University Southern California Trojans
Head Coaches Preview USC-Cal Game
October 26, 1999 | Football
Oct. 26, 1999
USC Head Coach Paul Hackett ? October 26, 1999
(re: recap of Stanford): ?My first reaction after the game was that I was numb. It was one of those unbelievable experiences. But then I regrouped and saw that I was really proud of some of the things that happened. I was very proud of the fact that the defense did not give up a first down in the first quarter, Mike Van Raaphorst broke a couple of records from a couple of great players, and I was particularly proud of the way some of the veteran players responded to my haranguing last week. What I did with the team is took some of the plays and showed them how hard they played towards the end of the game. We fought, we battled, but at the end we couldn?t do it. That was what numbs all of us. We played hard ? we played great at times. Their quarterback, their offensive line really rose to the occasion. The one thing we have to learn is that we can?t let a team gain the momentum we allowed Notre Dame and Stanford to gain. Now what we need to do is refocus and focus on getting to a bowl. There are four or five steps we need to take to get to a bowl and it starts with beating Cal.?
?This (Cal) defense is the probably the best we?ve played since Florida State. They have speed, they have experience, and they have excellent defensive line play. They have freshman on offense and we know what that?s like. You can get erratic play. I think that Kyle Boller has done an excellent job. We knew he was a good strong-arm quarterback. I?ve seen his strength and know I?m seeing him gain a little poise. They are moving him around and out of the pocket now. But the spirit of that team is #29 Joe Igber. He is an exciting football player. When you turn on that tape, he?s the guy that jumps out at you. He is an exciting player and the spirit of the Cal team.?
?We?ve got our hands full. The great thing about football ? you better put the last one behind you because you have another challenge this week. We just have to find a way to play for 60 minutes in a more consistent fashion. At hard times, we have to look up to the upperclassmen and they responded but we have to find a way to win and be at our very best.?
(re: changes the coaches need to make): ?I think you have a plan and a system that you put in place. The key to that system is that you have enough flexibility to explore all avenues as a coach, but always stick to the things that you believe in. You have to find ways to tweak and adjust and improve what you?re doing. The coaches are always looking to see what they can do to make it better and put the players in a better position. What happens, is that after a while the coaches can get numb but you keep trying. You try to find the deficiency and find how to adjust the deficiency. We adjusted to the rushing issue against Arizona and have now improved on that. You constantly try to find a way to get an edge someplace, right now, we?re not finding it. It is as much coaching staff as it is players.?
(re: environment around the team): ?They are very disappointed. It was a very quiet meeting on Sunday. I think their goal when they come to USC is to play in the Rose Bowl. There?s not a guy in that room who doesn?t think that this team could have done that. It was also very sobering when we had to admit that with three losses in conference, we were not going to play for the Rose Bowl anymore. As bad as everyone feels, we talked about what we could do. We can put together a string and still make a second-consecutive bowl appearance. We can beat UCLA to end the streak. There are enough good things happening on that field that you?d have to be nuts not to thinks we?ll be back as contenders next year. Anyone who looks at Kareem Kelly, Marcus Steele, Carson Palmer ? there are so many things. This year, winning the conference championship is out of our reach and now we have to focus on one thing ? beat Cal.?
(re: Van Raaphorst prevented from rushing): ?He?s not under orders not to stay in the pocket, but you have a concern about not being smart once you get outside the pocket. That?s what we try to teach Carson and Mike ? you have to pick your spot. You have to be able to make plays and be smart. There?s a way to play the game once you?re outside of the pocket and it?s something they?re learning. Mike gave our team a chance to win the game with his performance last week. He gave us opportunities but we did not capitalize on them.?
(re: Van Raaphorst spotting the receivers): ?Mike?s strength is that he?s very smart. He reads things faster than most quarterbacks do. Because he sees things quickly, he?ll sometime get to the receiver faster than most. It can give you the impression that he?s looking there all along, when in fact he?s already read the field, thought about his progression and seen the defense. But his problem is that he?s not a strong arm QB, so if he looks at it too long with an arm to get it there, it can get him in trouble. Generally, he?s pretty precision orientated and ahead of others. He has very few decision making errors.?
(re: was it more difficult to take this job at USC, than with any other program?): ?It is more difficult for a number of reasons. For one, this city ? a fanatical sports city without pro football. More importantly, the tradition and the greatness o this university puts more pressure on all of us in this department. But that?s also the exciting part and that?s why I came back to college football at USC, not just college football. I also came back because we were down. I believe in building and developing something for the long term. I relish in that part. The thing that I have had to learn is that I had been gone from the strategy of college football for awhile. Even though I brought with me a wealth of strategic knowledge, not much of it had been in college football. The frustration has been that I feel like I?ve been a little behind in terms of the strategy in our conference. How to do things in our conference both defensively and offensively. The conference is very sophisticated, the conference is very advanced. The key to the conference is defense and who is going to have the best defense over the next few years to stop a 40-point onslaught. But I?ve also learned that I have to be the steadying force in all three areas (offense, defense, and special teams). The other thing is, the longer you?re here, the more you know, and the more you learn about these teams. But that?s just simply longevity and continuity.?
(re: Carson Palmer): ?You know, basically his whole wardrobe now is baby blue. That?s all he thinks about and all he?s focusing on. At the two-week point everyone thought he was ahead of the game and the four-week point is coming up. But how quickly, without damaging arm, can you now get the rhythm and the snap on the ball that you need to play. We?re just going to wait until the doctor gives us the clearance and take it from there.?
(re: R. Jay Soward status): ?I have no idea at this point. He has a pulled hamstring and we?ll know more on Wednesday.?
(re: Mike Van Raaphorst so far): ?I would say that he?s definitely risen to the occasion. He used his time as a back up to continues to learn about our offense and improve and sharpen his skills. Against Oregon, he came off the bench in spectacular fashion. Against Arizona, he was put in a very difficult position because he?s not the most mobile guy. They stormed the castle and he never had a chance to express what he could do. So really, the question lies around the last two games. Against Notre Dame, Mike gave us a chance to win the game, just like he did against Stanford. He put us in a position to win. But Mike needs help. A quarterback?s position is extremely dependent on his teammates. Mike needs the other people around him to do what they need to do. You can not drop the football and expect to be a big-time player. What ends up happening to the quarterback is that they remember that and they can?t let go. The pros can forget about it, but you can?t do that if your Mike or Carson. But the last two weeks he gave us a chance. But when a guy has to come in the way Mike has this season, he?s played some pretty good football. Stats and all that stuff don?t matter to him, this is tough on him because he wants to win. He wants to help the team win. But just because he didn?t win these games, he?s doing some marvelous things. He?s playing great football.?
California Head Coach Tom Holmoe ? October 26, 1999
(re: team standing): ?We?ve played pretty much up and down. The reasons are that we?re pretty darn good on defense but we lost a couple guys and haven?t been playing as well as we liked. But for the most part, the defense has been playing with a lot of pride and played very good football. Our offense is kind of young and at times, we show it, but we have gotten better in each game. We had a pretty tough loss last week to Washington, but the team knows that we have the chance to be a pretty good team not just this season, but in the future. We just need to overcome some of the mistakes that we are prone too. Some mistakes can be attributed to young freshman players, but some can be attributed to the coaches and the older guys. We know we have to finish up strong in the last four games and it all begins with USC.?
(re: team attitude): ?I think our attitude is really pretty good right now. It was a very difficult loss to Washington. We had a 16-game losing streak to them going into the game, but its not something I even talked about. I know our players didn?t care about the past, it was about what we could do this year. We played them well and did a lot of good things, but just not enough. Sunday was hard but these guys are really resilient. This Saturday will be a test and we always look forward to playing USC. This game will tell a lot about how are guys react.?
(re: Sekou Sanyika): ?Sekou Sanyika got a lot of preseason publicity, but at the beginning of the season he didn?t really have a lot big numbers but he was still playing very well. Then it was just a matter of time before the stats would catch up. He?s a huge big-play guy and he?s playing extremely well. I?m very disappointed that he was not put on the ballot as one of the top-10 Butkus finalist.?
(re: Deltha O?Neal): ?He?s a very exciting player? another big-play guy. He?s got about 5 or 6 interceptions so far and is a terrific return guy. He came into the secondary just last year and in the last year that he?s been there, he?s developed tremendously. If you throw his way, a lot of things can happen.?
(re: Kyle Boller): ?He struggled through the initial part of his true freshman year, making some mistakes and going through the rookie year. But each day he practices, he shows you that promise that we knew we were going to get. He?s a pleasure to be around ? a true competitor. He knows his place on the team and tries to earn the respect of his players.?
(re: Joe Igber): ?Joe is a guy that we stuck in the lineup three weeks ago and has meant everything to our offense. He has really taken a lot of pressure off of Kyle and the team has really responded to his enthusiasm. Now you see the promise in the team, and a lot has to do with Joe.?
(re: USC team): ?USC has a lot of dangerous players, especially from the offensive perspective. (R. Jay) Soward is a guy that has always given me fits. You can?t turn on the film and not see him doing something amazing. I?ve always like Chad Morton. I think he?s a guy that does so much for them. He?s not be the guy to have 25 carries a game for them, but at any point he can catch the screen, run out on a route, run the trap, run the draw, run the toss, throw the ball? whatever. I like him a lot. I think the young Kareem Kelly ? that kid is good? and that?s dangerous. I?m very happy for Van Raaphorst. He?s a guy that came in and got unseated by Palmer, but when they can came back to him - he responded. That?s something every coach likes to see. As an opposing coach, I?m proud of him, especially to see him play as well as he?s played.?
?They?ve struggled and we?ve struggled, so I know what they?re going through and I don?t underestimate them in any way.?
?Defensively, they have players that are talented. Antuan Simmons is a very big-time playmaker. I think their defensive line makes a lot of plays and they?re good at that. The linebackers are the very traditional, very athletic, USC linebackers.?
?We look to this game as a dog fight. This is a USC team that?s going to come ticked off and wanting to get back into the win column.?
(re: Is Joe Echema?s move from runningback to receiver permanent?): ?No, not really. I think we just got into a tough situation in the receiving core? injuries, transfers, and ineligibility. Joe was a tremendous athlete who wanted to play this year and had been doing a great job on special teams this year. We decided to move him out there just to help us out and it was not a permanent move. He actually came in the game and played tailback last week, and continued to play a little bit of both. This week he?ll probably play tailback and not receiver.?
(re: Will memories of last year?s game help or hurt?): ?It was good for our players to go to USC and know that they could beat a good team. But SC is going to be motivated and they?re going to be thinking about revenge. We?re not going to be afraid, we have a lot of things to play for too. That?s why I see this as two hungry teams who each need to win the game.?
