University Southern California Trojans
Hackett, Snyder Preview USC-ASU Game
June 21, 1999 | Football
September 29, 1998
LOS ANGELES - Following is a transcript of the media luncheon held by USC Coach Paul Hackett on Tuesday, as well as the teleconference call held by Arizona State Coach Bruce Snyder, with regards to the USC-ASU football game on Saturday:
USC COACH PAUL HACKETT
A couple of things of note from last week. The team traveled into a hostile place pretty darn well with the heat, the team we faced, the crowd, and we maintained pretty good poise. We turned the ball over five times, and that's not the way to beat a good football team. Especially when the team didn't turn the ball over. There were two big things that we took out of the game. The punting, and where are our young punter is, is impressive. We were unsure of where Mike (MacGillivray) was at the start of the season. But Florida State came after us and pressured us, and he responded. He really saved our offense. I was terribly disappointed that we had our second punt blocked. We'll just have to improve and fix that.
The other thing was our defense, and you have to talk about Chris Claiborne. Coach Bowden found out what we all in Los Angeles know, that's that Chris is the best middle linebacker in the country. In the four games this season, he's been the dominant player on this football team. The 4-3 defense, the adjustments that have been made, have only reaped benefits for Chris Claiborne personally. His fourth-down play was magnificent, and he's done that over and over.
We have to face the facts now. The next seven-week stretch will make or break this season. Every one counts toward the true prize, the Rose Bowl. Arizona State had a tough start but the last two weeks they've been much better. Oregon State tested us and they really did a nice job against Oregon State. Their defense is aggressive and attacking. Freedman and Jackson both are premier players in this conference. Their offense is the best offense that we ve faced and it may be the best in the conference. There's not a better player than J.R. Redmond with his ability to do the things that he can do. The quarterback, when he's on, has been outstanding. The receiving corps are probably the top corps in the conference. They have a good offensive line that's experienced. This is going to be a test for us.
We've got our work cut out for us. We've been through a tough go, but we have to learn to respond to tough situations. Much of it is if we can continue to improve. We are so young and we are so new that we've got to show improvement, and we're doing that in some areas. He have to play and compete with that kind of a football team. We need to make strides there and we are certainly capable of it. We have to do that against a much-improved defense that's coming in here on Saturday.
I think it was exciting and it came at the right time, that was a good experience for us. I talked to Coach Bowden before the game and he couldn't have been happier that we came down there. He said all these teams wouldn't come, but you'd come and we're so pleased. After the game I told him this is why they don't come. I don't think I want to come again. But then on the plane ride Mike (Garrett) informed me that we were going to try and have another home-and-away with them. It was a sobering experience, but something that we can build on. With our youth, we needed to experience that. Now we need to shift gears because he have some tough ones staring us in the face.
(On the passing game on Saturday) I think it was a combination of a couple of things. First, their secondary was outstanding. They are big, strong and physical and we were in a tough matchup there. They were so aggressive they got two pass interference calls on the first series. Second, we missed some balls early with people open. That took its toll on us mentally. The push up front, that was an area of their football team that was better than I had imagined. We weren't ready for their two inside tackles. It was a combination of the snap count, youth, inexperience, the pass rush, and that all led to a woeful performance. The thing that is a concern is that the last time we threw for so few yards, the same guy that was calling the plays Saturday was calling them in 1980 and that's me. I'm not sure what that means.
(On the quarterbacks) We had a somewhat unique situation. Mike Van Raaphorst had the flu and was really weakened. He didn't have the enthusiasm that he usually had. I had not intended for Carson Palmer to play as much as he did. But at 13-3 at halftime the game was still winnable. My feeling was let's let the young guy see how much he can do. He almost got his arm broken twice. He had a confrontation with the 24-second clock. There were some things that happened to help him grow. But there won't be a change. We have our starting quarterback, and when he's at his best he's played well. And we have a young guy who keeps getting better even if it doesn't show in the statistics. He will continue to play and be part of the mix and play more and more as I feel he can handle it. He's coming on, and that's what we had hoped.
(On psychologically coming out of the FSU game) When we talked about this at the beginning, we said it was a long journey. I want to see us improve, that's what's most important to me. We have a 24-hour rule and we have to move on and go for the real prize. The prize is Pasadena. We have to learn >from last Saturday. I like that we practice on Sunday so that when we walk out of here we can say it's over and get ready for the next ballgame. Now we have to figure out a way to beat Arizona State. I thought Coach Snyder said something very important. You can't change your character or how you do your business. If you do, then there doubts about the way you do things. I believe in this football team. Now we have to put it behind us, cinch up the belt one more notch and go to work.
(On the center position) It's going to depend on health. Denmon is behind McShane. McShane may be ready for this game. If he is, we'll move him to center and let Jason (Grain) play guard. If McShane is not ready, he'll be ready the next week. It's remarkable what Jason Grain has done having only played center for two weeks. It's been a learning experience, a painful one, but a learning experience. We need to move him over to his best position, which is guard. With Grain and Claridge, I feel very good about our guards. The tackles are improving every week. Ideally McShane moves back to center, and then if we get Eric back we'll be back at full strength. The defense is as healthy as they've been all year, we need that in the offense as well.
(On the lineup changes hurting the offense) Quite a little bit. We had a lot of guys playing a lot of different positions. Part of it was injuries. Part of it was the weather. The only thing going for us is we didn't have a lot of plays on offense, and that was a negative for us. But the reality is we didn't have very many snaps. We took a step back offensively from where we're headed. It's my job to make sure we don't take step backs and that we continue to work forward. We have to be better at the midway point then we are now, and we have to be better at the end then we are now.
(On the penalties) It's a concern. We did better on holding calls, and I thought the pass interference calls were iffy. Guys were trying to make plays. There are going to be offside penalties as long as we play aggressively. But four is far too many. The issue on offense is that we have to stay onsides. I'm very concerned. But like I said last week, you have to identify it, talk about it and try very hard to not make a change, because change is the easy way. It's about discipline. We have to continue to get better at this because if we don't we'll have to make radical changes, and we don't want to do that.
(On Frank Strong) With the injury to Malaefou (MacKenzie), Frank has been our third runner. Petros Papadakis is the strongest inside runner that we have. Frank has been in the mix and will continue to be. Jabari Jackson finally got a couple of plays. I like our depth there. As long as Chad's healthy, he's our first choice. The other guys will complement Chad. Chad's back should be OK. He might not practice today.
ARIZONA STATE COACH BRUCE SNYDER
We started off just terrible. We've climbed out of our hole to some degree. It was a great game against Washington, an entertaining game and we lost on virtually the last play. That take a lot of the wind out of us. We've won the last two though I don't know if either was very convincingly. But we executed enough to get two W's. We're somewhat back on track. I like the team's attitude about getting back to work, back to basics.
(On changing anything after the two losses) We didn't do anything out of character. That's not a good way to approach a crisis situation. That really sends a message that what you were doing beforehand was not the right thing. We were doing a lot of right things and we have a lot of good players on this team. We did go back and try and establish our identity again. Who are we, why are we doing what we're doing, how we're going to go about doing it. We couldn't go back to training camp because we're in school but we took on a bit more of that mentality.
(On J.R. Redmond) J.R. is really a special player. He's a neat young person in a lot of ways. He exemplifies what we want this team to be like in terms of his work ethic and performance. We have him primarily at tailback. But he's so talented that we should use him other ways, so he's a pass catcher, our kick returner and punt returned. He has played a small number of defensive snaps. I hoped that if we were really hitting on all cylinders, he would play more on defense because could really be an outstanding defensive player.
(On Ryan Kealy) He's been terrific. He came out of the blocks last year and had a bang-up year. He got hurt in the 11th game and had to have his knee reconstructed. We weren't sure how it was going to play out. The opening game against Washington he threw for more than 300 yards and three touchdowns so he started out in great shape. We lost again, and the entire team didn't play well, including Ryan. He has set very high standards for himself and is accustomed to playing well. He's a bit hard on himself. If he didn't play well, he really feels like he let the team down. He's not quite at the performance level of a year ago, but he will hit his stride again and have a real solid year.
(On the defense) We've really lost a lot over the last two years, through graduation or early-out hits. We hoped we had in the program some guys that could come through the system and step in. Honestly, it hasn't worked out that way. The Washington game was exciting because of all the points that were scored, but that certainly doesn't give a lot of confidence to your defense. BYU was not much better, but the last two performances it appeared something good was happening. We looked quicker, more comfortable and the younger players were growing up. We're hoping something is happening on that side of the ball. I've got my fingers crossed that things are working there, that they're improving and there's more confidence. For us to be competitive in this conference, our defense has to be better.
(On USC) Paul Hackett has done a terrific job. 3-0 was a great start. I've never coached a team that's had to play at Florida State against that kind of team. My take on it is that's a difficult place to play well in that kind of environment. USC has talent and has recruited well over the years. We know their players well because we recruited many of them. They are playing very good defense. Chad Morton is a fine addition to the running game. Van Raaphorst, there's a tie between the two schools because his brother played here. We recruited Mike and he's a terrific player. Soward, his older brother played here.
(On the quarterbacks) Ryan had surgery in early December. He has a remarkable work habit and attacked the rehab. Rehab is a long, tedious grind. He did an outstanding job. He came back and performed some in the spring. We could see that he would be back. So at the end of the spring, we said that Ryan would be our quarterback. Steve Campbell would also be a factor, because he did a nice job. Plus we have a young kid, Chad Elliott, who has a lot of ability. We're in really good shape at quarterback with our depth.
(On coming back from the Washington loss) We're probably not over it yet. Probably when they fill dirt in on top of me, I'll be over it. Kids get over things quicker than coaches. But it had a lingering effect in our preparation for BYU. We started seriously shaking it the Sunday after the BYU game. Since that Sunday we have been a better football team. We're getting over it little by little.
