Oct. 6, 2008

Full Press Conference Video Feed

MEMPHIS, TENN. -

On the offense in the UAB game
"It is great to get a win at UAB. We know how hard it is to get a win at UAB. The game was a very hard fought game. I felt offensively, we had a hard time getting the running game going. Once we kind of got into a groove, we played pretty well offensively. After a little over a quarter of play, we started to settle in a bit and started playing better. We ran the ball really well in the second half and that was the difference in the game. Curtis Steele goes over 100 yards again. It makes a huge difference in our offense when we are able to run the ball well. We have been able to get it done."

On the defense in the UAB game
"Defensively, I felt we took a step backward because of our poor tackling. We were very poor with our leverage. We had a hard time getting their quarterback on the ground and I think he had something to with that too. The guy who played really well again was Clinton McDonald. Clint is playing extremely well right now, down after down. He had two sacks in the game, that gives him six sacks in the last two games, which is pretty impressive."

On kicker Vinny Zaccario kicking the game-winning field goal in the UAB game
"Vinny came up big again. He is 5 for 5 on field goals now. He has done a great job for us."

On renewing the rivalry with Louisville
"We are looking forward to having the opportunity to renew the rivalry with Louisville. Playing on national television in our city, in our stadium. We are extremely excited to have that opportunity. The 2004 Louisville game was really our first big game on national television. We had gone to Louisville the year before and won big at their place. It was 37-7. The 2004 game was really our first shot on the national television stage, the biggest stage that college football has on Thursday Night on ESPN. The game was a great game. I remember saying at the end that even though we lost the game, 56-49. I felt like we won because of our crowd and because of what we did on national television. I talked about it with our team yesterday, but the only one on this team who has played Louisville before is Charlie Jones when he was at Miami. I don't have anyone on our team other than Charlie who has played against them. Our guys, Pearce, Beliles and Russell and those guys, were all redshirt freshmen in 2004 when we last played Louisville."

How big of an impact is this nationally-televised game on recruiting?
"I think this will help us in areas like South Florida. The problem is we are playing on Friday night and all of those guys (high school prospects) will be playing high school games. I would love to say it will have a great impact, but like I said, those guys will all be playing on Friday night. We wouldn't be playing on Friday night, with the high school's here, if it wasn't very important to get the chance to play on national television. The high school coaches here are tremendous, because they understand what it means to get a shot to play on national television. We don't make a habit of doing it either. It has to be a very special situation for us to do that."

On Louisville being the most difficult task so far for the offense
"No question. If you look at Lousiville's stats on defense, they are only giving up 70 yards a game rushing. I feel like this will probably be the best team we have played all season. They should be 3-1, but they threw a pick against Connecticut at the end of the game to lose. They are extremely good up front on both sides of the ball. Their offensive and defensive lines will be the best that we have played against so far. We have our work cut out for us. I told our guys yesterday that we are going to have to take a step up in this game. We aren't going to be able to miss tackles like we have done previously and we can't take a quarter-and-a-half to get going offensively. We are going to have to be ready to go from the beginning. We are going to have to play like men. We will have to play well in the interior lines on both sides of the ball. The key to the game for us will be our offensive and defensive lines. Louisville's center (Eric Wood) is probably the best lineman that we have played against in a couple of years. He is an extremely good player. Most scouts we have talked to think he will be the first center taken."

On Vinny Zaccario's success of the last two weeks
"Vinny is a very unassuming guy. The other night on the last one, when he was getting ready to go out, I told him to keep your head down and follow through. You would have never had the idea that the kid was getting ready to kick the game-winning field goal. It was the same thing a week ago against Arkansas State. I wasn't going to use him in some of those situations, but the look on his face before he was going to go out there, it is no big deal for him. The guy has gone 5 for 5 and hit some critical kicks. We have something going with him right now."

On Louisville's wide receivers
"Their wide outs are good. They have a 6-8 guy (Josh Chichester) who looks just like our guy (Carlos Singleton). He (Chicester) plays into the boundary. Their wide outs look a lot like our wide outs. Louisville has always had good wide receivers.'

On Louisville's defense
"Defensively I think they are probably better than they have been. They play the run really well. I know one of their linebackers because he was a teammate of Arkelon Hall in junior college. I am just really impressed with their front and their safeties. Their safeties are really good tacklers. I think they are a really good team. This is a really talented team that is coming in Friday."