Oct. 13, 2008

In Attendance: Bill Wagner (Annapolis Capital), Dave Ausiello (gomidshipmen.com), Gary Lambrecht (Baltimore Examiner), Camille Powell (Washington Post)

Wagner: Do you think this game could be like last year's game, a 48-45 shootout?

Niumatalolo: I hope not. I know it's going to be a battle. We are both coming off an off week and I know they want revenge from last year. They are a good football team. Coach Wannstedt has brought in a Top 15 recruiting class every year and you can see that their players have bought into his system. It is going to be a tough battle for us.

Lambrecht: Can you talk about McCoy?

Niumatalolo: He is the best tailback we've seen. We are going to have our hands full trying to get him on the ground. Matt Cavanaugh loves to run the football and I'm sure they are going to try and run it against us.

Wagner: Do you think they overlooked you last year? Do you think they will be more focused on Navy this time?

Niumatalolo: If they did they are definitely not going to do it this year. I'm sure their coaches have been talking about that. That's not going to happen this year. If we think we are going to sneak up on them this year we are in for a rude awakening.

Wagner: How are you health wise? How is Walsh?

Niumatalolo: He went a little bit today on the bag. He did OK. We aren't trying to push him. He did more than we thought he would be able to do.

Wagner: Do you think he can go on Saturday?

Niumatalolo: Right now I would say he will play on Saturday.

Wagner: How about Corey and Ram?

Niumatalolo: They were both back today. Kaipo practiced today. We didn't try and push him too hard. We want to be smart about it.

Ausiello: Would you say Kaipo is questionable for Saturday?

Niumatalolo: Yeah, but he did more today than I thought he would. He participated in most of our team drills. I was encouraged with what I saw.

Wagner: You had talked about the bye week coming at a good time for you, do you feel like the team got rejuvenated?

Niumatalolo: I think so. I thought we had a good practice. We had a short, crisp, sharp practice. We had a great practice on Friday, but they had a little motivation for that one. If we didn't practice well on Friday I was going to keep them here and make them practice on Saturday. They definitely wanted to get out of here.

Ausiello: Are you surprised at the first half of the season as far as overall performance of the team?

Niumatalolo: No, I've just been pleased with our resiliency. Our team has been resilient. Everything that has been thrown at them they've been able to overcome. We really never talked about our schedule and being on the road for as many games as we were (four of the first six), they just fought through it. We didn't play very well against Air Force, we were really banged up, but the kids found a way to win. I'm very proud of the way they have fought, but having said that if we don't take advantage of the opportunities that are ahead of us, starting this week against Pittsburgh, it will be a travesty. We have to make sure we continue to raise the bar.

Lambrecht: In all the years you have been around here, and you have been around some good Navy teams, have you ever seen a Navy team win back-to-back games against good teams on defense and special teams? That just hasn't been the formula around here.

Niumatalolo: We have just found a way to win. It's like a good basketball team; if your shots aren't falling you have to find a way to get to the free throw line. Our kids have just found a way to win. We hadn't blocked a punt for a touchdown in I don't know how long, Scott could tell you, but to get two in one game is unbelievable. Hopefully we can keep that going. I don't care what we have to do to win, I just want to score one more point than the other team.