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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Coach Cutcliffe Speaks about the Progress of His Team
8/27/1999 | Football
Aug. 27, 1999
Coach Cutcliffe: I think there will be some positive work here. There's nothing like setting up and having to work and operate in a game-like situation. For the staff and players, I think it was good. Our officials were blowing the ball, ready to play rather quickly. I asked them to have a fast tempo, so it tested our operation. I'm disappointed that we had two delay penalties, but I would rather we had them tonight.
I think it's tough to have a good scrimmage with the offense of the opponent working off of cards. It slows the tempo down. Everybody is sitting and waiting for the next play to occur, and it has always done that. But it still gives us some real positives to work with. The film will be real helpful.
There were certainly some real positives in the kicking game with Binkley and Regan both impressive. The kickoffs were impressive. That was a real positive.
There were too many penalties. One thing is we didn't drop the ball on offense. We did take care of the ball.
I thought our scout team did an outstanding job. Eli Manning and the offense and the defense all made plays, showed enthusiasm, and gave us the kind of effort we were hoping to get from them. So I thought we did get something out of this.
Q: Does this signal the end of one phase of preseason and turning toward Memphis?
Coach Cutcliffe: No question. We were basically running against Memphis' defensive looks. It's a little new to our offense still, some of the things that we're seeing, so we'll work through that. We'll increase that quite a bit tomorrow
Q: Talk about Terrance Metcalf's progress this spring.
Coach Cutcliffe: He's still working through this thing mentally. I'm anxious to see the technique get better and better. He's gaining confidence in what he's going to be able to do. It's going to take a little time. I see no reason why he's not going to continue to improve. He's going to be able to play, and we're excited about that. We need that depth. We need as many people ready on the offensive line as we can get.
Q: When does gameweek routine start?
Coach Cutcliffe: We've got some work to do Saturday on the kicking game that'll be really extensive. They'll be a lot of meeting time tomorrow to clean up this tape and a little less time on the field. We'll clean up a lot of things on Saturday, and then Monday, we'll have to be in a gameweek routine. We'll be in somewhat of a normal routine starting Monday.
Q: Are you about where you should be at this point?
Coach Cutcliffe: I don't know in college if you can ever tell. You're playing each other, so who knows how well one side of the ball is playing. We're the only ones out there. We don't have any chance to test it. We don't test it in the spring. In the fall, we play each other. And then all of a sudden you play a game and it counts. NFL plays four preseason games. High schools have scrimmages, jamborees and different things to test it. As far as really gauging it, you have to judge. I think we're getting sharper. When we're going against each other, best vs. best, it's been real competitive. That's been a positive.
I do think we're a little tired, and probably rightfully so. It's been an unusually long camp, longer than I've had in the past, because our school started so early. We've been at it for quite some time.
Stats For Final Preseason Scrimmage
RUSHING (Att-Yds): Joe Gunn 14-97 (2 TDs), Robert Williams 6-32, Toward Sanford 1-8, Tremaine Turner 1-1, Romaro Miller 2-0.
PASSING (Att-Comp-Int-Yards): Romaro Miller 8-6-0-68, Eli Manning 16-6-0-86 (TD), David Morris 4-3-0-13.
RECEIVING (No.-Yds): Mike Salters 2-81 (TD), Maurice Flournoy 2-13, L.J. Taylor 2-9, Cory Peterson 1-22, Toward Sanford 1-17, Adam Bettis 1-12, Robert Williams 1-4, Mitch Skrmetta 1- 4.
TACKLES (UT-AT-TT): Kenny Woods 0-1-1, Derrick Burgess 1-1-2, Tyler Williams 0-1-1, Ronnie Heard 1-0-1, Chad Cook 0-1-1, Kendrick Clancy 0-1-1, Justin Blake 2-1-3, Tim Strickland 0-1-1, Eddie Strong 1-0-1, Anthony Sims 0-1-1, Desmon Johnson 0-3-3, Kevin Thomas 0-2-2, Shawn Johnson 0-1-1, Anthony Magee 0-1-1, Yahrek Johnson 0-1-1, Al Rice 0- 1-1, Amzie Williams 1-1-2.
