Sept. 9, 2003
SAN DIEGO - Craft on the Ohio State game:
We're really proud of the way we played. We see some areas where we can improve and we're going to try to focus on those areas. That's the challenge every week. This week might be more of a psychological challenge and we need to realize that. We talked about it as a football team. The (Ohio State) game is not going to mean much if we can't follow it up and continue to improve. If we do end up having a successful season, then people can look back at that effort and say we were for real. We talked about utilizing that game to focus on where we can improve the next week and the upcoming weeks. A game like that is really significant and can help you in the upcoming games on your schedule.
Craft on the defensive, offensive and special teams efforts against Ohio State:
Our defense is more of an experienced unit, unlike our offense where we had six or seven guys making their first start in the opening game of the season. It really showed in the (Ohio State) game. Ohio State is known for its defense. They have a number of people back from last year, so for us to run almost 80 plays against that defense was significant. Our defense offers us a good balance for our football team. We'll continue to improve offensively. Our receivers are very young and that was exposed on Saturday. Our quarterback played really well and our offensive line did a great job. As long as we can continue to play outstanding defense and get a lot of people involved in our defensive packages so that we can stay fresh, I think we've got a great chance.
Another area that people are missing is our special teams. They've been very good, almost to the point of flawless. They've blocked a punt and we've gotten great kicking efforts from (kicker) J.C. Mejia and (punter) Seth Santoro. They came after us quite a bit and they responded really well. Our coverage teams have been good too, so we're really encouraged. We thought we would be better and more athletic and have more depth in those areas and it's been proven early.
Craft on the team playing well against Ohio State:
This is a group that's got experience, it just happens to be dominated on the defensive side. We've got a little bit of talent on defense and we have some depth. To be able to involve a lot of people in our personnel groups is significant in a game like that. Offensively, we've done the same thing by involving a lot of people who have not played before, from the quarterback to the tight end to the running back. Who would have ever thought that we could compete in a ball game of that stature with a quarterback starting his first college game, a running back who's a true freshman, a tight end playing his second game and a receiving group that's basically inexperienced? I think we handled ourselves very well. We're proud of that and as we continue to evolve as a football team, we try to focus on what we need to do and not our opponent. For us to have a let down, I have a hard time with that because I think we're going to continue to improve ourselves and what improvements we can make on a day-to-day and week-to-week basis.
Craft on UTEP:
They have not played their best in the first two games and maybe they looked past Cal Poly. I don't know. I don't know the personality or the makeup of their football team. I just know that we've got to continue to improve. We've got a little bit more balance to what we're doing this year. There are some areas that we need to improve on and clean up, but most of that's going to come over the course of the next couple of weeks as we get more and more game experience.
Craft on quarterback Matt Dlugolecki going into the UTEP game:
I think he's doing pretty well. From the time he had his last scrimmage, there was an optimism about him. He played his first game without getting any extended period of time to practice because the starter gets about 90 percent of the work here. So he did a nice job under the circumstances. He improved in the pocket and made plays despite the duress he was under and the environment he was in. He did an excellent job. We want to continually put him in that situation in practice. What that means is that he's not going to be throwing against air, he's not going to do a lot of 7-on-7. We want to do more 11-on-11 game-like situations on him. As his pocket presence starts to get better, he'll function even better at that position. He's proven that he can make the right decision in games and you never know how he's going to respond in progression. Some people can make the progression but they don't do it quick enough. He certainly showed that he could. He hit two or three sites on the backside of a hot protection and did it with people in his face. That's the thing that I'm impressed about with him. Then, of course, there are other areas we need to improve to help support him. For the most part, we have an opportunity to improve greatly on offense. On defense, because of our experience, we don't have the potential to improve as much as the offense because they have that experience already.
Craft on Adam Hall's ankle:
We found out more because we had it x-rayed again before we left for Ohio. On his good ankle, the ligament is about three centimeters from the bone and on his turned ankle it's six centimeters. So he could have surgery and at the time it was believed he might be out for the season. After we found that, we consulted with a specialist, who has dealt with a situation very similar to this in the NFL with the Seattle Seahawks. He felt like if we immobilized it, it would have an opportunity to heal and then we would evaluate it again in a month. For us to say he'll be back for BYU, that's not quite accurate. That's what we would hope, but we'll have to evaluate the situation later. At least he's not out for the season, yet. We'll hope for the best and maybe he'll start to rehab and get in the swing of things. For right now, Matt Dlugolecki has an opportunity to continue his improvement. What we found out is that in a big game, we can win with him.
Craft on the possibility of Hall receiving a redshirt year:
I think it is one of those types of situations where if you get injured during the year, then there's a better chance that a redshirt might happen. In Adam's case, he transferred and I don't know if the injury at this point in his career will allow him to get a redshirt granted, so it's kind of a roll-of-the-dice type of situation. I know he wants to play and if he can come back early enough in the conference, there's no question that's what he'll do.
Craft on whether Hall will play if he's not ready until late into the season:
I really think it depends on how Matt's doing. If he's got control of the team and it's not in Adam's best interest, then we would roll the dice and try to see if he can get granted another year. We would consider that at that time. For right now, it's kind of hard. What Adam and I would want to do is that if it's early enough in the season he should play. I think that when he gets the boot off, we reexamine the situation and he's either going to be able to play or he's not. Hopefully, we'll get a thumbs up on that.
Craft on who the offensive leader is:
I think (offensive tackle) Brendan Darby has assumed that role. He had a great game against (Ohio State defensive end) Simon Fraser. He has really asserted himself and played two very good games. But as a group, they're not a really vocal group like John Ingram was last year. What we have is leaders by example. Lynell Hamilton, even though he's a freshman, has earned respect from his teammates by the way he practices, by his intensity and by his work ethic. Matt Dlugolecki's gaining some respect from his teammates and admiration from them. When you put the film on and you see he's got a man coming right at him and taking a free shot because you're in a hot or psyched situation and he puts the ball right on the money, he has to be admired for that. And he did it repeatedly. They tested us in that area which they're going to do with an inexperienced quarterback. We don't have a guy like (wide receiver) J.R. Tolver last year who's been around, has been a vocal leader and set the standard by example on the playing field. At this point, I don't think we can go out and say, "That guy's our leader." We have a young, inexperienced receiving corps and the same thing at tight end and quarterback. Brendan Darby comes close in that area on offense.
Craft on how well the defense is playing:
We have some returning people at the cornerback position. When we looked at the start of the season at the corner position, we had Jeff Shoate as a returning all-conference player, but he was playing better in pre-season camp. Jacob Elimimian totally grasped the other corner position and we've all seen what he's been able to do early in the season. Our depth is great at that position with LaVance Ray and Hubert Caliste. Of course at safety, we've lost Josh Dean for a couple weeks, but one of the most talented athletes in the secondary is Marcus Demps. He's stepped up, done a great job and blocked a punt in the first game. Marviel Underwood's been a two-year starter and he's a very talented player. Reggie Grigsby's also talented, so we want to involve more of those players and get more personnel groups involved. The linebackers have great depth-Kirk Morrison, Freddie Keiaho, Heath Farwell, Steve Larsen, Matt McCoy and you can go on and on. That's a group that's talented and has some depth and experience. And of course on the D-line, which has been the biggest surprise with Brandon Rager and Ryan Iata who is finally back now as he had 44 snaps the other day. We're hoping to keep him healthy. We never could choreograph how Johnathan Bailes was going to do. He went 47 snaps and did a great job. Derrick Durbin, the J.C. transfer out of Mt. SAC, did a great job. Brook Miller's having an outstanding year and so is Robert Miller as a back up. All of a sudden, now we're starting to get more players involved. We have eight to nine guys swinging on that defensive line and they've all played well.