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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Ole Miss Football Practice Quotes
12/27/1999 | Football
Dec. 27, 1999
Comparing Oklahoma to last year's opponent Texas Tech:
"It's hard to compare, but I think this Oklahoma team is a much different team offensively. They're more balanced and productive, and have outstanding athleticism across the board. In the kicking game, you don't really see any weaknesses."
Is it more of an advantage to have bowl experience compared to one that may be just excited to be in a bowl game?
"I don't know, but that's a good question. I'm sure the Oklahoma players are excited since they haven't been to a bowl in a while, but I don't know many college players that aren't excited to be playing in a bowl game. I don't know if there is an advantage one way or another, because once the game starts, the team that executes the best will have the best chance of winning. I don't know how you would look at the emotions prior to the game."
Talk about the progression of freshman QB Eli Manning?
"I thought Eli had a very productive fall. Early on, we were preparing him as he was going to play. Like I said in the beginning of the year, in a perfect world we would redshirt Eli Manning. We didn't know we would have one, while it may not have been perfect, it was a world where we were able to redshirt him. I thought early, his progress was really good. I think he hit a point like most players do where the idea of a redshirt hits and he had a little natural lull, but I thought he kicked out of that near the tail end. I thought his preparation for the bowl has been outstanding. It's a challenge to do that and I felt he has handled the redshirt well. He's stronger, he's gotten more quicker and comfortable with what were doing, so I think he's an outstanding fall."
Compare Eli to Peyton Manning at this point?
"Peyton and I said that we wouldn't do that. In all seriousness though, they're similar athletes and they both have good minds for the game. The only difference is that Peyton has been there and done that and Eli has go and do it. I know he's looking forward to the opportunity to get that chance and I'm sure he'll be an outstanding player."
Would you have imagined that (Oklahoma head coach) Bob Stoops would have adopted an offense like the one he is using at Oklahoma?
"He probably had in mind doing what gave him problems as a defensive coordinator. That's what you got to do from one side of the ball to the other. It's non-traditional for Oklahoma but you're seeing more and more people around the country throwing the ball, and throwing the football a lot. When you have people with the abilities they have at positions like quarterback, running back and wide receiver where you can run it and catch it, you utilize you're personnel. I think they have done an outstanding job utilizing their personnel.
Did you do the same thing on defense at Ole Miss?
"Up to a point. We came in kind of fast and furious last year and Art Kaufman was already in place, who I retained as the defensive coordinator. I coached against Art in the past and he's a very versatile defensive guy. I'm kind of one of those guys if you know where they are it's easier to shoot him, so I think moving people around and giving them different looks is something that gives offensive guys problems."
Following Monday's work out:
"It was a Tuesday-type practice for us. I thought it was a physical practice. You can still tell we're trying to get back to work, but I thought our retention on what to do was good. We just need to get a little sharper. All of our walking wounded practiced and we'll watch the tape just to see how effective we were."
Goals for tomorrow?
"Just a little bit of the same. If we can get everybody out here and get better, we'll be on our way."
