	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 22, 2016

Dino Babers

Greensboro, North Carolina

DINO BABERS: Obviously the game last week versus Florida State, complete win in every aspect for them. Our team right now is really beat up, but that was a fabulous football team and well-coached football team, as well. We're excited about our opportunity to go down to Pittsburgh, and we're looking forward to our opportunity to go down there and play.

Questions?

Q. To take a look at this Syracuse-Pittsburgh rivalry, you haven't been a part of it up to this point, but just what you can say about maybe what you know about the history of the rivalry and what you're looking forward to.
DINO BABERS: I think any time you get two Northeast traditional powers, when you look at the past of the things that Syracuse has been able to do and the things that the University of Pittsburgh has been able to do, and knowing that we've been two of the better football teams in those histories in the Northeast, anytime those two powers or those two universities get together, whether it's in the past or whether it's in the present, it's a game that people in the Northeast really look forward to.

Q. And then as far as this season, your first season, you told everybody coming in to give it time, give the offense time, give the defense time. What can you say you're happy about with the players that you have that you didn't bring in yourself, didn't recruit in, how those guys have responded to having you, and then secondly, where would you say the team is at in the maturation process?
DINO BABERS: Well, first of all, my hat goes off to the seniors on this football team, along with the other members. Of how they embraced the new philosophies on offense and defense and brought the new coaching staff in so that we could try to have a family and be a family and trying to go about this process. They're going to be the ones that people remember started this climb from the bottom back to the top.

When it comes to where we're at, I think we're probably at where we should be. When you look at our 12-game schedule, only being favored in the very first game of the year and being underdogs in all 11 other games, and for us to have an opportunity to win three of those games and to have an opportunity to win one more on Saturday, I think this football team is probably exactly or maybe even a little bit ahead of where people thought we would be.

Q. When you look back at your time at Pitt, how important was it to you, and what kind of stands out about your season as the running backs coach as Pitt?
DINO BABERS: You know, the things I remember about Pitt is Brandon Miree being a fabulous team player, Lousaka Polite telling me that he wanted to be a tailback, and I told him he wasn't a tailback, he was a fullback, and how many times he came into my office trying to convince me he was a tailback and how many times I looked him dead in the eye and said, you're a fullback and you're going to be an NFL fullback and you're going to make a lot of money.

I think back to Larry Fitzgerald dropping his first pass while I was a member of that staff and hearing all the media people, cameras going off like someone had just broke their leg, and I asked them what was going on, and they said, hey, Larry Fitzgerald just dropped a pass. And the next season, that season, that was in the spring, in the season I only saw him drop one pass, so I only saw him drop two passes while I was there. Those were fond memories for me. I have a lot of fond memories about the University of Pittsburgh. It was a fabulous experience for me.

Now I just hope that I can take this Syracuse football team down there and have one more fabulous experience on Saturday.

Q. As an offensive coach what really stands out to you about Matt Canada's system and his play calling?
DINO BABERS: Well, you know, I think the one thing that when you look at Pitt on tape is how balanced they are, how determined they are to run the football, but yet they're balanced in how their play action matches up with that run game. I think anytime you don't leave the run game behind and your run game and your play action matches, it gives you an opportunity to be explosive on offense.

Q. What are you asking your defense to do better or differently this week to counteract that Pittsburgh offense that has been so explosive the last few games?
DINO BABERS: Well, I mean, any time you're playing a team like Pitt with the offensive linemen they have, some of their offensive linemen could be their MVP's after Conner. You've got to find a way to stop the run. Those guys are big, they're physical up front, and if we don't slow them down in the run game, it's going to be very difficult staying with them.

Q. I was just wondering about your wide receiver, Etta-Tawo and how he ended up at Syracuse, and obviously he means a lot to your team, but he is a big part of your offense, obviously.
DINO BABERS: Amba, we had an opportunity to -- Amba had an opportunity to see our team, my previous team, Bowling Green, play the University of Maryland. Amba was a wide receiver on that team, and our team came in there and won the game, and Amba said that during the game he wasn't -- when he was on the sideline, he wasn't sitting on the bench, he was just watching our offense, and he said he felt like if he ever had an opportunity to be in an offense like that, he could really do some things.

And then he graduated, and we were looking for transfers to come and help us since we were making a transition from an option team to a passing team, and he threw his hat in the ring, and one of the questions I asked Amba, I said, Amba, you don't know anyone on the staff, why would you want to come up to Syracuse for your final year and you don't have a connection with anyone on the staff, and he just said, Coach, out of a leap of faith, I saw you guys play, I've seen your offense, I know what you're going to do, and I really believe if I could get in that offense, I would be able to do some things.

I'm glad he had that faith because I think he's been a pleasant addition to this football team, and no doubt one of our best players.

Q. What makes him a great player?
DINO BABERS: I think the biggest thing is the way he goes about his business. I mean, the guy came here and he adapted our techniques and our fundamentals. He goes about his business, even though he's an amateur, he goes about his business like a pro. He's an A student, A graduate student working on his Master's Degree at Syracuse, going to get his Master's Degree at Syracuse, and yet every day on the football field, you can see how he loves the game by the way he practices and the way he goes about his work.

Q. Last Saturday Steve Ishmael didn't start the game but he was kind of peppered with some on-the-field looks every now and then. It wasn't very consistent. How much of that was kind of him just kind of battling back from injury, where is he at now, and how much can we expect from him on Saturday?
DINO BABERS: You know, I think it's the exact same thing. He's got just that nagging injury from the Clemson game, and he's just not healing the way he should be healing. If he can go, we want him to go, and if he doesn't feel comfortable out there, the last thing we're going to do is put somebody on the football field when they don't feel comfortable. If he doesn't feel comfortable, then we'll have to go with someone else.

Q. In terms of last Saturday's game against Florida State did he come in and tell you I can play X amount of snaps? Was it something that you guys discussed? How did it get determined that he would play every now and then on Saturday?
DINO BABERS: It's based on how he feels when he goes out there. Sometimes he feels good and sometimes he doesn't feel as good.

Q. I know the offensive line has obviously had some injuries this year. I'm curious, as you look back at the last week or two, what are you trying to work on with that group? What can realistically be improved just for this Pitt game?
DINO BABERS: I think the main thing is you keep -- you stick with your bases. You stick with your pass sets. You stick with guys sitting in there. You stick with your deuces. We've only got two days, two days of practices left before this game starts, and it's not what you do this week, it's what you've been doing since August. We're going to have to stay the course. We don't have anyone else that can go in there. These are our guys, and we're going to line up and play with them.

Q. On a separate note, I was curious if there are any young guys who are redshirting or maybe guys who just only got a little bit of action this year that you're particularly excited about, anyone kind of developing behind the scenes who you'd be willing to share a little bit on.
DINO BABERS: No, I really don't want to talk about the process of the 2017 season until we get done with 2016.

Q. Do you believe -- I know you guys are 4-7. Would you accept a bowl bid if you guys win on Saturday?
DINO BABERS: You know, a lot of that stuff is up to the administration and the university and the chancellor. But the one thing that I like to always point out is that any time you're rebuilding a new football team, the more practices that you can get, the faster the rebuilding job happens. And the way NCAA rules are with limitations on spring practices and whatnot, it's always of value to get the extra practices for the younger players. I'll leave it at that and see if we can win the game first.

Q. Talk about Pitt's running back Conner, coming back from cancer, now he's fully healthy and he's just enjoying his season. Is that a great story for an ACC and for college football?
DINO BABERS: I really do. I really do think it's a great story. I'll even give you one better. My first official act -- I wouldn't say one better. One not as good but just to show you how close I am to Conner. My first official act as the head football coach at Bowling Green was to attend their bowl game, which was Bowling Green versus Pittsburgh, and I stood on that sideline and watched the team play while I watched Conner run the football, and I think he even got a sack in that game if I'm not mistaken, playing defensive end, and I'm sitting there going, wow, that's what a running back looks like.

And now here it is, I don't know, three years later, and we're going down to Heinz Field, and I'm about to see him up close and personal again with a defense that's beat up and a bunch of young guys up on the front. It could be a nightmare, but hopefully it'll be something that we may be able to talk about for a long time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297