Riley meets the press
September 22, 1998
MIKE RILEY - OREGON STATE HEAD FOOTBALL COACH Question-and-answer session from media luncheon of Sept. 22, 1998
(Whats the mood of your team right now?) I think our team had a good practice today; I think were getting ready to go again. Summarizing the game and the end of the game, getting home at 4:30 in the morning Sunday - it was all pretty disappointing. And it was even probably more disappointing after watching the film. But you can also draw some things from the game that are going to be very important to us as we go. The thing I liked the most - and I think the thing that probably everybody in the world thought of when they scored on the third play of the game or something with the long pass - Im sure that every Beaver fan out there said "Here we go again," and that it was going to be another typical deal. But one of the great deals from the game is that our team kept playing and that game wasnt decided until four hours later. That game went on, and when it was decided, they won; but it wasnt decided for a long time even though it started with a pretty good kickoff return by R.J. Soward after all we had been preaching was "we cant let that happen, we cant let him get away," and then a long pass which we said cant happen. Big plays. And that was what I probably draw the most, and I hope our team does - things werent rosy, and especially against a good team like that, and that we battled it to the end. The most disappointing thing was the critical errors that prevented us from having a chance to take advantage of great momentum in the third quarter.
(Mistakes in the punting game - 12 men on field penalty, fumble, blocked punt for touchdown) Weve been good on special teams, and probably as productive as anybody on special teams. But we were wounded by those mistakes - critically.
(Tim Alexanders 100-yard kickoff return) Its not without concern when we elected to talk to Tim about moving positions. Youre talking about probably the highest-profile athlete here. When I wasnt here, that was a name everybody talked about. He was one of the major recruits in years. Here he is, hes going to be a senior, and you approach him with moving to another spot. You sure want that to be good for him. Considering who he is and what hes done and what hes sacrificed - a lot of hits on that option through the years, and a lot of great plays, too. So you want it to be good for him, you want it to be a positive thing. So I was glad to see that, personally, because I wanted him to have it and I wanted people to see what he can do not just playing quarterback. We havent quite done it at receiver yet. I thought he had his best game at receiver the other day, and he competed like crazy. He had that look in his eye - fighting, really playing hard. And the kickoff return, to me, was icing. It was very fitting.
(If Alexander hadnt been hurried on the throwback to Terrance Bryant, would it have been a touchdown?) Those guys have been talking about the throwback. He would have had time to throw it back, for sure. And (wide receiver Greg) Ainsworth, when they recognized it - he was just tackled, literally tackled. The guy grabbed him and pulled him down - thats why the ball looked like it went nowhere, because Greg was coming back out and the guy just tackled him. (Observer notes it would have been a touchdown) It is every day when we run it in practice.
(Does it help going from defending USC tailback Chad Morton and wide receiver R.J. Soward to defending ASU tailback J.R. Redmond, who is almost a combination of the two Trojans?) I think thats a good point, and very valid. We have another great challenge, and its somewhat similar in that theyre great offensive threats and also great return threats. Theyre probably as good a guys as there are in the country. I would be amazed if theres a better guy than either one of those two. Probably somebody is, but Ive never heard of it. Maybe he was playing for the Cowboys last night, returning a punt. I think the emphasis was good - when we talked about what we had to do punting the ball, protection and coverage - punting and coverage together. The punting is so crucial, how its done. Mike (Fessler) made them fair catch a lot. Well take less distance and more hang time against those guys any day. Thats a big thing.
(How tough is it to come so close, get those attaboy, moral victory kind of things?) I know the sense of that, through the years. I dont feel it quite as much, probably, because Ive only had the attaboys for one year. But I can sense what it must have been like for every close game forever, probably. I know what youre talking about. Im only frustrated in the loss, the immediate deal, because I am working most hard for this year, for this senior class, because I want these guys to feel good about it. It was a real good opportunity for them to beat USC, so thats too bad.
(ASU hasnt played to its potential thus far this season. Is this perhaps a dangerous time to face them?) Theyre a very talented football team, youre right. They asked me yesterday (from the ASU media luncheon), are you afraid of waking a sleeping giant? Thats a pretty good point right there. Theyre very talented.
(Tackle Larry Ramirezs condition with a broken hand - out two weeks?) I think that is the prognosis right now. I havent gotten the latest (hes having surgery this afternoon). (Jared) Cornell will start; (Vincent) Sandoval will be the backup tackle. The next tackle will be our biggest question mark. It may, remotely, involve traveling Mike Kuykendall.
(Punting rather than trying a game-tying 52-yard field goal in the third quarter) Maybe we should have tried it. No. 1, Bruce (Read) and I talked a lot about it before it came up. They had had tremendous pressure up the middle; and the further the kick, the lower the early trajectory. I didnt want to continue to put our defense playing on our side of the field all the time. We just elected to play the field position game. As it turned out, it was only 15 yards of field position because of the touchback, which is disappointing, but that was the whole deal behind it.
(Coming off a good effort against USC, are you glad to have another shot at a Pacific-10 team this week rather than having a non-conference game?) I think thats a real good point. Thats the way we have to look at it. I feel like right in the flow of playing this game right now. We just went through one of those and maybe that preparation will be good. I see it as a similar game in a lot of ways. There is some real talent, the venues, the atmosphere - all that is probably close to each other.
(Did the speed of USCs defense surprise you? And how does ASU compare to it?) I dont think anybody, in the secondary or with Chris Claiborne, will be faster than USC. From the linebackers on back, USC is really athletic and fast. They overwhelmed San Diego State totally, and that concerned me because I thought San Diego State was probably pretty athletic. But San Diego State never mounted anything against them. They ran the ball some, but not consistently. So that was a concern for sure. I say that, and at the same time, Arizona State - the one difference I see is theyre bigger in the interior of the defensive front. They have some wide bodies in there. But as far as active and athletic, I think USC may be one of the most, along with the Huskies in that regard. That defense is scary looking.
(On the first TD against USC, it looked like Terrance Bryant could have easily run it in instead of passed. Have you been satisfied with his decision-making on running or passing this year?) In general, he makes good choices. And we try to talk so much about being on time with throwing, and hanging in there - the natural part of pulling the ball down when its appropriate and taking off is something hes got to feel and do. I havent seen great examples of being good at it, but I dont have a strong sense that he cant be, either. I cant look back and say "Oh, man, I wish he would have run that" very often this year.
(Was part of Bryants reduced offensive numbers against USC due to dumping the ball to avoid sacks?) I think he did get rid of the ball to avoid sacks; I think he did move around a little bit or was hurried. And I also think he missed some guys. It was a combination. The rhythm of the game was never established for him. It was always something else. One of the things that was most disappointing, that really cost us as the game went along, was that we could never hit anything down the field. Not only the deep ones, the streaks, but the corner routes or the outs. When you are as inefficient as we were in the intermediate passing game, youre not going to have a great night throwing the football. I guess USC only had a couple of routes that they threw - the deep, deep, deep to R.J. or the out route to Billy Miller or R.J. But they did that with pretty good efficiency. We never found either of those. That might have been a big difference in the game - they caught their deep one for a touchdown, and we had a couple that were right there. Weve got to hit a couple and guys have to come up with it.
(ASU quarterback Ryan Kealy) Hes a good athlete. For a guy like him to come in and take Jake Plummers place last year, he did a good job with that team and was a very efficient quarterback for that team. Hes got good athletic ability and a good release, and now he has good experience.
(ASU center Greg Ruegamer) Our schemes will be dictated by their plays. Obviously, its going to take some time defeating that center. Not be blocked, hold your gap, and so I think for us, positioning and quickness are the key for us. Theres no other way to really say "avoid their center." But its a good point, because hes a mainstay for them.
