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University of Minnesota Athletics
Football Press Conference Transcript
11/5/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Minnesota Head Coach Tim Brewster
Opening Comments:
Let’s go back and look at Northwestern. There’s disappointment from our coaches and our players. We didn’t finish the game and we left a number of points on the field. It taught our young football team a hard lesson to come up short. I give Northwestern a great deal of credit. They came and with no excuses and had a quarterback who played lights out, had a good defensive performance and came out and executed. We have to finish drives better and finish red zone opportunities. We were very efficient at scoring in the red zone earlier in the year and we need to get back to that. We must score touchdowns in the red zone.
I think the pain from the loss is a positive thing. We’ll learn from it and move forward. There’s an exciting opportunity this week to play the University of Michigan for the Little Brown Jug. We want Saturday to be a special day for all Minnesotans and for all Gopher fans. It will be a “Gold Out” Saturday and I want everyone wearing gold to the game. It’s going to be a fun day fro everyone and we’re just trying to get an excitement to go to our second to last game at the Metrodome.
As you look at the Little Brown Jug, the rivalry started in 1903 and is now the second oldest rivalry game in college football. We haven’t won in the Metrodome and only won twice in 30 years. That’s not very good. For it be a rivalry, we need to win more football games. We need to compete year in and year out for it to be a rivalry. We’re going to prepare extremely well this week and be ready.
Michigan has a new coach and change, which we understand. The new way of doing things and their new system doesn’t change that it’s still Michigan. I have a tremendous amount of respect for Rich Rodriguez, one of the best head coaches in college football.
They’re a great football program. From a win-loss perspective, they aren’t as happy as they want to be. When we were in that position last year, we weren’t as happy as we would have liked. They’ve lost close games and played tough but they have a lot of good football players. They’re going to play extremely hard for the Little Brown Jug this Saturday, but so are we.
We’re going to fight like crazy for the trophy games because that’s what separates us from other college programs. No other team in the country has as many trophy games as we do. It makes it extremely special foe the University of Minnesota to play in those games. I want to see us play extremely well, not just play the game. I think Saturday should be a great day.
On offensive progression at Michigan
I think they’re going through a process similar to us last year. We did a lot of good things on offense last year and they’re starting to do that this year. Change is a difficult process and Michigan is still Michigan. They’re a tough opponent and we’re going to have to play great to be in that game. Everybody understands that Michigan has great football players and we’ll need to come out ready for them.
On status of Eric Decker
Eric is going to be fine. He’s got an ankle sprain, and it’s nothing more than that. With treatment and rest, we feel he’ll be ready for the game. Decker is as tough, committed and hard nosed a football player as there is in college football today. He takes tremendous pride in playing and he’ll be ready to go.
On other receivers stepping up
Obviously we’d like to have more options and we do now. Brandon Green has been coming along well, Jack Simmons is stepping up, Ben Kuznia has been outstanding, and Nick Tow-Arnett made some great catches last week. We’re really getting good production from a number of people across the board.
On not finishing drives
We have opportunities to get the ball in the end zone and we need to take advantage of those. We need the mindset that we aren’t going to settle for anything less than a touchdown. That’s something that comes with being a hard-nosed football team in the red zone. Something has to click down there and it’s something we’re spending a lot of time talking about and working on.
It’s disappointing when you go 96 yards and come up with zero points. We’ve shown the ability to sustain long drives. We haven’t been as efficient at scoring those touchdowns. Something we’re talking about is getting the ball back on defense and giving our team a short field to work with so they can get those touchdowns.
On missed field goal by Joel Monroe last week
There’s no one play that determined the outcome of that game. We just needed to play better. A lot of people point to the last play (interception return) but it didn’t determine the game. We left 14 points on the field and that’s what cost us the game.
On helping the team recover from a close loss at home
We’re going to be positive and pound the good things we can take. You don’t act negative towards the team after a loss like that. We study the game and that’s what we’re going to do. We aren’t going to scream or holler, we’re going to teach. Let’s just look at the things we need to improve on in order to beat Michigan.
On status of Trey Davis listed as a co-starter on the depth chart
Trey will be ready to go. Just the challenge of getting consistency on the offensive line is huge. We’ve got to get the running game going down hill and we’re going to work on that this week.
On importance of winning the Little Brown Jug
Our trophy games are important. You look outside in the team room, and the trophy case for the Jug sits empty. For those games to be rivalries, we have to go win them. It didn’t take long being in Minnesota to understand the magnitude of what those trophies mean to Minnesota.
On how the team will rebound after loss
In the two years here, nobody has ever questioned if we’re playing as hard as possible. Our team has fought extremely hard and we’ll continue to do that. Now what we have to do is play well enough to win.
On problems in the running game
It’s a cumulative effort between the running back and the offensive line. I’m bout being a hard-nosed team and I want to run the ball with success. Right now, we’re not running the football with the amount of success I would like to see. That’s something we’re going to work on. There are ebbs and flows in every part of football and this is just another thing we need to work on.
On quarterback being expected to carry team
In this kind of system, that’s what you expect from your quarterback. He’s a designed runner, needs to do a great job in the passing game, needs to make good decisions. Adam is doing all those things beautifully. I couldn’t ask Adam Weber to be doing any more than he’s doing right now. He’s doing a great job. We need others to step up to his level and we’re starting to see that.
On kicker Joel Monroe’s mindset after the game
My idea is to not scream and diminish the kid. I want to lift him up and help him realize we have three critical games left this season. Now is not the time for our kicker to be lacking confidence. I’ve talked to him and I want him to feel good about himself. Obviously he’s down after the game but he needs to be in the mindset where if he needs to win a game for us he can. You can use words to an extent, but he has to go out and practice. He has to go through his routine and make some field goals. If it does not happen in practice, it will not happen in a game. We’ll try to build his confidence through what he’s going to do in practice.
On redshirts for the season
I think we’ve some to the conclusion with the guys we’re going to redshirt. I don’t see us bringing many guys out and using their redshirt. We haven’t used a redshirt for that many players this season already so I don’t new ones coming out.
Wide Receiver Ben Kuznia
On the team’s injuries
“We are a little banged up right now but there is not a locker room in the country that is not banged up. That's just football. That is the nature of the game and that is the way it goes.”
Defensive end Lee Campbell
On the relating to what Michigan is going through
“Michigan has great athletes and great talent. They are going to come out and play every week. They are going through what we went through last year with learning a new system. I think they are going to come out against us on Saturday and try to win a football game.”
Tight end Jack Simmons
On last weeks game
“We did not play well last game. We can look at the film and see where we made a ton of mistakes and really look at the opportunity against Michigan to win a football game.”
On the tradition of playing against Michigan
“It is exciting. I would say right now the greatest moment of my career was our win at Michigan when Jason Giannini kicked the game winner and hopefully we can do it one more time. It will be fun to have the opportunity to end our run against Michigan in the dome with a win so we are excited.”
Quarterback Adam Weber
On Eric Decker’s injury
“I think a lot of guys are hurting at this point in the season. An ankle injury at his position is not the best thing in the world, but he will be all right. He is a tough kid and a competitor. I think we expect him to be out there, but Eric is going to do what is best for himself and if he is not good enough to go, then he will make that decision. But I expect him to be out there and so does everyone else.”
On Decker’s leadership in the offense
“He is a very talented wide receiver and a leader on the offensive squad and this team. It is very important to have him out there. He opens up a lot of plays for us and is a critical part of our offense but this offense is designed to work with just about anybody so if Eric can’t play, we will be able to adjust but it hurts us if he can’t be out there.”
On relating to what the Michigan team is going through
“I definitely know what they are going through and all of the criticism they are receiving especially Coach Rodriguez. Just knowing that we went through the same thing last year and it might be a little worse at Michigan because they have taken a couple of steps back that I don’t think they have anticipated but they still are a very good team. They still have all of the athletes that Michigan usually gets. It is one of those things where we know we are still playing Michigan and that is how we look at it. We are still playing for the Jug so it is a very important game for us.”
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