Meet the Press: Dave Wannstedt Analyzes the UCF Game

Oct. 9, 2006

Dave Wannstedt

Central Florida Week

October 9, 2006

Opening statement:

I think because of the short week everybody understands the importance for us to move forward to Central Florida as fast as we can. We were informed today -- and anytime the team wins and some guys get some recognition that's a good thing for our players, a good thing for our team and a good thing for the university -- Chris McKillop was named Big East Defensive Player of the Week and LaRod Stephens-Howling was named Big East Offensive Player of the Week. Both well deserved and I think it's a compliment not just to the individual but to the offense, defense and the rest of our football team. It is a quick turnaround. Our guys were in yesterday, we cleaned up the tape and our guys were back on the field last night getting ready for Central Florida. We know going down there, playing on the road, with all the players we have from Florida this is going to be a very important game. We will approach this game no differently than we have approached last week (away at Syracuse) and the Cincinnati game. I think our guys have done a very good job this year of being able to deal with the travel and change of schedules and everything that goes along with that. They've been able to keep their focus on the job at hand. That will be a big deal for us this week.

On the status of receiver Derek Kinder:

Derek Kinder is fine. I don't know if it was - I wouldn't call it a concussion - but he got hit and was just a little big groggy and then he came around the second half and finished up the game. He is fine. He practiced last night. He'll play, he's fine.

On the status of free safety Eric Thatcher:

Eric Thatcher, unfortunately, is going to have to have surgery. That will probably take place in the next day or two.

It's an ankle injury that can be mended quicker by surgery than by just giving it time to heal. So that's what the recommendation is, that's what will happen. Hopefully, they're saying he'll be back in six weeks, who knows. Mike Phillips will take his place. Mike needs to play. He'll be the first one to tell you that he didn't play as well (against Syracuse) as he's capable of playing but it's because he hasn't played much. He got hurt last year in the Nebraska game, he didn't do anything in the spring really, was limited in training camp and it takes some time to come back from those types of injuries. So I expect him to be better this week than he was last.

On possible changes to the depth chart at the safety position:

Irvan Brown, Shane Murray, we do have some depth at safety. We don't have much experience. We're talking about redshirt freshmen, both of them. That is what it is and both of those kids know what to do and they'll be ready to play if called upon. In fact, they both played last week. Irv got some playing time and Shane Murray was our dime defensive back - as we call it - and got some playing time.

On the progress of defensive end Chris McKillop:

He's worked hard to get better. He came up with some big plays. I think the biggest thing with all these players is being consistent with it. When you can do things consistently and play at that level week in and week out, that's when you've kind of arrived. I'm pleased with the progress but we've got to find a way to go out and perform at that level this week.

On the performance of nose tackle Rashaad Duncan:

He showed up -- participation, assisted tackles, getting pressure. Rashaad played good. Really I thought our whole defensive line (played well). They (Syracuse) were committed to the running the football. They had run the football pretty well against everybody and to hold them under 100 yards up there, that was big for our team. That has kind of been our weakness, you might say, on defense. Having the ball handed to us a little bit in the running game. So that was a big challenge for our guys and they responded well.

On multiple players having the same ankle injury:

We talked about it with the doctors and trainers and it's all the same injury. Thatcher's happened in practice when a guy fell on him. They've all happened in different situations but unfortunately they've had the same result.

On quarterback Tyler Palko improving since last year:

I think there were a lot of factors involved (last season). A new offensive system, with probably a lot more drop-back passes than he was capable of doing, I think a little bit of the mind-set Tyler had coming into last year -- people had him as a Heisman Trophy candidate -- and our offensive line wasn't nearly as good as anybody had anticipated. Those three things were addressed in the off-season and I think Matt Cavanaugh (Pitt's offensive coordinator) and the offensive coaches have made our offensive attack a little bit more quarterback-friendly and a little more offensive-line friendly. Number two, our offensive line is playing at a high level right now. There's a lot of confidence, they're playing together. Number three, Tyler has been convinced, because of the success he had early, when we had some 30-yard passes that turned into 50-yard plays, that he needs to get the ball to Kinder, get the ball to the tight ends, it doesn't make any difference who -- just move the chains. I think (success is coming from) him buying into what we're trying to accomplish and giving the team the best chance to win. I think it was a combination of all three things. Everybody has benefited from it. Any NFL scouts would say Tyler's playing at a high level. Why? He's not throwing interceptions, he's not forcing the ball. They don't care how many 50-yard passes he's thrown. Can you get the ball to the open guy when there's pressure in your face? That's what they want to see. And that's what he's doing. He's doing a great job of that. Deservingly so. We have a lot of guys that have worked extremely hard since last January and Tyler has worked as hard as anyone.

On the progress of the run game:

It was there last Saturday and I hope it's there this week. We're going to work on it, continue to work at it and until we do it consistently, week after week, then I think we'll start thinking we made some progress. Maybe the biggest reason, besides our offensive line, LaRod, plays half the (Virginia) game, plays the Michigan State game 80 percent (health-wise), he's out here limping around, the other two games he was in he played a half. I'm real optimistic that he's back, he's healthy now and having your starting tailback is going to make the running game better. The philosophy won't change. We're still going to be balanced. We went into Syracuse and the first play of the game was a pass.

On specialized plays for younger players at receiver:

What we have right now going on is you see how Kinder is playing, Marcel Pestano had a sore hamstring so I'm almost looking for guys at that position (split end). So we leave him (Pestano) at home and we put Cedric McGee in there. At one point Tyler came off laughing. He said he looked out there, he had Oderick Turner, a great player, a redshirt freshman, Cedric McGee in the slot, a redshirt freshman and T.J. Porter, a true freshman. So you've got T.J. Porter who's ready to go, we're trying to get him the ball and we're trying to get Dorin Dickerson (the ball) and it's tough. I think every week each guy will have a little package. We had a half a dozen plays last week where Dorin was involved and sometimes we're going to get to them, sometimes we're not. We're trying to get all those guys a little bit of playing time.

On Central Florida's offense:

They have two running backs, (Shane) Smith and (Jason) Peters who are both averaging 4.7 yards a carry and these kids were both highly recruited kids. I remember talking about Smith and they were waiting on his academics. He signed with Central (Florida) I think in June. Their quarterback (Steven Moffett) is a senior, he's been a two-year starter. They've got one wide receiver that has 33 catches. He's a big-play guy. They've got a lot of speed. The same thing really shows up on defense. They've got talent, no question about that. They're sitting in an area where they're going to get good players every year. They're well coached. George O'Leary does a great job coaching, he's got a great staff.

On this year's improvement in the red zone:

When you get down there you want to put the ball in the end zone. When you look back I think a couple things happened, I think we turned it over in the red zone last year something like four times. This year we have not. We're protecting the ball, we've got a good mix of run, pass, movement passes. A lot of guys have scored. We're getting the ball to different people. I think if you're defending our red zone offense, we've got enough things to put pressure on a defense.

On Central Florida's offensive line:

They're good athletes. You watch tape of Central Florida comparing them to Syracuse, comparing them to Virginia, whomever else we've played, certain teams have maybe an exceptional player but for the most part the offensive lines are very similar. They've got the 6'2", 6'3", 300-pound guys. Most of them are pretty good athletes.

On LaRod Stephens-Howling's 70-yard touchdown run:

They ran that same defense (earlier) and stopped us, we made one yard. On that particular play (that scored), we use the expression, "everybody got their hats on the right guy." When he broke it, the guys that were blocking, the guys had their hats on the right people and held their blocks long enough to break the line of scrimmage. He's so quick that by the time he got to the safety he (the defender) couldn't react to him. That was a power play. That's a play that when you run that thing in there and get two yards it's a positive play. It's a tough run. If you run it effectively, you can't bounce, you can't pick holes. You're running downhill as fast as you can. It's feast or famine. I think that shows you his (Stephens-Howling) toughness.

On Central Florida's quarterback Steven Moffett:

When I pick up the paper I don't look at completions. I see how many touchdowns they've thrown to interceptions. That's usually a pretty good tale of what type of player you're going to face from an efficiency standpoint. He's been very efficient. He's a two-and-a-half year starter, he's been there, he knows the system. He's an athlete. They do movement stuff with him. You'll see him on the bootleg and the sprints. We did not do a good job of that last week at Syracuse. That quarterback scrambled for way too many yards. We have to do a lot better job up front of getting the quarterback on the ground.

On the performance of linebacker Clint Session:

He's playing very well. I think you have to go back to him playing 25 or 30 plays in two of the games. Last week against Syracuse we didn't do much blitzing. He's going to show up a lot when he has an opportunity to come off the edge. Clint's playing very well, having a great year.