently running the ball for a large number of yards, controlling the football; they were really having problems. We were very consistent at what we're doing."

Question: How is Bryan Cupito doing? Everything seemed wonderful the first four games, and the last three he's faced tough defenses? Has their been more thrown at him now?

"He's hit some big plays. He's being very tough on himself. He was so upset with himself at Michigan when he overthrew (Ernie) Wheelwright, by about that much, on a 50-yard pass. I love that in a kid. He's not like, `that's okay.' He is more like, `Coach I've got to make that play.' He's a no-nonsense guy. I think his evaluation of what he's doing and what I think he's doing is far different. I'm a lot more realistic with a first-year starting quarterback in the Big Ten conference. Can he play better? You bet he can, that's what gets me excited about him. But, I like how he handles it. I like how he handles the challenge. Anybody can go in there and play when things are going real good, I like what I see in the kid."

Question: What is realistic for a first-year quarterback?

"You're going to have some ups-and-downs, you just are. A lot is being thrown at him. To go up there, with the spotlight on you, that's a unique position. As always, with a quarterback, he gets far too much credit when things go good, and far too much criticism when things go bad. A lot of times his lack of performance is dependent on what some other guy is doing. You see it all the time, when a quarterback throws the ball, and a guy drops it, it doesn't go down as a dropped ball, it goes down as an incompletion. Whose fault was that? Or if an offensive lineman misses a bock and the guy gets sacked, it goes down as a minus rush on the quarterback, and that's not always the case"

Question: By modern standards are you a little light at linebacker?

"We're sure not big at linebacker. I don't necessarily think that's the problem, but we are not big at linebacker. Our deficiencies that we've had on defense have not been attributed to lack of bulk at linebacker, I don't think."

Question: Is Homecoming different now than when you played?

"When I was a player? Me being a player is a misnomer, I was on the team. I make no qualms about that. It's like tailgating, what do players know about tailgating? They know more about what goes on after the game, then what goes on before, during, or whatever. I don't remember that being a big thing as a player, you kind of knew it was Homecoming because there were floats on campus. You kind of regretted being the football player because you went to the party on Saturday night, and they told you that the party on Saturday night was only half as good as the party on Friday, and Friday night you were in the hotel with the team. I don't know."

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