Nov. 9, 2005

Q. Players only meeting over there?

A. I have no idea what that's about. They are never really very good when you have them. If you are having those meetings it usually means you aren't doing very good.

Q. Do you know what that meeting is about?

A. I have no idea nor do I care.

Q. Outside of Army, in terms of preparation and anticipation, is this the most fun week?

A. It's a fun week. Every week to me is fun. I enjoy what I'm doing. Probably for our guys, other than the two Service Academy games, it's a game they look forward to playing in. There's no question about that.

Q. At the beginning of the season you said you weren't really sure what you had because you had so many young players. What are your thoughts now as far as what are some of the things you are doing well and what are some of the things you need to improve on?

A. I think that at times we have played hard. In the last game we showed good effort. We've been real inconsistent, which is kind of a trademark of a young team sometimes. We are to the point in the season where I expect more, especially mentally and effort wise. Last week we played like I thought we could.

Q. Going into a hostile environment, does that weigh on the team at all?

A. Oh, it's going to be tough. It would be tough for us to play Notre Dame if we played them in the parking lot of K-Mart. They have a good team. That's not going to be a factor.

Q. Do you feel as though your team is playing their best football right now?

A. We played our hardest last week as far as effort and that kind of thing. It will take a really big game for us to have any kind of chance, but that's why you play the game. You never know. I remember my first year when nobody would have given us a chance and we were up eight with six minutes to go. We had a chance. Who knows what might happen. You can't ever tell.

Q. Charlie (Weis) talked about when you guy's get ahead you are unbeatable.

A. Laughter

Q. He had the stats to prove it. 10-consecutive games when you score first you win.

A. Shoot, maybe we should take the ball if we win the toss.

Q. Absolutely. You take the ball and score you are a guaranteed lock to win.

A. Guaranteed win? I'm going to tell you what. I will do that if he guarantees us that if we get the ball and score that they will quit.

Q. Coach, following up on that without going too much into the game plan. How important is it to strike first?

A. It's important. Any time in any game you would like to score first. It's important, but you have to play the whole game. That doesn't mean anything. We've been ahead of them before. I think two years ago, if I'm not mistaken, we got ahead of them out there too. You have to finish the game.

Q. The way they've lined up against you in the past. Do you think they will line up that way again?

A. There's only so many ways you can line up. They have a new staff and I'm sure they are going to have their own wrinkles and play us differently.

Q. Do you know much about their defensive coordinator? Any history on him?

A. I know who he is and know that he was the head coach at Cincinnati for a long time. He is a former coordinator at Notre Dame. I don't know what he's going to do against an option team. I've never seen them line up against one.

Q. This is the first time this staff has ever played against a true option team.

A. This is only the seventh or eighth game for this staff. They have some good coaches. Those guys know what they are doing. I have a lot of respect for all their coaches, not just Charlie. Bill Lewis I've known for a long time, since he was at Georgia as the secondary coach. When I was at Georgia Southern he used to come down and we would try and spend time and pick his brain. Rick Minter has been a great defensive coach. Jappy Oliver was at Air Force. He knows about the option. They have guys that know what their doing. We are just going to have to line up and play and execute.

Q. How much different do they look under Charlie Weis compared to years past?

A. I think the quarterback is playing better. They are older. They are going to look better. People tend to forget that that offensive line, two years ago when they were struggling, was very young. They have played some; their receivers have more experience. The quarterback is playing much, much better. That's the biggest difference in their football team.

Q. I have to ask you about the Army-Air Force game. What did you think? Army won and that makes your game more important.

A. It's a shame that they both couldn't have lost.

Q. Come on now.

A. Honestly? I didn't care who won.

Q. But it makes your game more important. Now it's for the trophy.

A. Wow. You don't think it was important before? I think it was pretty important before. In my mind it was for the trophy anyway. You have to win the game to win the trophy.

Q. To win the trophy outright.

A. Yeah. I didn't want to win the trophy by default. Army is playing hard and they are much better. It will be a tough game. I knew it would be a tough game before they beat Air Force. It always is. When you have a rivalry game like that it's always tough.

Q. Any guys on their defense that particularly worry you or do you think that every one of them is pretty damn good? Obviously we talked about Hoyte yesterday and you brought up Zbikowski, who is a hell of a player. That's another thing, he brought back an interception and a punt back for a touchdown against Tennessee. Does that concern you?

A. Yeah,. Everything about the game concerns me, but if we protect the punter, punt the ball and stay in our lanes we ought to tackle him. If we don't, he's liable to take one back. That's the way it works. They have a lot of weapons. We just have to go and play our best game of the year and see what happens.

Q. A lot of talk surrounding the winless streak against Notre Dame. Is that a factor or distraction to you?

A. To me? No.

Q. What about the players?

A. I don't think so. We haven't talked about it. There's a reason why they've won 41 in a row. I bet they've been favored in all of them.

Q. They are favored by 24 this time.

A. Wow. Is that all? I would have thought it would be more.

Q. Can I ask you about Joe Person? You mentioned to somebody about him losing weight. Has he lost a dramatic amount of weight during the season?

A. Yeah, like a lot of the guys.

Q. Has he lost the most?

A. I don't know. Let me just tell you. Our starting offensive guard weighs 232 pounds (Antron Harper), Person weighs 254 pounds. I don't think that's a big secret.

Q. Are your linemen losing more weight during the season than you would expect?

A. Some do. Gallion hasn't lost any. He seems to be doing okay, but some of the others have.

Q. Maybe Zach can give some of his weight to Person?

A. Yeah, or Antron. If we could shift some of that weight over that would be good.