SPORTS

Mid-week Q&As with Petrino, BC's Addazio

Jeff Greer
Louisville Courier Journal
UofL's DeVante Parker (left) catches a pass against Florida State's Ronald Darby (3) on Thursday at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. (By David Lee Hartlage, Special to the C-J) Oct. 30, 2014.

Both Louisville coach Bobby Petrino and BC coach Steve Addazio spoke on the ACC coaches teleconference on Wednesday with reporters.

The coaches' teams meet at 7:15 p.m. Saturday night at BC for a nationally televised showdown. Should be a good one.

Here's the transcript from both of their calls today:

PETRINO

Opening statement: Well, we're excited to travel to Boston College. We're coming off a tough loss versus Florida State, but I think our team has rebounded well. We went out yesterday and had a good practice. We know it's going to be a great challenge there. They're a very physical team that can really run the football, and they play great defense. We're looking forward to the challenge.

On BC and Addazio: Well, he's done a great job there in a short period of time. One of the things that's impressive about their football team is they continue to get better each week as the year goes on, and that means they're doing a great job of coaching. They're very physical. It's a little different game for us because they're big and physical and will run the ball and have the quarterback runs, so I think it'll be a great challenge for us.

On Louisville's improvements: Yeah, I think the last couple weeks offensively we've gotten into a little bit better rhythm. We've gotten more of our players back off of injury. We've struggled getting better early on offense because we had so many different parts every week, but we've kind of settled down now and continue to get better.

We've played great defense all year long, probably with the exception of the fourth quarter the other night versus a great quarterback. I think defensively we've just got to continue to do the things we've been doing.

On rebounding from the FSU loss:

Well, I think the concerns you have is that we put a lot into the Florida State preparation, you know, emotionally and on the practice field, and then going out and playing with great effort, so you just worry about how you rebound from that. But I've been impressed with our leadership from our seniors. I think our assistant coaches have done a great job getting them ready to practice yesterday, so we went out and practiced hard, practiced with enthusiasm, and really that's all you can ask of your team is to really focus and do what you need to do on the practice field.

On Louisville WR DeVante Parker:

Well, he lets us settle down a little bit and understand what we want to do. It helps our running game, helps get the ball to our other receivers and our tight ends, and he's just a great player, so when we call his number he generally gets open and catches it.

One of the things that he's really impacted us with is his ability to run after the catch, something that we were really missing those first six weeks.

On ACC defenses: It really has, when you look at our schedule and the defenses that we've faced and now you see what Boston College has been able to do in limiting people running the ball and converting 3rd downs. They're a very good defense. They're very smart. They give you a lot of different looks and different pressures that you have to be able to handle, and they're big and physical, so it's a great match‑up.

On Louisville's run defense vs. BC's rushing game: Yeah, it's a different style than we face most of the year. They give you a lot of different formations. They also give you two‑tight‑end sets and bring receivers down and put a lot of people at the line of scrimmage, and the addition of doing that and the power run game, then you have a quarterback run game, so there's a lot for us to prepare for in a short period of time.

On if Louisville's defense struggled or FSU's offense thrived in the fourth quarter last week: Kind of a combination of both. There was a few things we missed and we had a few assignment errors. There was also a couple plays it looked like we would make the play and get an interception and the ball snuck through there, and then there was a question that made throws that most of the guys in the country can't make.

On BC QB Tyler Murphy: He's been very impressive, you know, his ability to run the football and he's very powerful and fast. One of the things that he impresses you with is his decision making. He's been making really good decisions and been very consistent for them, and then his ability to execute their play action game.

(Again) On rebounding from FSU loss: Well, it was tough. We had some extra days in there and we gave them a little bit of time off, and I was impressed the way we came back on the practice field yesterday. We practiced with a good attitude, a lot of energy, and I think our seniors are providing good leadership for us.

BC COACH STEVE ADDAZIO

Opening statement: We're excited to be playing Saturday night on national TV against a great Louisville team. It's good to be home. We're playing a Louisville team whose offense is averaging over 30 points a game and has got all kinds of playmakers all over the field, starting with DeVante Parker and Michael Dyer and Will Gardner, and they have a bunch of skill players and are very, very dynamic.

On defense, statistically one of the top defenses in the country with just some great players in Lorenzo Mauldin and Sheldon Rankins and Gerod Holliman. Just a very, very good team, very physical on defense, very explosive on offense, probably one of the top talented teams in our conference. A great challenge for us. We're looking forward to it, and it will be an exciting game.

On Louisville's defense: They run a lot of isos, which is ‑‑ I love the iso play, but you don't see it a lot anymore. We run some of it here, but they ran a fair amount of isos, stretch plays. I think their back is outstanding, two backs, but a really skilled wide receiver, and the quarterback does a great job throwing it. They really can have great balance. They have a power run game, and they have great balance off of that game with their play action and their drop back. So I think they're a real challenging football team that is explosive.

On BC's improvements: I think we're tackling better on defense as the year went on. I think we're playing better in the back end in the secondary on defense. I think Tyler Murphy on offense is really developing every week. Our throw game, our play action pass game is developing each and every week, along with our run game. So I think we're a team that continues to grow, which is important. Sometimes teams get stagnant this time of year.

In terms of on the road, it's terrific that we've been able to win on the road, and we've won at home. We've played some real challenging games. We play a tough schedule. We had USC at home. We were able to get that game. We played a really good Pitt team. We played Colorado State that I thought was really a very explosive team on offense. I think they're 8‑1, 9‑1, whatever they are. And we're playing Clemson and Florida State and Louisville. So our schedule is challenging.

We're 6‑3. We're Bowl eligible right now. Obviously, just grinding like everybody right now, trying to get the next win, and it will be a challenge because I think this team we're playing is one of the most skilled teams in our conference.

On BC's bowl eligibility: I think we came into a job that was going to be a four to five‑year rebuilding job, and obviously to be able to be Bowl eligible and stay Bowl eligible, I think is really, really important because, just first and foremost, you get those extra playing and practicing opportunities, and that's a huge thing in the development of your program. Then, of course, it's the momentum and the ability to carry that through recruiting and show such positive growth. Those are all important things when you're in the beginning stages of rebuilding.

When you're winning, the food tastes better, the sky's bluer. It's just‑‑ and it validates some of the things you're doing. So from that standpoint, that's been terrific. But our goal right now, we always want to win the open or we want to be Bowl eligible, but right now that can't define us. We've got to continue to take the next step and grow beyond being Bowl eligible, and that's the challenge that's in front of our team.

On winning at BC so quickly: The basis of our program when we came in here was about setting a high standard because BC had a high standard, number one, to be a physical team, to be a tough team, to be a team that plays like a team, and I think, when you establish that mindset, that competitive mindset that's throughout the program, that we're not going to stand for‑‑ or accept losing. I think, when you come in‑‑ that's the hardest thing, when a team has been losing, is you sort of get used to losing. So you're trying to put paddles out and shock that whole thing.

So this has been great that we can start this way. I always say that the work's the work in terms of it's still ahead of us. We've got one recruiting class in the chamber, that's it, and they're on the field, 16 of them. So there's a lot of work ahead. We're excited about where we are, but we're not delusional about the amount of work that's got to be done here recruiting, developing, et cetera. But it's exciting, and we've got a good group of guys and a great administration and a lot of people that are tied together on this thing. So coming to work every day and being around these kids is just really a joy.

On BC's offensive line: Well, I think you want ‑‑ everyone's got a little different formula here, but I would say you want to be around 17 offensive linemen. Some would say less, some maybe a little bit more. We're in a difficult situation. Our numbers were really skewed when we got here, so I'm trying to get this thing balanced again. We're going to have a large number of linemen graduate.

In a perfect world, you'd like to recruit three to four offensive linemen in each class, and I think you have the same‑‑ to me, you have a philosophy on defense, it all starts up front. You've got to bring in quality big guys because when you don't have that‑‑ like right now we're down in numbers on the offensive line overall, and it's hard to practice. You don't have the depth, and you can't practice the way you want to practice if on the D‑line or the O‑line you lack depth. It's very, very difficult.

So I think you want to keep your numbers consistent, and you want to keep them on the higher level. That's my experience, and that's the way we build this program.

On scouting linemen and projecting their development: Yeah, I think it is. Obviously, I made my career as an offensive line coach. So I feel pretty comfortable in evaluating offensive linemen. That was my expertise. But I think that that's a hard position to evaluate for a lot of people, and you got to be careful.

If you take an offensive lineman and you miss, where does that guy go? Sometimes if you take a defensive lineman and they're not quite a defensive lineman, you can make him an offensive lineman. If it you take a tight end that's a big guy and he's a little undersized to be a lineman, eventually, he can grow into a lineman sometimes. So you've got to be accurate in your evaluation, and I think, when it comes to O‑linemen, you really need to have the linemen that you take in camp. I think, if you don't do that, it gets risky because, when you watch tape on an O‑lineman, the level of football they're playing and who they're playing against really matters.

Big guys can push around smaller guys, and you can't tell if they have a lot of hip snap to them because they're just bigger and they move them where, if they're playing against stout competition, you can tell whether he can hip snap, accelerate his legs, and you can find out‑‑ this is me talking now‑‑ what kind of power and acceleration they have. I think that's huge when you want to evaluate an offensive lineman. That was probably more information than you really wanted.

On Louisville's run defense: Yes. Obviously, Virginia Tech played a lot of bare zero, zero coverage bare. Louisville is more of a three‑four, four‑three base team. They're a little different in terms of the structure from their outside backers are big guys, mount at 6'5", 240 and Mauldin at 6'4", 250 pounds. Their interior‑‑ three interior guys are two ends and nose tackles, they're 300 pounders. So it's a little different setup, but it seems like a lot of teams, whatever their scheme is, the bottom line with us is to really load the box. I'm sure we're going to get that. But their structure's a little bit different.

On BC running the ball well: Be able to excel in the play action game as well as the run game and keep diversity in our run game. But it will be tough sledding against this defense. This is statistically and on tape one of the finer defenses in the country.
One thing I notice is I think the defenses in the ACC this year are outstanding, to tell you the truth. We've played against a bunch of them. Whether you're talking about Louisville or Virginia Tech, they're all really good defenses. It's been a staple in the ACC in year.