Oct. 14, 2007
COACH WEIS: Well, when I meet with the team today, I’m really going to go over a five, actually, a six play sequence of different plays in the game that shows them the difference between winning and losing. You know, obviously, there are a lot more plays involved in the game than those five/six plays. The reason I say five/six is that two are a sequence.
Now, obviously, the first play that I’m going to show them is going to be the 52-yard run, in the first series. Because realistically, in this game, our defense really didn’t give up one drive that didn’t start in plus territory with the exception of that one drive for score. And on that drive you had a 52-yard run in there that really was the main difference between getting off the field and giving up points.
You know, the other plays I’m going to show them the snap situation that led to them getting a ball in plus territory for their second score. I’m going to show them the interception — our first offensive play in the third quarter that led to the third score.
Then I’m going to show them our interception by Brian (Smith), and the excessive celebration that then leads to the next play which is the kickoff on the 15-yard line, which then gives them a plus 44-yard line which leads to the fourth score.
Then I’m going to show them our holding call on the 4th and 1 to take the touchdown off the board that prevented our third score and getting it to less than a touchdown game.
So really that five/six play sequence where the plays — there’s a lot of other plays involved in the game. But they’re the plays I’m going to emphasize with them showing the difference between winning and losing.
Defensively, there were some really good things that happened. We didn’t give up very many explosive plays. As a matter of fact, the longest play they had of the day was a 22-yard pass. They had the one long run that led to their first score, scored on defense, didn’t allow any scoring drives after that first series that didn’t start in plus territory.
So I think for the day they were 7-of-17 on third downs, in the second half they were 3-of-10, and they went for it on fourth down three times and we shut them out in that case. Now we did give up four touchdowns, and I think we were a little inconsistent in our underneath pass coverage, because obviously, in this game, (Matt) Ryan did a good job of dinking and dunking and throwing some screen passes and throwing the shallow stuff, which is basically all he really had.
But the biggest problem I had on the day, and I had this problem both on defense and on offense, is I think that mentally we’ve — I thought we played this game a very, very physical good ball game. And that was one of the things we want to do is master physicality. I think the errors we had in this game were more mental errors than physical errors, and that’s going to be a point of emphasis for us this week.
We obviously had the two penalties that go to the defense. But realistically, one of them goes to me. We had the pass interference call, and we had the excessive celebration. And I don’t think the referees were too upset when the team that was on the field was partying. It’s when the other guys came on the field and got involved in it. And I don’t blame the officials for calling it. We need to do a better job of controlling ourselves, and you know, that one falls on me.
On offense, we played hard, and get the ball, you know. Have that seven play drive for 79 yards and a touchdown. And the line only gave up a couple of sacks. And our average per completion was significantly better, just under 11 yards a completion. Played a lot better in the second half than the first half again. Robby (Parris) had a big day, couple catches just under 100 yards.
But realistically, I thought we were consistent. More of our problems were mental than physical. We weren’t very good on the third down. We had a couple interceptions and we had another five drops that were drive stoppers. And, you know, we kept the defense.
We didn’t hold the ball enough on offense. We knew that going into this game, we were going to throw it a bunch. We weren’t planning on throwing it 50 times, I can tell you that. But our completion percentage, when you complete under 40 percent of your passes, that can be attributed to a lot of things. A little of it was pressure, but more, we just didn’t do a very good job of being polished in our passing game.
And we had five penalties on offense — four holding calls and a false start. You tie those all together, and you wonder why you’re not scoring a whole bunch of points, it’s pretty obvious to see why.
On special teams we had two big negatives — the snap (to Geoff Price), and then the kick after the excessive celebration. Other than that, there were a lot of good things out there. We averaged over 11 yards a punt return. When we kicked the ball up deep, they only got 14 yards on return. We kept it away from number 6 (Jeff Smith), which is what we were trying to do on kickoff coverage. We were trying to make sure he didn’t beat us; he didn’t touch the ball. Our net punt was over 42 yards a punt.
Trevor (Laws) blocked the field goal, so there were really good things on special teams that were neglected by the big plays that we gave up that the coverage on the sky kick was poor, so we didn’t do a great job on our kickoff return team. Those big guys “outphysicaled” us a tad. And, of course, we missed that one 41 yard field goal.
Q. How unusual is it for — obviously you can always point to the few plays that make a big difference in the game. But I can’t remember just a handful of plays having such a huge impact. Is that pretty unusual?
COACH WEIS: Well, to have an impact, it might have a 28-point swing. I mean, that is how big a swing those plays are. Usually there’s a handful of plays in every game, that when you win or lose a game by 7 or less, there are usually four or five plays that you contribute to losing a game by 7 or less. But the dynamics of this game with those handful of plays, once again, I don’t isolate any one play. But if you take and group those plays together, just think of the magnitude you have right there. The whole game changes.
Q. Then what is the message that you’re trying to get across to your team as you review those?
COACH WEIS: Each one is different. Some of them are mental breakdowns, some of them are physical breakdowns. There’s different things on different plays. But the message you try to say is look it, we’ve lost six games this year. Of the five games we’ve lost, they’ve all been different than this one. Georgia Tech, we hung in there for a while, then it fell apart. Penn State, we hung in there for a while, then it fell apart. Michigan, it was wire to wire from the start of the game to the end of the game. Michigan State, you know, it was through a half, we were right there, and then it started to fall apart and fall apart in the second half. Purdue was the flip side. First half we don’t do anything, we rally in the second half. This is the first time this year they’ve been in a game ’til the five-minute mark at the end of the game, where the game is still in question. You know, we threw that play action pass on 4th and 1, it’s a touchdown, it’s 27-21. You’d like to find out what would happen. I don’t know if the game would change or not. We might have just lost 27-21. But I would certainly like to find out.
Q. When you named Jimmy (Clausen) to quarterback, you said he gives you your best chance to win. Do you still feel that way today? And how does the quarterback situation change?
COACH WEIS: I’ll let you know on Tuesday. That’s the fairest answer I can give right now. At this point I’ve watched the game a couple times, but I haven’t watched it with the offensive staff yet. So I don’t do those things before we’ve gotten together. I’ll certainly let you know where I am on Tuesday.
Q. The defense, seemed like in the first half Boston College had a receiver open, short in the middle of the field. Did you notice that? Was that a scheme thing? Was that an essential error?
COACH WEIS: Well, the one thing, one of the things I was talking about the negatives. One things I was talking about as a negative for the game is our underneath pass coverage. We wanted to make sure we didn’t get hit with any haymakers, which we didn’t, okay. But at the same time, I think we probably got a little bit overexaggerated to make sure we didn’t give up the big ones. We gave a bunch of short ones up.
Q. Any update on (James) Aldridge?
COACH WEIS: No. The one good thing is I saw him walking out of the locker room from afar. When I was just after the press conference, and I was walking through, he was walking out. He wasn’t in a boot, he wasn’t on crutches. I didn’t get a chance to talk to him because I’m not fast enough to run down there. But I did see him, it looked like he was walking okay. I’m meeting with him and the doctors at 20 after 1:00, to I’ll get an update, because I know I’m sure he was in there getting treatment early this morning.
Q. How did you feel Anthony (Vernaglia) responded to having a pretty decent role as an inside linebacker?
COACH WEIS: I think he made some plays. He made one big play, but he didn’t look out of place. And I think that’s an important thing when you’re practicing both inside and outside. Then the game dictates you playing, especially Mo (Maurice Crum Jr.) couldn’t go. You know, the reason why Anthony was practicing both is if Mo couldn’t go, Anthony was clearly going to be in the mix inside and have to play a significant role. Mo went through warm ups and we said we’d try for the beginning of the game. We’d try some nickel and dime, and you let me know. He let me know he couldn’t go. So Anthony was ready, and it was a good thing because I think he played pretty solid.
Q. In terms of as you went into this with Jimmy, I was looking through the NCAA stats, and there’s several freshmen playing, but they’re mostly redshirt freshmen. There’s maybe a couple of true freshmen that are playing. Does the spring, you know, coming in early and going through spring practice, do you think that’s the equivalent of a redshirt year or is it really different?
COACH WEIS: No, I don’t think it’s the same as going through a season. There’s a lot you can gain from watching. You know, sometimes people think that’s a negative, and sometimes young players get overanxious because everyone wants to get on the field and play. But there’s a lot that can be gained by watching. By practicing every day, and watching it come to fruition, positively and negatively. His training is more on-the-job training, where it’s always easier if you’re standing back and watching it than when you’re doing it, because you can see the good things and the bad things without having to feel them yourself.
Q. Is there any resolution to the (Matt) Carufel situation?
COACH WEIS: We decided we’re going to talk this evening. He wanted to go home, go to church. Spend time with his coaches and his family. And I told him I was in no rush. When I got done later this evening, we’d talk at that time. And we’re either going to talk here or talk by phone. I don’t know which way it’s going to be. But we are going to get together this evening.
Q. So to clarify — is it fair to say you haven’t made up your mind who your starter will be next week and you need to figure that out?
COACH WEIS: I think that’s a fair statement.
Q. Talking about Jimmy getting on-the-job training. Could he benefit from actually watching things develop and not having everything fly at him?
COACH WEIS: Just to piggy back off that answer I gave to (South Bend Tribune reporter) Eric (Hansen). Especially at the quarterback position, there is great value from watching. You only can play one quarterback at a time. You only can play one quarterback. And I think that the quarterback that is not playing gains invaluable experience if they’re actually studying the game as if they were playing. I think that is the one thing good about the couple guys we’ve got in the mix. Evan (Sharpley) prepares just as if he’s going to play every play. And I think Jimmy, they both obviously do the same thing. I think there is a lot of value gained when you’re watching things happen on the sidelines. Because you can see things happening before they happen, because you don’t have the pressure of being underneath the center and calling the snap count and signaling the motion and all those other things. You can actually see it happening as it’s happening, you know, when you’re on the sidelines.
Q. After looking back at the game again, how would you evaluate the way Evan played?
COACH WEIS: I’d say hot and cold. Just like I said after the game yesterday. My opinion didn’t change. I think Evan made some good plays in the game, and I think we left some plays out there, too. I think that’s true for both of them. But, you know, Evan, what he did do is, you know, his escapability on a couple plays, gave us a couple jump starts I think he made a couple plays where his speed, he got out of some trouble. Made a couple plays for us. Obviously, when he went in there a couple times now, he’s gone in there and gotten us down, and gotten us in the end zone. So with that being said, there’s definitely some good, and there’s some not so good.
Q. When you make this decision about the quarterback, is there something to be said about a guy who is a gamer? I know you have to look at every practice and every throw. But some guys seem to play well in games, you know?
COACH WEIS: What do you want me to say, it’s not good that somebody plays in the game?
Q. No, I’m saying does that hold any weight at all?
COACH WEIS: It carries weight, yeah, it definitely carries weight. But that weight’s got to carry over. You can’t, at the quarterback position, okay, you have to be able to show up every day. Not that Evan doesn’t show up every day, but if you want to be the guy, okay, it can’t just be on game day because the team’s got to get ready to play. And I’m not saying that Evan’s a bad practice player, so don’t misconstrue what I’m saying. I’m saying if you’re the best player in practice, it’s usually going to indicate you’re going to be ready to play in the game, usually.
Q. Talk about the frustration of the few plays that could have made a big difference. Is it as much of a fact that BC made their fair share of mistakes that it could have allowed you to win the game?
COACH WEIS: I think at this stage with our development with this year’s team, we have to understand that we can’t make those type of errors. Now there’s plenty of other errors that I’m not even talking about, (Associated Press sports editor) Tom (Coyne). I mean, we have a whole bunch of mental errors on offense and defense, which is this week’s my bigger concern to me than our physicality. But when you have those big plays happen, okay, the ones that I pointed out, those are the ones that are difference makers within one game. And I think that those plays and all those cases are things that could have/should have been avoided. And every one of them, they could have/should have been avoided.
Q. Talk about BC and South Florida. Do you think BC looks like a team that could play for a national championship?
COACH WEIS: I think they’ll have to play better than they played yesterday. I think that yesterday they had a chance to go for the jugular, you know. They had us down. They had a team down 20-0 on the road and let them back in the game. I’m talking about us now. But realistically, the game’s really close to being 27-21, you know, with 5:30 to go in the game, you’ve got a chance of losing that game 28-27 real easy. I think that they’re happy to get out of here with this win. I think they realize that we’re 1-6, we’re 1-6, but we’re not just some crummy team that they’re playing against. I think they know they have their work cut out for them each week. I think they have a week and a half before they play, so I think that’s good for them because yesterday was a pretty physical game. I don’t know why — I know that South Florida scored a whole bunch of points because I’m one of the guys that votes on the poll. But I don’t know why a team that won on the road, you know, could get leap frogged, you know?
Q. Just looking at the stats for the year, do you have any, the second quarter compared to the third quarter, second quarter you’re outscored 64-7, third quarter, 61-43.
COACH WEIS: Well, I’d like to sit there and say that’s because we’re making good halftime adjustments. But in reality, I think that our consistency in the first half, the entire first half on offense has been inadequate at this point. Not just the second quarter, I’d throw the first quarter in there as well.
Q. Any idea…
COACH WEIS: Well, the thing that I’d be able to do, is I’m able at halftime to throw out a bunch of stuff and cut it down to just down to just a few things to simplify it to a few thing that’s give us the best chance of making a few plays. You’ll notice in the second half when I was doing less things more. The thing is, you know, maybe you start off the game doing less things more. The only thing is you can’t hold up a whole game like that, because those coaches and players, they make adjustments too. So a lot of times you can’t take advantage of it when you do just a few things the whole time, the whole game.
Q. Last year, you guys were very good in the second quarter, 41-86. Is that a by-product of a better team that you can adjust on the fly whereas this young team can’t adjust in a moment?
COACH WEIS: You tweak it in the first half. What you can’t do is have an overhaul in the first half. See, last year there’s times I’d be nine plays into the game, I’d go off the script. We don’t do that as often this year. We tweak it. We’ll start eliminating some things that we just know don’t look right. I mean, yesterday instead of running a Mike Lowell blitz, everyone ran a safety blitz. That that’s a very easy thing to adjust. But yesterday until this game they had run two corner blitzes, and they ran a half dozen of them yesterday. It all depends. It isn’t like you don’t see evidence of the games. Like yesterday on their punt team, for example, you saw that spread punt that they used? Okay, well the only game this entire year they used that spread punt was the N.C. State game. We watched all the games, we studied the games so we were ready for it. But there is something you just give it a couple snaps in practice all week because you’re ready for the stuff they’ve done in every other game but N.C. State they put in the normal punt. The only time they’ve been in it all year long was N.C. State. So we practiced it, so when you go out there you at least get a couple shots.
Q. So would it be fair to say you just can’t go off the script after nine plays this year like you could last year because of the nature of the team and the way it’s made up?
COACH WEIS: That would not be conducive to — you know, we talked about mental errors. You’d be setting yourself up for a whole bunch more of them at this point. And that is not to do with ability. That has to do more with experience. I think you need more experienced players to be able to get off of that quickly.
Q. I think Tim might have answered this yesterday about whether you’re encouraged after this one more than the others after watching the tape. Do you still feel that way?
COACH WEIS: The thing I’m encouraged about, like I said earlier, is unlike — we’ve lost six times this year. Okay, this is the first time out of the six times where it’s six minutes to go in the game, and the game is in question. Every other game by the six minute mark of the game, you’d have to say maybe Purdue. Maybe. But every other game by six minutes left in the fourth quarter, the game had long been decided, not this one. The good part of that is I’d rather lose like that than lose by 100. You know, you want to be in the game. Your goal isn’t to ever lose, but you want to be playing to win in the fourth quarter. And that’s what we’re playing to win in the fourth quarter. And the players, let me tell you something, my biggest problem three or four weeks ago is no longer my biggest problem, because my biggest problem three, four weeks ago was our lack of physicality. And that, no longer is the major issue. So, we have to go to a different set of encyclopedias.
Q. What is your biggest problem?
COACH WEIS: I say our biggest problem now is going to be working on mental — mental preparation more than physical preparation. Now you’re always working on both of them now, but you have to decide, you know, pick your poison where you’re going to put your points of emphasis. So mental means you have to spend more time meeting. And mental means you have to spend more time at walk-through. But the problem is you only get a four hour day, that’s what you get. So it isn’t like you say let’s spend two more hours, because you don’t get that. Four hours is max.
Q. John Carlson after the game talked about how small a margin for error it is for this team. Particularly with the offense, it is a little frustrating. Evan’s escapability, does that increase the margin for error because he can make something out of nothing?
COACH WEIS: That definitely helps. It definitely helps. Any time you have a quarterback who, when a play breaks down, make a play, you know with some elusiveness, that definitely helps.
Q. Jimmy in practice, you see more than anyone. What is he doing in practice that gives you confidence that when he comes out to start a game it’s going to be better than what he shows?
COACH WEIS: The speed of the game in practice is never the speed of the game. So in practice, you know, they’ve got those guys that are rushing, just aren’t in your face the same way they are in a game. Things happen a lot faster on game day than they do in practice. They happen a lot faster. And I think that in practice, you know, he’s got everything under control. On game day, obviously, the games happen faster.
Q. You said after Michigan State game that you saw their emotions in the locker room, and you could see how much they cared as a team. Then after the UCLA game, I imagine it was like winning the Super Bowl in the locker room. What was it like yesterday and how you’ve seen that change throughout the season?
COACH WEIS: Well, they were very, very down after the game yesterday. For the reason I said, because they saw them having a chance, it being the fourth quarter with a chance to win. I’m not saying we deserved to win, because we didn’t. But we had a chance to win, and that had them down. But they really believed they were going to win this game. There wasn’t one player in there that didn’t think for one second we weren’t winning the game. You know, people outside might have. But there wasn’t one coach or one player that wasn’t convinced we were going to win. Obviously we were wrong, but that’s what hurts. The most positive thing I can say is that it shouldn’t take too much to get the players up with USC on the horizon it shouldn’t take too much. As bad as you feel, you know, it is USC coming into town, so that will help.
Q. With the offensive line, how do you evaluate them at this point? Do you feel they are getting better?
COACH WEIS: I think we’re getting better at blitz pick up. That is one area that I think has been better. We’ve been better at the blitz pick up. We still haven’t run the ball very effectively, and that’s a whole bunch of factors of which they’re a part of.
Q. You mentioned you’ve at least caught up from the physicality standpoint. But can you continue to be physical in practice as you’ve been? Or do you reach a point of diminishing returns as the season progresses?
COACH WEIS: We’ve reached it. You know, that’s basically the deduction I came up with about 3:30 this morning. When you were just getting home, I was just getting here, okay. No, but when I came in this morning, to be honest with you, when I came in this morning as I was watching the game the first time — I always watch it twice, so I give myself a coffee break in between. But I watched the game the first time, all three facets, and really after watching how hard they’re playing for the whole game, because they’re playing hard. It no longer is about getting manhandled, which is how I felt after the Michigan game — I just felt we were getting manhandled. I don’t feel that way anymore. I’m not worrying about whether or not they’re going to show up physically, because I believe they are. So now what you have to decide, and this I haven’t come to the answer yet exactly what you do Tuesday to change that, okay, but when you don’t, you go out there and bang them on Tuesday to try to get them to play more physical isn’t — now doesn’t become the number one issue.
Q. I know you’re not trying to set up Sharpley in practice, but he strikes everybody as a mature kid. How do you pinpoint him not being as sharp as he needs to be in order to win the job at practice?
COACH WEIS: You know, I really haven’t pinpointed the answer to that question. You know, trust me, if I felt that, you know, together with (quarterbacks coach) Ron (Powlus) and (offensive coordinator) Michael (Haywood) and the rest of the offensive staff, if I felt that Evan was the best, Evan would be playing, because I really don’t care who plays. I just want whoever gives us the best chance of winning. But I think that it’s closer. Every week it’s closer. And, you know, who knows? I don’t know what I’m going to tell you on Tuesday, but I still have some work to be done.
Q. His escapability, if you think back to the Georgia Tech game when he got sacked seven times. Did you anticipate the kid’s escapability to improve to the point that it has?
COACH WEIS: Did I think he had the athleticism to do it?
Q. And the feel for it.
COACH WEIS: I think he had the athleticism to do it. You know, I think that once again, in that week, you know, when you’re given the majority of the time to Demetrius (Jones) at that time, there’s appeals for the game that you don’t get, because you’re not in there getting them all. Really, he was the main player that he was getting was too many, as I told you all at that time. Then you’re in there running the regular offense. I think that he’s getting closer. I’m in no way saying that he’s a bad practice player. I’m just saying at this point, cumulative information that we’ve had, he’s two, and that’s the reason why he’s two.
Q. The off-season procedure, that summer or spring procedure that Jimmy had with the elbow — how much do you think that that negatively impacts his physical conditioning and strength conditioning leading up to the season?
COACH WEIS: I think that it might not affect you as much in the beginning of the season as it affects you now. I think any time you really go through the beginning of the season, you’re not worn down. I think what happens is when you really don’t have the full — I mean, you can condition your legs and everything. But when you can’t condition your arms, therefore, you can’t condition your upper body, I think part of you is not getting the full treatment. And I think that the negative residual effect happens as the year goes on more than it does in the beginning.
Q. So in your mind, how important is the off season for him in terms of strength and conditioning?
COACH WEIS: You mean for this year?
Q. Yes.
COACH WEIS: Oh, it will be the biggest off season he’ll ever have, in his entire career. It is the biggest off season will be this one.
Q. He’ll probably make more gains, more strides this year?
COACH WEIS: Than he will in any other year. I remember when we got Tommy (Brady), he gained 35 pounds his rookie year. I mean, think about it. A quarterback who goes from, you know, 185 to 220 or whatever he was, you know, that’s a big change.
Q. You said you don’t care who plays, regardless of the position. I’m sure there’s the impression on the outside looking in that Coach Weis has to play Jimmy Clausen.
COACH WEIS: I could care less. I promise you. May God strike me dead, I could care less.
Q. You’ve now had a chance to look back at the holding on 4th and 1.
COACH WEIS: You can call it holding. You could not call it, too. But you could call it holding. He’s engaged with him the whole time. It wasn’t like the guy went by him and he grabbed him. He’s locked on to him at the line of scrimmage, and the guy’s going to his outside, and he’s still locked on to him. The guy’s coming around, and he’s still locked on to him. So the official can call holding on the play. I would prefer that he didn’t, but there is enough evidence on the tape where you can see him call holding. The play I still was mad at and am still mad at is the blow to the head of the quarterback, which I think was a joke. Which I said to him on the field, and they told me it wasn’t a blow to the head. And I told them a couple choice words that I felt that that was an error.
Q. On the 4th and 1, did you think it came out a little late, the flag, when you went back and looked at the tape?
COACH WEIS: I really didn’t see when the flag came out, because when you’re watching the game and watching the tape, okay, you don’t really see when the flag is thrown. So the flag isn’t thrown right when all the action is taking place, obviously. So I’m watching it, you know. First thing I’m doing is watching the handoff, then as soon as I see the fake handoff, I’m looking at the strong safety to see if he’s taking a fake, because I know we’re throwing the ball to Robby. So I see him come running up, it might have been a Mike strong safety blitz, I don’t know, because he was coming up so hard. So the only thing he had to do was make sure we didn’t throw the ball out of the end zone, because he was that open. I’m saying to myself “I’m either going to look very dumb or very smart on this play right here.” In the long run, where I thought I looked smart, I probably still looked dumb, because we got a holding penalty.
Q. I apologize if this is asking the same question a different way. But with Jimmy, he is a true freshman. If he winds up being number two this week after being number one the past few weeks, is that at all a concern to his mental approach whether he stays in it or kind of goes into a funk? Or is he mentally strong enough and involved enough not to have that happen to him even if he is just a freshman at this point?
COACH WEIS: I think if we got to that point, he’d handle it fine. Just the way Evan does. The one thing that we do is we’re always very honest with the players and don’t play mind games with them. And I think that because we’re honest with them, and don’t play mind games with them, we don’t put ourselves in a situation where they ever feel like we’re blaming them for things that are happening. Any time we make a decision whether it be the quarterback position or another one, we always try to make the decision on what we think, based off the evidence gives us the best chance. And if that were to be the case, they would know it long before anyone else would know it, so that they no knew the reason why we’re doing it, and the rationale, and I think if it got to that point he would handle it fine.
Q. Do you take that at all into consideration? Or it’s got to be completely performance-based, your decision?
COACH WEIS: Pardon me?
Q. Do you take mental — the way you receive the decision mentally into consideration, or is it going to be completely performance-based?
COACH WEIS: I can’t be worried about his feelings, if that’s what you’re saying. It’s got to be performance-based. I do worry about their feelings. Don’t get me wrong — it’s not like I’m somebody who doesn’t care about people’s feelings. But I think my job isn’t to make people like me. My job is to put us in the best chance of winning. So I think that whatever the staff, whatever I feel, take it with the support of the staff. In this case and every other case, that’s what we’ll do.
Q. Another question on the quarterback — in practice, has the repetition mode become closer over the past few weeks? Are you getting closer every week? Does that include the repetition?
COACH WEIS: It’s been like two thirds to one third. Which normally it’s only a couple of reps. So in a 15-play period it might be two reps or three reps. Now it’s more than two thirds reps to one third reps. To be honest with you, that’s a lot of reps for the second quarterback. Normally, like when (Brady) Quinn was here, he wanted every rep. He didn’t want to give up one play. So I’d have to just yank him and he’d get mad at me, because he wanted every rep. He always wanted to be in because he didn’t want to lose a play. So I would put Evan in for a play here, a play there, just so I didn’t have to listen to Brady whine. In this case right now, because we’re getting two guys ready to go, it’s been more than two thirds, one third.
Q. Does that become even closer this week, even if you do decide to go the other way?
COACH WEIS: No, that would go two thirds, one third the other way, if that’s what we did, because we have confidence, we have confidence in both players.
Q. And just something with Mo — how much of a concern or how much are you worried that this injury that he has might be a lingering thing?
COACH WEIS: Well, he got it in the second quarter of that game last week against UCLA. And that’s something that it’s a very weird injury, because in that game, he played great. He played great with it. But now all of a sudden, the game’s over, and it gets sore. He practiced very limited this week, and he tried to go and just felt that he couldn’t push off on it. He could be full go this week, or he could be a little banged up this week. We’ll just have to wait to see how it goes. I could tell you by him not playing, okay, it gives us in this past week will give us a lot better chance of him playing this week.
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