Oct. 23, 2007

October 23, 2007

USC head football coach Pete Carroll

COACH Pete Carroll: Well, it's Tuesday, right? Since it's Tuesday, we'll just make a mention about last week, we're really pleased with the game and had a lot of fun going to South Bend to play that one. We're thrilled to get out of there with the big win and the kids had a great time and a bunch of guys played. It was a great experience and we're really thankful for the seniors, that they had their run in that match up and that they got a big game to come out of their win and remember forever. We had a lot of fun with that one.

For the future, the best thing is we came out healthy for the most part. We will run a number of guys to the practice field in the next couple days. Whether they can play or not, we don't know yet. But we actually had six new guys practice on the offensive line yesterday that we didn't have in past weeks, so that's a big boost. So the injury report is better than it was, and how good, I can't tell you.

Going against this team, this Oregon team, returns us to Pac 10 play, of course and on the road, and against a team that is just red hot, an incredible offense that they are putting up. This might be the most productive, the best offense that we've played since we've been here. They can do whatever they want to do with the running game. The evidence last week, they ran for hundreds of yards, 450 or whatever it was. They can throw the football. The quarterback is extremely efficient, almost 70 percent completion percentage, is ridiculous this late in the season. They have a number of ways that they can attack you.

So this poses all of the problems you could ever want, or ever hate, as a defensive coach with a big time runner, a big scheme, and then a running quarterback to tackle on to that and a guy that's efficient, as well. So this is as definitely as big a task as we've had, so hopefully we can find a way to gear up and slow them down and give us a chance to win.

It's really important whenever you play a quarterback that's running the option that you hit him. You have to hit this guy. We have to make sure that we don't let him get loose and get a bunch of space and get all of the air to complement the rest of their offense. Dennis is such a good football player, we have to have a lot of attention on him and make sure that we don't miss our opportunities to bang him around and at least make it a hard day for him.

So other side of the ball, the defense has always been aggressive. They attack you well. They have a long standing scheme that's won them a lot of games over the years, and again, they are able to come at you and give you a lot of problems. Just from the basics, they make it tough on you to run the football and then they will attack you in the passing game when they get their passing situation.

So it's a great match up. This is time for us, we need this match up right now. It's one of those teams that comes along and they pop up every year. We need this ballgame. We need to get back into Pac 10 play and do something about our situation that we face with a front running team and a team that's really out there.

And it will be difficult, we know the stadium is a challenging place to play. We'll bank on the experiences that we've had. With Mark as the starter, this will be a more aggressive stadium than it was last week. We controlled it early and didn't let it get going. That's what you hope to do, but this is a very difficult place.

We'll find out what happens with John David somewhat today. We'll gain the information on him today as he practices and then we'll see how he throws; one, and then two, we'll find out how he responds tomorrow.

And the thought that we have is we're trying to get the guy well, and if he can take the work and then come back and play the next day, then he's moving forward. We know that if he practices hard today, throws the ball and then can't respond, then he's not ready; if we play him in the game he won't be able to respond the next week, as well. So we have to get over the hump with him and we're going to try to get that done this week and see where we are and figure that thing out.

In the meantime, Mark will take all the starting reps again. We'll prepare him to play the football game until we know more, and we'll see how that all turns out.

So we're revved up. This is a great, great opportunity and this is time for us, and I like the way we're feeling more push from the guys and the competitive side of the roster like we've had in the past. We like that feeling and we'd like a lot of guys playing and a lot of guys battling. We've been surviving like that for the last month, and I think we're ready to turn that corner. So look forward to this challenge.

Q. Did you say that Mark Sanchez would start on Saturday?
COACH Pete Carroll: I said we'll give Mark all of the reps as the starter and that's how we'll go and just like we did in the last couple of weeks until we know more. Do you want me to clarify that again? Same deal. Nothing's changed.

Q. Is this your forte, being a defensive coach?
COACH Pete Carroll: I love this challenge. This is a heck of a challenging. This is the best offense we've maybe ever seen, maybe since Oklahoma or the Iowa offense years ago. This is an enormous offense. Cal, three years ago, or whatever. These guys are averaging almost 300 yards a game rushing, which is ridiculous.

So, yeah, I love this challenge. This is good stuff and I like the fact that they gave up they got 600 last week and they got 600 against Michigan, and nobody has been able to slow them down and we're going to see if we can find a way.

Q. It's not like you haven't seen spread offenses, you see them all the time. So is there a reason they are better, are they better athletes?
COACH Pete Carroll: They have a fantastic combination of running back Jonathan Stewart is a great football player. He's the No. 1 draft pick, he's an NFL, you know, prototype running back. He's big and he's fast and he runs really tough. He can catch the ball, as well.

And then they have a really fast quarterback, also. This is just the perfect combination for this offense. So you have a really notable threat to run the football, plus the perimeter game gets in the hands of the quarterback. And, he's a 69 percent completion guy. So, where do you go, you know.

So this is a great challenge for us, and I'm fired up about it. Staying up late and getting up early and trying to figure out a way, you know.

Q. People draw comparisons of Dennis Dixon to Vince Young
COACH Pete Carroll: Well, I don't think anybody is like Vince Young. There's nobody that's ever been that fast, that big, that strong. He ran through everybody.

Dennis is not that kind of a runner. Dennis is not like Jake Locker. This is a guy that runs with quickness and speed and finesse. Locker was a brute. And then you get to the other guy, there's nobody like him. You know, he's just way off the charts, because he was so big and fast that people couldn't even budge him, you know and he would run through tackles and things. He's a different style guy.

But you get him in the open situations, they do the same kind of damage. You can't catch up with Dennis, either.

Q. What is the latest on injuries?
COACH Pete Carroll: Yeah, I think Sam Baker is the one that's really the question right now. Chilo (Rachal), he's going to make it, unless he has a setback during the week. So we're back to full strength, kind of, on offense, and without Sam and without the running backs.

But then on defense, we're in pretty good shape. We should have a full crew ready to go. Hershel Dennis and Shareece Wright made it through last week and Brian Cushing is ready to go full speed. Cush made about 30 plays last week which is what we needed, to get him in the game and manage his way through it and now he's really ready to crank it up, although we'll still play with a big rotation at the linebacker spot.

But we're at full strength on defense, except for the guys we lost early, and the offense is coming around. I don't know if you can manage one position group, six more guys are there, and that's crazy. There's 12 guys on the injury list on the offensive line.

But Tiny (Alatani Malu) did well and made it through it, and Butch (Lewis) has played beautifully for his first time starting. You can just feel it. You can feel it in the meeting room, you can feel it on the practice field and you can feel it on game day that we're getting better and getting stronger.

Q. How much have you missed Chilo Rachal?
COACH Pete Carroll: He's a terrific football player. He's a brute coming off the ball. You know, he was the guy that was in there; we were running his way a bunch when we were ripping earlier in the year. And the averages of the running backs were up in the sevens and eights and nines and all that.

He's a really good pass pro guy. He's got good spirit about him and he's got a great attitude that he shares, and he's the most experienced right guard. You put all that together and he's really a big time performer for us. To just extract him is a big deal and to have him back is great.

Q. How big of a pick me up is it to have (linebacker) Brian Cushing back?
COACH Pete Carroll: Well, it's just great to have Cush back playing. He's a head hunter, he's a big hitter, he's a big playmaker and he's got a great attitude for us. I can't even imagine we played half the season without him. It doesn't even just because he's such a big deal to us and we love the guy.

So, I don't know, I can't equate it, but it's great to have him back out. It's just great to have him on the practice field just working with us.

Q. After the sluggishness of the team earlier this season, what makes you believe that will change?
COACH Pete Carroll: The players, the guys I'm coaching? Well, there's a good chance that they will be jacked up for this game. This is the kind of stuff that really excites you about conference play. You have a team that's really hot, and you have to beat them if you're going to have a chance to win your league. They have all of the elements that draw your focus; they have got great players and we're playing at a very tough place and all that.

So, I mean, everything about it. I would really, really be surprised if we take this lightly. I don't think that's what's going to happen.

Q. Earlier in the year when people asked you about your defense, is this as good as your great defenses in the past and you said no because you didn't have enough information. Are they good now?
COACH Pete Carroll: I didn't know you asked me that. I didn't know you asked me that question. I think the defense is really playing well. I think we're really playing a very aggressive style. We're tackling the best we've ever tackled in any of the groups that we've had across the board. Our numbers tackle wise are the best ever.

We're doing a nice job on the back end and taking care of the long ball that can strike you dead and third down numbers are really starting to get in the right area.

So these guys are playing the yardages really good, I don't know how low we've been in the years past, I don't know the numbers, but to have the rushing yardages in the 60s and around 2 0 carry or whatever it is and good efficiently is numbers on third down and you're not giving up big plays, that's good stuff.

This defense is playing maybe like everybody was hoping, myself included and with still we've got to get the football away more. We're not getting the ball as much. The seven sacks the last week was a big deal and we got a lot out of our pass rushers in pressure last week and maybe as happened last year, this all picks up from the halfway point on. And it's going to be necessary this week, that's for sure. We're going to need it all.

Q. Your experience over the years, when the best offense plays the best defense, what happens?
COACH Pete Carroll: You know, I don't know. I don't have a good thought about that one because I don't look at it that way. As far as I'm concerned, we never look at, we're going to give up a bunch of yards and a bunch of points and hope we win. I don't have look at it that way.

I don't know. I don't have a good answer for you, but I think it's always the best deal is to have your defense in order, and that gives you the best chance, in those kinds of matchups, but I don't know. I can't tell you how the record is, I don't know.

Q. On game day, do you like the kickoff at noon?
COACH Pete Carroll: Yeah, particularly now that we've played a few of them, it's really I think it's the way college football was designed to be played in the afternoon, you know, and campuses and with all of the build up that comes up and this great game and then you have that time afterward to have fun and relax and you're not just traveling and in the middle of the night and all that kind of stuff.

I think college football was always meant to be played in the middle of the day. We do it all for TV and the rest now, but it's really fun and you know, we get up at 7:30 in the morning, you're getting up, first thing you do is you're getting ready to go to your meetings and all, it's all football.

Yeah, we like these games. It's fun to have.

Q. Is it interesting that you guys are the underdog this week?
COACH Pete Carroll: I couldn't even tell you because I couldn't have told you that we weren't that in the past. That means nothing. I mean, that means absolutely nothing. To me. I'll never mention it and I'll never bring it up and if you guys didn't bring it up, I wouldn't even know. So I guess not.

Q. Talk about the impact of turnovers in a game -
COACH Pete Carroll: Well, certainly in my opinion, it is the most critical factor in winning and losing, and you can win on days when you turn the ball over, but rarely does that happen, when you really have the big, bad day, you basically are up against it and you're likely to get your butt beat.

So you do everything you can to control both aspects of that. That's getting them and not giving it up. In a game like this, I would bet you that that's what's going to decide this football game and who makes the big plays and who gets the football away from the other one.

And sometimes the turnovers can come, they can come in big stops on fourth down. They can come in the kicking game and they can come a lot of different ways, sudden change situations that you respond well and all of that kind of stuff.

But they will most likely just because the odds are with it, the turnover situation will be a factor in this football game. They are doing a nice job hanging on to the football and we are still working at it. So they have the edge if you look at the past right now.

Q. Can you talk about Joe McKnight's progress?
COACH Pete Carroll: Yeah, it's working great. We're on it now. Joe, we have total confidence in him to play him in any situation, to put him back there in the punt running game, he's covering punts for us, too, because he's just so elusive and he likes doing it.

He's excited about covering kicks. We're just going to continue to give him the football and know that if we do it enough times, something is going to happen. That is what we anticipated. If we get it to him 25 times, maybe it happens a couple times in the game. We'll see how it works out as we continue to grow with him. We're trying not to overload him but trying to call on him as much as we can fit him in.

I'm really pleased with the way Chauncey (Washington) has run the football, particularly the last couple weeks, he's really being aggressive with the ball. We want his style to stand out, that he's hammering the football. Stephen does what he can do and he's got his own stuff and he was effective in his first time coming back.

And then Joe has his stuff, and that's a good triangle for us right now with the running back spot and I like the way that fits.

It's taken us this long to really feel that and to feel the confidence of how to rotate the guys, and that doesn't mean that other guys are not in it, but those are guys that we know what we're getting now. The receiving group is coming along really well and individual all is playing terrific football, pat rake is good at the X spot and we're getting good plays out of David (Ausberry) and still running with Stafon Johnson when we need him.

It's taken us this much time with all of the newness to figure it out but that's pat of the reason we feel very upbeat and positive about what's coming and our chances here. Even though we are going against Oregon and they are favored, as you say, and the stadium and the offense and all that stuff, we still feel like we can play really good football now and we're ready to get cranking.

There's no doubt, we had a little dip here and we got banged up and John got hurt and all the penalties happened up there in Washington and we dipped and didn't look characteristic of how we've played in the past.

But I'm feeling like that has turned and we're ready to move forward and get going again. You know, we had to win every game to do what we want to do, anyway, and we still do. That hasn't changed a bit. I'm not feeling one less optimistic about our chances to do that until we can't. This is very exciting time for us.

Q. Has anyone been affected by the first in southern California?
COACH Pete Carroll: Not that I know of. I haven't heard anything from anybody. But it's affected everybody in the whole L.A. area now with the air quality being affected. But not directly. I heard that Hacksaw had to get out of his place but I don't know if I've heard of any other ones.

Q. How will you manage at practice with the air quality?
COACH Pete Carroll: I don't know. The coaches were asking about wearing the starters' masks, but I don't know if that's going to help us. Just kidding. (Laughter).

FastScripts by ASAP Sports ...

Oregon head coach Mike Bellotti

Opening statement -did Oregon hope to be in this spot at the start of the year?

"You always hope for that kind of success. We had a veteran offense coming back and we felt that we had some weapons that I think could get better with time in terms of this offense. Certainly, the maturation of Dennis Dixon has been a positive thing for us. We also knew that we had a fairly veteran offensive line, some veteran receivers though we lost two of those guys already which is unfortunate and we had a solid running game with Jonathan Stewart and Jeremiah Johnson. We lost Jeremiah, too. We have taken some hits, but we have continued to put up some pretty good numbers because we understand that system a little better. We felt initially that our learning curve was going to happen on defense, which it did. I think we have gotten better. We are still an emerging group, developing in terms of the front seven. The secondary, we feel, is the strength of our defense. We didn't look like that last week against Washington. On the special teams, we have improved fairly dramatically, specifically in our punt game. Josh Syria is doing a really good job of punting the football for us. As a team, maybe the best change has been our turnover ratio. We are on the plus side of that and that's been a huge correlation to us winning football games."

On quarterback Dennis Dixon and running back Jonathan Stewart

"Dennis is a very mobile quarterback that is capable of creating when things break down. He's throwing the ball very well, making great decisions...completing about 70% of his passes and I think he's only thrown three interceptions with one being a Hail Mary at the end of the first half against Washington. He's probably more confident in this offense, just the repetitions. I think he understands it better. I think (offensive coordinator) Chip Kelly has done a great job of giving us some added insights. He's done this for five years and this is the third year as a staff in terms of understanding and developing the players within this attack and I think we are doing a decent job. Obviously, we haven't faced a defense of the caliber of USC's yet so it will be an interesting deal this week.

Jonathan continues to develop into one of the better running backs in the nation. He has the physical tools, he's running with better vision and protecting himself and the ball better. He understands the offense and recognizes certain things like when to cut or when to stay outside. I think the other thing is his meshpoint with Dennis Dixon in terms of the read and ride that we do in this offense have gotten better and better to the point that it can be confusing to defenses at times. Those two certainly are what make this offense go. The reality is the distribution of the football helps everyone."

On key defensive players

"The key guys are many and varied. Kwame Agayeman is a jack of all trades that can play any linebacker position for us. He has done a nice job for us. Jairus Byrd and Walter Thurmond at the corner are both returning starters and Patrick Chung is a big rover for us. (Free safety) Matthew Harper and Chung are probably are leading tacklers. We've got some help up front. Will Tukuafu is a sophomore transfer that is sort of been in and out of the lineup and he plays a lot of football for us, doing some good things for us. (Defensive end) Nick Reed has really been our most consistent defensive lineman. He's not the biggest guy, not the fastest guy...but he plays with a great motor. He plays with great technique and is our leading tackles-for-loss guy and sack guy. Those are guys that make it go on the defensive side."

On USC and if you prepare for different quarterbacks

"I see a really good team. I see a talented team that seems to be getting healthy and more confident. I don't see any difference in the quarterbacks. Certainly, it's a nice dilemma as opposed to a quarterback controversy, I call it a positive dilemma. They both can win and if they are both healthy, there are some choices to be made. We will prepare...I don't think they have a different game plan per se'. The guys do things a little differently, but both guys run the offense very well. They have enough mobility to create things and there's enough bootleg potential and things to keep defenses honest. It seems that have settled into a running back rotation that they like. One player that jumps out at you every time you watch film is (tight end) Fred Davis. He's a threat that's scary because that's always a difficult matchup for a defense. He can run really well."

On running back Andre Crenshaw

"We have been pleased. He came to us as a multi-purpose player. We weren't sure if he was going to play defensive back, wide receiver or running back, but his skills fit in well with what we are asking that second tailback to do. Jeremiah Johnson did a great job of it and Andre is sort of a clone in that regard. He is a great receiver out of the backfield. He's a very good runner and sees things, probably one of our best cutback runners. He just got an ability to get through the hole. He doesn't have Jeremiah's explosiveness, but overall, he's a very good player and will only get better with the more reps he gets."

On uniform combination for this week's game

"(laughing). I don't know. That's usually a Thursday decision. Somebody told me last week that there are 384 combinations so I have the pinwheel chart on the wall. I just throw a dart at it."

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