University Southern California Trojans
Hackett Discusses Notre Dame Game at Press Conference
June 21, 1999 | Football
November 24, 1998
LOS ANGELES - Following is a transcript of USC football coach Paul Hackett's press luncheon on Tuesday as he spoke to members of the Los Angeles media:
"It seems like we go from one huge game to another huge game. I'm very excited about playing against Notre Dame, particularly when it follows the kind of performance we had last Saturday. Obviously, it was very disappointing to us because we never really had a chance to get into our game. We never had a chance to put our best foot forward because of all the turnovers. It was so frustrating for all of our football team, not only the offensive side, but the defensive side because of the position they were put in over and over along. What happens is, when you've got a game of this magnitude that follows a game like UCLA, you can't spend much time thinking about it or worrying about it, you just have to move ahead.
"The situation that exists at South Bend, they've got a top-10 football team. They've played very well all year long. I think they're a big, strong, physical football team. They're well-coached. The defensive side is sound. Offensively, maybe the strongest, most physical offensive line we'll face all year. And then of course, there's the quarterback situation, which puts us in a position where we don't know who will go against. We don't know much about them. We can guess. The reality is that until the game starts and until the game begins to unfold, we're just not going to know exactly what we're up against. They have such a fine scheme of offense that it would seem that continue along the same lines as they did with Jackson. But there's no tape to study so there's no chance to get the nuances, the strengths and weaknesses of the unknown quarterbacks. You just go in and play against what you think they can do. That can be dangerous. There's a history of teams making this change and performing brilliantly. I'm hoping this is not one of those cases. But we need to bounce back and play our best football.
"I said it a week ago, we would have to play our best football game to beat UCLA. We didn't get out of the blocks. I'll say the same thing against Notre Dame, we need to play our best football. This year, we've played two top-five football teams and were defeated handily. Now we're playing another team in that same category.
"The disappointing thing to me was that I don't have a true handle on the UCLA football team because we didn't allow ourselves to play them in a situation where it was even close to being even. We allowed them to do the things they did because of the short field and the turnovers.
"It's on to the Fighting Irish. There's so much history with this game, so many great players and great games. So many close games. It's going to be a thrill for our football team to play in the Coliseum in front of a full crowd against an outstanding football team.
(On injuries) "(Marc) Matock is in the same situation he was before. It is remarkable what he's been able to accomplish with a broken leg. It's a miracle. We knew we would have him for a bowl, anything else would be a bonus. He played five plays and played well. He'll continue to be a role player. David Gibson has a thigh injury and will not practice today. That'll probably go down to game time. R. Jay (Soward) appears to be OK. Chad (Morton) appears to be OK. Ennis Davis will not practice today, he's got a sprained foot. That'll unfold over the next couple of days.
(On if Soward will return kicks) "I think he can. We'll watch him in practice. I'd like to get him back in that role if we could. If he can do it, we will. It was a real tribute to R. Jay to play in the UCLA game. After that first play, as a coach you say maybe you pushed him too fast, he shouldn't have been playing. But he would have killed me if he hadn't been out there. I just wish we could have utilized him more.
(On whether or not the bye week was good) "That's something we've been mulling around. The thing that is concerning is that we came out of character against UCLA. This is a football team that in 10 games had 10 fumbles and six interceptions. That's 1.6 and that's going to be in top five in the nation as far as taking care of the football. So there is no way that I would have felt that I had to emphasize in a different fashion taking care of the football. This blindsided me. I thought the rest would make a difference. But the kind of game it was, I don't know if the rest would have made a difference because we kept giving the ball to them. If I had to choose now, I'd probably say don't have the bye, just go with the rhythm. I thought that were some good things. But every time we got some gains, we just kept shooting ourselves in the foot. It's a tough game to analyze. They're a very good football team. But we knew that going in. That was no surprise.
(On Carson Palmer's performance) "I thought he was sporadic. He was playing in his first really big game in a foreign territory. I don't think he played as well as he did against Washington or Stanford. I think that it was a much different game. He found himself behind from the beginning. Both Washington and Stanford we were managing the game and it was close. Here, it was clear that we had to make something happen. I think he pressed a little bit like a young person would. I was delighted with his poise. I was delighted with his running. The first fumble, he never saw the guy coming, but he'll have to learn from that. The drive in the third quarter, where he got the game back to 10 points, was superb. He made plays on fourth down, he made plays on first down. He is making the kind of progress that we would hope. I do think that to play in this Notre Dame game, it's a real bonus to have that game behind him. Now he knows what the speed of the game, the tempo of the game, the emotion of the game will be like. That was really his first one, and now he gets to play a second one of that magnitude. I think it will help him. You learn from experience.
(On the fourth-down pass to Bastianelli that wasn't completed) "We had a lot of debate on the sideline and we went back and forth. It was one of those situations. You take your best shot on fourth down. It would have brought it back to a 10-point game again. We took our best shot and couldn't convert. I wouldn't change the play call, I wouldn't change the people. I wouldn't change anything. We just needed to make a play to put pressure on UCLA. With the lead they had, UCLA never had the pressure on them. That's way you can't walk away and say we have a really good evaluation of where we stack up against them, because it was a very strange game. You have to give them credit. They did the same thing to Oregon.
(On where USC stands against top teams) "Playing against UCLA and Florida State at this point, it's clear that during the offseason we can go back and look and see how we stack up and here's what we have to do to jump into that group. Oregon and Cal were close games. I think when you're playing top-five teams, it's something more unusual but it's a benchmark in developing a team and developing a program. You need to understand what your standards are. You need to understand what you have to aspire to.
(On a bowl game) "Every time I ask someone about the bowl picture, they look more confused than I do. I really don't know where we're headed. We'll either be in San Diego, El Paso or Hawaii. I don't know how it will unfold, but I know it will be at one of those spots. We'll get a chance to continue to practice with some of our young players, give Carson Palmer some more practice time, and that's the key thing as we continue to develop.
(On the importance of the Notre Dame game) "I don't think there's any problem with the competitiveness between the two teams ... from what I can tell from the last few years with Notre Dame. I know they had a long streak at well. These are two very prideful universities. Both have made some changes and are moving ahead. Young people go to Notre Dame and USC to play in this game and to be in the national spotlight. When you run into Notre Dame Stadium or the Coliseum, with 90,000, it's pretty hard not to step up and play at your very, very best. We haven't played them yet so I don't have an evaluation on their football team. But I can see that it's a top-10 team. The quarterback situation makes things different but this is going to be a test for us. We need to play our best football to beat this team.
(On if a Pac-10 team isn't in the Rose Bowl) "I'm a historian and a traditionalist and I think the Rose Bowl is about the Pac-10. I don't understand the ins and outs and the nuances of the contracts. I would be disappointed and it would be unfortunate if the Pac-10 did not have a team in the Rose Bowl. Particularly when we've got two teams in the top seven. Two teams would be great representatives of this conference. We didn't play Arizona, but I hear they're a fabulous football team.
(On hearing about Jarious Jackson's injury) "I thought they were kidding. Then to see how it happened, it's so disappointing. I'm disappointed for Bob and for their team, because he's had a great year. He's been a difference-maker. Your first reaction is it's too bad. Your next reaction is it's great for us. Your next reaction is it's going to be mysterious because you don't know who you'll face. There's all kinds of unknowns.
(On the offensive line) "The score was a big part of it. When you're down 17 points, from a defensive standpoint, you can approach it a lot differently. If it's an even game, you do it differently. We did some things that we didn't do as well as we needed to. A couple things were physical and a couple things were mental. But since Florida State, we have not been in a game where we were way behind and you had to throw the ball. We had been able to play games in control. That was a huge difference in the game. I'm not taking anything away from their defense because they're a good defense. But a lot of it was the nature of the football game and how it affected the way it unfolded.
(On his reaction to UCLA's postgame actions) "My reaction right after the game was that of a typical coach who had just been defeated by 17 points. My reaction was that I would have handled the situation differently. I can't say anything. They handily got us. They can say whatever they want. They can do whatever they want. This is a philosophical approach to a quarterback playing his senior year and playing his last game in the Rose Bowl. All I was reacting to, I just wouldn't have done it that way. That's not a reflection on anybody else. I was upset and reacted to the fact that we got beat. How you handle yourselves in victory or defeat is a very important part of college football. I think our players handled themselves very well after the game. It was a very bitter loss. I think that we'll handle it and address it again next year.
(On changing things to match up with top teams) "I think that if you do it now and do it as a reaction you might make a mistake. I think that's what the offseason is for. You sit down as a coaching staff and analyze the team quickly and it affects how you recruit. Then when recruiting is over you go back and look at the details of every position and every game. Then you make the decisions. Are there schematic things we need to do differently? I'm getting a lot of pressure for the shotgun. Or is it people things? You don't want to rush those decisions. You want to take time and make the right decision. That's what the offseason is for. ... Where do we go at this point? That's what we do in the offseason. People think coaches have an offseason. We have no offseason. We have to answer those questions so that we can field the best football team we can. That's what coaching is about. Where do you have weaknesses and where do you have strengths and how do you maximize the strengths and downplay the weaknesses. You continue to put one more brick in the wall as we build this program back into national prominence. Where are we? We're a little above the middle of the conference. I kind of said we were in the middle of the conference when we started. Now I know, I've seen the people, we're a little above the middle of the conference. I think our record would indicate that. We have a long ways to go.
(On Mark Cusano's season) "I think Mark was clearly one of our top players and it's been a huge disappointment to him and to me and to Coach Slocum. The thing I tried to explain to R. Jay Soward last week is there's nothing you can do about it. If your body will not allow you to go, you cannot allow yourself to come apart. Mark has dealt well with the issues because it's been very difficult for him. I anticipate this final game, that he will step up and play. ... That's the toughest part of our profession. It's seeing the person taken out of this thing that they love to do for a physical reason. It's a physical game and that's the price you pay and it's very difficult.
(On Daylon McCutcheon's senior year) "He's had a very good year. Daylon and our entire secondary had the chance to shine against the kinds of teams that we were playing down the stretch of the middle of the season. We were playing teams that were going to win passing the ball. I think we did a superb job. I think we're first or second in the conference in pass defense. That speaks very well to Daylon's year, as well as Rashard Cook and the entire secondary. The thing that we had to do last week and we have to do this week, we have to play the run and the pass. It's hard to shift gears from pass, pass, pass to all of a sudden, run and pass, and this week, run and option. That's the challenge the defense has this week."
