Ed Orgeron's Weekly Press Conference

OPENING COMMENTS

Obviously we're proud of our 10th straight week. I'm very proud of our coaches and players attitudes. They've kept it up for 10 straight games. We're looking forward to building on what I thought was probably one of our best games on Saturday in a lot of areas.

On the offense, the positives, we made some big plays. We thought we had to start fast and we made some big plays, especially with Robert (Lane) up the middle. It's good to have him make those big plays, it brings a spark to our team. I really felt that after looking at the film, last year and this year, you could see the improvement of the offense especially along the offensive line. I think Coach (Art) Kehoe has done a tremendous job with the offensive line. I'm really pleased to see we handled the front for most of the game. We made some mistakes and gave up a couple of sacks, but I thought there was a tremendous improvement.

The play of Bruce Hall brings a spark to our offense. He made some big plays. I thought the two trick plays, the one to Mico and the one with Bruce were excellent. That was excellent calling by Dan (Werner) and we'd like to see more of that in our offense. After looking at the film, we thought (Brent) Schaeffer played perhaps his best game. We liked the way he handled offense. Obviously he wasn't perfect, but we thought that he did very well, more of what we expect of him at quarterback.

Michael Oher had a good game, one of his best, playing against their nose tackle. We thought their nose tackle was very good. He hugged the ball very well. He was very well coached in using his hands, and he played an unusual technique. We thought that Corey Actis played a very, very good game.

Defensively, the physical play and the competitive attitude of our young players lasted throughout the game. You could see in the last series Greg Hardy making tackles for loss. Our guys gave everything they had for 60 minutes which was one of our goals. Again, the front seven versus the run, we thought for most of the game played very well. Four out of 14 for third down, obviously we gave up a big one at the end but that's a pretty good percentage for us. Guys we thought played really well were Patrick Willis, Rory Johnson again, and Greg Hardy. Charles Clark had his best game since I've been here. There is no doubt he made some tackles, the picks, he was very, very active out there. We're very pleased with the play of Jamarca Sanford at SAM linebacker. We actually feel that we got better there.

On special teams, the punt team, another great job by Coach (Hugh) Freeze of pinning them down there and Joshua Shene at this point is eight of 10 for field goals which is a lot better than we've ever been and 100 percent on PAT's. We think that we're making progress.

We're looking forward to Northwestern State. They have a good defensive front. The last couple of games they've played very well on defense. They've not given up many yards. Knowing Northwestern State very well, they're not going to have 22 great players on their team, but there will be two or three players each year that are going to get drafted in the first three rounds. They've had some great guys go into the NFL. We're very familiar with their program. We're going to have to get ready. They're offense and their running backs are strong and they always have skilled position. I graduated from Northwestern State. I'm very appreciative with my degree from Northwestern State. They enabled me to coach, but we're going to get ready for this football team just like every other football team, continue to make progress. We're looking forward to practicing. We're looking forward to seeing our team today and watching our film and moving forward.

Q: You played with Gary Reed. Talk about playing for him and were there any other stand out guys that you played with in the early 1980s?

A: Yes. Gary was an excellent linebacker, really studied film. His first game he played against McNeese State he made 20 tackles as a freshman. He was about 6-4 and 215. Bobby Hebert was on our team. Mark Duper, Joe Delaney and Victor Oatis were good football players on our team. John Stephens was later, so we had a lot of guys go to the NFL.

Q: Is this the week you might rest BenJarvus Green-Ellis a little?

A: No, we're going to get it and treat this just like every other week. There is no resting.

Q: What impressed you about Jamarca Sanford's play?

A: The closer he is to the ball the better he is. He's tenacious. He's going to get after it. He's fast, and he's a good tackler. I just like his technique. There were times when we were slanting him and he'd step up the field two steps instead of one step, but overall, I've always liked Jamarca. I've always thought he played defense the way it ought to be played. I think he's going to be a good SAM linebacker. I really feel that we've gotten better in that spot.

Q: You mentioned Saturday night that they weren't quite getting there in the blitz. After watching the film, were there specific reasons?

A: They were throwing it quick. They knew the blitz we were going to run, the guys were open, but they were throwing it quick. They were throwing those slants and cutting our line on the front so we couldn't get our hands on it. That's when we stopped blitzing. We blitzed on first and second down. We blitzed a bunch on first and second, more than we ever have blitzed against those guys and a lot of them worked against the run. We knew the quarterback was going to roll out on the left and we had somebody coming from the boundary, but they were slipping that tight end into the flat. We weren't covering them at that time.

Q: What is the most dangerous part of Northwestern State?

A: If you allow them to, which we won't, we know that they are going to come in here and make a statement. They're going to come in here and assume this is a signature game. They're playing against an SEC team. They would hope that this program will underestimate them. We are not in any position in this program to underestimate anybody. We have to get better, and I expect my team to understand that. I believe they're going to get that message today.

Q: Talk about Bruce Hall. Has he earned more and how much has that helped?

A: It helps a lot. He has earned more. Like I said Saturday, he's a team guy. He hardly says anything. We'd like to see him there more and do other things with him.

Q: Do you forsee being able to incorporate Robert Lane more in these passing plays.

A: Yes. I've been wanting to do that since August. He's been out for four weeks. We may play Lilly and move him out on the backfield a little bit more and give him a chance to be really active and play football.

Q: There are three players that used to be here and are now at Northwestern State. They said you helped them get there. Talk about Rogers Loche, Tim Henderson and Gary Riggs, what they did here and them going there.

A: I'm really happy that they're doing well. I've watched them and I'm really proud for them and their parents. It's an opportunity for them to get to play and to get an education. It's a good school. I'm really glad to see that they've made it. A lot of guys transfer and don't make it. Those guys are making it and I'm happy for them. I think Coach (Scott) Stoker is a good coach. He runs a great program down there. When you look at their film, they're doing the right things. They're very well coached and I think those guys are going to help him.

Q: Talk about Corey Actis and his game Saturday.

A: When we went out to recruit this time last year, we saw him running down the field, giving extra effort, being very tough, and that s what we thought we needed. To play in the SEC your center has to be tough. This is his big test. Corey has grown within the program, I really feel that he has matured and he has taken on the challenge. You have to give Kehoe credit. Art knows how to get to these guys, and how to challenge them and stuff like that. You can really see the progress on our offensive line. Another guy that had a great game, and think about this, he practiced on Thursday, was John Jerry. He was out there and he made some fantastic blocks against a pretty good defense.

Q: How did Robert Lane do at his first game back at tight end?

A: He did fantastic. What we did was play him more at the fullback position and we leaked him out into the back field. We really feel that we may move him to fullback or h-back and keep him off the line of scrimmage. Partly because that's what he does best and second of all we really like the play of Lawrence Lilly and Robert Hough.

Q: Was Lane receptive to that idea?

A: Yes, he wants the ball in his hands so he's very receptive. I talked to him yesterday. Robert wants to win. He wants to help the team win. He wants the ball in his hands and we want it in his hands too. I hope to see him catch the ball a lot more.

Q: You talked about Northwestern State wanting to make a statement, do you think you guys need to make a statement beyond just winning a close game?

A: I want us to play well and I want us to win. I want us to play our very best and give a great effort. I want us to eliminate big penalties, and get better at what we have to do, regardless of our opponent. This is a big challenge for us. We know we can get up for Alabama, we know we can get up for Auburn, but we need to be able to do everything the same against whoever we play.

Q: Injuries in general have taken their toll. Any chance we can get some help back?

A: Probably. We have this week and we have next week. I think that eventually we're going to get most of our guys back.

Q: You talked about Brent Schaeffer having his best game. Can you expand on that?

A: Just the total operation. He made some checks on the line. The way he handled himself out there. I thought he had a good competitive attitude about himself. He showed that in a big game, he wanted to be a big time quarterback and I liked his attitude.

Q: Is Dexter McCluster going to be back soon?

A: It seems like he's a guy we might not see. I hate to say that but it doesn't look like he's going to come back anytime soon. That might be something about the strength that he has. He's not able to support his neck. I believe that's what it is. So he may come back, he may not.

Q: Do you know anything on Chris?

A: No, I think I'm going to find out something today.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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