Head Coach David Cutcliffe Weekly Press Conference

Oct. 8, 2001

Opening Statement:
"First of all there were certainly some positives that came out of the ballgame Saturday night. We continued to play really hard and we played smart most of the time. The challenge now is that we are going to have to play harder and smarter. We certainly have a lot of things to continue to improve on but there are certain areas of the game - the kicking game - where I saw marked improvement. We are continuing to get positive execution from a number of our players. I'd like to see us do some things on a consistent basis better up front on both sides of the football. That is probably no secret. We will challenge our guys to continue to work on that. As we get into the meat of the season, we are certainly much better than we were, and I am anxious to continue on that path. We are a little short-handed personnel wise. I think that is one of the things that has happened to us a little defensively. We started the season with (Wes) Scott, (Ian) Bass, (Justin) Blake and (Johnny) Ducking unavailable to us. Then we lost (Josh) Cooper, (L.P.) Spence and (Marcus) Woodson last week. I am not exactly sure where we are with them. L.P Spence is doubtful. Josh Cooper and Marcus Woodson may get some limited work today, but they will be listed as questionable at this time. We have a few others beat up now. Syniker Taylor will be somewhat limited today. Matt Grier will be limited today. We will try to get some work out of them, and hopefully they will get better as the week goes along. Robert Williams had successful surgery on Friday. He is certainly very doubtful and will probably be out this week. His surgery went really well. His rehab went well over the weekend. Hopefully he will get back rather quickly, because we need all the healthy hands we can get over this part of the schedule. Alabama is an outstanding team. They are playing as well as anybody right now. They are very gifted on offense, defense and in the kicking game. Their offense, over the last two weeks, has kind of come into its own. They run the football exceptionally well. Tyler Watts has played outstanding as a quarterback. He can run and throw the football. They have a lot of weapons. Defensively they are a fast football team. They are big and physical and they are continuing to play extremely well on defense. The game will be a big challenge for us. We are glad to be back at home playing again. We are looking forward to getting into the conference and playing an outstanding Alabama team."

Q. Can you talk about Matt Grier and Syniker Taylor's injuries?

A. "Just a little hip/rib area injuries. Hopefully we will get them back rather quickly. Thank goodness neither of them were extremity injuries like a leg or an arm or anything. They are still going to be limited today as far as how much they can get done. We will just see how it goes as the week progresses."

Q. Does Tyler Watts remind of you the "old school" option quarterbacks?

A. "I think he has the style of the talented wishbone quarterbacks. He is very big, fast and strong - extremely strong. He is flexible. He throws the football well and is making good decisions and managing their offense. I thought he was outstanding football player coming out of high school, so I am not surprised he is playing as well as he is."

Q. Is it hard to prepare for Alabama with all the different things they run?

A. "They do a lot of things and that list is growing. They give you a lot of formations and a lot of styles of plays. They have a lot of weapons, so they can come out and do a lot of different things. They have great weapons at wide receiver and quarterback, but they have several good running backs, and their offensive line has really played better over the last two weeks which allows you to do so many more things. If they (the offensive line) can handle it, then their skill people certainly can."

Q. Is this your biggest challenge this year?

A. "I think this is the best opponent we have played to this point. They lead the league in rushing and run the football so many different ways they can cause a lot of problems"

Q. Do you address the lead Alabama has in the overall series with the players?

A. "I am not going to harp on the past, on any game or any part of the series. I think our focus is on this year, on playing a fine football team. We are going to have to play real well to win. I think our focus needs to remain on Ole Miss and how much we can improve. Then we have to just manage to play as well as we can possible play. At this point we need to play our best game. That is the way you go into this part of the season against outstanding conference opponents. This is where you start hoping it all comes together."

Q. Do you just try to learn from last year's game?

A. "I do not think last year's game has anything to do with this year's game with all of the staff changes. They have a completely different style of offense and defense, so we really won't even look at that stuff. We will be looking at their games from this year and what they are doing now. Last year's game is really not even an issue, whether we had won it or lost it."

Q. Talk about what Coach Franchione brings to their system.

A. "Certainly option football. As they have gotten further into the season, they have started to lean more on the option. The multiple offensive sets and the variety of things that they can do when the quarterback is a threat to run and throw the football on a consistent basis. They run a lot of things and do it extremely well. It is very evident that they are extremely well coached on both sides of the ball. Carl Torbush is an outstanding defensive football coach. We know a lot about him in this league, especially Ole Miss fans. Carl is a great person and an outstanding coach. They do a variety of things as well. You see a very multiple defensive scheme as well."

Q. Do you see a way to slow down Alabama's option?

A. "Hopefully we will find a way to slow it down. That takes work. I think it is execution. Any play that is a sound solid football play that is executed by good athletes is hard to stop. That is what they are doing. They are blocking well, they are getting better up front. That is one of the biggest differences we have seen is how much better they have played up front. Their execution is outstanding. When you take good athletes and good execution, you are going to have good results."

Q. Talk about the progress your defense has made.

A. "We really have some concerns right now. We have been hampered by injuries again. We would have hoped to have one of those seasons where we did not have to face that, but we started the year with four guys missing for the season and we lost three more starters last week. We have got to do a better job of stopping the run. We have to be more consistent. We are still giving up too many big plays at critical times. We still have a lot of work to do. There is no secret about that. We are facing our biggest challenge this week, so certainly our players and our staff should be eager to get on the practice field. We have a lot of work to do."

Q. Did you change much about your offense with the loss of Deuce McAllister and the addition of a young quarterback?

A. "We are a little different offensively. We are throwing the football more. When you lose a back the caliber of Deuce you lose a lot. He was a great player, there is no question about that, but he just did so many things for us. By committee we are doing things. A lot of people are touching the ball in our offense and that is by design. We are not having to lean on one player quite as much. Eli is a very prepared quarterback. He is a young quarterback. He is going to gain experience each week. He is a very well prepared quarterback, but he has been in this system long enough that we are doing most of the things we want to do in this system. He is ready to handle anything we throw at him from a mental standpoint."

Q. Would you say the biggest problem in stopping the run is size?

A. "I do not think it is size alone. Sometimes the bigger, physical guy wins the battle. You have to constantly concern yourself with bad leverage, gap responsibility. It takes 11 people doing the right things. The fits occurring in the right place and that all happening on a consistent basis is what you have to be able to do to stop the run. The first and most difficult task is to play the block. When you shed the block you still have to make a tackle. That hasn't changed in football as long at it has been around. We have got to continue to get better at those things. We are what size we are. We know that going in. That is a constant, we have to find a way to battle through that and be successful."

Q. Is it tougher to stop the option these days?

A. "You don't see as much option anymore, so you're changing gears somewhat. You work on it in camp, and you know you're going to see it from certain opponents during the season. People run different styles of option, and you have to prepare yourself for it. If a team can execute all those things, as Alabama is doing, it's very difficult to defend."

Q. When you ended up not playing college football, did you worry that it would make it more difficult for you to become a head coach?

A. "It never really bothered me. My passion for the game and my striving to be a part of the game never suffered. I learned the game and had a feel for the game and felt good about what I was going to do. Most things come through hard work, and that's basically how I've approached my career, basing it on hard work and preparation."

Q. What does Don Lindsey bring to this team?

A. "Don is a very creative football coach. And besides being creative, he's a very experienced football coach. I guess when you've coached long enough, you've had as many as problems as anyone around. That's what experience teaches us - how to overcome and adjust to problems and face different circumstances. That's very important at a time where we're undermanned somewhat, from a personnel standpoint. At some point, you have to find a way to be successful, and experience is always a good teacher there."

Q. With his past with Alabama, have you seen any difference in his approach?

A. "Not necessarily. I've coached against him at Georgia Tech and at Alabama. There's different circumstances, different sets of personnel and different sets of years. You have new problems now you didn't have then. There are different things that change about football. We don't do exactly the same thing, but some things are very similar to what they did in that era."

Q. Talk about Toward Sanford.

A. "Toward Sanford has been a very versatile player for us. The biggest reason for that is his consistency in practice and that's improved greatly over the last year. He's had some missed practice time due to injury. I guess he missed one whole spring. His practice habits and attitude have allowed him to become a better football player. You can trust he's going to be in the right place doing the right thing. He plays with enthusiasm and energy and likes to compete. And he's a good athlete, so that's a real positive combination. Toward gets the ball in critical times for us, because we believe he'll make good things happen."

Q. Talk about Joe Gunn's situation.

A. "Joe is part of a rotation. When you lose Robert Williams, you're not going to put all your eggs in one basket. You lose Joe, and then you're in trouble. We had to make a decision to work different people at tailback. Charles has done well there, and brings a different style. He's a 245-pounder who can hit it up in there, and he's still got good feet. But we're going to need every good football player we can get, and that's what this is basically all about. You always have contingency planning in your mind, and one of the things we had in mind, from a contingency standpoint, is a loss at tailback and using our fullbacks and tailback."

Q. Have you just accepted that the SEC West is going to come down to the final week every year?

A. "That's what we've seen. History would tell us that. We're like everyone else, we want to maintain a competitive situation. But I'm not looking past this week We're focusing on doing our best against Alabama. But I think the West will be very interesting always right down until the end. It's a very balanced division."

Q. Will Charles Stackhouse start again this week?

A. "That will be determined this week, and possibly how we want to start the game and what sets. That's tough to answer early in the week. As the week progresses and we decide what we want to do, some of those things will determine that."

Q. Did Eddie Strong play better Saturday?

A. "I thought Eddie made some big plays, and he was certainly a little more comfortable. He made some big plays at big times, and it was good to see. I thought Eddie played with outstanding intensity. We all can continue to play better, but his intensity level was really good and that comes from being more comfortable and confident in what he's doing."

Q. Talk about Lanier Goethie.

A. "Lanier always plays hard and gives you everything he's got. Whether you win or lose, you're always trying to play your best game. That's what our focus has to remain on. I'd say if you asked any one of them, they wouldn't be satisfied with how we played and they think they can play better."

Q. How would you grade German Bello's progress?

A. "Getting back into contact has been a little more difficult than he thought, and not just the knee - his entire body with the conditioning and the contact. He's a little bit beat up and sore, even from practice. But he's going to progressively get out of that, and hopefully he'll be much better this week than last week."

OLE MISS QUARTERBACK ELI MANNING
Q. Alabama has a lot of quickness and has put up a lot of points. Ya'll have scored a lot of points too. Do you expect a high-scoring game Saturday?

A. I really don't know what to expect. Our goal on offense is to go out there, execute, score points and try win the time of possession battle. You never know in an SEC game when two teams go after it. It could be 3-0 game or it could be a game in the 40s. You just have to go out there and play hard and play the game.

Q. Speaking of games in the 40s, I guess you are pretty familiar with your dad's shootout with Alabama. Can you talk about that and what you know about that?

A. I've heard about it, and I've actually seen the game tape before. It was a great game during that time and it's obviously a well-known game. I am here now, and it's a new game. We are going out there, and we are going to play hard.

Q. Growing up around SEC football and hearing about it all your life, how much do you look forward to playing Alabama?

A. I definitely look forward to it. Alabama has a great history of football. They always have a good team, they are well-prepared and they play hard. It's going to be a challenge for us to go out there and execute. We can't make any mistakes. We just have to go out there and play our game and see what happens.

Q. Can you critique your performance as far as what's gone right for you this season and what's gone wrong and where you are right now?

A. I am still learning. This is a learning experience for me. I am still a young quarterback and I am making young quarterback mistakes. I just need to keep watching film and keep studying and keep learning when to run plays and when to get out of plays. I am trying to get better each week and continue to prepare myself and be ready for the games.

Q. Because of your pedigree with your brother and your dad, you're a young quarterback with probably more knowledge and experience than most young quarterbacks. Is that pretty accurate?

A. This is my third year in the system, so I know the offense and what we're doing. I just continue to learn what defense you can run certain plays into. I just need to keep working hard keep preparing myself to make good decisions.

Q. Do you think you are known more now as Peyton's brother or Archie's son?

A. Probably Peyton's brother, because it's more recent. People saw him play at Tennessee, and they are still able to see him play for the Colts now, so it's probably more fresh in people's minds. I guess I am better known as Peyton's little brother.

Q. Compare yourself to your little brother?

A. I think we are both very competitive. Growing up playing him in basketball or Nintendo, we were both competitive. Neither of us wanted to lose. He's more intense. He gets more fired up and yells and screams sometimes. I am more laid back, but I want to win as bad as he does.

Q. Looking ahead to Saturday, talk about what a win over Alabama would do for the program and Ole Miss fans everywhere?

A. Obviously it would be a big win. It's an SEC game, and we need to win every SEC game we can to try and get an SEC title. Alabama is a little bigger because we haven't been too successful against them the past several years. It would be a big win for us. We just need to go out in practice and execute and work hard and go out in the game and play hard.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

Related News

Related Videos