University Southern California Trojans
Hackett, Erickson Press Conference Quotes
September 26, 2000 | Football
Sept. 26, 2000
LOS ANGELES - Paul Hackett Press Conference - Sept. 26, 2000 "This team has got our attention, when you see their most recent game, which was at home against San Diego State. If you remember a year ago, San Diego State came into the Coliseum and gave us everything we wanted. And they just dismantled San Diego State. They played probably the best football game they've played in some time. When you look at them as a team, the most dramatic change in msy opinion is on defense. We know they have a top offense, we know Coach (Dennis) Erickson has been around top offenses his entire career - he won a national championship with this offense - it's very good. It's got the fifth-leading rusher (Ken Simonton) in the country. It's got a great receiver coming off of suspension in Robert Prescott. The quarterback had an excellent day in Jonathan Smith. But we know that.
"The difference on this team is defense. And the speed, the athleticism, the athletic ability of the defense is much different than it was a year ago. It's a defense that is laced with seniors. It's got a young middle linebacker that is playing his brains out. Probably the best secondary that we're going to face this year. They're starting to get in a groove, a rhythm of playing and how to play. That's the thing that is the most dramatic when you watch them on tape. They have solid special teams, they've got the best punt returner, the best kickoff guy, they have the best kickoff coverage team. They're just playing good football. There are a lot of athletes who are sort of blossoming, if you will. The last four or five years at Oregon State has been quite different. Everyone starts about the streak (USC has won 26 in a row over Oregon State). That was made up years ago and the last 3-5 years, Mike Riley, when he left and started there, and Coach Erickson ... I think they've done a marvelous job.
"It's an attitude and when you turn on the tape you can sense an attitude that has changed with a great attack mode both offensively and defensively and on special teams. It's going to be a great test for us. Now is the time that I'm the most grateful that we took the Penn State game so that we've played on the road. We've gone into a foreign stadium. Had we not taken the Penn State game, this would be our first road game and we know what can happen the first time you play in a hostile stadium. So that's good. I think we know how to go and win on the road. We know how to play against this style of team. I think we just have to go up and do it. But any of the conversation and discussion about having a hard time getting up for this game, all you have to do is take a look at the national statistics. They're No. 6 in rushing. They're No. 10 in pass defense. They're No. 3 in total defense in the country. All those things tell us that what's going on at Oregon State is really good and it's a step up from what it's been in the past. We're going to have to go up there and play 60 minutes. Our problem is we're having a tough time playing 60 minutes. We play really well at the end of the game and that's really good, because that usually means you win. And that's really, really good. But we have to be more consistent throughout the game to be the kind of team we want to be and to be the kind of team to go on the road and win in the conference. You'll notice every team that goes on the road is the underdog. And that's the way it is in our conference for the most part. It's hard to play on the road and we have to be able to go do that.
"It's an opportunity for us now to begin the conference and an opportunity to set the tone early in the conference. I think we relish this opportunity. I think our team will be ready for this. This will be the first game we play without a bye, so that will be interesting to adjust to that. I feel very good about this team. I've said it from the beginning. I was beside myself at halftime on Saturday, but what we did in the second half was huge. It was a team effort. It's been nothing but team with this group and that's what it will take to go up to Oregon State and start with them and take it one week at a time through this conference. Obviously the conference is very even and we're going to play another undefeated team. We've got to go up and be at our best.
"We're going to face more speed than we've faced to date. This team we're about to play is built on speed. It'll also be played on astroturf, which heightens speed. And our teams, the opponent (scout) teams and the people working to get us ready will really have to go fast. This is not a big, mammoth football team we're about to play. These are athletes who move and adjust and come under blocks and tip balls in the air and get cut down and then jump up and intercept balls and run them in as defensive linemen. In that sense, I'm going to talk about the speed and quickness of the preparation because that's probably the single most important thing we need to do. As far as our speed and tempo, we pride ourselves at playing at a high tempo and in practice as well. We've got to maintain that. The opponent groups have really got to pick up the tempo."
(on preparation for playing on turf): "We talked about busing somewhere to practice on turf and we found out there's no astroturf in Los Angeles. This is a problem and if you're in the NFL, the owner builds 60 yards outside and you go out and play. We don't have that opportunity. We're playing one game a year on turf. We played one game last year. We've got the special magic shoes and from there we have to go play. We'll definitely practice on it on Friday and when we go we'll try to practice on a much higher tempo than we do on a normal Friday because we have to find out how you're feet will work on the turf. It is a different surface. It is slightly different."
(on whether the team is tensing up a bit as its national ranking rises): "I hope not. I think there are enough opportunities throughout the country to watch top teams drop games early in the season and they don't necessarily drop games to teams that are better than they are. They just lose. There is so much even-ness throughout college football that when you talk about anything other than your next opponent you're doing yourself and your teammates a disservice. This is a long haul. We've got nine more games and there is ample opportunity to show what we can do. The moment you get distracted ... Look at Wisconsin, look at UCLA, look at Michigan and Alabama. There's two teams a week getting knocked off and to me, you just have to keep your focus. I don't know if those teams are getting knocked off by teams that are better than they are. There are teams that are pretty even and there are a lot of teams that are even. We have to keep our nose to the grindstone and keep working. Don't worry about anybody else. Just worry about us."
(on lack of execution on special teams and how "aggravated" it makes him): "The first part of the answer is I'm very aggravated. I think it's inexcusable what's happened. We've had two punts blocked, missed numerous PATs and we have a problem in all phases of the punt game and the PAT/field goal phase: the execution, the kicking and so forth. When you look at it, there's a couple things. One, we started off well against Penn State. We probably put extra time in at training camp and really probably had our edge. We probably made an error in the bye weeks on not working on special teams. Instead we pushed special teams to the side and did what we do normally and assumed we had everything going right. We don't have that. We don't have anything going well. Now we have to re-gear ourselves up, re-look at the personnel, look at the scheme very carefully, which we've done in the last 48 hours, and then most importantly, go on the practice field today and put an emphasis in punt protection, which is where everything starts. Then snapping, holding and kicking. Very fundamental, very elementary, we have to get back to the basics. The interesting thing is that after we do all of this, we have to go up and play on a different surface. The ball bounces differently, it's a different game on turf. We'll do a great deal of kicking special teams type stuff on Friday to try to get a sense of that. We've got to get the basic fundamental part of our kicking game straightened out in the next three days."
(on changing personnel on special teams): "There are definite possibilities. Lonnie Ford will be back on our punt team, but we're not sure about that. Re-looking at our snapping situation, looking at the wings. We've been working with two-deep since training camp and we've got guys who probably aren't getting an opportunity who can come in and so something for us. We're not going to make a radical change, but we'll take a look at the two-deep and how we can tweak it in terms of getting a little better."
(On Petros Papadakis' comeback): "What he's accomplished is miraculous. I don't think that anyone that has any medical background - and I qualify because I was pre-med for two years - thought that he could do this. I think we all hoped he could. But when you saw him around here in that wheelchair with those pins sticking out of his foot, you had to say to yourself, maybe the guy is a little bit sideways. But it's a miracle, what he's done. I attribute it to him, his family, his teammates. I think the people at USC love Petros and rallied around him. The doctors have been there. (USC head athletic trainer) Russ Romano has been there. He went and did it. It was awfully lonely. The thing we wanted to be sure of was when he went back to Irvine was that he didn't go too fast and we didn't put him in a spot that was unnecessarily putting his body at risk. We're now ready to play the Pac-10 Conference. Petros has shown what he can do. He's shown it not only to his teammates but to all Trojans. Now he's got to be one of the main guys as we go on this nine-game run."
(on tailback rotation issue): "I had hoped they would take alternate series and that after three, four or five games, someone would emerge as the leader of that group. Indeed what has happened, due to injuries and illness, Sultan McCullough has emerged as the guy who has taken the load and done a nice job of running with it. I know what Malaefou MacKenzie and Petros can do for this team and we're never going to be in position where one guy wins it and takes every snap. We're going to fight now to get Petros more playing time and to get Malaefou more time and to always be ready if we have an injury that someone can step in. If you look at the last drive and see that the first big play was made by Steve Stevenson because Kareem Kelly was out for the last drive. When you see the next play is Sultan, who just fumbled, running straight ahead. You see the next play is made by Keary Colbert because Kareem can't play. You see Petros make the run for the touchdown. We're talking about a team here. This is a bunch of guys who are putting themselves in second position and putting their teammates and team in the first position because of how they feel on that sideline and how they feel with our back against the wall. Those tailbacks will do whatever they need to do. Chad Pierson has been nicked a little so he didn't play. Chad's going to play a big role before the season is over. We've got to use them all and they're all ready to go."
(on comparing Oregon State Coach Dennis Erickson to his days as the Seattle Seahawks head coach): "Same offense, same defense. No different. Exact same schemes. He knows how to coach a single back probably as well or better than anybody coaching now. He does a great job with the defense. It's the same they used to win the national title in Miami, a 4-3. They've got a lot of history and they know what to do. You're not going to trick them. You have to play sound football and earn everything you get because it's excellent on both sides."
Comments from Oregon State Coach Dennis Erickson - Sept. 26, 2000
"Well, we really haven't played anybody, to be honest with you. And we didn't play very well the first two games against Eastern Washington and New Mexico. But we came out with wins. We played a little better vs. SDSU who is obviously beat up. We really don't know where we're at right now. We'll know a lot more about ourselves this week. Going into the season, I felt the way our schedule was set, hopefully we can win those three games and then find out what kind of team we have after playing USC, because obviously they're one of the better football teams in the country. But we did make some improvement in some areas and we've played pretty well on defense most of the time. Then again, we haven't faced a good offensive football team. There are still a lot of question marks and a lot of things about our football team that we'll find out soon."
(regarding Oregon State's highly ranked defense): "I think stats are highly overrated, period. We're ranked fairly high, but we haven't had a challenge yet. We have made some improvements. Our secondary has played pretty well. We have a lot of returners back there. Our corners are both back and Terrence Carroll at safety and also Calvin Carlyle. They're all guys that have played and started, so there's some experience back there which makes a big difference. Our defensive end situation is a plus for us. DeLawrence Grant has played extremely well for us. He's out of El Camino (College), with LaDairis Jackson also out of El Camino. With our linebacker situation, we're fairly new there, outside of Darnell Robinson, who has played really well for us and is our leading tackler. We're playing with two freshmen inside, with Richard Seigler, who has played good for us, and Nick Barnett. They've got good speed but aren't very big. We've got experience back in some areas. The thing we're able to do, we're not big but we seem to run to the ball well and that's probably the biggest difference right now."
(regarding TB Ken Simonton): "He's an outstanding back that probably nobody's every heard of. He's not very big or very fast, but he's got tremendous vision and he's got great feet and great acceleration. For what we do offensively, we ask him to do a lot of reading and a lot of different things and he's been unbelievable for two years, this being his third year. He's just an outstanding football player and fits into what we do. Right now we're fortunate to have a young man named Patrick McCall, he's a transfer from Michigan, who's backing him up and taking a lot of the pressure off. Ken is an outstanding football player and is the heart and soul of our offensive football team."
(regarding QB Jonathan Smith): "Well Jonathan has played good and bad. Early in our first game, he didn't play very good. He was inaccurate and didn't execute like I thought he would. Last two games, he's played really well. The thing he hasn't done is turn it over, and that's a real key for us. He hasn't made any bad mistakes or thrown interceptions. If you remember last year, he didn't play very well against USC and turned the ball over a couple of times, which was really the big difference in the game. He's got to play within himself. He's not very big, but he's got a good arm and understands what we're doing. He just has to play within himself and do what he can do to help us win."
(regarding growth of program since Erickson arrived): "We're making a lot of progress. Our recruiting is picking up. Obviously California is a key to us and we've had a lot of success down there in the last couple of years. Our young players are good, young players that will develop in this program. We've been able to have success with junior college players. We've made tremendous changes as far as season tickets are concerned. We've sold well over 15,000, which is huge around here. We sold 7 or 8 a couple of years ago and 11 last year, so the interest in the state is huge. We're building a new indoor facility which is being dedicated and the ground is being broken this Saturday before the USC game. It's an $11-million building that will house football, the indoor aspect of it. It's a tremendous plus. We've got a great commitment from our president and the school to compete in the Pac-10. And that's the real key. It's a great campus and a great area. If we can get a commitment, then we have a chance to compete in the Pac-10.
(regarding the Pac-10 race): "There's a lot of good teams. It's hard to pick one. You look at the Trojans and their talents. You look at UCLA. Then at Oregon and Washington and you never know about ASU or Arizona. There are so many good teams I don't know that anybody can just walk onto the field against somebody and just win anymore. I just don't see that happening. The favorites have got to be USC and the winner of the Oregon-Washington game."
(regarding this week's game and USC): "USC is obviously tremendously talented. You look at them first on defense where they just have great team speed. Their down guys are extremely fast. (Ennis) Davis and (Ryan) Nielsen are two great tackles. Davis has tremendous quickness and looks to me like probably the No. 1 draft pick. Their ends are very good. The real key is Zeke Moreno and Markus Steele. Those two make a lot of plays. They're blitzing them a lot more because they're playing very well in the secondary and playing a lot more man coverage than they did a year ago at this time. It's just a dominating defense as far as I'm concerned. It reminds me of a lot of some of the teams we had at Miami as far as speed is concerned. Offensively, the key, when we played them last year, Carson Palmer wasn't the quarterback. He's a very talented young man and has a tremendous future ahead of him. He's got size and a great arm, but probably the biggest thing that has impressed me is his athleticism and how he moves and moves out of the pocket to make things happen. They're a totally different team with him at quarterback. And of course the speed that they have outside with Kareem Kelly and Marcell Allmond and Sultan McCullough at tailback. You talk about speed, and that's where it's at. Their offensive front has been very solid. It's a team that has a chance to win it all. Let's see what happens. But they've got the talent to do it and they've been playing well."
(regarding keys to improving the OSU program): "Facilities No. 1 and that's happening now. Then we have to have success. It's a work in progress. To me it's recruiting and evaluation of recruiting. Who can you get? Where can you get them? Who fits into what you do in your program to beat the teams that you have to play. Obviously we've got to evaluate who you can and cannot recruit. There's a lot of great players. We're not going to go to L.A. and beat USC on a player. It's just not going to happen. But there are a lot of players down there who can fit into our system and who can come in here and help us beat the USCs and the UCLAs. It boils down to recruiting and getting the right players for your system more than anything."
(regarding tackle Vincent Sandoval and the O-line): "He's playing really well. He played some last year for us. Vinny came into the spring and started and played really well and he's a work in progress. Our right tackle is back and our left guard and center is back. Our offensive front is playing OK right now. Obviously, we'll get an extreme test this week."
(on benefits for USC playing Oregon State a week after playing San Jose State, which has a similar offense): "I think it helps both of us. We're similar to San Jose in some ways, but not as similar as some people think. But obviously it helps them in preparation in some of the things they do and we get a chance to look at some of the things they do against certain formations. But that changes all the time. Every time you think you know what they're going to do, they do something else. I'm sure it helped them because of the one-back stuff and the three wide receivers. They faced it for a week after facing two-backs before, so when they practice this week, it's not like it's anything new for them."
