Nov. 1, 2005

Q. Did you have any injuries in Rutgers game?

A. I don't think anybody serious.

Q. Whittaker?

A. He will be all right. He just got a thigh bruise.

Q. So nothing that will cause somebody to miss a game.

A. Nope.

Q. Tulane handed you your worst defeat last year. Do they look to have similar personnel?

A. It's the same guys. They have the same people.

Q. They lost Roydell Williams.

A. They lost one guy. We lost 16 starters.

Q. Lester Ricard is back.

A. They have the same guys. They have the same cat that was 18-of-19 against us. I know that. They had over 500 yards, we barely had 300 hundred. They had 42 points and we had 10. I know that. I can remember that very well.

SS: They are averaging 40 points per game against us over the last five games.

Q. I know the other receiver (Terranova) that did well against you is back.

A. They all did pretty well against us, didn't they?

Q. They've been in a lot of close games in obviously terribly difficult circumstances.

A. They are a very talented football team. They have some very, very skilled guys.

Q. I know you have known Scelfo for a long time, have you had a chance to talk to him since Katrina?

A. I talked to him about a month ago just to check on him and see how he was doing. It's hard to get a hold of him, but I finally got a cell number for him and talked to him about a month ago.

Q. What's your understanding of what it's been like for him and his team and what they've had to go through?

A. I'm sure it has been difficult. Any time that you have to move like that it's a tough situation. To relocate and do all that it's tough, but right now I'm sure they are focused on going to school and going to practice just like anybody else.

Q. And you can't feel sorry for them. You have a football game to play.

A. I don't feel sorry for them. My heart goes out to them for what they've gone through and certainly we will try to help them out all we can, except for 60 minutes on Saturday.

Q. So how do you turn around what happened last year? I know that was partly them and partly you.

A. I don't know, we'll see. That's why you play. Rutgers didn't have any problems turning around a 30-point loss a week ago did they? Every game is different. We are going to go back this week in practice and have a little toughness check out here. I felt like maybe Saturday we got out toughed for the first time since I've been here. I don't like that much.

Q. How do you correct that?

A. Pay a little more attention to all the minor details and make sure you are playing guys that are tough.

Q. Will you do anything like putting the first offense against the first defense?

A. Not this late in the year, you aren't going to do that. We have plenty of contact in practice. We are going to learn how to play with some fire and intensity.

Q. Can you tell by watching films which guys aren't playing tough?

A. We grade effort all the time. It's little things. We aren't doing the little things and here we have to understand that we have to do the little things if we are going to be successful. We aren't going to line up, I've said this before, we aren't going to race any team that we play and beat them, we aren't going to be as big as the other team, we aren't going to be any of that. What we can do is have a tougher attitude and play harder. The last two teams have done a good job of that. This team is going to have a little reality check this week.

Q. Is there anything you can give us an example of, without naming names, of something that would be an indication of not playing hard or tough?

A. Yeah, I can give you an example, and this is true on all sides of the ball, but I will give you an example of when they line up to kick an extra-point or field goal. We have guys just taking the play off. They are just watching them kick the extra-point. On offense when we have guys going to block somebody on the left hand side of the field and they think they block them and they turn them loose and that guy ends up making the tackle on the other side of the field for a 15 yard gain instead of it being a 40 yard gain. Things like that. There is something on each side of the ball.

Q. You mentioned something to Kent yesterday about there would be no more interceptions on the first series. What did you mean by that?

A. Oh, I don't know about it never happening again, but I'm just saying we can't keep doing what we've been doing. It's ridiculous. The one Saturday was ridiculous. We worked on the play all week and we have a guy wide open in the flat. It's ridiculous.

Q. And that's another thing you aren't going to put up with anymore.

A. I'm not going to put up with it anymore. That's right. We've played seven games. Guys are going to make mistakes, they are going to overthrow or they are going to under throw the ball, but it's the mental mistakes that I'm not going to put up with. That's going to stop. If you throw it over somebody's head and it gets picked off that happens. That's football. Nobody wants to throw an interception. We have to protect the guy better as well. He has to have a chance to set his feet too.

Q. Like on that screen pass on the goal line where he had barely turned around and they were tackling him.

A. Right. Exactly. It's not just Lamar. Let me be perfectly clear that he's not our only problem. He's just like everybody else. We have to knock out the mistakes. I can live with a guy that makes a great break on the ball, but the ones that have frustrated me to start the game are the ones we have just kind of lobbed down the middle of the field, just not being very smart.

Q. I guess this is the week to get it together. It's your Homecoming for god sakes.

A. It's the week to get it together, because it's our next game. I guarantee you that nobody will be `iller than me all week. They will know that I'm not happy.