Ed Orgeron Weekly Press Conference

OPENING COMMENTS

After watching the film of the Georgia game, there are a lot of great things that happened on that football field.  I think that when you watch Peria Jerry play with the eight tackles, three tackles for loss, it was the kind of performance we were waiting for with Peria. He has been playing pretty well, but I really think he turned up his game and just gave us an excellent effort. On a lot of those big runs, he is running down the field. He is really coming into his own as a football player. On offense, it was good to see the run game. We made progress. It was good to see BenJarvus (Green-Ellis) get back into action. I thought the offensive line blocked a lot better than they have. Protection was good again. I think we are catching the ball well. It was good to see Mike Wallace make a big play. Those are the positives. Obviously we broke down in the third quarter. I was pleased to see the 18-play drive. It was a good adjustment by Dan (Werner) and those guys at halftime and we come back. But our defense could not stop them. We kind of made some mistakes on special teams. We turned the ball over, and then they took over the game in the fourth quarter. 

Monday is about the truth. We are going to take care of the film, and then we are going to move on to Louisiana Tech.  We watched a little bit of Louisiana Tech. The Fresno State film came in late last night, so we have not been able to watch all their games yet, but we’ll be studying it. They have a good running back in Patrick Jackson. I know they have a good offensive line coach Pete Perot. I know a lot of the coaches there. I know their defensive coordinator for years. We are very familiar with Louisiana Tech, and I know their staff is fired up and ready to play Ole Miss. I am looking forward to getting the guys back today and getting back to work.

Q: Did Georgia’s offensive system contribute to Peria Jerry’s strong game

A: Could be. They had two backs in the backfield and not as much spread. He had a dominating game, especially against the run. He stayed in the backfield. On that fourth down play he made, they tried to pull the guard on him, and he had a tremendous get off. He really dominated that guard most of the afternoon.

 

Q: How do you improve on tackling?

A: We are looking at who is missing the tackles. We graded them, graded the film as a staff yesterday.  What positions are missing the most tackles. We are looking at why we are missing them. Some of it is technique. Some of it is we need bigger stronger guys. They ran us over a couple of times. We are going to continue to do it. We look at Kendrick Lewis, who I think is going to be a fantastic player for us.  Kendrick was a wide receiver last year, and this is more of a physical type league. I think Kendrick eventually is going to be a good free safety for us, but he has been thrown into the fire.  I’m not calling him out. He isn’t the only one. I’m just using him as an example. Ashlee Palmer came in, who is a good linebacker for us. He came in as a wide receiver/defensive back. He is playing linebacker, so it’s taking those guys a while to adjust to all the tackling and the physical game. You look at Peria Jerry I don’t think he had a missed tackle. He is 300 pounds.  I think a lot of those things are because we need to get bigger, stronger and faster, and we need to get better on technique. I think it is about half and half if you look at it.

Q: How do you account for the fourth-quarter struggles?

A: There is no mystery. When you look at the film, it is not about working harder. It is not about conditioning. I think we are in good condition.  First of all, we need to learn how to win.  When we are on the goal line, first and goal, we need to make that play. We do not need to drop the ball.  I will not say that will not happen again. We need to learn how to get up 14-0 and continue to lead.  We do not know how to do that yet. We made some unusually poor mistakes in the kicking game: the poor punt; we let them onside a kick after a long drive; we left too early. Those are just kind of mental errors and technique errors that we usually do not have. There were a couple missed hits on those runs, a couple missed tackles, an interception, and they took just the game over in the fourth quarter.  But it is not a mystery. It was a surprise but no mystery. It’s something you can put on that we’re not ready, we’re not practicing, we’re not in shape, we’re not lifting. It has nothing to do with that.

Q: Talk about Louisiana Tech’s offense.

A:  They run some spread, but they have to two-back too. They have a tight end in the backfield. They run some lead draw and some play-action pass. They’re a combination. Louisiana Tech has traditionally been a great passing team. I’m very familiar with them. I played against them. I’ve coached against them. I have a lot of respect for what they do in their program. They’re a good football program.

Q: Do you anticipate playing more freshmen on defense?

A:  We try. We put them in some positions, but we don’t feel they are able to respond in the way we want them to in live situations. But we will continue to look at some guys.

Q:  Didn’t you have a good game against them in college?

A:  I remember it was one of my better games. That and a quarter will get you a cup of coffee this Saturday.  I do remember having a good game. I really enjoyed playing against Louisiana Tech. It was like our rivalry. We played in Independence Bowl Stadium. It was an emotional game. It was fun. I remember it like it was yesterday.

Q:  Is it too late in the season for position changes?

A:  Never. We will always compete to put the best players on the field. You look at Scottie Williams. He is getting a chance at linebacker. We do not know if he is ready to play yet or fit the schemes that we are running.  I would expect Lawon Scott to play more plays than last week. Ted Laurent is making more plays. A lot of guys are getting opportunities out there, but we just need to produce in key situations.

Q:  Talk about the play of Seth Adams.

A:  I’m really proud of him. I think it says a lot about his character, about his background and the way he was raised. He is taking to Dan’s coaching and running the offense. He is confident out there. I think he was a little nervous the beginning of this year for some reason a couple pass plays. But he held on and made some big plays. That throw to Mike Wallace was fantastic. He was right on the money. He is a gamer. We believe in him. He is kind of like us. When the coaches ride the bus, he is up there with us, talking to us, laughing, joking. He is the kind of guy you want around.  He comes into the office, “hey coach what’s going on, what do you think about this.” It’s exactly what you want in a quarterback.  You want your quarterback to be an extension of your football staff on the football field. He is totally in to what he is doing, Again, the guy was born wanting to be an Ole Miss quarterback, and now he has the opportunity. He is taking full advantage of it.

Q:  Are you concerned about morale?

A:  No, I am never concerned about that.  We have a system here. We have a program. I am with this team almost 24/7. I wish you could have been in the dressing room before the game. There was no concern about morale. No concern about getting down. Obviously it is human nature after a football game not to feel right. I fell the same way especially on Sunday morning. But as soon Monday morning comes, I’m ready to go put the week behind and get ready to play.  We have a lot of football left. I enjoy being with this football team. They are a hard working group, a fun group to be around. We have a three-game homestand. We look forward to that and getting better as the season moves on.

Q:  Is this a week to get back on track?

A:  We have to play every game. We have to respect every opponent. We are in no position right now to overlook anybody. We have a lot of things to get better at.  This is one of these games that you have to go out there and win. You need to play well. I would expect us to play very, very well. I would expect us to practice very hard and win us a football game. That is what I expect.

Q:  Talk about Corey Actis’ status.

A:  As the head coach of this football team, I evaluate players and everything they do, and I make decisions. One of the decisions I made was to play Thomas Eckers. It’s Monday, and I expect (Corey) to have a good day today, a good day Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday. I make decisions on all our players like that. If guys don’t do things I expect them to do, whether it be in the classroom or on the football field, I will make those decisions. Our depth chart etched in sand, and I don’t care who it is. If they aren’t doing what they need to do, I will not put them down. And that’s what you’re seeing.

Q:  Do you expect to have Dustin Mouzon back?

A:  No doubt. He is a competitor. He is very tough. He took a big hit at the beginning of the game. It could have been a blow to us, but we had a special package, a dime package, we were going to use. We practiced it all week, but we had too many injuries so we could not use it. It kind of hurt us in the ballgame.

Q:  Do you anticipate Dexter McCluster becoming more involved?

A:  He is good, but it’s hard. You have to earn a spot. The receivers are hot. You have to earn your spot back. We’ve got some playmakers. You’ve got Bruce (Hall). You’ve got BenJarvus (Green-Ellis). You’ve got guys catching balls. Guys are really playing well, and that’s good. The competition is there. He is a good player, but there are some other guys making plays out there, which is good. And I’m sure he will perform very well.

Q:  Have you ever had a team this banged up this early?

A:  It’s just part of it. That is why you have to have 85 scholarships. That is why it takes a while with the program. That is why you like to not have to play all your freshmen, have some guys ready to go. We are thin at linebacker, thin at defensive back. We are thin at some spots, and that is just the way it is.

Q:  Talk about Mouzon and his team spirit.

A:  I would think if you had a survey, 96 percent of our team is like that. I really believe that. This is a very close team. It is about the team. We recruited most of these guys. Some of these guys decided to stay. Although losing these games have been tough, they see the progress. These guys believe in the football team, and I think they have a nice spirit about themselves. He’s not the only one like that. Seth (Adams) is like that. BenJarvus (Green-Ellis) is like that. Bruce Hall is like that, and on and on and on. Those guys have a team spirit about themselves.

Q:  Talk about Robert Lane’s role in the passing game.

A:  I think Robert is exciting when he catches the ball. I do not think he had a lot of success. There was a lot of short passing and they were on him. The one down the sideline was a little too far for him to catch. But when he moved to tight end, I told him we were going to throw him the ball. I want to use the tight end. Regardless if it is Robert, Robert Hough or another tight end, I always want to throw the ball to the tight end. We had man coverage on the tight end, we missed him, and they hit us with a big throw down the middle. I like to exploit the middle of the field with the tight end. I think every offense needs to do that.

Q:  What was the difference this week in the running game?

A:  We watched a lot of film. I have to give credit to the offensive staff. We had a couple young coaches that really come across this week with some late night studies. And we made some cut ups of some big runs in the Georgia defense, and we found some plays that we thought that really worked and we used them.  A lot were in our offense, but we haven’t been using them and there were a couple new plays that we ran this week that worked really well.  I think our success in the run game is attributed to that. Our offensive staff works hard on research and development, and we saw some things on film that we thought we could exploit and we did.

Q:  How involved is the zone blocking in the run game?

A:  I say it is 50/50. I would like for it to be higher, but we are not able to make the adjustments in the calls at the line of scrimmage like I would expect us to. There is some thinking involved there, some experience. It is our first year of doing it. We were taught by one of the best in the NFL how to do it, but it is very meticulous. It may seem to the naked eye as very boring, but on the field, it is very meticulous and it takes a lot of hard work. We are in the process of doing, but those big runs that you saw were part of the zone game.  It was part of the zone game and us finally picking it up right, and they did not have enough men to defend it. What you see in the run game is a better passing game. Some guys just can’t load the box. Some loaded the box, there was a play-action pass deep to Mike Wallace, then you have to double cover Mike Wallace, then here comes BenJarvus. It is finally what we have been wanting to get in our offense.

Q:  Talk about having three straight home games.

A:  It will be good for us. Our guys enjoy being at home. It gives us a little extra time to work here, and we are familiar with our surroundings. I think our home games, our crowds are fantastic. We walk through the Grove and those things. Our Florida game was on TV, and the recruits we called all talked about is what a great atmosphere it looked like. Our guys enjoy it. They get to see their families and stuff, but we need to use that as an advantage and start winning at home by beating Louisiana Tech.

The University of Mississippi Athletics

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