University Southern California Trojans
Hackett/Barnett Quotes From Conference Call
September 05, 2000 | Football
Sept. 5, 2000
USC Head Coach Paul Hackett
We've had an exciting week. Disappointment in that no one is more interested in watching our football team play than the head coach. Disappointed that we didn't get to play, but it was good for us. From an academic standpoint, we were able to start school and we were able to get some things in place without the pressures and the rigors of a game and took some time off this weekend. We are ready to go today as a normal game week preparation. Tuesday and Wednesday are heavy days, Thursday we back off and Friday is a very light day. That's our normal procedure and we are excited about this ballgame.
The University of Colorado had a tough ballgame. If you look at the tape as I'm sure many of you did, there's a key catch in the fourth quarter where the ball is contended and the guy makes a play...there's a mix-up in some sort of coverage and all of a sudden, they've got a big play. I must tell you that the more we look at it, they are an impressive defensive team up front. It was almost impossible for Colorado State to run the ball, whereas the year before, they ran the ball up and down the field. There was some improvement made and it appears that Colorado was bound and determined..they weren't going to run the ball on them and that's very impressive. Offensively, I thought that Colorado got a lot of yardage. The young tailback who as you all know we recruited very hard, Marcus Houston, had an excellent start. He's got quickness as well as power. He looks like he's a guy that they can rally around and he's dangerous. I don't know what will happen in the quarterback situation, but I thought both guys played pretty well. I think Pesavento really showed some poise for the first game that he has played at the University of Colorado. We know what their receiver situation is...Javon Green from right here in Inglewood is a go-to guy and he is going to be a problem for us. He is 6-2, he is 200 pounds, he's got great speed and he's going to be a problem. They utilize their tight ends probably as well as anyone in college football.
Roman Hollowell is going to be a problem for us from a returner's standpoint. They had solid coverage I thought. He returns and he's electric when he gets the ball...he had a great punt return in the middle of the CSU game. They use their top players on special teams and Coach Barnett's history at Northwestern was a lot of fakes, keeping you off balance with different formations and doing different things in the kicking game. We are going to work very hard to slow that part of it down. We had a chance to watch and digest the game. I think we are rested, I think it's going to be a great challenge for us. This is a team that had a tough loss and when you have a tough loss, particularly when it's to your arch-rival, you really set your jaw. I think the secondary, which had some problems, they will come out and play their best. This team had only three penalties in the whole game...this is a disciplined team. What I'm delighted about it is, number one, we are playing in front of our fans. We are playing at home in the Coliseum, which is what we want to do...we don't have to get on any airplanes. We are anxious to play. Our team wants to play, as you can see in the game in New York. Our team has energy, it is excited and it wants to play games. Byes are not something that we really look forward to, but such is the cards that we were dealt. We go into the game fairly healthy. I think we are well rested..we have a couple of guys who are a little nicked up, we are going to be cautious with them, but other than that, we are ready to go.
(on the bye week) I just think when your team is rolling and playing out of Irvine like we were, that a bye is bad. Our history the last two years is: we have played much less as a team in game two than we did in game one. Both years, we had strong years in game one, but we couldn't overcome the natural letdown that you are not at Irvine...you are distracted with school...you are distracted with all of the other things on the campus. But this team is a little different...it's a little more mature, it has got senior leadership and I don't think this team will allow itself to sink. I have been challenging the team for a week saying we have got to find out what we are worth. One game does not make a season, it doesn't even make a start of a season. We've got to crank it up and go. I would much rather have played a game. I want to watch us play. We are an exciting football team and I want to see us play. As much as I like traveling to go see my son (Nathaniel on the UC Davis football team) play, which was marvelous, I want to see this team play. Only time will tell, we have to face another one next week.
(on adding more plays to the game plan this week) I think the game against Penn State was an unusual game in that we were in control of the game from the very beginning. The blocked punt, the drive by our offense and the interception put the game at 20-3 very quickly. That's something that we have been preparing for because last year we got ourselves in that position and we really didn't handle it very well. I think that much of what we did in the second half was a reaction to what we need to do to play to the situation in the ballgame. Whether or not we are going to be able to do that again, I don't know. We were stymied in our game planning because we really didn't know what Penn State was going to do. We thought we knew, but as it turned out...we were probably 50 percent right and so that also determined the things we called and the things we actually showed. We got two things that are totally different from the Colorado game. Obviously, they had to put their best foot forward because they had a very important game to play. We feel like we have some idea of what they are going to do...I'm sure they are going to do some things in a different way. For the most part, we have a sense of what they are going to do. We are at home, we expect a close game and I would imagine we will have to open up both offensively and defensively in terms of the strategy.
(on strategy against Colorado) I think the big question early in the game is going to be are they going to stop the run and force Carson Palmer to perform or are they going to play normal defense which is what really kind of Penn State played. I don't know that. I don't think Carson will have that kind of game too many times...I'm not saying that he won't have another one, but I think that his development with his receivers will continue to improve. I think there is a lot of things that happened in that game which are new people, different things, a close game. That's going to be the case for awhile...let's face it, we are playing some freshmen and sophomores and guys all over the place. We believe we are a stronger running team than we have been in the past. Colorado is a hard team to run against based on the tape we are looking at...they are really going to test you running the ball. We would like to run the ball, but on the other hand if they are not going to give us the chance to run on the ball...we are going to have to rely on #3 and whatever he can get done. We will just have to see what unfolds. I come back to Colorado State the year before, Colorado State runs the ball down Colorado's throat. This year, they are poor running the ball...Colorado just nails them.
(on status of tailbacks Malaefou MacKenzie and Petros Papadakis) I think Malaefou is going to be based on his health...I think we know what Malaefou can do, he has shown us enough, but it depends on if he is 100%. We have to be careful about how much we ask of him if he is not 100%. This week has been great for him because it has led to rest. Petros is in the same situation...we are bringing him along as the year begins just because we know how severe that injury was..both of them are going to be in the mix in the first quarter of the season. There's no question that Sultan McCullough from a health standpoint and his performance in the first game has got a leg up on them.
(on Colorado LB Jashon Sykes) We were very disappointed when we lost him because we felt, as you know about my philosophy about Southern California players, if we can keep the players at home here at USC, we really have a chance to rebuild our program. He was one of those early guys that unlike Carson Palmer, he chose to go to Colorado. He's a premier linebacker, he's one of the best linebackers in the country. They are bringing him in the blitzing mode, more than I thought they would. He was very effective.
(on play of offensive line) I think Brent McCaffrey, particularly early in the ballgame, was the one dominant lineman in the ballgame. On either offensive line, he's the one who stood out. I think he was focused, he was ready to play..he's obviously the senior and he and Eric Denmon are the two leaders of that group. They have smarted for years about what has been said about the offensive line and the criticism that they have come under so this was their opportunity to go out against a solid team and play well. It's just one game, but it's the kind of start that we needed to have. When we get Trevor Roberts back, we'll have all three of those seniors there. Brent certainly came out of it very, very well.
(on health of safety Matt Grootegoed) He will miss this week and he's under the weather...he's going to class, but we are really going to back off any physical activity and let him just get more energy back.
(on plans without Grootegoed in the lineup) We are not sure what we are going to do. Eric Reese will get more action now at cornerback because we are fortunate that Kevin Arbet can move back into the safety position. We do not really have a new person that we can put in there. It would fall on Ifeanyi Ohalete who can play both positions and Arbet who can play some safety and corner in case this happened.
Colorado Head Coach Gary Barnett
(on Colorado State game) Three times we had confusion in the secondary, all three of them accounted for touchdowns. We had touchdowns thrown over all four of our DB's. Take those three plays away and we really played pretty well. We played well on offense and defense. We moved the ball. We played new guys on both sides of the ball, but overall we played pretty well. I'm extremely pleased with my special teams play. Defensively, it was well into the fourth quarter before they had more than five yards rushing. We had confusion on the four pass plays and one of them was just a great throw and great catch and our guy just got beat. The other three were all blown assignments, so it makes the difference in winning and losing. The whole thing comes down to four plays and that's what happened in our case. I was pleased with our effort and energy we had in the game and the kind of focus that we had. That was one of those games that we just needed to win and we didn't, so it's been hard to get over that.
(on quarterbacks) Zac (Colvin) played just 19 plays and was moving the ball pretty well before he got hurt. He's got an elbow injury. We anticipate him being fine for this weekend. He will get treatment all week, but we think he will go full speed today. Bobby Pesavento came in and really did a nice job, moved our team and put up 24 straight points. Those two had been in a heated battle in fall camp and throughout the spring. It was nice to see that if you got someone hurt, the other guy could come in and just keep you going. I thought they did a nice job.
(on tailbacks) Cortlen (Johnson) and those guys rushed for around 100 yards or more, first time we've had that happen in awhile. We blocked well up front. We did a pretty nice job considering we, of course, had three weeks to prepare for and we should have done a nice job. Cortlen has turf toe and is questionable for this weekend. If that should happen, Marcus Houston would get his first start.
(on Marcus Houston) He's just a great kid. He's bright and very competitive. He's got good instincts and speed. He will become a really great player, I believe. He is probably more prepared to do it than most players.
(on play of defense) I thought we played solid. Each time their quarterback threw, he had pressure in his face...all but one anyway. I thought we did a decent job there. We certainly stopped the running game until the last couple of drives and even then, they only finished with 68 yards rushing. We didn't have anybody play outstanding, but we played pretty consistent.
(on DE Tyler Brayton) His status is just as it was last week. He's still suspended indefinitely. We will do a day-by-day evaluation of where we are with that.
(on second time around at Colorado) Things have changed quite a bit since I have left. There has been a new style and a new approach to things. I'm sort of trying to reverse that a little bit. Last year, there was a transition period about six or seven weeks and this year, it has started to bounce back. This team has a really good work ethic and is sort of a blue-collar team. I like the way that we have practiced and our approach to it. Right now, we are playing with a lot of new and young guys and it shows a little bit, but we have got to get some experience somewhere, somehow, and that's what the schedule is going to do to us.
(on memories of 1996 Rose Bowl while coaching at Northwestern) Well, Keyshawn Johnson catches about a million passes is what I remember the most and that fight song being played all the time. The great atmosphere that was around the ball game and USC played great that game. We played pretty well in that game, we didn't play great. Keyshawn and (quarterback Brad) Otton hooking up so many times in that game is what I remember the most.
(on this week's game against USC) I've watched all of their films from last year and this year's Penn State game and to me, their defense is solid--they were a good defensive team last year and a very good defensive team this year. This year, they have just taken it to another level. Offensively, Palmer played in his first game since coming back from the injury and it's harder to get your offense in sync...I know that. We know what kind of player he is and what he is capable of doing and all the speed that they have so for us, the big test is a way we can match up speed-wise or how to minimize that speed.
(on play of secondary) Well you just challenge them. No one is more disappointed in the way they played than they are...half of those guys are from southern California so they will take that challenge, they will get over this weekend. They will be fine..we just need to find a way to match up speed-wise.
(on losing to Colorado State two years in a row) Last year was a completely different game. One, we weren't ready for the game. Two, we played awful and we were coming back playing San Jose State. We had a lot of seniors and a lot of pride there. They bounced back pretty well, we broke a lot of school records the next week. This year, we invested a lot of time in the CSU game. A lot of energy and a lot of emotion. We've got to learn how to handle and bounce back. I don't know that this team knows how to do that just yet. I know they want to and I know that the USC game has been a game they have looked forward to for a long time and I think because of our schedule, because it is so difficult, I think we will get over it. Had we not had someone of USC's caliber next on our schedule, then it probably would have been a problem getting over it. You don't have time to wallow in it when you are playing USC in the Coliseum.
(on LB Jashon Sykes) He's a great player because he wants to be a great player. He has a lot of natural tools, but he's also a great competitor and I think if there's one thing about Jashon that you have got to say is the secret to having him be as good as he is can be is the competitiveness. He is critical to our time, but everyone who starts is critical. He has just been a little more productive. He's got the making to be a really great player.
