Sept. 17, 2007

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Coach Wannstedt Monday Press Conference
S. McKillop Monday Press Conference
Pitt vs. Michigan State Highlights

Dave Wannstedt

Connecticut Week

Sept. 17, 2007

Opening Statement:

As I mentioned after the game Saturday, we really felt that the Michigan State game would be a true indicator of two things: number one, where we are at as a football team and where we need to improve, and number two, what type of team we are. I think we walked away, particularly after watching the film the next day, with a lot of bright spots. Obviously we have a long way to go in certain areas, but for the most part I was very pleased with the effort. Our kids gave enough effort to win that football game. Our guys showed enough toughness and strength to win that football game. In games like that sometimes it's not the team that makes the most great plays that wins, it's the team that makes the least amount of bad plays and that's what happened on Saturday. As coaches and as a football team we have to do whatever we can do to eliminate the bad plays and build some confidence in certain areas to be able to make plays when the opportunities arise. I look at our roster and we had 10 players, (Jason) Pinkston, (Nate) Byham, (LeSean) McCoy, Kevan Smith, (Chris) Vangas, Scott McKillop, Adam Gunn, Shane Murray, Ricky Gary and Mick Williams that started their first road game at the University of Pittsburgh. I say that just because I thought our guys handled it well. They didn't come unglued with the crowd and they didn't get distracted and when you go into a football game like that where you're a heavy underdog, you talk about winning it in the fourth quarter. You talk about having an opportunity to win the game on the last play, if that's what it takes. When we took our last shot on the last play of the game, there were three seconds left. We didn't get it done, but we played the game out and had opportunities. There's nothing new to report from an injury standpoint and we hope to get a few guys back this week. LaRod Stephens-Howling is a lot better. I expect him to practice tomorrow and we hope to get him into the fold this week, which would give us a nice shot at that position.

On the "Wildcat formation" becoming a No. 1 offensive set this week:

No, I don't even know if we'll use it. It'll be a week-to-week decision. It'll be a situation each week that if we think there's something that we might be able to take advantage of, we'll use it. That whole thing came about last April, when we sat back and looked at our team whether it was Billy Stull or Pat Bostick or Kevan Smith, we were going to have a first-time starting quarterback. We felt like we were going to be better on defense. We felt like we had a few quality backs with LeSean McCoy, Kevin Collier, LaRod Stephens-Howling and Conredge Collins and we were trying to find a way to take some pressure off of the quarterback and generate some offense. That was a discussion in April after spring practice. I sent Matt (Cavanaugh) and a few of our offensive coaches to do a little investigating and they came back with some information. That's how the whole thing started. This thing was not on the table after Billy Stull got hurt, it was something that we really started up in April. We'll continue to have it as a part of our offense, but it's a game-plan thing as far as when we will use it, how we will use it and what we will do out of it.

On Maurice Williams possibly taking snaps in the "Wildcat formation":

We've used several guys in a lot of different spots. We've used Marcel Pestano, Oderick Turner, Maurice Williams and LaRod Stephens-Howling in the same place where Shady (LeSean McCoy) was. We've interchanged people, but we'll see. I don't know if we'll use it or not this week.

 We'll talk about that as we get into this week. I don't want to open up a can of worms for you guys. That can be the problem with this. It can become a monster of its own and I'm not going to let that happen. Now, we're going to do what we have to do or else I wouldn't have run it on Saturday. I felt like we had to do it in order to generate some offense. We weren't having any success throwing the ball, but we have to be careful. I have to make sure we don't let this thing become a monster.

On Kevan Smith:

It all starts with confidence. And this goes for Pat (Bostick) as well. We're going to work both quarterbacks equally in practice. They're both going to be ready to play. I'm expecting the starter to be Kevan; we haven't locked that into stone yet. They'll both get equal work this week. Kevan can do everything that we're asking him to do. He had a very good week of practice last week, I promise you. There are two things: one is making proper decisions to get the ball to the right guy and the other is when you have guys open, you have to hit them and give them a chance. The interception play last week, we had worked on that screen for a month. It was 3^rd-and-3 and if you look at our third downs against Michigan State, they were exactly where we wanted to be. The first half of that game we were 3^rd-and-3, 3^rd-and-5, 3^rd-and-6 and 3^rd-and-4. We call those "manageable third downs" and that's when you do the things that give a young quarterback the chance to be successful. We didn't execute well enough, physically or mentally, and we have got to get that going. That's a concern.

It was frustrating because there were a few times when we didn't make some plays as a whole offense. Let's not make this just a quarterback issue. The quarterback didn't play well enough to win, we all know that, but the times that we did have somebody open and Kevan was getting ready to deliver the ball, we would get pressure. Other times we would get good protection, Kevan makes a nice throw and we have a chance to catch a touchdown in the end zone, but we didn't catch it. Any one of those plays by two or three different positions would have given us a chance to win that game. It's an offensive thing right now, it's not a quarterback thing. We have to clean up and we have to be more efficient.

On being more inclined to put Pat Bostick in this week because the game is at home:

I thought about it last week at halftime, but I felt when we came out in our Wildcat package and made some plays, that would slow things down enough for Kevan. We were one throw and one catch from winning that game. I thought that Kevan was fine on the sidelines. He understood exactly what was happening, good and bad. He understood what we were trying to do to win the game. If I would have sensed panic or a sense of Kevan coming unglued, then I would have made a change, but that wasn't the case. He was trying to do everything he could do under the circumstances to win that football game.

On the possibility of Pat Bostick starting this week at quarterback:

Tomorrow will be the first day that Kevan comes out to practice since he's been exposed to everything that goes into being a quarterback who did not win the game, so I'm anxious to see how he comes out tomorrow. To answer your question, we'll see what happens before Saturday. We're going to work them both and we'll see what happens.

On the play of the linebackers:

The one thing that jumps out at me with our linebackers, and probably our defense overall, is that we are missing fewer tackles than we've missed since I've been here. I think that comes down to a few things: the players' ability and spending more time on it. The one position, and I'm on record saying it, that I was probably the most nervous about and has been the biggest surprise has been Scott McKillop filling in for H.B. Blades. H.B. is playing in the NFL, we all know that, and he was a great player for us here, but we have changed nothing from a linebacker standpoint with Scott in there. He's doing everything from the same formula and playing well. It's a shame when a guy has 17 tackles in a game because you'd like to come out with a win with that type of effort. We're rotating guys; Nate Nix got banged a little bit, so we held him. Dorin Dickerson and Adam Gunn are splitting time. Dorin's getting a little bit better every week - he's getting more comfortable. You don't like to play your linebackers the same way as your defensive linemen, by committee and rotate them, but it is what it is and Scott's the only one who really doesn't come out of the game.

On the strong play of the defensive linemen helping the linebackers:

When those guys up front are playing, it makes life easy. That was the difference in the game. They tried to bloody our nose with 51 runs from a running back that was probably Mick Williams' size, but our guys held up well. It's a compliment to our players and our strength program. Buddy (Morris) has only been here for (nine) months working with the kids. I'm excited to see where we are in one year and two years from now with this intense training. I think it will really show up and I think it has already.

On LeSean McCoy and LaRod Stephens-Howling:

We're going to work them both. LaRod hasn't practiced since he's been banged up, so we'll see where he is at on Tuesday when we practice. We're going to need them both, we'll get them both ready to play this week and see how it unfolds come Saturday.

On Connecticut:

They have changed up things a little bit on offense; they're throwing the ball a little bit more. They have a new starting quarterback from a year ago. The kid (D.J. Hernandez) that played and beat us last year is starting at wide receiver for them. They have a big offensive that is committed to running the football and they have some good backs. They are quicker in their front four this year than what they were a year ago. They are a good football team. It's a conference game, it's at home and we'll come out of the chute ready to play.

On the defensive line's performance making it more difficult on opposing offenses:

You strive to get to that point. We have a lot of work to do with those guys, but it was nice to see (Rashaad) Duncan, Mick Williams and Joe Clermond get sacks and spread them around the group. We didn't blitz much; we probably only blitzed a half-dozen times the entire game. We were rushing four. We had a blitz package and we were prepared to do more, but we felt as if we didn't have to take as many chances and that's a nice scenario to be in. If you have the guys up front making plays, that gives you a lot of flexibility on the back end. You don't have to take as many chances. Until we get caught up with our quarterback situation, we have to play at a high level on defense, we have to.

On UConn's return game:

(Larry) Taylor is one of the better returners in our conference and has been for a while. They do a good job on special teams and so do we; this will be a good challenge for us. I wasn't pleased with the kickoff coverage last week. We had one or two breakdowns on that and gave up some field position. The rest of our special teams have been good though. That has been a strength for us in all three games. We blocked a field goal and the sad thing is that in most football games if a team blocks a punt or a field goal, the chances of that team winning are about 80 percent. If you don't hand them the ball, the blocked field goal probably makes a difference in us winning that game.

On Smith and Bostick sharing practice reps:

Yes, they had been splitting the snaps the entire week. I think Kevan had a great week of practice last week and felt very confident going into the game.

On preserving redshirt seasons:

There are a few scenarios that have happened: number one, players leaving early, and number two, Tyler Palko played as freshman and then redshirted later. Derek Kinder, just think what a horrible deal that would have been if he didn't have his redshirt year to come back to. Right now we're playing Dom DeCicco, Jabaal Sheard, Shady (LeSean McCoy) and obviously Pat's (Bostick) been in a game this year. There will probably be one or two more that, if we have to play them we will play them. John Bachman played a little bit as a freshman and then he redshirted last year. Every scenario is a little bit different. I think that if you need the player to help you win, you do it and you can present your case of instances when the redshirt didn't happen. Others, like Derek Kinder, it was nice to have that redshirt year for that kid and his parents.