Nov. 22, 2008

In Attendance: Bill Wagner (Annapolis Capital), Camille Powell (Washington Post), Mike Fratto (Washington Times)

 

Fratto: Why did you decide to come inside today?

 

Niumatalolo: The weather.

 

Fratto: It is nice in here.

 

Niumatalolo: It is nice in here (Wesley Brown). We are practicing in here on Saturday and then we will be outside on Sunday night.

 

Fratto: How has Dobbs looked this week?

 

Niumatalolo: Good. He has had a really good week of practice. I have been really encouraged by the way he has practiced.

 

Fratto: Is this a scenario you could have even imagined back in August? With two senior quarterbacks coming back you probably would have never thought you would be starting your third different quarterback this year.

 

Niumatalolo: That is the one position from the standpoint of the guys that we had coming back I never thought we would be in the position we are in right now, but we are very fortunate to have three good quarterbacks. We are very excited about Ricky and he will do a good job.

 

Fratto: Does it surprise you that Ricky is the starter this early in his career?

 

Niumatalolo: No. After what he has done on the field against Temple, SMU and Notre Dame you have to believe in what you see.

 

Wagner: You said yesterday that Northern Illinois has a lot to play for. If they beat Navy they will have a winning record and they will have a chance to go to a bowl game. Are you worried about matching them motivation wise?

 

Niumatalolo: We are walking into a hornet’s nest. I truly believe that. They were a tough team for us to beat last year and they didn’t have anything to play for when we played them. That was one of our harder games last year. They are a tough team. They have tough kids and they are very well coached. They are hard-nosed and they will be highly motivated for us. It is going to be a tough game for us.

Wagner: It seems like they are a team that believes in running the ball and stopping the run.

 

Niumatalolo: It is going to be a fight.

 

Wagner: Do you feel like, with the few extra days of practice, that you’ve been able to solve some of the other problems with the offense? We know it wasn’t just Jarod.

 

Niumatalolo: I have been encouraged by some of the stuff that I’ve seen at practice.

 

Wagner: You guys could really use a game where the offense is hitting on all four cylinders and the offense looks the way we all know it can.

 

Niumatalolo: We need to do it for all four quarters. We have done it in bits and parts, but not for all four quarters. We just want our guys to do their job and go to the right people, that is the only way we will have a chance to win the game.