Oct. 24, 2008

In Attendance: Bill Wagner (Annapolis Capital), Camille Powell (Washington Post), Don Markus (Baltimore Sun)

Wagner: What kind of defense is SMU running?

Niumatalolo: They run multiple fronts. We aren't real sure what they are going to play against us. They haven't played any option teams so we will just have to see. We are practicing against everything this week.

Markus: Given the amount of interceptions they have thrown this year do you feel like you need to play aggressively looking for that or do you think it will just happen?

Niumatalolo: We just need to play. We need to take care of our assignments. We have to play better offensively. We need to control the ball, move the ball and score. The defense just needs to play, hopefully like they did against Wake.

Markus: As far as the quarterbacks this week is Jarod starting and Ricky the backup?

Niumatalolo: Yes.

Wagner: Kaipo is definitely out?

Niumatalolo: This week, yes. He did some fundamental stuff today. I am staying out of it. I am leaving that stuff up to the trainers.

Wagner: So the trainers are telling you he is not ready?

Niumatalolo: He is not ready. I think everybody is a little gun shy about pushing him, because we might have pushed him too early the last time.

Powell: Is it possible that you might just wait until the next bye week?

Niumatalolo: We might. He actually opened up a little bit on his runs today, but he said he felt it tighten up so he stopped. Today was the first day he had really opened up and ran hard.

Wagner: So you don't have him doing any offensive drills?

Niumatalolo: Just fundamentals, not team stuff.

Markus: Are you concerned at all about the team and their mindset going from playing a 5-1 Pitt team to a 1-6 SMU team?

Niumatalolo: No, we don't even look at records. We just lost and got our brains beat in. Our pride was hurt so we just have to find a way to win. You just have to watch SMU on tape and that is enough to make sure our kids don't get overconfident. They have moved the ball against pretty much everybody. Defensively they have played against some good offenses. That league has four or five of the top offensives in the country."