Sept. 22, 2008

Coach Wannstedt Press Conference

Sept. 22, 2008

Syracuse Week

Opening Statement:

“When you look at Syracuse, they had a nice win on Saturday. I think that if you look at their history and tradition up there and playing at the Carrier Dome, we’ll have a lot of work to do. Last week we had a nice win but we’re still not doing things as well as we’d like and as well as I think we’re capable of. It was a win and I think we can learn from that win. We’ll regroup and get ready for Syracuse. They have a few changes, primarily at quarterback with (Cameron) Dantley starting now. He’s a good athlete and we’ll see a good run game similar to that of Iowa’s. They have two good running backs who rushed for over 100 yards last week. On the other side, we’re anticipating a lot pressure from their defense primarily against run situations. They’re going to try and put us in some difficult situations and make us throw the football. Other than that, we’re reasonably healthy aside from a few bumps and bruises. We’re hoping to get Shane Murray back in action a little more than he was last week.”

On Greg Cross playing time:

“We do have a series of plays for him other than the two we ran last week. We’ll see how things unfold. He’s been practicing and doing everything since day one in camp.”

On Jonathan Baldwin playing time:

“He played 10 snaps out of 60 or so on Saturday. The first time we tried to get him the ball, they jumped into coverage and jammed him and he wasn’t able to get open. We’re going to try and get him a little more action…he had a good practice yesterday.”

On Shane Murray and Austin Ransom and playing time at Will linebacker:

“Austin deserved to be the starter after the way he’s progressed. Shane is close to being 100 percent so we’ll see evaluate him this week in practice.”

On Dom DeCicco and Elijah Fields at strong safety:

“I thought Dom DeCicco stepped up and played real well last week so he’ll probably split time with Elijah this week.  Elijah did well on his first start. There are some things out there we’ll look to improve on but I think he did a good job.”

On LeSean McCoy and protecting the football:

“He has to protect the ball. We’ve seen the way he carries the ball. We’ve worked on some high and tight drills and ball security drills and he’s aware of it.”

On Pitt’s pass protection:

“We did a good job last week. We only gave up two sacks and they were sort of protection sacks where, rather than throwing the ball in a dangerous situation, we held onto it rather than risk the turnover.”

On Pitt’s third-down situations vs. Iowa:         

“A couple possessions, we had guys open and didn’t convert. A couple times we turned some guys lose and it was more of us not executing than not being physical. Give them [Iowa] credit, they brought a lot of new looks that they didn’t show in their previous games. We need to be more efficient in third down situations. We had manageable third-and-five or six and we need to convert those. It is not fun to have to go for it on fourth down. Third downs will definitely be a point of emphasis this week in practice.”

On quarterback Bill Stull:

“Bill did a good job. You have to keep in mind it was really just his third start. He did a good job of avoiding sacks and we tried to do several things with him to give him a chance protection-wise.”

On the wide receivers:

“Right now we’re struggling to get all these guys the ball. We have a lot of guys here who can make plays but unfortunately there’s only one football. The same could be said about the tight ends.”

On the punt return game and special teams as a whole:

“Aaron [Berry] is most efficient at catching the football on punt returns. We’ve had some other guys like Derek Kinder and Aundre Wright who have done some work, but Aaron is the guy for right now. The problem we had last week on the punt return is that we didn’t stop their flyers. We didn’t give Aaron any space. Their punter did an outstanding job. He had two punts that had five-second hang times. With that being said, we’re working on it. I thought we were real close on breaking some kick returns. We blocked another kick—that’s three weeks in a row we’ve blocked a punt or field goal. Our kicking game has been solid and our kickoff coverage has been outstanding. [Luke] Briggs kicking off has been averaging the 7-yard line with a four-second hang time. Our punt team with Dave Brytus has done a real good job. They [Iowa] averaged only three yards on punt returns. So I’m real pleased with the special teams and how they’ve progressed.”

On Dave Brytus:

“Dave obviously had a fantastic game last week. Those two final punts were a huge lift for our team. One had a hang time of five seconds and the other was 4.75. For Dave to do what he’s done is great. He’s a conventional punter all his life and he’s accepted the challenge of this new formation and he’s done a great job.”

On LeSean McCoy and having a breakout game:

“He’s close. He has to be…he’s too good of a player. Him and LaRod [Stephens-Howling] are too good of players and they work too hard not to. LaRod’s been playing well so we’ve been giving him the ball as well. We’re trying all kinds of different things to allow for a big play. Sometimes I think it might be too much, but we’re working on that.”

On playing the first game on the road:

“We’ll have to stay focused and not get distracted with the hotels, the plane and the fans. I think we have a pretty mature group and we’ve been here before for the most part. It will be a challenge, though, for our team.”