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University of Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster met with the media Tuesday to discuss last week's game at Penn State and this week's game at Ohio State. The following is a transcript of that press conference:
COACH BREWSTER: Going back and recapping Penn State, obviously we had a tough day on the offensive side of the ball. You know, never really established any continuity to get our offense going.
In large part, I feel like it was due to an outstanding Penn State defense. Statistically, they’re the No. 1 defense in the Big 10, and they played like it last Saturday. Just a really good defensive football team.
I was pleased with our defense. I thought allowing Penn State only 20 points was an excellent job by our defense. We played very physical. Going back and looking at the tape, we got Penn State in a lot of third and long situations. Our first and second down defense was excellent. We’ve got to continue to work to improve on third down, getting off the field on third downs defensively. We’ve got to continue to work to improve staying on the field offensively on third downs.
Third down, it’s the name of the game in football, staying on the field, getting off the field. We’ve got to continue to emphasize, continue to work to get better in those areas.
Our special teams I thought again was outstanding against Penn State. Blake Haudan averaging over 50 yards a punt. Our coverage units again knocking a ball loose. Just really pleased with our special teams. So we’ve really made some progress in those areas.
Again, an outstanding football team we played last week. This week we face a very similar type of opponent. Ohio State I think is very similar to Penn State, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They’re an outstanding defensive football team. Present a lot of the same issues, a of the same challenges. They’ve got a good collection of athletes as what we’re going to see this season.
Obviously offensively you have a guy, Terrelle Pryor, who is just an amazing threat. He’s outstanding with the ball in his hands, both as a runner and as a passer. We’ve got to do a great job of trying to contain him.
I don’t think that you’re going to stop Terrelle Pryor. He’s too talented for you to stop. But you can try to contain him and try to limit the number of big plays in which he’s involved with. But he’s got some outstanding players to throw to. They have an excellent running game.
Special teams wise, you know, they’re excellent. They do a good job. Extremely well coached football team. Present a lot of challenges for us as we prepare.
As you look at our depth chart going into this game, there won’t be any changes as far as depth chart is concerned. D.J. Burris will stay as the starting center. Trey Davis will back up D.J. Burris and Matt Carufel at right guard. Everything else remains the same. I think that’s a positive for where we’re at at this point in the season, to not have dramatic depth chart changes from week to week.
Questions.
Q. Do you think Ohio State is a more vulnerable team going into this week after the way Purdue exploited some of their weaknesses or are they tougher?
COACH BREWSTER: A lot of people have asked me that same question. Ohio State is Ohio State. I think once you establish who you are as a football team, and what I mean by that is, you’re going to play hard every week, you’re going to get their best shot every week, and I don’t think that there’s going to be extended motivation because of the loss last week against Purdue.
I think it’s very simple: they turned the ball over. There is no magic to it, there is no science to it. They turned the football over a number of times against Purdue. That’s not how you win football games, particularly on the road in the Big 10.
I anticipate us seeing what we expect to see from Ohio State, and that’s an outstanding football team. They’re playing at home. They’re playing in front of 100,000 plus fans. They’re going to be motivated. They’re going to be excited. That certainly makes it a tremendous challenge for us.
But, you know, I don’t know that there’s going to be added motivation because they lost. I’ve said from the beginning, on any given Saturday, anybody can beat anybody in the Big 10. I think that’s how this thing is shaking down. Your mental makeup as a football team is really going to determine whether or not you’ve got a true chance to win every single Saturday.
Q. When the defense isn’t getting off the field on third down, holding opponents down points wise, does that make it more difficult for the offense because there’s fewer opportunities?
COACH BREWSTER: I think you answered the question yourself. Offensive football is about opportunities. When you limit the number of opportunities that you get to run an offensive play, that certainly hurts your chances of scoring and doing things offensively. I think that’s a pretty simple answer to that question, is you want to have numerous opportunities offensively, and you want to limit the number of opportunities that they have.
Q. (Question regarding Adam Weber.)
COACH BREWSTER: He’s run the ball. The last couple of games he’s had an opportunity to run the football, and he’s done some nice things. Adam Weber has proved to be a good runner with the football. What he did last week to avoid some sacks, to only give up one sack to that Penn State defense was pretty good by our group. In large part, it was due to Adam’s ability, his ability to move around in the pocket and run with the football.
Yeah, he’ll continue to have the ball in his hands. If there’s opportunities for us to allow him to run the ball, we’ll do that.
Q. In what ways can you see a benefit to a week after going to a ranked opponent, 100,000 plus, another ranked opponent 100,000 plus?
COACH BREWSTER: It goes from the beginning of the season to where we’re at right now. Every week we’ve played a very challenging opponent. We’ve played an extremely tough schedule. I think that everybody who understands football understands that we’ve played a very challenging schedule. And I think that’s very positive for our football team.
Again, I’ve used the term, we’re a ‘battle tested’ football team. We’ve been in battles against really good football teams, against outstanding football teams. And I think that’s a benefit for our team.
Q. How similar is the Ohio State defense to the Penn State defense?
COACH BREWSTER: I think they’re very similar. I think they’re similar in some of the concepts. I think Ohio State is a little bit more aggressive, they blitz a little bit more, they zone dog a little bit more, they try to do a little bit more defensively.
But from a personnel standpoint, I think they’re very similar. I think their fronts are both outstanding. I think their linebacker play is very good. Very sound with what they try to do in the secondary with coverage.
So, you know, like I said, I think it’s going to be a very similar type of situation as far as the type of defense that we’re gonna see this week.
Q. (Question regarding Kevin Whaley.)
COACH BREWSTER: You know, again, we’re going to play three backs. Kevin started the game. He really did some nice things against Purdue, had some very productive runs. He had a couple of runs in the Penn State game. So he’s going to continue to be a guy we give the ball to, along with DeLeon and Duane both.
Q. (Question regarding determining starters.)
COACH BREWSTER: I think it has more to do with what we’re trying to accomplish with a specific run. A lot of our running game is different. Each guy does different things well. So depending upon what we’re calling at that specific time, we may have a different guy in the game.
Each guy, each one of those three guys, does things differently, does some things better than others. So what we’re trying to do is accentuate the positive with all three guys.
Q. Bennett bounced back from the fumble, do you think?
COACH BREWSTER: Yeah, I certainly think so. Yeah, I think he’s fine. Duane is a good back.
Q. After watching the film, anything that jumps out as far as areas you need improvement?
COACH BREWSTER: No, I just think that, again, in large part, you know, Penn State was better than we were. You know, again, they’re a really good defensive football team. As we look back at it, what we try to do differently, we may try to do a few things differently. You always ask yourself that question after every performance, What would I do differently? There’s certainly some things we’d try to do a little bit differently. We’d try to do some things better. That’s how we felt about it coming out of the game.
We’re just going to continue to work to improve each week in specific areas. Third down is a big emphasis for us. We need to improve on third downs. We need to create manageable third downs. So that’s a huge part of what we’re trying to get done offensively as far as our improvement.
Q. Do you feel the number and the length of the replays interfered with the flow of the game?
COACH BREWSTER: I think it does. I really do. I think multiple timeouts, you know, you have a timeout before a kickoff, you have a kickoff, then you have another timeout. A lot of those things I think take away from the game.
It’s really unfortunate that, you know, the game has been so review oriented at this particular point. I think there was three overturned calls on Saturday. You know, again, I think it is unfortunate. Again, I don’t know what we can do to really make it better. I’m really excited about the involvement of Bill Carollo in the Big Ten officiating, taking over the Big Ten officiating. I think he’s taken some very positive steps in trying to improve the overall performance of our officials and also the review process.
Q. You have done a lot this year trying to make it difficult for other teams to double up, bring somebody over on top of Eric. Is there anything more you can do or a priority to try to figure out ways to get him involved?
COACH BREWSTER: You know, I don’t think he struggled to get open. I think he’s been open. We had some great opportunities against Penn State. We didn’t take advantage of all the opportunities that we had. We’ll go into every game with a plan of how we want to try to get Eric the ball, by formation, motion and shift, try to create space for him, try to create opportunities for him.
There were opportunities there against Penn State. He made a huge play down the middle of the field. We certainly anticipate him playing really well and having opportunities against Ohio State.
Q. Terrelle Pryor, Jim Tressel said earlier today, can’t beat experience. Playing him last year was a big help for him. You’ve taken a different approach with MarQueis. Can you talk about your approach in helping him develop.
COACH BREWSTER: Everybody has to go at it at the pace that they think or playing the guys that they think give you the best chance to win. Obviously we have a really good quarterback in Adam Weber, a very experienced quarterback in Adam Weber. We have a very talented young quarterback in MarQueis Gray. I think MarQueis in time is going to be a special player. I think he’s got special talents. We’re very fortunate to be in a situation where we think we have a guy that can allow us to win football games and help us win football games as MarQueis develops.
I think that that approach is the best approach in our situation. It’s a very positive approach for us. And I think it will serve MarQueis the best in the long run.
Q. What does a young guy like that learn sitting down and watching Adam Weber?
COACH BREWSTER: I think, again, it’s all about preparation. It’s all about learning how to prepare. Young guys don’t understand truly being a student of the game and teaching Adam Weber can take MarQueis under his wing and truly teach him how to study the game and how to prepare so that success isn’t an accident.
There’s so many more things that are involved with playing the quarterback position other than just being a talented young player. And I think that the most critical thing with young quarterbacks is, when they get an opportunity to play, are you giving them a chance to be successful, truly being successful, and not having a negative experience out of the gate that you got to recover from.
So I think that’s what really allows us, with Adam, to do with MarQueis.
Q. Besides the turnovers from the Purdue/Ohio State game, what else did Purdue do well that you can replicate next week?
COACH BREWSTER: Purdue did a lot of things well. I thought they really played really good defense. They did a great job rushing the passer, forcing Terrelle Pryor to make some decisions, some quick decisions, some decisions under duress. Purdue did a great job in their secondary. They really made some plays. And the game is about, you know, play makers, players making plays. Purdue had a couple of guys step up and make big time plays in that game to really help their cause.
So, again, from what we looked at there, you know, those are some of the things. Again, Purdue offensively really did a pretty good job of throwing the football. They had a lot of success throwing the football in the game.
It’s tough sledding trying to run the football against Ohio State’s defense. Their defense is very, very good. And so those are some of the things I thought that Purdue did well to give them a chance to win.
University of Minnesota head coach Tim Brewster met with the media Tuesday to discuss last week's game at Penn State and this week's game at Ohio State. The following is a transcript of that press conference:
COACH BREWSTER: Going back and recapping Penn State, obviously we had a tough day on the offensive side of the ball. You know, never really established any continuity to get our offense going.
In large part, I feel like it was due to an outstanding Penn State defense. Statistically, they’re the No. 1 defense in the Big 10, and they played like it last Saturday. Just a really good defensive football team.
I was pleased with our defense. I thought allowing Penn State only 20 points was an excellent job by our defense. We played very physical. Going back and looking at the tape, we got Penn State in a lot of third and long situations. Our first and second down defense was excellent. We’ve got to continue to work to improve on third down, getting off the field on third downs defensively. We’ve got to continue to work to improve staying on the field offensively on third downs.
Third down, it’s the name of the game in football, staying on the field, getting off the field. We’ve got to continue to emphasize, continue to work to get better in those areas.
Our special teams I thought again was outstanding against Penn State. Blake Haudan averaging over 50 yards a punt. Our coverage units again knocking a ball loose. Just really pleased with our special teams. So we’ve really made some progress in those areas.
Again, an outstanding football team we played last week. This week we face a very similar type of opponent. Ohio State I think is very similar to Penn State, particularly on the defensive side of the ball. They’re an outstanding defensive football team. Present a lot of the same issues, a of the same challenges. They’ve got a good collection of athletes as what we’re going to see this season.
Obviously offensively you have a guy, Terrelle Pryor, who is just an amazing threat. He’s outstanding with the ball in his hands, both as a runner and as a passer. We’ve got to do a great job of trying to contain him.
I don’t think that you’re going to stop Terrelle Pryor. He’s too talented for you to stop. But you can try to contain him and try to limit the number of big plays in which he’s involved with. But he’s got some outstanding players to throw to. They have an excellent running game.
Special teams wise, you know, they’re excellent. They do a good job. Extremely well coached football team. Present a lot of challenges for us as we prepare.
As you look at our depth chart going into this game, there won’t be any changes as far as depth chart is concerned. D.J. Burris will stay as the starting center. Trey Davis will back up D.J. Burris and Matt Carufel at right guard. Everything else remains the same. I think that’s a positive for where we’re at at this point in the season, to not have dramatic depth chart changes from week to week.
Questions.
Q. Do you think Ohio State is a more vulnerable team going into this week after the way Purdue exploited some of their weaknesses or are they tougher?
COACH BREWSTER: A lot of people have asked me that same question. Ohio State is Ohio State. I think once you establish who you are as a football team, and what I mean by that is, you’re going to play hard every week, you’re going to get their best shot every week, and I don’t think that there’s going to be extended motivation because of the loss last week against Purdue.
I think it’s very simple: they turned the ball over. There is no magic to it, there is no science to it. They turned the football over a number of times against Purdue. That’s not how you win football games, particularly on the road in the Big 10.
I anticipate us seeing what we expect to see from Ohio State, and that’s an outstanding football team. They’re playing at home. They’re playing in front of 100,000 plus fans. They’re going to be motivated. They’re going to be excited. That certainly makes it a tremendous challenge for us.
But, you know, I don’t know that there’s going to be added motivation because they lost. I’ve said from the beginning, on any given Saturday, anybody can beat anybody in the Big 10. I think that’s how this thing is shaking down. Your mental makeup as a football team is really going to determine whether or not you’ve got a true chance to win every single Saturday.
Q. When the defense isn’t getting off the field on third down, holding opponents down points wise, does that make it more difficult for the offense because there’s fewer opportunities?
COACH BREWSTER: I think you answered the question yourself. Offensive football is about opportunities. When you limit the number of opportunities that you get to run an offensive play, that certainly hurts your chances of scoring and doing things offensively. I think that’s a pretty simple answer to that question, is you want to have numerous opportunities offensively, and you want to limit the number of opportunities that they have.
Q. (Question regarding Adam Weber.)
COACH BREWSTER: He’s run the ball. The last couple of games he’s had an opportunity to run the football, and he’s done some nice things. Adam Weber has proved to be a good runner with the football. What he did last week to avoid some sacks, to only give up one sack to that Penn State defense was pretty good by our group. In large part, it was due to Adam’s ability, his ability to move around in the pocket and run with the football.
Yeah, he’ll continue to have the ball in his hands. If there’s opportunities for us to allow him to run the ball, we’ll do that.
Q. In what ways can you see a benefit to a week after going to a ranked opponent, 100,000 plus, another ranked opponent 100,000 plus?
COACH BREWSTER: It goes from the beginning of the season to where we’re at right now. Every week we’ve played a very challenging opponent. We’ve played an extremely tough schedule. I think that everybody who understands football understands that we’ve played a very challenging schedule. And I think that’s very positive for our football team.
Again, I’ve used the term, we’re a ‘battle tested’ football team. We’ve been in battles against really good football teams, against outstanding football teams. And I think that’s a benefit for our team.
Q. How similar is the Ohio State defense to the Penn State defense?
COACH BREWSTER: I think they’re very similar. I think they’re similar in some of the concepts. I think Ohio State is a little bit more aggressive, they blitz a little bit more, they zone dog a little bit more, they try to do a little bit more defensively.
But from a personnel standpoint, I think they’re very similar. I think their fronts are both outstanding. I think their linebacker play is very good. Very sound with what they try to do in the secondary with coverage.
So, you know, like I said, I think it’s going to be a very similar type of situation as far as the type of defense that we’re gonna see this week.
Q. (Question regarding Kevin Whaley.)
COACH BREWSTER: You know, again, we’re going to play three backs. Kevin started the game. He really did some nice things against Purdue, had some very productive runs. He had a couple of runs in the Penn State game. So he’s going to continue to be a guy we give the ball to, along with DeLeon and Duane both.
Q. (Question regarding determining starters.)
COACH BREWSTER: I think it has more to do with what we’re trying to accomplish with a specific run. A lot of our running game is different. Each guy does different things well. So depending upon what we’re calling at that specific time, we may have a different guy in the game.
Each guy, each one of those three guys, does things differently, does some things better than others. So what we’re trying to do is accentuate the positive with all three guys.
Q. Bennett bounced back from the fumble, do you think?
COACH BREWSTER: Yeah, I certainly think so. Yeah, I think he’s fine. Duane is a good back.
Q. After watching the film, anything that jumps out as far as areas you need improvement?
COACH BREWSTER: No, I just think that, again, in large part, you know, Penn State was better than we were. You know, again, they’re a really good defensive football team. As we look back at it, what we try to do differently, we may try to do a few things differently. You always ask yourself that question after every performance, What would I do differently? There’s certainly some things we’d try to do a little bit differently. We’d try to do some things better. That’s how we felt about it coming out of the game.
We’re just going to continue to work to improve each week in specific areas. Third down is a big emphasis for us. We need to improve on third downs. We need to create manageable third downs. So that’s a huge part of what we’re trying to get done offensively as far as our improvement.
Q. Do you feel the number and the length of the replays interfered with the flow of the game?
COACH BREWSTER: I think it does. I really do. I think multiple timeouts, you know, you have a timeout before a kickoff, you have a kickoff, then you have another timeout. A lot of those things I think take away from the game.
It’s really unfortunate that, you know, the game has been so review oriented at this particular point. I think there was three overturned calls on Saturday. You know, again, I think it is unfortunate. Again, I don’t know what we can do to really make it better. I’m really excited about the involvement of Bill Carollo in the Big Ten officiating, taking over the Big Ten officiating. I think he’s taken some very positive steps in trying to improve the overall performance of our officials and also the review process.
Q. You have done a lot this year trying to make it difficult for other teams to double up, bring somebody over on top of Eric. Is there anything more you can do or a priority to try to figure out ways to get him involved?
COACH BREWSTER: You know, I don’t think he struggled to get open. I think he’s been open. We had some great opportunities against Penn State. We didn’t take advantage of all the opportunities that we had. We’ll go into every game with a plan of how we want to try to get Eric the ball, by formation, motion and shift, try to create space for him, try to create opportunities for him.
There were opportunities there against Penn State. He made a huge play down the middle of the field. We certainly anticipate him playing really well and having opportunities against Ohio State.
Q. Terrelle Pryor, Jim Tressel said earlier today, can’t beat experience. Playing him last year was a big help for him. You’ve taken a different approach with MarQueis. Can you talk about your approach in helping him develop.
COACH BREWSTER: Everybody has to go at it at the pace that they think or playing the guys that they think give you the best chance to win. Obviously we have a really good quarterback in Adam Weber, a very experienced quarterback in Adam Weber. We have a very talented young quarterback in MarQueis Gray. I think MarQueis in time is going to be a special player. I think he’s got special talents. We’re very fortunate to be in a situation where we think we have a guy that can allow us to win football games and help us win football games as MarQueis develops.
I think that that approach is the best approach in our situation. It’s a very positive approach for us. And I think it will serve MarQueis the best in the long run.
Q. What does a young guy like that learn sitting down and watching Adam Weber?
COACH BREWSTER: I think, again, it’s all about preparation. It’s all about learning how to prepare. Young guys don’t understand truly being a student of the game and teaching Adam Weber can take MarQueis under his wing and truly teach him how to study the game and how to prepare so that success isn’t an accident.
There’s so many more things that are involved with playing the quarterback position other than just being a talented young player. And I think that the most critical thing with young quarterbacks is, when they get an opportunity to play, are you giving them a chance to be successful, truly being successful, and not having a negative experience out of the gate that you got to recover from.
So I think that’s what really allows us, with Adam, to do with MarQueis.
Q. Besides the turnovers from the Purdue/Ohio State game, what else did Purdue do well that you can replicate next week?
COACH BREWSTER: Purdue did a lot of things well. I thought they really played really good defense. They did a great job rushing the passer, forcing Terrelle Pryor to make some decisions, some quick decisions, some decisions under duress. Purdue did a great job in their secondary. They really made some plays. And the game is about, you know, play makers, players making plays. Purdue had a couple of guys step up and make big time plays in that game to really help their cause.
So, again, from what we looked at there, you know, those are some of the things. Again, Purdue offensively really did a pretty good job of throwing the football. They had a lot of success throwing the football in the game.
It’s tough sledding trying to run the football against Ohio State’s defense. Their defense is very, very good. And so those are some of the things I thought that Purdue did well to give them a chance to win.
