University Southern California Trojans
Hackett, Lambright Discuss Upcoming Game
June 21, 1999 | Football
October 27, 1998
LOS ANGELES -- Following is the transcript of USC Coach Paul Hackett and Washington Coach Jim Lambright as they spoke to members of the Los Angeles media on Tuesday:
USC COACH PAUL HACKETT
The Oregon trip was a disappointment, clearly, but I had the opportunity to stay in the premier suite at the Valley River Inn. That was nice, but the fact that it's also the place that Elvis stayed in Eugene was very significant as well. All was not lost on the trip. I thought we played hard, I thought we played a very good first half, particularly defensively. Oregon had scored 171 points in the first half and we held them to three. I was very pleased with the defense and I felt like we had control of the game. In the second half it was a game of third downs and we didn't make them and they did. We didn't make third-and-one twice, and they hit a third-and-five for a touchdown and ran for a touchdown on third-and-one. We got a touchdown at the end but the clock expired.
It was a tough, hard-fought, close game. Oregon is an outstanding team. The difference in the game was Akili Smith. I was afraid that he could do that, I just hoped that he wouldn't. The crowd was sensational. The crowd did unsettle us and it led to six procedural penalties. As I told the team, we had many opportunities to win the game, we just did not take advantage of the opportunities and make the plays.
That's history. We now have two losses in conference and both have been painful and close. We now have our backs against the wall against a very good Husky team. They've won three in a row, they're on a roll, they've got their quarterback back. They throw the ball all over the place and spread you out. Defensively, they have more sacks than anybody in the league and they put tremendous pressure on you. They've been playing the same defense for 15 years, people tell me, and it's well-coached. Special teams, (Joe) Jarzynka has been sensational. He does it all. Usually good teams have good special teams and this guy has been tremendous. They have a very potent offense with an excellent quarterback. They have an excellent defense that leads the league in sacks. We've got our work cut out for us.
The good news is that everyone tells me that Autzen Stadium is light-weight compared to Husky Stadium, so all I can tell you is I'm delighted we're not playing in Husky Stadium. We're playing in the Coliseum and that makes me feel a little better. We've got a tough game ahead of us, there's four pressure games in a row. This will tell the tale of the season.
(On kicking the field goal) Everyone has an opinion about the field goal. Whether they agree with it or believe in it, I'm the coach and they're not. It didn't work and it's easy to say when something doesn't work that I should have done it differently. That's hindsight. But with five minutes to go, the way we were playing defense, the thing I did not want to do was come away empty after an 80-yard drive. I felt that would deflate us. We had to put in the hands of the defense after we got the penalty. Had we not got the penalty, we would have went for it. Fourth-and-eight was a tough assignment. I have great confidence in our defense. Now people go back and say what if and how come but that's ancient history.
(On Adam Abrams) We've already been through this once. This is the second time we had this problem. The first time it didn't affect the outcome of the game. I think we all saw Adam do a marvelous job of bouncing back the next week. This is a new situation where we had two chip shots. We missed them early in the game and it didn't look like it would be all that significant, but when you play a good team, particularly on the road, you must capitalize on your opportunities to score or at the end of the game you're tearing your hair out. The key thing here in inconsistency. We are not a good enough offensive football team to be able to survive miscues in the kicking game. At some point we will be good enough to overcome that.
(On the Rose Bowl goals) The history is that six times a team has gone with two losses. I don't think we're totally out of the woods. It's a reach right now. It would take some people helping us. But I'm never going to come off that goal, this year, next year or any year. I don't think there is any other goal at USC. If we don't make it this year then we have to reevaluate when steps we need to take to get to the Rose Bowl next year. That's always what we're striving for. But we need a lot of help and a lot of luck. It's not over until it's over.
(On discussing what needs to be done to get to any bowl) We haven't talked about it. The issue of the conference championship and how we play in the conference is still the primary goal. To be 5-3 at this point with four games to go, we can win nine games and that's how we have to approach it. I don't know where we'll go. A lot will be determined this weekend. Washington is a very important game because they're in the same boat that we are. I'm excited to see where we stack up against them. They were clearly one of the preseason favorites.
(On the quarterbacks) Mike played well, Carson played well. We went back to Mike in the third quarter and let Carson finish up. Carson had the hot hand at the end and played well on the long drive. That was one of the best drives we've had all year. I think we've got a situation that continues to work.
(On differences from the NFL with clock management) I don't know. I've always used some basic guidelines, three minutes you go for it and five minutes you try and get it back. Timeouts are part of it. I don't know if there's much difference. I'm learning that as we go. Five minutes has always been my break-off time. The clock is different in college football because it stops at first downs. In theory, you should be able to wait longer in college football. Maybe five minutes is too much but I'm comfortable with two minutes in assuming that you're going to get the ball back.
(On R. Jay Soward's route-running) R. Jay is a good route-runner. He has sometimes a tendency to freelance, which in my experience most great players do. He has great skills. He's done a good job of running routes for the most part. Our problem with R. Jay right now is that we don't give him a chance enough of the time. If we throw the ball down the field and he doesn't have the opportunity to go catch it, the quarterbacks have not done their job. The catch he made on the sidelines, he has to be a rubber man to make that catch. That was spectacular, and that's not a good throw but it's a throw that gives him a chance to make the catch. We just have to do a better job of getting the ball into his area. He's a good route-runner. He gets creative sometimes but I think the good ones do. That's part of having great ability.
(On comparing Washington's offense to Purdue) Very close. If there was one team that we played this year that looks the most like Washington, it's Purdue. What's interesting about Washington is their leading ground gainer is their quarterback. So that was not true with Purdue. We have to play against two guys. If Tuiasosopo is in the game, he's very effective as a runner and is a good passer. Brock Huard is much more the Brees-type quarterback. Brees did an excellent job delivering the ball and Brock does a great job. Both of them you have to play spread-out. They're going to extend you as far as they can and use the running game when you overplay the pass. It's a very effective offense.
(On the third-and-one plays) This is an error that we made. When we missed on the third-and-one in the third quarter, that was our bread-and-butter and has been solid for us all year. We reacted to that by on the next third down, not going back to our bread-and- butter, which is Petros. We went with Chad and certainly Chad could have done it but they stacked it up. In retrospect, I would have went back to Petros, which got us where we were, and we do it again. I would definitely take that one back. Instead we tried something a little different with Chad and he had the same result that Petros did. There are things you do in the heat of the battle and that's why you have tapes and Sunday and you go back and say next time, this is what we will do.
WASHINGTON COACH JIM LAMBRIGHT
We started at Arizona State with a huge win. That vaulted us in the right direction. We won at home against BYU and that was a nice follow-up. Our ass was kicked by Nebraska and that was an awakening. It showed us where our team was in terms of personnel compared to their football team. I was very pleased with the last couple weeks in that we've been able to win games and do what we needed to do after losing the Arizona game on a tremendous individual effort on the last play of the game.
(On Brock Huard) Beginning the season and going into last winter, the strength of our returning offense was going to be the quarterbacks with Brock Huard and Marques Tuiasosopo and the offensive line. The rest of the positions were pretty well voided by the NFL Draft. We knew we would have to count on Brock, and we lost Brock for a couple of games due to injury. That certainly set him back and our team. He's a leader, someone who was chosen by his teammates as a captain. He helped put 35 points on the board last week against Oregon State. This is his football team, when he's not on the field it hurts us.
(On the running game) It can't get worse. We knew going into the season we didn't have a running back. In the spring both of our returnees were injured. They ended up being hurt on and off at the beginning of this season. This game is typical, we've got a couple of freshmen, Willie Hurst and Braxton Cleman are going to have to carry the load. We've had to rely on our strength, the quarterbacks and a spread passing game. We've tried to bring the running game along and we're still very much struggling with that.
(On playing Tuiasosopo at tailback) He's not a tailback. We've been playing him in the game with Brock, trying to use his running skill while also playing him at quarterback or running back or receiver. The last thing in the world he is is a tailback. He is our leading rusher because he's really a fine athlete. So we try to buy more time on the field for him and try to take advantage of his running ability in as many inventive new ways as we can.
(On the defense) They are young. There are very few seniors. We started off giving up a lot of points, and then had a good run of two games with 26 sacks. Then we stubbed our toe again last week against Oregon State with about 5,000 passing yards in the fourth quarter. We're still trying to find our personality with young players and kind of mixing chemistry on both sides of the football.
(On the Pac-10 race) Certainly UCLA has stepped up as the class of the conference. Oregon, with its scoring ability, is right there. Certainly, like most people who have coaching in the Pac-10 for 30 years like I have, have the greatest appreciation for USC's talent level. I know year in and year out they've got big-play players. I like Arizona, I like SC and we're kind of holding on, doing what we can. We're not very impressive statistically but we're trying to find a way to win in the last play of the game.
(On USC) You see a matchup of two football games that are kind of struggling for their strengths. Certainly USC with their quarterback situation, Palmer and Van Raaphorst. We're looking at the same situation with Huard and Tuiasosopo. At least you're talking about some healthy receivers there at USC to compliment the running game. Having Chad Morton back, the difference in the program right now is having the healthy tailbacks and fullbacks. That will tremendously assist the passing game, as far as USC's strength on offense goes. The defense, they're lining up like USC usually does with really fine athletes like Chris Claiborne and Daylon McCutcheon. There's tons of them on the roster that we tried to recruit. I know the names real well.
(On Claiborne) He's strong enough to defeat an offensive blocker and fast enough to roam the field. He's a threat coming on a blitz as well as a scraper that can make plays inside and out. I think the hit he put on Kealy of Arizona State was very typical of what he can do.
