Oct. 25, 2005

Q. On the teleconference today they were talking a lot about bowl games at Rutgers. I guess they've won a bunch in a row and now the bowl talk is getting started and I guess they've struggled to make it to a bowl the last couple of years even though they've been on the cusp. Do you think that's to your advantage at all, that Rutgers might be thinking about bowl games?

A. No. They have something to play for. I'm sure they will be fired up and ready to go. If you look at their schedule I'm sure they have us circled as the one to get bowl eligible against.

Q. Especially in light of what happened last year?

A. Last year is last year. I don't know if that makes any difference. They might be more motivated. Last year is over, we don't get to carry any of those points over to this year.

Q. Don't you think they will be fired up after last year's game?

A. I know they will. They are going to be fired up regardless. They are trying to get six wins to be bowl eligible. They are going to be ready to play. We're trying to get to six too. We're going to be ready to play.

Q. What's the difference between this year's Rutgers team and last year's?

A. They've done a much better job of not turning the ball over and they run the ball better. They have two quarterbacks and they both can play. The freshman running back Rice is a good player. Defensively they've always looked the part. Both of the down guys that played against us last year are playing in the NFL. They've always had good athletes.

Q. How about Leonard?

A. He's a great player. He does everything. He's a good blocker and a dangerous receiver out of the backfield. He does everything for them. He's their go-to guy.

Q. Are they running the ball more this year? In year's past they have tried to throw it a little bit.

A. No, I just think they run the ball better. They still throw it around, but they are running the ball better. They have a good corps of receivers. There is no question they've run the ball better this year. Last week against UCONN the kid Rice rushed for over 200 yards.

Q. Some people might say they are winning against a weakened Big East. What do you think about Syracuse, Pittsburgh and Connecticut?

A. I don't think anything about them. I haven't played them so I don't know anything about them.

Q. But on tape does it look like they are beating good teams?

A. They all look like they have good players to me. I don't think with the situation we're in we can call anybody weak. I'm sure they have good players. West Virginia beat Maryland.

Q. How about your teams performance in the second half or late in the second quarter and the second half?

A. Oh, we played okay. I thought it was probably our most consistent game on defense. What we did a good job of defensively is that we didn't give up big plays and if you keep guys out there things happen. We got some negative yardage plays and put them in some tough situations and they picked up some penalties. That's the way you play good defense. We did a good job and we were consistent the whole game. Offensively we are hit and miss. We would score in three plays and then go three and out. That's kind of been the MO of this team. It's not the way you particularly want to play, but you can't complain if you are breaking off 40 and 50-yard runs. That's a good thing I guess, we just haven't had that around here in a while?

Q. Are you going up there early?

A. Early Friday.

Q. Is it because of practice time?

A. I don't know. The last time they barely let us practice. I don't know what that is. I don't worry about all that stuff. What practice we do up there isn't going to matter.

Q. But you are going to practice on Friday?

A. We are going to run around. If you call what we do on Friday practice.

Q. Do you think this is a pretty good test for your team?

A. Yeah, I think Rutgers is a good team. They are 5-2 and 3-1 in the Big East. I don't know what kind of bigger test you would want. They are very similar in my mind to Maryland and Stanford. They may be better than both those teams.

Q. They have some talented receivers and a good tight end.

A. Yeah. They have good players. They've had good players. They had good players last year.

Q. How far do you think your team has come since you've played Maryland and Stanford?

A. I don't know. I thought we played pretty well against Maryland. We were just a couple of plays from beating them and I think Maryland has gotten better. They are a good football team. Stanford is 3-1 in the Pac-10. I knew that Stanford had personnel. I thought that after they played us then they go out and lose to UC-Davis and I thought maybe I was losing my mind, but I've been doing this a long time and I thought they had pretty good players. They are 4-2 and 3-1 in the Pac-10.

Q. They scored 45 last week against Arizona State

A. Exactly and that game wasn't as close as the final score would indicate. It was 38-7 in the third quarter.

Q. So do you think your team is to the point where they can play with pretty much anybody? They played a a good Pac-10 team tough and a good ACC team tough.

A. We didn't win. You don't get any points for playing tough. We need to win one of those games. We beat Duke, but we need to win one of those games.

Q. Against an upper echelon BCS School.

A. Yeah.