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Nov. 4, 2008

NEW ORLEANS-Opening Remarks:
First of all, this is a great day. A great day for all of us. You know it's Election Day. We're going to have a new president; that's got to be exciting. My daughter just called me a half an hour ago. She just went into the hospital; she's going to have a little grandbaby this afternoon. It appears to be a girl again. And I got a commitment from a big offensive tackle this morning. What better day could you ask for? I mean, great day with all those things happening to us.

On the LSU game:
Also we lost to LSU last week for those of you who weren't around. So that's the bad part about it, but all kidding aside and I wasn't kidding about the grand-baby, you know I love that, but I can't fault the effort of our football team Saturday night. I thought we played as hard as we possibly could play. There's no question as I talked to you last week that we were going to be out-manned and we got out-physicalled too. Now we did win a few battles, but obviously, not enough. And again, I'm proud of our football team. We went down there and played as hard as we possibly could play. But as I also mentioned for us to have a chance to win and beat a team like LSU you have to play error-free football; you can't make any mistakes, you got to have some breaks and that really didn't happen. We got an interception return for a touchdown and those kinds of things you need, but we made too many mistakes ourselves. We had some penalties and some situations that kept us out of drives. We had 2 sacks and on one of the sacks we fumbled the ball and it gets picked up and run back for a touchdown. Instead of being 14-3 at half, it was 21-3. So, we put ourselves in a bad position. We come out and we miss a field goal. After we make a long field goal, we miss a chip shot. It's the least amount of yards we've had offensively since I've been here. We were struggling moving the football. We had some defensive alignment problems; we had poor tackling on defense. And basically, they physically dominated both lines at the lines of scrimmage. We couldn't make a foot in 3rd and one or 4th and one. Now they didn't get anything out of it, they went three downs and out, but we couldn't make a first down on their 40. And then defensively, they ran at us and knocked us off the ball and we could never get into the gaps because they were knocking us off. Anyway, it was a tough football game.

On injuries:
Right now it's gotten tough, we've lost about 14 or 15 football players. Again, it's not an excuse it's just a fact. Last year, we played 12 games without a bye and didn't have this many injuries, so we're struggling a little bit. We lost Albert Williams against LSU, as he blew out his knee. He'll get operated on Saturday. Andre Anderson got operated on yesterday. Looks like Reggie Scott has a knee problem. He's very doubtful for the game. We're getting worn down. We just don't have enough quality depth right now. And to get that it takes time. We're trying to build a program. And you have to do it through recruiting. We're not there yet. But, the tough thing is we don't have enough bodies. I'll give you an example. We could travel 70 guys in this conference. I've only got 60 to travel and two of these guys are questionable or doubtful and two of these guys...one's a freshman quarterback and one's a freshman defensive end that I'm trying to red shirt and I don't want to have to play. We can't even get 70 guys to travel right now.

On upcoming Houston game:
We have four league games remaining, but we open this four-game stand with Houston and they're a really good football team. They're very explosive. I've watched them offensively and defensively and they really have got some talent. They're the number one pass team in the conference and there are some good passing teams in this conference. They're averaging 392.5 a game. They've got the number two total offense team, averaging 529 yards a game. In scoring they're third at 37.2. We can't score 37 points in a month. So, it's going to be difficult. They have the leading passer in Conference USA, Case Keenum. He's also the total leading offensive player. They have the leading interceptor in Brandon Brinkley. They have the leading sacker in Phillip Hunt, he's got ten sacks, and we have to figure out a way to stop him. Basically, it's going to be another difficult football game. They are going to spread us out and isolate us and throw five receivers at us. But, we're going to have to line up and play the game. We'll be looking forward to it come Saturday.

Questions:
On what goes through his mind when Coach Toledo looks at the long list of injured Tulane players:
Well, it just tells me...I've had injuries before...I've been at some big-time places, but we've always had more people we could put in, you know, it's like the other night, I'm looking at LSU warm-up and we have six receivers, they have 22. I mean, I'm looking at their guys and they look different than our guys. But all kidding aside, it's mind-boggling. We have so many shoulders and hamstrings and knees right now. We have concussions. I don't understand it. And we have to look into it and detail in the off-season. But we have too many injuries at this point. Again, like I said, last year we didn't have this many injuries and we played 12 straight games. So I don't know, I guess it goes in cycles. And hopefully this cycle will end after this year.

On if Tulane's off-season program has anything to do with the injuries:
It's something we talked about in our office this morning. What is our off-season conditioning program? What are we doing? Are we doing enough stretching? Are we doing enough flexibility? Are we doing enough sprinting? Are we lifting enough weights? Are we conditioning the right way in practice? There are just a lot of question marks that we have, so we just have to take a good hard look at it. We're really not doing anything differently than what I've done in the past. But obviously, there's something wrong right now.

On injuries and Tulane's lack of depth:
What happens, one, is that when you lose a player, like we lost (Nick) Landry, now we have to put a freshman in there. We lose an Andre Anderson; we have to put two freshmen in there. So we don't have JC players. We don't have quality depth right now. You have to build that. And the only way I know how to do it here is to build it through recruiting. So it takes time. And it's hard. And I hate seeing these kids get hurt, but it just takes time to build up quality depth for your program.

On building a program and playing younger players while still playing seniors:
Well, the first thing I do is I talk to the seniors. And I tell them `hey, if you're a good player and you're helping this program and you're a leader, you're going to keep playing.' I think when you stop playing those guys it's like giving up. And I don't do that. I didn't do it last year and I'm not doing it this year. The seniors that are here, you give them an opportunity o play and keep competing and keep playing. And they're the leaders of the team, so if they do it, it helps the younger guys. And then again, we're playing twelve true freshman and nine red shirt freshman and those guys want to get better and prove to us how they are and what their future is so they play hard too. I am really pleased with the effort that we're giving. And that's part of my job is to motivate them and keep them playing hard and not give up and not quit. And I try to pride myself on that fact and I don't think we have given up or quit. I think we played hard for 60 minutes the other night. So, that's all you can ask of kids because that's a tough chore. Because they see what we all see. But hey, you've got to keep playing.

On if he would consider using a redshirt on anyone as the season is winding down:
I would prefer not to. Like I said, I got a quarterback and a defensive end who we're taking on the trip with us in case of injuries and we just have to do it. But I would really not like to do that. I don't prefer to bring a kid out. Now, when I was at Oregon we were playing our 9th game of the season. We were halfway through the game; we were playing UCLA as a matter of fact and both of my quarterbacks got hurt and I had a red shirt freshman named Chris Miller. And he had to play the second half of that game. And then he played the next week against Stanford and the next week against Oregon State. So I always tell our players that you're not red shirted until the season's over because of that situation. So, right now, we're playing these guys and they know that hey, they might have to play. Greg Freidman is a walk-on tailback out of Chicago. He's our third tailback right now and I went to him yesterday and I said, `Greg, you might have to play.' But if I can get by with Nate Austin and JQ McDonald and maybe we're putting (Jordan) Stephany at tailback a little bit, but you've got to be ready to play because you might have to play in the next couple of weeks.

On what the number of games someone can play and still red shirt:
It's like 30%. It's the first 3 games basically, for us. And once you play after three games you've earned it. Now, you can get hurt in the first three games and it's not problem; if you don't play, it's no problem.

On if he will change Tulane's style of play because of how worn-down the team is:
No, we've got what we've got, so we'll just try and insert people in those positions. The thing that we try and change is the practice routine. We're going to go out only one day in pads now. Just Tuesday's are the only time we'll put full pads on. We've got to start going with helmets and shoulder pads, shells as I call it, and not beat them as much because they're getting beat up. I think just the practice routine changes. The system can't change. We have people to play the system. Just the quality of the play. When you lose a starter, the backup is not as good as the starter.

On how he plans on utilizing his quarterbacks:
Good question. What we're going to do is we're going to start Kevin Moore and we're going to play Kevin Moore as long as we need to knowing that Joe Kemp will get a chance to get in the game. Kevin understands the system. He puts us in the right place and of course he has to complete passes. Joe has a lot of athleticism and he has a bright future and he's got potential and you never give up on potential, but he doesn't understand the complete offense yet. He has a hard time with some checks and some things. He has happy feet in the pocket, he's got to learn mentally, how to stay in the pocket and throw the football, but he does have talent. And you have to appreciate that. And when he's in there we're not, maybe executing as well, but on the other hand he does give us some mobility and has the ability to make some plays. But to start the game we need to do things right. And right now he's struggling to do things right all the time. We've tried to give him (Joe) an opportunity in the game to do it and in the game he missed some checks. We ask a lot of our quarterbacks and it's like a pro-quarterback. We give you a play and then we give you another play to check to and then we give you a chance to audible out of that if those aren't good. So, he's had a hard time connecting the dots, as they say. He's done some great things, but, like...we had a quarterback draw and then we had to check to a quick pass if they came an all-out blitz and well, they came an all-out blitz and he didn't check it and ran quarterback draw and got stuffed at the line of scrimmage. So, that's one example. He's got talent. And we're not going to give up on talent. But to start the game and have that kind of problem, we don't need that right now. We need to try and do things right.

On if they are worried about Kevin Moore's mindset:
No, we're not. He's very tough minded and of course he has a lot of poise, he's got a great understanding. The only thing with Kevin is, is he doesn't have the mobility that a Kemp has and physically he hasn't been throwing the ball as well as we would like. But you know, we're going to live with it.

On Alabama vs. LSU:
I tell you what; first of all, they're both from the South East Conference. They are both physical. They both have a lot of talent. They both have excellent coaching staffs. They both do the same kinds of things. They're very similar to what we do offensively. They're a pro-style offense, not the spread-option offense. So, they're very similar. Defensively, they are really physical. They're hard to run the ball on. The one thing about LSU is maybe their corners are a little younger and maybe a little less experienced. They play more zone than Alabama. Alabama will come after you and try to make you look bad and sack you. But they put their corners on an island, but you better do things fast. The quarterback at Alabama has a little more experience. The quarterback at LSU appears to be struggling a little bit. But if they can run the ball and stay out of those definite pass situations and throw high percentage passes and of course, take some shots deep and try and beat their man coverage, they have as good of a chance as anybody to beat them. I think it's going to be a heck of a football game. And I told Les (Miles) after the game, `I'm pulling for you. I want Louisiana to win.' So, I'm pulling for Les and LSU.

On how he keeps his team from being discouraged after losing 4 straight and having so many injuries:
Well, you do a little laughing and you do a little crying. You don't lose faith in them. As I told the staff I think when you're winning it's easier to be physical and tougher on them. And when they're losing and beat up you have to careful because they're fragile. You don't need to be yelling and screaming. I don't need to tell the tackle or the quarterback they made a mistake. You don't tell a baseball player, hey, you struck out. What good does that do? So, when you're winning you can do that. You know, you kill them. But I think you just have to be careful because they're fragile. We're like parents. We have to treat them accordingly.

On what the pros and cons are of having a team that is half freshman and half seniors:
Well the pros are that we have some seniors that have experience that have given us good leadership and also we have some young guys that have been playing to help us for the future. The cons are we don't have a lot of playmakers in any of those positions right now and the younger guys tend to make more mistakes than more experienced guys. So you end up trying to catch up all the time. It's like a dog chasing its tail sometimes.