Oct. 12, 1999
An interview with:
COACH DAVIE
JOHN HEISLER:
Kickoff on Saturday is at 1:36 here in South Bend, 11:36 in Los Angeles. Again, we have our Sunday wrap-up at 11:30 on Sunday with Bob Davie.
Coach Davie is here, he’ll make some opening comments and then take some questions.
COACH DAVIE:
I think it’s obvious this is a big football game for us, for so many different reasons.
I think the first one is because it’s SC. All of us have been involved in lots of big games, certainly every week we play a big football game here, a lot of rivalries involved. I think this game is the biggest one I’ve been involved with in my coaching career as far as just the intersectional match-up. I think it’s a tremendous, tremendous football game.
I was thinking about it last night. I think what makes it unique is all those other rivalries you’ve been involved with, in my case whether it was A&M and Texas, Pitt and Penn State, Arizona and Arizona State, Tulane and LSU, all big, big rivalry games.
But I think the thing about this game, because of the geography of it, those other games are big, but they’re somewhat regionalized. This game, I think every one of us, regardless of where we grew up, wherever we were at at that time, has had some access or some chance to see an SC-Notre Dame game.
I can think back to growing up in Pittsburgh, those gray, overcast days, watching a Notre Dame-SC game. Seems like they were always from the coliseum. I don’t know because of the sunshine and all that, the coliseum was such a contrast to where I grew up. Maybe it was those SC cheerleaders. I’m not sure what it was.
Just the memories of that, I think all of us can remember back to watching an SC-Notre Dame game over the years. Doesn’t matter what location it was, whether it was Arizona, Florida, Indianapolis, you had access to that. I think that makes it unique.
The other thing would be as to where these two schools draw their players from. Certainly SC is a team that recruits all over the country, although they don’t as much as they used to. Used to be you’d see USC everywhere recruiting, on the east coast, the south. Not quite the same now, but certainly for us, we recruit from all over the country.
We’ve got a lot of former students out there, graduates of Notre Dame in California. We have a lot of players on our team from California. I think for a lot of those reasons, certainly I’m not down playing any of our other big games, but this game is unique, and one that I’ve enjoyed just being a part of.
I think the other thing is when you talk to other coaches that have coached here, for instance talking to Ara about these games, he told me a story about when he lost out in Los Angeles, he went back to the hotel. He felt so bad that he contemplated jumping out of that hotel. He said he went over to the window, happened to look, he was on about the 15th floor. He said he’d have jumped, but he didn’t want to screw up his golf game, so he came to his senses before he went out the window.
It’s a huge game for I think all the former players, all the coaches that have been a part of this game. For us right now, what’s happened the last three years. In ’96, we went out there. Coach Holtz’s last game. We had a lot riding on that football game, a chance — may have gone to the Fiesta Bowl that year if we won that football game. We were ahead and let us get away from us at the end. Defense, taking the ball to the end of the field, two-point conversion, we go into overtime, can’t stop them. We have a penalty first play in overtime. We lose that game in ’96. A devastating way to end that season.
In ’97, we played them at home. We weren’t a great team, but we certainly had an opportunity to win that game. I think back a couple things happened late in that game that were frustrating.
Then last year, go out there and get shut out in the coliseum. For us, they beat us three straight years. So you can see why it’s a big, big game for us.
There’s some other things. For us right now, to get this thing back to 3-3, that may not mean a lot to people across this country that look at the record and see Notre Dame is 3-3, but it means a lot to us. We’ve scratched and clawed. I’m proud of this football team for getting back to 3-3. What do we do with that now? We finally dug ourselves somewhat out of that hole. We got to where we could see the light a little bit. Now what are we going to do?
The second thing, just to continue to see if we can build and take advantage of what momentum we have, even though we’re a 3-3 team.
I think the third thing, we have an open week next week. Certainly we remember the last open date coming off the Michigan State game. It’s tough. It’s a much, much better atmosphere for everyone when you go into an open week with a win.
I think for the first time since I’ve been at Notre Dame, our open date next week coincides with fall break here on this campus, so it’s something our players have been looking forward to. There’s a lot riding on this football game, as there is every week, but I think especially so this week.
When you look at SC, they lost in double overtime I think it was to Oregon, at Oregon. They lost in Tucson to Arizona. Obviously Arizona was a team early in the season that everybody thought would be a Top 5 football team. They lost some tough games.
On offense they average 35 points a game. They have a lot of speed, a lot of speed. Wide receivers fast, tailbacks fast, big offensive linemen, a big, tall quarterback that can throw the football, has played a lot of football, even though he started the season as the backup to Carson Palmer.
The thing that makes it difficult is obviously No. 18, RJ, jumps out at you. We all know, we’ve all been out there on that field with him and see how — every time he’s out there, it’s one play away from a home run.
But they’ve got some other receivers. They’ve got three freshmen receivers that I think are really, really talented. They’ve got a young guy that transferred, played last year, I believe he transferred >from San Jose. They’re talented in their receiving corner. They’re not real tall, but they’re all fast. That concerns me.
Last year, their tailback rushed for over a hundred yards against us. They’re a talented football team offensively.
On defense, they shut us out last year. A lot of those same players are back. There’s a few new players. Their inside linebackers, their linebackers are not new, but one of them is a junior college transfer that didn’t play last year. But they’ve got three new linebackers, but they’re all talented.
They remind me of Michigan State from the standpoint of big and athletic. They also have two coverage corners. They line up and play a lot of bump coverage, put a lot of nine up in that box in the running game. We certainly have to be prepared for that.
Kicking game, I think they’ll probably be as good as we play all year. I think it’s the best kicking game top to bottom we’ve played so far this year. We all know what that means. They’re well-coached. They have a lot of speed, which that seems to go hand-in-hand with good kicking teams.
Their returners are excellent, racked up there in punt returns and kickoff returns. No. 18, No. 7 back there. There’s no secrets.
You know, I think it’s two good teams. Even though we both have had some problems early in the season, I think it’s two really potentially good football teams. I think this will be a great game.
For us, obviously control their speed on offense, not give up big plays. I think special teams. Then on offense for us, eliminate negative plays, particularly in the running game. You’re going to get sacked every once in a while, but eliminate negative plays in the running game and get some big plays against their style of defense.
You know, you’ve got to get some hits and some home runs. It’s hard just to down after down after down move it as many people as they get up there in the box.
I think the challenge is still the same for us: we’ve got to play error-free football. If we do that, we have a chance to win. We will win if we play error-free football. That’s the challenge.
It’s a big game for us. I think we’ve dug ourselves back out of that hole a little bit. We also know how fast you can slide back into that hole playing teams like we play.
John.
JOHN HEISLER:
At this point, we’ll go to the electronic Q&A.
Q:
Can you talk about where Jarious Jackson has made the biggest jump as a more complete quarterback?
COACH DAVIE:
Yeah, I think Jarious is a much better quarterback right now than he was last year. I think he’s made a lot of improvement. He played really for two years I guess in a different scheme. A lot of people, when he came here, including me, thought he would be a linebacker. That’s how far he’s come.
I think the last couple weeks, though, without a doubt, he’s played the best football of his career because he’s been really consistent in his decision making and he’s so balanced in what he can do with his talents now.
He can run, as we all know, but he’s developed into really a good passer. I mean, you think back to even last year in the LSU game, the game that he was injured on the last play, how well he threw the football. He’s come a long way throwing it.
Obviously, his skills are better. I think he’s more comfortable in our scheme. He’s come a long way. We’re in an offense that asks the quarterback to do a lot. He certainly does a lot for us.
Q:
Maybe I’m dreaming, but you mentioned a couple times ‘There is a lot of football to be played.’ Despite your 1-3 start, had you eight games to go after that. Really, it seems like if someone looked at it objectively, what Jarious has done, what he could do in the next two games, seems like he might even be a possibility to get Heisman votes, although it’s probably too late for him to get into contention to win it?
COACH DAVIE:
He reminds you a lot — a little different package, but reminds me a lot of the quarterback at Georgia Tech. I think our scheme is very similar to Georgia Tech’s. I think obviously the thing that is going to hurt him is we have three losses right now.
When you start off the season the way we started it, it’s hard to jump up and get a whole lot of individual awards. Certainly we’ll give him a lot of awards here. I think he’s playing as good as anybody right now. All I can judge it on is what he does for this football team. I mean, he’s done everything we’ve asked him to do. He’s our only captain. He’s been steady in the boat. You’re proud of him. I’m proud of the efforts. I think he’s doing a heck of a job.
As far as the Heisman, I think it’s going to be tough because of how we started out as a football team. But there is a lot of football left. If he continues to play every week the way he’s played, I think you’ll see his name mentioned probably down in there in that list at some point before this season is over, if we can continue to win some games.
Q:
Could you talk a little bit about Julius Jones, seems like he’s starting to get more carries?
COACH DAVIE:
Yeah, I think he had eight carries against Arizona State. Obviously, he’s a guy that we want to get his hands on the football more often. I think everyone can see the explosiveness he has and the ability he has.
You know, he gives us a little different contrast at that position. I think we’ve got some taller style tailbacks. He’s one of those little darters that kind of can shake and get up the field quickly.
You know, he gives us a little style. The more he becomes mature in this scheme, the more confidence we have in him, just in the total package, I think you’ll see more and more from him. He’ll get more opportunities to carry the football.
He’s an exciting player. I think he’s going to have a chance to be a great player here someday. I don’t know what 21 from Arizona looked like as a young guy, but if I had to guess, Julius Jones has some of those same kinds of talents.
Q:
You did a little bit of blitzing against Arizona State with some success. I’m wondering, since I understand the Southern Cal running game has been kind of hit-and-miss, sounds like they’d be doing a lot of passing. Anticipate maybe some more blitzing? What are your plans?
COACH DAVIE:
I think SC will come in here and try to run the football on us. They had some success last year. I think that program has been built on a strong running game over the years. I look for them to come in and try to run the football. Certainly with the receivers they have, the ability they have to spread the field, they’re going to throw the football, as well.
As you know, we’ve talked about it a bunch of times, when you blitz, at some point, whether it’s zone blitz or man blitz, you end up with one guy covering one guy, with a lot of grass.
You know, we’ll blitz a little bit, but it’s not a game we’re going to blitz them 25 or 30 times.
You know, I think we’re getting better, I really do. We’re a little more opportunistic on defense, create some turnovers. I think we’re getting better man-to-man coverage as we do. I think you’ll see us blitz about the same percentage of times as we have against Arizona State and Oklahoma.
JOHN HEISLER:
We’ll take some questions from people here in person.
Q:
What did you see in USC’s struggle against Arizona?
COACH DAVIE:
Arizona sacked them a lot of times. It’s one thing in college football that I’m not sure is an accurate static. Negative yards come off the rushing yards. Really, if you get sacked on a pass attempt, it really should come off the passing yardage. It’s a little deceiving.
Plus, Arizona plays a lot of man-coverage, double eagle, a lot of people on the line of scrimmage. Arizona is not really easy to run the ball against.
Then again, they threw the ball a lot. They spread out. I’m not sure they really tried to run the football on Arizona probably because of their scheme. It’s a thing where you count the number of people in the box. They probably felt like throwing the football against that scheme was the best thing to do.
We’re a little bit different setup of defense, not quite as many people in the box. I think they’ll try to run the football.
They have a couple linemen that have been injured, but they’re all big, strong, good-looking kids. I don’t really know. I think it’s been a little bit more — looks like they’ve been emphasizing the pass with all the speed they have with their receivers.
Q:
The few moments that Joe Ferrer has had an opportunity to play, the big pass broken up, what has prevented him, other than Rocky, what has prevented Joe from getting more playing time? Is he a little undisciplined at times?
COACH DAVIE:
No. Don’t have any leaks in those staff meetings (laughter)?
No, Joe Ferrer is a guy, just like we’re doing at offensive tackle with Mahan, Teasdale, Vollers and Black, Joe Ferrer should play more. They’re about equal right now. We’re going to open that thing up this week for competition.
Both of them I see playing about equal amount because I see Joey Ferrer and the opportunities he’s had, he’s plate well. He’s been productive. We’re going into this week saying it’s 50/50 at that position.
Q:
You mentioned Jarious’ improvement, I think he’s gone from 40th to 3rd in passing efficiency. How much has the turf toe being healthy, figured in the offensive line’s development?
COACH DAVIE:
Probably all those things. If it was one simple thing, we probably could have got that corrected a couple weeks ago or three or four weeks ago. It’s always a combination of things.
All the above mentioned. Our offensive line, I’m sure he has more confidence in them now, as they do in themselves, and we do in them.
Also the scheme, we’re in much better rhythm than we were. I think we’ve had some receivers step up and make big catches. You look at the catches Bobby Brown and Raki made, Getherall, Bobby Brown runs after the catch, I think Kevin has played some good plays. Tony Fisher against Arizona State, he’s wide open. It’s a lot of things.
Sometimes when it doesn’t go well, the quarterback, whether it’s in the public eye or in his passing efficiency, takes a hit, which isn’t all on the quarterback. Sometimes when it goes well, when that quarterback’s passing rating is high, it’s not all on the quarterback. It’s a combination of a lot of things.
I think that toe probably is a factor. It’s hard to play when you’re not 100%, particularly when you’re the style of quarterback Jarious is.
It’s been a lot of things. It’s been a lot of things.
Q:
Driver looked awfully good on some of your special teams. I know in the spring you toyed with the idea of him playing a little bit both ways. Is that door still open?
COACH DAVIE:
You know, I talked to Tony yesterday. I think everybody sees the same thing. He is a contact, hard-nose football player. He’s on every special team now, every single special team Tony Driver is on. When he gets in on offense, he runs the ball hard. He’s good in short yardage situations. I mean, I’m not giving up on him at tailback. He may break one, then he gets the opportunity to carry it more.
But we see we’ve got some talent at that position. Tony is the one guy I think that could do some other things. So what do we do with him?
A lot of it’s going to have to do with Tony. Tony’s attitude is always whatever he can do to play more, he wants to do. So we’ve toyed with the idea of playing him at fullback some because he’s 220 pounds and he’s physical.
I don’t think it’s realistic to put him at safety this year. In the spring, maybe. I’m leaving all those doors open. But I’m not going to make any decision until we’re 100% sure. He’s down to one year of football after this. I think he’s a guy potentially that could be an NFL football player, but at what position?
I just want to do what’s right for him and what’s right for us. The reason he’s back at tailback is because it’s really something he wanted to do, and something going into the season we needed. As this season evolves, not that he’s not as good as those guys, because he is, but because of his style, there’s some other things you can do with him.
But what I don’t want that to do is hurt him. Sometimes you get a guy that can do different things, he ends up getting the short end of the stick because you try to move him around and do too much.
I’ve got his best interests at heart. It’s not an easy decision, not for him, not for us. But he gets a lot of snaps in the game now. You add up all those special team snaps, you add up the short yards, then some he gets at tailback, he’s a valuable player for us.
Q:
We’re at the halfway point the season now. How has reality matched maybe your expectations and hopes for this team?
COACH DAVIE:
Right now, we’re probably about where I thought we would be. As far as our record, I wish our record was better. I hoped our record would be better.
But as I said when we started, I think all of us realized there was a chance we could struggle early in the season. I’m not totally shocked by what our record is. What’s frustrating is how we had such an opportunity to win those games that we didn’t win. That’s what haunts you.
But in the overall picture of where our football team is, if you take that schedule out of it, I mean, if you take that record out of it, which is what we do, I think we’re about where we should be. A lot remains. Can we stay healthy and continue to improve?
We’re a much better football team right now than we were when we met here before the Kansas game. As a coach, that’s all you can judge it on. Sometimes you can’t control every bounce of that football and everything that happens.
I think we’re in pretty good shape right now. That’s why I want to see if we can take advantage of this momentum and just build this thing.
Q:
About freshmen, someone like Faine or Setta this deep into the season, how do you weigh using that year of eligibility? Does the fact that kids come out early affect what you’re going to do with freshmen?
COACH DAVIE:
Doesn’t affect me because I don’t think you can look in that crystal ball at that point. There’s just so many things that happen.
I’m not going to play a guy just because I think he may leave after his junior year. Now, I’ll play him if he’s good enough to play. I’m not going to make it more complicated than it needs to be.
You know, it’s not easy because you have a young man like Jeff Faine that we think’s going to be a really tremendous football prayer. You look at Julius Jones in his position, Jeff Faine is the same kind of player. But as we go into the season, you know, the reality of him maybe having the opportunity to get a fifth year becomes a factor.
But it also depends on what happens with John Merandi. Does John Merandi stay healthy? There’s maybe not a need to play Jeff Faine. If John Merandi, something happens, maybe there is this week. We’re kind of approaching it like that. We get him to play each and every week, kind of see how it goes, what the situation is.
You try to do what’s best for each player.
Q:
(Inaudible) you say that you were injury free at some of those positions where you had a Faine or a Campbell, are you at the point in the season now you just prefer not to use them?
COACH DAVIE:
You know, it’s still early. We’re at the halfway point of this season. I think it’s too early to say that.
Q:
Along the lines of the halfway point, at this point what do you know about the mind set and the outlook of this team that you didn’t know in August? What don’t you know yet, what don’t you have a feel for that you’re trying to find out in the next few weeks?
COACH DAVIE:
That’s a tough one.
I think this team has been pretty consistent, it really has, in its approach to things, how it’s handled things. If it wasn’t pretty consistent in its approach, I don’t think we’d have dug back out of that hole.
Now, none of us are satisfied to be 3-3. I guess what’s yet to be seen: Can we take it to the next level? Can we go in every football game left in this season? What do we do with the maturity we now have because we’re no longer a young team? What do we do with the little momentum we have just over these last two weeks?
I’ve kind of seen us handle some adversity. Now can we handle the little bit of success we’ve had and use the momentum of that to build?
That’s one thing about youth. I think that’s why the question about: Right now at the midpoint, what do you think? That’s what you don’t know. If we would have made a first down at the end of the Michigan game and scored on the next play, what would have happened with that? Would youth have just exploded and play above and beyond maybe what they were capable of? That’s what you can never put a finger on with a football team. It’s such a fragile thing.
Rather than get real philosophical, it’s really week-to-week. Can we build on the little bit of success we’ve had? Nobody is jumping up-and-down saying we’re right now a great football team, just like last week or two weeks ago I wasn’t saying we were an awful football team.
It’s just that we’ve got a little momentum, we’re a little better than we were, we’re a little more mature and still pretty healthy. Can we take advantage of this and are we good enough to just go do it and get it done?
Q:
You have a smorgasbord of tailbacks, the substitutions in the offensive line seem to have helped in a lot of situations. Is it a matter of finding the right mixture of people in right situations to make the inside power game go the way it’s supposed to?
COACH DAVIE:
Yeah. You know, I think it’s a little bit of who you play against, too, and what style of defense they run.
We saw last year against SC, we were pretty good as a power running football team. We didn’t have much luck in the coliseum as a power-running football team against that nine-man front. It’s once again a combination of a lot of things.
But, yeah, we’re still at a stage where we’re trying to find the best players. The thing we have is we have a little more depth than we’ve had. But it’s a little bit of a revolving door. We are alternating a lot of players, still trying to find the best players.
You know, whether that’s hurt our productivity in the power game or not, I don’t really think so. You know, it’s a little bit more of what style of defense we play against.
Then also with anything, there’s a trade-off. We’re a little more diversified on offense, so we emphasize and maybe practice different things. We don’t just line up and run ISO’s all day. Once again, a combination of things.
I don’t think alternating those players has really affected our inside running game, but I do think we’re still looking for a tailback that can just get it up in there and make yardage when there’s nothing in there. That’s one of the things I think we’ve made a little bit of progress on.
Q:
When you isolate this thing and look at it, is the problem basically the people who are not getting their specific assignments done?
COACH DAVIE:
Early in the year we had some problems with that. But the last two weeks, Arizona State assignments, that’s why we’re a little bit better team, assignments is not so much the problem.
One problem against Arizona State was No. 40, that inside linebacker. I tell you what, you get a chance to get that tape and look at it, that guy played his rear-end off, maybe 210 pounds, must have made 20 tackles in that game. Really wasn’t assignments, and that’s encouraging.
I think that’s why we’re playing a little bit faster is because there’s not so much mental grinding going on with those assignments. It’s a little bit more natural to us.
Q:
You talk about the history and tradition. At the same time, you’ve been throwing hints out that this game is important because of what’s happened over the last three years. Those three losses really hurt you at the end of those seasons. Have you or will you talk to the team about the last three years and what those losses have done to your program?
COACH DAVIE:
You’re darn right. But I think they’ll probably beat me to the punch. I think they all realize what those losses have done. I think that pretty much goes without saying, particularly the two at the end of the season in ’96 and ’98 out there. You’re talking about maybe having the opportunity to go to a bowl game in both those occurrences. Those were devastating losses for us.
More than that, you know, as much as that, I think we’re 3-1-1 in the last five years against SC. This is a great rivalry if we hold up our end of the bargain and come out and play. That’s where we are with it.
Q:
Mentioned before about SC’s nine-man front that they used last year in the game. Obviously, that was the game you were playing without Jarious. They were basically daring you to throw the ball. You come in here two weeks in a row, a lot of yards passing, how do you expect them to defense you differently this time?
COACH DAVIE:
It wasn’t just against us with Arnaz and Eric Chappell last year. That’s pretty much their style of defense. They’ve committed themselves to that, they’ve recruited well with their corners.
I’d like to think it will be a little harder for them to do that this year. Their scheme is very similar to Arizona State’s, very similar scheme. You’d like to think that it’s harder to do that with some of the diversity we have. We’re going to try to take advantage of it and make some plays.
But so many times, as it did Saturday, comes down to one guy covering one guy or one guy getting open. You know, you’d like to think we’re a little more prepared for it, that our scheme maybe helps us a little bit more. We were somewhat limited last year.
Their scheme is their scheme. They believe in it, they do a great job with it. You’d like to think you’re better prepared, but that’s really no guarantee.
Q:
(Inaudible)?
COACH DAVIE:
That’s a good point. That’s something that we practiced a lot. We’ve had success with that screen in practice. We hadn’t had a chance to get it going in the game.
I thought that screen was really well-executed. That third down was big, big conversion, even though we were pretty much ahead.
Yeah, a screen is another weapon we have. It’s one of those plays you got to run a lot and get a feel for it because you have those big linemen pulling out there. It takes a lot of practice with that play.
Q:
You mentioned a few weeks ago when we were talking about tailbacks, no clear pecking order. You talked about waiting for Julius Jones or someone else to bring one to the house, make a big play. Was that touchdown run that he had, was that sort of in that direction, or are you still looking for something a little more?
COACH DAVIE:
He was impressive on that. What was impressive was how he got that ball across the goal line. I think he dove from the five yard line. Tony Fisher has done some tremendous things. You talk about a guy that gives you some flexibility. He’s a pretty good receiver, blocks pretty good. Certainly Julius when he touches the ball, you get excited.
That’s always the sign of a great player. Is not that complicated. The guy you look forward to seeing catch it or run with it is usually the guy that’s a pretty good player.
Terrance Howard is an explosive guy. Then Tony Driver is a guy that will flat run over you. It’s still kind of the same. In the game, if a guy has a hot hand, he’s going to touch it more. You’ll be able to make that call, too.
Q:
I think you said earlier that you would win if you play error-free football. Since you’ve been head coach, look at the comparisons with USC and your team, is this the first time you’ve felt competent in saying if you eliminate mistakes, you have enough talent to flat out beat USC?
COACH DAVIE:
I think we’re — we were somewhat talented last year in a different kind of way, with the linemen we had. We had three linemen that were drafted off that football team, one in the first round and I guess two in the fifth round.
I think we’re more explosive now as a football team. I think our overall talent level now is better than it’s been. So not just for USC. I think we’re getting to the point where if we can play error-free against anybody, we’re about to where we could play with anybody in the country from a talent level standpoint. We’re not better than, but we’ve got enough, we’ve got enough.
I think another strong recruiting class, we’re starting to get it back, I really believe that. I’m more comfortable with that. I think we’ve got some good players in this program. Just like everybody, you know, we’ve got some liabilities and some places we’re stronger than others, but just top to bottom, we’re getting to where we’re pretty competitive again.
Q:
You’ve talked a lot about the off week next week, fall break. Is this one of those games where you have a sense of urgency, do or die?
COACH DAVIE:
We haven’t maybe made it quite that dramatic, but you do what you do with your schedule. Last year we kind of broke it down into three different sections. Certainly this year, with the Eddie Robinson Classic, these kids not having a chance to go home, period, we’ve focused towards this open date.
I think it will come at a good time, especially with no classes. The kids are going to have a chance to get home for a couple days early in the week, then we’ll bring them back and practice right through the weekend prior to the Navy game.
Yeah, I think that’s why this is an important game. We’ve got it down to one game. It’s a one-game deal for us. That’s how we’ve approached it.
Q:
You talk about their speed. Do your corners have enough speed to cover them one-on-one? Is that maybe why you wouldn’t want to blitz?
COACH DAVIE:
We don’t have that kind of speed to cover them just flat one-on-one. We have some young guys that can run that haven’t played a whole lot. They are fast. I mean, Kelly, I think he ran a 10.2. RJ is a cat. 86 can run. They all can run.
I don’t know that anybody in this country can line up and say, “Okay, we’re a man-coverage, let’s see what you got.” You have to be able to disguise things and be able to do things with balance.
No, we’re not that far along.
Q:
(Inaudible) Cooper this year?
COACH DAVIE:
Deke has played good. The thing you like about Deke is he can bounce back from some adversity. I’ve seen him since his freshman year come back from a lot of little different things. Once again, this season, he came back. Not going back more than we need to, but against Michigan State, that was a huge play. It’s an 80-yard touchdown that he got isolated and kind of slipped and missed that tackle. But he’s come back the last couple weeks and really responded well.
Q:
(Inaudible)?
COACH DAVIE:
Darn right I have. We held him out of spring practice for a reason: to make an emphasis on him of what was really important. He’s come back from that and he’s going to graduate from Notre Dame. Not many places in the country where you hold them out of spring football when you don’t have to. That was something we did as a coaching staff, something I think that’s helped his development.
I’m proud of the way he responded. We could have held him out of spring practice and he could have packed his bags and gone someplace elsewhere they wouldn’t have held him out. He took that and he’s a better person because of it.
Q:
(Inaudible)?
COACH DAVIE:
I’m trying to think back how that conversation went.
He was on offense. I said, “Coach Holtz, I think he’ll be a pretty good defensive player.”
He said, “You can take him, but he has to start.”
I kind of said, “Gee, man, let me think about that. We have Air Force coming in with that wishbone. You’re talking about going from offense to defense with the stipulation that he starts.”
I’ll never forget that because I coached him from the sidelines. I wanted him so bad, I said, “All right, I’ll take that deal.”
He started that first game on wishbone. It’s the game Air Force came out and they have gave us a bunch of different formations we hadn’t practiced against. In one way I’m glad our crowd was quiet that day because you could stand there and holler out the checks to Cooper.
You talk about an amazing story, that was all part of that deal there. I could have him, but he had to start. I’m glad — I had to think about that one, but it worked out pretty well.
Q:
(Inaudible)?
COACH DAVIE:
He knows that package now.
Q:
Three years ago, Coach Holtz’s last game, what was that like after that game in the locker room?
COACH DAVIE:
That was hard. That was hard. Particularly on defense because we had played really well in that game. We ran out of gas there at the end. They took that long drive, scored, went for two, then beat us in overtime. That was hard. That was hard.
We had a chance to go to a major bowl game if we win that game, and we didn’t. Obviously, that was tough.
Q:
Growing up you said you watched the games on TV. Any games stick out in particular against USC?
COACH DAVIE:
Not really. I guess Anthony Davis carrying that football. I can remember a little OJ in there. Not one game, though. Just kind of the atmosphere and the setting of it probably more than specific games.
Q:
How about compared to the other rivalries?
COACH DAVIE:
They’re all great rivalries, but they’re more of the kind of rivalries that the kids played high school football against each other. You have graduates of the schools that are from the same towns. It’s kind of an ongoing, all-year kind of thing.
This is a one-year, one-time event of people from all over the country. To me, just because, like I said, of the geography of it, it’s always a nationally televised game. You think about the LA coliseum and Notre Dame stadium, you think about who’s on those sidelines. I remember my first year here, there were some people on the sidelines that were pretty impressive, just celebrity-type things. There’s some glitter with it, there’s some glamour with it, there’s been some big-time, big-time players.
Q:
Has Regis said anything to you about it? I guess Frank Gifford went to USC.
COACH DAVIE:
Really?
Q:
Has he said anything?
COACH DAVIE:
I have enough pressure without Regis on my rear-end (laughter).
I may hear from him later in the week. I got a letter from him last week that was really interesting. In fact, I read it at the pep rally. I’ll probably hear from him. Do he and Kathie Lee have a little wager on it?
Q:
I don’t know.
COACH DAVIE:
I’ve got enough pressure on me right now (laughter).
Q:
When the commitment was made to diversify the offense, particularly with the personnel changes that you were facing, how difficult was that decision and did you just choose to look at it as an investment for down the road that you would have to live with the risk early?
COACH DAVIE:
I think that’s a good point. I remember we talked about that. We turned the football over early in the year where you said, “Would we have been better off to be more conservative with these young players and just try to find a way to scratch and claw and win?”
We kind of took the approach that we could see the light at the end of the tunnel. We’d be better off to just keep forcing it and keep forcing it. I felt like we may have gotten a little bit too conservative a year ago. It’s hard to win. It’s hard to win the big game against the good times playing in a box and playing conservative.
I think it’s best for us to just fight through it and continue to execute. We have a good scheme, we really do. I don’t want to limit that by being afraid of the bad things that can happen.
I think we’ve made a commitment. We made a commitment in the spring, and I think we’re starting to see some rewards for that. We execute pretty good, considering all the things we do.
Q:
Can you give us an update on the kicking situation? Will David Miller do the kicking?
COACH DAVIE:
I thought we’d make it through this press conference without that (laughter).
You know, I live — my children go to Penn, so David Miller is going to kick this week. I want to keep everything good in that district out there (laughter).
I think he’ll go into this week as kicker. I think he did a good job. He got the football up first time kicking in a game he showed a lot of confidence. That’s the thing I like about him. He is a confident player.
Barring anything unforeseen happening this week in practice, he’ll be the kicker. He’s going to have every opportunity with the first group to kick. I think he’ll be the field goal kicker and extra point kicker.
I anticipate Jim will be the kick-off, but we’re going to do some things in practice to maybe put some competition into it.
Q:
Say Sanson far exceeds in practice, Miller goes down the drain in practice, would you make a change?
COACH DAVIE:
I don’t think so. We really had done that. Jim, in all honesty, had been better than David or Nick Setta in practice. I don’t see that as the issue right now.
Really, I don’t see it being a huge gap. I think just based on what’s happened, David Miller will be the kicker this week.
JOHN HEISLER:
Thank you.
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