Colorado University Athletics
COACH BARNETT?S PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
BOULDER ? The University of Colorado held its weekly press conference Tuesday at the Dal Ward Athletic Center, as head coach Gary Barnett addressed the media about last week’s game with Missouri and this week's matchup at Iowa State. The following contains quotes from the afternoon press session.
ON THE MISSOURI GAME?“I felt like our safeties played particularly well. J.J. Billingsley, of course, had a big day tackling, Dominique Brooks had two picks, Medford Moorer played really well, and Clyde Surrell had another big game with a fumble recovery and just being where he needed to be. So I thought that it was the best game overall that our safeties have played. I was really pleased with the defense. One of the things that’s hard to get done sometimes, especially when you’re 3-6, is to get (all the platers) to play hard all the time. We gave up a couple big plays or had a penalty, and rather then letting down and letting (MU) in the end zone, they kept playing and playing. The first series we ended up giving them a field goal instead of a touchdown, and the next time they were on the goal line we ended up causing a fumble. We are so much more mature now and playing more mature on defense. In the past when something like that would happen to us we would cave in and let them score, and wouldn’t know if we would get our heads back for the rest of the game. Now, we seem to be playing through all those adversities so much better. It is generally a product of just evolving and growing up a little bit, and just learning how to handle those things. I was pleased to see our defense hang in there, especially playing against the kind of player that Brad Smith is. He gained 93 yards in the first half and 12 in the second half, so I thought our defense played well. It’s nice to see us win the third quarter. Offensively, our receivers did a really nice job, (D.J.) Hackett again. I felt like our tight end (Joe) Klopfenstein had a nice game too, as well as Joel (Klatt). We had three long drives, but we need to find ways to take advantage of turnovers a little bit better than we have, because we’re running out of time. John’s (Torp) punting was critical in the game, and catching the last snap was more than critical, and he kicked the ball well. I was pleased overall with almost everything that we did and I think our team was too.”
ON IOWA STATE?“This is an interesting team because it is a pretty good team with a bad record, and we can relate to that. There are parts of this year, especially the last three weeks, that we’ve been a pretty good team with a bad record. Defensively, they are really good. We’ve only played maybe two or three other defenses all year that are as good as the defense that we are going to play. A year ago we thought this was the second best tackling secondary and second best secondary that we played last year, and three of the four of them are back. We felt a year ago this defense was really good and I think they are probably a little batter now than they were a year ago. Yet, it doesn’t look that way when you look at the number of points that have been put up on them. Most of those points have come because of Iowa State’s offensive woes and special teams woes, not because of their defense. We have watched film and there isn’t really anybody who really just gets them. Right now we are a passing team that wants to run, and we have got to take that into Iowa against a pretty good defense. Defensively, we are a team that is running to the ball pretty well and making some plays, and so on paper it looks like a pretty good match for us. Our schedule is tough, but they’ve had a rugged schedule as well. Between Texas and Oklahoma, they have a tough schedule as well, and some of those better defenses have really throttled them. Not to put us in that category, but we are getting closer than we really were earlier in the year. I think we have got to try to take advantage on special teams. I think the key for us in the last three games is 13 turnovers, especially last week to get four turnovers and not turn the ball over. When you’ve got two teams that are fairly equal, it usually comes down to turnovers. We’ve got to keep protecting the ball and find a way not to do the turnover bit, and create some.”
ON NOT LOOKING AHEAD ? “I don’t know if you have to (remind the team). I mean, we are 4-6, it’s not like we are 8-0 and trying to hang on to be 9-0. We are 4-6, so we’ve got to play well twice before that is a possibility. I can’t imagine anybody on our team thinking anything other than, ?We have got to find some way to win this game.’ I remind them, but only because I would be stupid if I didn’t. You’ve got to remind them, but I don’t think it’s necessary at all.”
ON CU’s DEFENSE MEETING EXPECTATIONS ? “We are a lot closer. We are obviously not one of the better defenses to play for Colorado. That statement will never be used again. At the end of the year I will announce whether it was or wasn’t, but I’m never ever predicting. If anybody wants me to predict anything you are going to get nothing out of me, prediction wise. Lets put it this way, we are a lot better than we were early on in the year, and that’s about all I can say.”
ON SWITCHING FROM MAN TO ZONE DEFENSE ? “It think it has helped a lot. We knew earlier in the year that we were going to play more zone. We wanted to play more zone. We really struggled with the new guys and teaching them zone, so we fell back on something that was easier and more comfortable in man. It ended up hurting us and we were not able to play it. We went into the year hoping to do some of that and we reverted back to man and it ended up really hurting us. Once we started going to zone everybody started to understand, and we started doing more and more of it and everybody got a feel for it. You look at the teams in the last three weeks that we’ve played and the difficulty of attacking those defenses. Every one has been a 4-2-5 defense playing zone, keeping the ball in front of you and not giving up the big play. If you look to last week we didn’t give up the big play, those were 80-yard drives against Missouri and we just kept the ball in front of us. The week before (was) the same thing at Texas Tech, and certainly the week before that against Oklahoma. My guess is that we are going to end up playing more zone. Since we have gone to zone we’ve had 13 turnovers. The better teams in the country are playing it and there is a good reason for us to play it too.”
ON FB LAWRENCE VICKERS ? “Lawrence is a tremendous weapon. Lawrence just has to be more consistent in everything. But he is a tremendous weapon. When he gets his hands on the ball, he’ll make you miss; he’s a big strong guy, he’ll break a tackles, he’ll catch the ball. I think he’s a tremendous weapon for us, and I think we’ll continue to use him as best we can. It’s hard for him to learn the fullback stuff and tailback spot at the same time. That’s one thing that hurt s him, though. He’s a weapon. He’s a good football player and he’s a great kid.”