University Southern California Trojans
Hackett, Riley Preview Saturday's Game
June 21, 1999 | Football
September 15, 1998
LOS ANGELES - Following is the transcript of USC football coach Paul Hackett's media conference and Oregon State football coach Mike Riley's teleconference with the Los Angeles media on Tuesday:
Are there any ex-USC coaches left that we'll have to face? (Two) I'm not sure how to take that. This is an opportunity to play a conference game and that's the most significant thing this week. We're back in the routine of school. That was a concern last week and it showed in the penalties and some of the things we did. Now we'll be in a normal routine the rest of the season.
This is a much-improved Oregon State game. They have talent and speed and the difference shows. They've done an outstanding job on third down, they probably lead the country in making it on third down. On offense, Coach Riley is doing what's comfortable to him. Him running the option is probably like me running the option. With their quarterback and three wide receivers, that's more comfortable. They're in very good hands in the kicking game, they've already got two 50-yard field goals in two games. They blocked a punt, they blocked a field goal. They address special teams the same we we address special teams.
They were just talking to me about having won 24 in a row. I don't think you can talk about that or even get involved in such things when you have such a new team. This is only our third game. We have to focus on ourselves and what we can do instead of history or what we're supposed to do. I don't think we can do that at this point. We need to get better ourselves at whatever Oregon State throws at us. It's that process of improvement that I've talked about all year that's the focus. I'm delighted to be 2-0. I'm delighted with how we've done. We've got a long way to go but at this point I feel good.
(On the receiving corps) We've known all along this was our most experienced group. You have Bastianelli, R. Jay, Larry Parker coming back, and it's really one of our strengths. It's particulary important because of our youth at quarterback. They need, as our receiving corps, to make plays for us. They need to do things maybe better than any other position to help the quarterback. I've been delighted with how Billy Miller has taken on a leadership role and stepped to the front and made big plays. The two that were taken away from him against Purdue, those were tremendous individual efforts. Of course, R. Jay, we all saw that. Bastianelli has been a very solid performer. Larry Parker is just beginning to get back into football playing shape. This a group that we have to lean on because of the inexperience with our quarterback and offensive line. It's a long season, but all indications are that this will be a strength of our offense.
(On the defensive line) I think they've made some strides. One of the things that's evident is that we will play a number of people on the defensive line. There's a concern with our inexperience and lack of size. Oregon State's line averages 300 pounds, so that's a concern this week. We are an undersized group. Our intention all along, because we are so young, is to find out what everyone can do, and utilize everyone's skills, rather than settle in on one or two guys. I'm very happy with how that's working out. We saw a little more pressure on the quarterback last week though I know we'll have to have more. I think it's just like the offensive line, we're just scratching the surface, just getting started. This week we have a particularly tough assignment because these guys are so big. This is probably the biggest offensive line we'll face all year.
(On penalties) Some of it was sloppiness. They're explainable, but I don't know if I like the explanation. What happened to us, was we did not have the poise on the offensive side that we had a week ago. That's a concern. You can look at different reasons. The atmosphere changed at practice, coming back to campus from UC Irvine. There were some things that were different. But now we're getting into our routine and we can't let those things concern us. But we had some penalties that were unacceptable. Our defensive mode is to attack so you'll always get some of those penalties. The kicking game, I was concerned with that. Those are judgement issues, you have to give two full yards whether it's a fair catch or not. We violated that rule, one was major, one was five yards. These are things that when you address the team, when you put it up on the overhead, they'll understand that these are things we have to eliminate. We can not continue to give teams these extra opportunities. On offense we missed three field goals, we had a touchdown called back and we can't do those kinds of things. It's early in the season, yes, but that's unacceptable. We just have to get better at that stuff.
(On putting R. Jay Soward in motion) Motion is part of our attack for a couple of reasons. One, it helps the quarterback determine if the defense is man-to-man or zone. Two, it puts pressure on the defense to make adjustments. Motion, regardless of who's doing it, is an important part of our system. As far as R. Jay, it gives him a step or two on the defender. Part of using him is moving him around. An exciting part of coaching is creating different ways of doing things. With a player like R. Jay, you enjoy the evening when you draw new things up to utilize his talents. Obviously, we have to find ways to get the ball to him.
(On Adam Abrams) Generally, he's done an excellent job. Twelve in a row is very impressive. Against Purdue he hit some pressure kicks. I have a lot of confidence in him. It was a situation where he maybe outthought himself. He missed one and maybe overcompensated. It happens to quarterbacks a lot. That's why I was pleased with Carson Palmer. He throws a horrible interception but goes back in and plays well. I don't think we have a kicker controversy. There might not be a guy in the country that's hit as many big kicks. He just has to settle down. We will continue to kick field goals.
(On the playbook) We're probably comfortable with 25-30 percent of it. At Irvine, we put a huge burden on them because we were introducing them to two years woth of football. How it unfolds depends on the maturity and development of the offense. The receivers can handle more than the offensive line or tight ends right now. We need to be conscious of that and build slowly. The advantage Mike (Van Raaphorst) has is that he's very sharp and works hard on the mental part of the game. He will not slow us down. The question is how much we want to give him ... We'll ease Mike into it. Carson Palmer is in the same situation, we don't ask Carson to do as much as we ask Mike to do. His entire first year is going to be trying to figure out what he can and can not handle. How quickly can they go, how fast can they handle things. Usually the players are frustrated because they know we have a lot more things but we choose not to use them because the level of execution drops off with the more stuff we do. That's something I have to fight off all the time as a coach.
(On Van Raaphorst) He's made a lot of progress. The whole issue with Carson and the issue with the two of them, you have to put that behind you and say I'm the quarterback and I'm the guy that's going to be called upon to win the game. He did that very well. The offense on the first three drives was very efficient.
We had a touchdown called back and missed some field goals but the way we presented ourselves was much improved over the week before. And as the game proceeded, we had a couple of long drives. That was Mike's responsibility. He is the guy that has to get us into the end zone. In that sense he did better. There were some throws that were missed, there were some errors but that's always going to happen. One thing about Mike, he'll sit down with Coach O'Brien and dissect everything, study it and get better each week.
(On the winning streak against Oregon State) I have to stay consistent with my team. It doesn't really matter who we're playing, and by that I'm not being disrepectful at all, I think every team presents a different issue. Our first issue is that we have to be efficient and take care of our business. Oregon State is a confident team, they're pumped up, but we can't worry about history. We have to say this is this week's game and we have an opportunity as a football team to go out and get better. We are the issue here. The penalties, the missed tackles, the missed throws, those are the things we have to get better at.
(On injuries) Eric Denmon is the one I'm most concerned about. He has the kind of ankle sprain that really concerns you. Grant Pearsall and Tanqueray Clark are in the process of coming along. Another concern is Mark Cusano. He's retreating rather than progressing. We'll know his status closer to the game. Darren Collins is another week or two away. Other than that, after a long, hard preseason and two games, I feel good.
Everyone's excited about our start. We put in a lot of hard work in the offseason. We have a great group of seniors that have really impressed me. They've played hard and set a good example for the team. That hard work has been confirmed in a positive way.
I think our offense had a terrible running game last year. In order to get better, we had to turn that around. We've had a couple of good games, not great, but solid. The line is much improved. We're not a juggernaut on offense but we haven't made mistakes and only taken a couple of sacks. We've been efficient. Terrance Bryant has provided this team with a competitive leadership. He's a great guy, loves to play and the guys believe in him. He's only been here a couple of months so that's remarkable. The receiving corps are good athletes. But these guys have to produce to be called a good receiving corps instead of good athletes.
The defense is keyed on speed. We're a little bigger than last year. We have some excellent quickness with Inoke Breckterfield and Jamil Braithwaite. They're very fast off the edge. Inoke sets the standard for hustle on the team. He's a guy I really admire. We look awfully fast on the field. We overwhelmed the first two teams we played with our speed.
(On the streak) It's a fact and it's out there. Everyone talks about it. These guys are all relatively new here, the seniors have been here for four years so they haven't been part of much of it. It's important to concentrate on the present because the past wasn't bright. People talk about the past way too much. We try to focus on what we're trying to do. No one is unrealistic, this is a tough game. USC looked real good against San Diego State. But we feel that if play like we can and make plays, there's a great opportunity to win the game.
(On USC) I know they have a bunch of good athletes. I've always respected R. Jay and his ability. It's really something unique. From the time he was a freshman and broke the yardage mark against UCLA, he really made a mark early and everybody noted that. Chris Claiborne and Daylon McCutcheon are outstanding players, Chad Morton. They have a whole lot of other solid players. The balance is really outstanding. The rushing and passing against San Diego State was the kind of balance teams dream about. It's a very good football team overall.
(On coaching in this game) It will be fun. I really loved coaching and being involved with USC. The Coliseum is my favorite place to go and have a football game. I really appreciated that, and will always appreciate my time there. I look at this as being fun, and I look forward to coaching in the Coliseum again.
