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The University of Mississippi Athletics
Head Coach Ed Orgeron's Weekly Press Conference
10/31/2005 | Football
Oct. 31, 2005
OPENING COMMENTS
I'm really looking forward to the open date and working with our team on the fundamentals of the game. We look forward to working with some of the younger players and fixing things we need in offense, defense and special teams.
Obviously, we did not play very well against Auburn. We need to get more production from our offense. We're going to work hard on that this week. A positive of the game was Ethan Flatt. I thought he came in and operated well. He made some good decisions. After watching the film, it looks like he has a chance to be our quarterback, but he's got to earn it this week.
Defensively, I thought we played pretty well in spots. We gave up the big plays, and the trick plays hurt us. The field position hurt us.
We did not play very well on special teams, especially in the front of our coverage, and our punt team gave them too much field position.
Q: What is your schedule this week?
A: We're going to practice today, tomorrow, Wednesday and Thursday. They will be regular practices. We'll practice pretty hard on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday.
Q: With three quarterbacks already in the mix, as far as reps, is there a plan already in place? Have you guys talked about how it's going to work out?
A: Nobody said there were three quarterbacks in the mix, for sure. Right now, Ethan (Flatt) is going to be practicing with the first team. We're going to see what he can do there, and then we're going to see what we can do with Robert (Lane) and Micheal (Spurlock).
Q: What did you specifically see that Micheal wasn't doing that Ethan was?
A: I just think that Ethan threw the ball well, that he made some good decisions. Micheal did not make some good decisions in the football game. We wanted to put Ethan in the fourth quarter, because we knew we had to throw the football. He operated the offense well. Ethan is going to practice with the first team this week, that doesn't mean he's the first team quarterback.
Q: Early in the year Ethan really seemed distant in your thought process. What changed that and how did he elevate?
A: In the spring we evaluated everybody and gave everybody a fair shot. The guys that stood out to us were Micheal and Robert. Ethan did not have a good spring. We went through the fall camp, and we had to decide between those two guys. We had made that decision back in the spring. As the season has progressed, Ethan has learned the offense, he's studied, and we feel that he's ready to operate the offense. I think another thing that gives me more confidence with him back there is the protection of our offensive line. The protection has gotten better. At the beginning of the year it wasn't that good, and we needed a mobile quarterback that could get away from the rush.
Q: How much will Robert Lane figure into the quarterback position, will it be kind of a two-man race as far as competition?
A: There is no race here. I don't want to get into that. I'll be honest with you guys. We're going to figure out who our quarterback is. I've always said there is one quarterback on this team, and we're going to start that quarterback whoever it may be. If he doesn't perform our next guy is going to go out and that's the way I'm always going to be. Robert is going to continue to play fullback and tight end, and we're going to see where that leads.
Q: With Ethan at quarterback you're able to create more long passes and stretch the field. Is that going to help your running game?
A: It should. It should open it up a lot, especially when we have seven in the box. It should open us up where Ethan can get the ball down the field. He made the right decisions. He did a very good job of throwing the ball under pressure and he made some plays there that we haven't seen in a while.
Q: What is the evaluation process of where you are, will do a little self-scouting, etc.?
A: Yes. We're going to be looking at personnel, looking at the young guys, the things that you normally do during an open date. Obviously we're very disappointed with the production of our offense. We're no where near where we want to be in this scheme, so we have to look at what we're doing, why we're doing it, where's the mistakes are, etc. We have to find out if it's what we're telling them, if it's what we're running, or if it's the people running it. We are going to go from A to Z. Defensively I'm very pleased with what we're doing. We're no where near where I want to be, but I think we're coming along with our philosophy of `we're going to win this thing on defense.' You have to have a great defense in my mind to win championships, and we're getting there.
Q: How would you rate our defense against a good Auburn team, and they were out on the field a long time?
A: We missed some opportunities on some big plays. The reverse pass was a mistake. That was one time that we got beat that I think we could've handled it. There was some other times where we were physically out matched on the corners. They had some big receivers, and made some good plays. The other thing that hurt us was field position. But, I thought physically, we hung in there with Auburn. Actually, physically, we played very good on the line of scrimmage. I was not worried about them out matching us on our defensive line. Our linebackers are playing excellent, and we have a good scheme. Our guys are into it, and they're competing. I'm very pleased with our defense.
Q: On the third down, I thought I counted 12 players on the Auburn team, what do you do about that?
A: There was. If you noticed, you can tell the referee, but we didn't notice. Let me tell you something about this program. Rule 2: there will be no whining and no complaining. We need to make plays when we're supposed to make plays. We need to win the game within our control.
Q: In trying to spark the offense did you do anything to tweak the system or change anything?
A: No, the system is fine.
Q: Are you going to continue to learn about each player's talents and put the best players on the field, are you starting to get there now?
A: Yes, there is no doubt. We're learning about our guys, learning about where they can help, where they can fit into our scheme. We're doing it now, and you can see it. We're moving guys around. We're going to find out about the young guys this week. That's part of the system. Part of the system was Ethan being able to come in and do what he did. Everybody's still in the competition. If they have a good week in practice, we'll play them.
Q: Will Brandon (Jacobs) get more involved in offense and what about (Chris) Bowers?
A: If he catches the ball on the fourth down. That's one thing he has to improve on. We have to evaluate Brandon's performance on the goal line. We put him on the goal line to have a bigger back in there, so we just have to evaluate if that's the right decision or not. Chris Bowers is still out.
Q: Do you feel there have to be some adjustments made on the offense now due to lack of talent?
A: There are always tweaks that have to be made on offense. Both Noel and George have the option of changing it, and we have changed it. We don't exactly run the USC offense that I brought in. There have been tweaks and adjustments made. There is no way am I going to abort that system. We are going to run that system, and the tweaks and adjustments made are going to be minimal.
Q: After the game, Coach Tuberville said that your defensive front was the toughest they have played all season long. Talk about them.
A: I have to credit coach (Ryan) Neilsen. We have four seasoned guys up front. It means a lot to them. They have a chance to play in the NFL. They are learning our system, and our system is a great system along the defensive line. It is one of the best systems in America. McKinley Boykin, and the rest of those guys are tough in the middle. I like them. Jayme Mitchell is coming along. I think they are playing fine.
Q: Is there a state of urgency right now?
A: No. It is exciting to be able to play Arkansas, LSU, and Mississippi State. That is want you coach football for. It is going to be exciting every game. But we are going to take this week and fix some things that are broken. Then, obviously we are going to go out there and play our best against Arkansas. That is our goal.
