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NAVY MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 3, 2007

Paul Johnson

COACH JOHNSON: Wow, what a game, huh? It had to be a great game for a fan to watch. It was back and forth and up and down. I'm just so happy for our players, especially our seniors because, you know, it is a big win for our program. It is a big win for the Academy, and I'm happy that I don't have to answer anything else about a streak every time we play.
So it's like -- but I thought that both teams played hard. And in the end, we just made one more play than they did, so it was an exciting game and we feel fortunate to have come out on the upper end.

Q. Coach, could you talk about the passing of the third overtime, calling a pass there.
COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, well they started firing the corners. I mean, they were -- made some adjustments and they were going to, you know, stop the run.
I was really mad at myself at the end of regulation there because the pass we scored on in overtime, I was going to run on the first play. And just the way our season is going, with three minutes to go, I was thinking even if we hit the thing, it is stupid on my part, but I am thinking I wanted to take some time to get down there as opposed to hit a big play.
I didn't want to do it in a third down or whatever. But I felt like it was there because in the second overtime, you know, they hit us on the option. They fired the corner. And if you're going to do that you can't fire the corner and cover the wheel. So, you know, and Kaipo did a nice job finding him and Reggie did a great job catching the ball.

Q. Paul, were you surprised on Notre Dame's real last possession of regulation that they didn't attempt a field goal?
COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, a little bit, but I don't know his team. He knows his kickers and that kind of thing, and I guess the kicker had been struggling. I know he had been from film.
I think probably they thought they were going to get it a little closer. I tell you what, I told Charlie after the game to go for it on fourth and 14 from his own 30 yard line with about seven minutes was a gutsy call. And we blitzed and get a guy free, and we just can't get the quarterback down. And they take it down and score. So he made some good calls.

Q. I don't know if this has even processed for you yet, but just your emotion?
COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, it's processed for me. It is a big win. I'm excited for our players and, you know, I think as a football coach, what happens is you inevitably, when you win, you never enjoy it as much as when you beat yourself up when you lose. I find myself doing that all the time and, you know, we had a celebration in the locker room and I told our guys we got to come back Monday and get ready for next week.
And that's kind of the way it is. I'm sure that when we have time to sit back and reflect on it a little bit, you know, maybe it will be a bigger deal. But right now I'm just kind of -- I was really kind of into the game and just kind of numb that it's over.

Q. Coach, this is your third overtime game of the year. Did that help you any, do you think?
COACH JOHNSON: It probably didn't hurt. But, you know, it's -- the first overtime game we played this year only lasted one play for us. We fumbled on the first play, so ...
It was interesting. And, you know, I think it is a credit to our kids that they did what they had to. You know, our kicker was struggling a little bit, and, you know, I think he showed a lot of fortitude and a lot of gust to go out there and make that field goal in -- what was it? -- the third overtime and -- second overtime. You know, so it was -- it was just a neat game.

Q. Coach, what did you tell the defense after the pass interference call to kind of regroup for that last play?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, the same thing we've been telling them, is they were going to run the bell. We were selling out. We were bringing all 11. We just crashed.
And it's never in there until it's in there. And there is two or three times we felt like we hit the guy in the back field; but to his credit, he would break a tackle or squirm free or whatever. Got to keep playing. They got to get it in there.

Q. During the week, you said that the streak didn't mean as much inside the team as it did to the media and the fans and the people outside the program. Do you revisit that?
COACH JOHNSON: I still stand by that. These guys were -- our senior class was 0-3 against Notre Dame. I don't think you can give them credit for what happened from 1963 on. I know I don't want any credit for it.
So it is like, you know, each team is its own. You know, I guess, this is my sixth time playing Notre Dame as a head coach at Navy and three of them have gone down to about like this.
Eventually, if they keep going like this, law of averages, you're going to get one and today was our day.

Q. Paul, any type of pregame speech? And then what did you say to them after the game?
COACH JOHNSON: The only thing that I told them today, I said -- when we had our team meeting before we left, I said there's three factors in winning the game today. Number one, you got to believe that you can win. Number two, you got to believe that you can win. And number three, you got to believe that you can win.
And that was pretty much it. And at half time, we made a bone-head play right before half time and we came in and we talked and made a couple of adjustments. And I asked them again, I said, "Do you believe you can win?" I think they never gave up and always believed we could win the game.
I think pregame speeches are probably overrated.

Q. And then afterwards, what was it like in there?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, it was exciting. I mean, it was like any game when you have a big win like that, an overtime would be. You know, those guys, for the senior class, that's going to be something, you know -- every time I have somebody from a class of '63 talk to me, "We're the last class to beat Notre Dame three times." I mean, that's what they would say. They can't say that anymore. They can't say they're the last class to beat Notre Dame. This class will have that option to be able to do that.
It's important for the seniors because this group has had a lot to do with us getting the football program turned over at Navy. They've done everything we've asked them to do. They've really bought in into everything I've asked them, and they play hard.
We might not be the biggest or the fastest, but they play with a lot of heart. They play really hard.

Q. Coach, can you talk about your quarterback today and just how he ran your offense so efficiently? Only the one turnover.
COACH JOHNSON: Right, and actually that was just kind of a fumble. I mean, you have to give Notre Dame some credit. They came up and knocked out Wright.
But Kaipo has done a great job all year in executing the offense and he made some plays, two-point conversion. He toughed it out and got his pads down and got across the line. He gives us the chance to do some things because truth be told, we're not going to line up and block Notre Dame. They're a lot bigger than we are.
What we were able to do is not have to block them all. And you have to give him some credit for that. He would read his way out. There was two guys we didn't have to block.

Q. How important was it to stay in second and short and third and short the whole game instead of being second and 9 or second and 10?
COACH JOHNSON: It is real important, and that's why I call plays the way I do. There are probably some things we could have had in the passing game. There is no use to take a chance when you know you are going to have four downs to get -- I am not real smart in math, but three a pop will get you 10 four tries. And that's kind of the way we play and the way we have to play where we are.

Q. Coach, how hard is it to get a team to believe they can win when for more than 40 years they hadn't and last week you lost to Delaware? And as a second part of that question, what is there about this Navy team that you were able to win?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think they believed that they were going to win. Like I said, this team hadn't lost these years. Delaware is a pretty good football team. Nobody might not know about them, but they got a pretty good quarterback that's going to get drafted in the first couple rounds. They got a tightend and some pretty good players. They got a pretty good offensive team.
And so, you know, we were disappointed we lost but we thought we could win. I mean, when we looked at the tape, we felt like we could win. We knew we would have to play well.

Q. (No microphone.)
COACH JOHNSON: I don't think any Navy team I coached didn't come in here and think they couldn't win. Two times ago I believe they beat us on the last play of the game with a field goal. That group thought they could win. The team who came in here the last time and got beat pretty good thought they could win.
So I don't know that that's any different. I think every time our kids line up they think they can win. They believe in what we're doing, and I think they believe that if they play together as a team that they can overcome some of the deficiencies sometimes.

Q. Could you just talk a little bit about your defense coming up with some big plays today that you might not have seen too much of previously.
COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I thought that they did a really good job. We got a couple stops. Coming into the game I felt like if we could get three stops, we could win the game. It was a really crazy game. We had the ball three times in the first half and I'm not sure that wasn't the way we needed to play to win the game. You know, we needed to -- And then when you can do that and you limit the possessions, then it makes a stop a big deal.
You know, if you play a game where there is eight or nine punts, one stop is not as big a deal. If you are playing in that kind of game, one stop is huge and, you know, the biggest play of the game was when they sacked the quarterback and (inaudible) picked the ball up and ran it in. You know, it was huge. We needed a break like that.
You know, we didn't get -- in the first half when the guy fumbled the kick-off, the ball rolls around. It went right back to him, he did a nice job. If we get that ball, maybe we go in at half up 21-14. And then the game could have been a little bit different.
So, you know, it just kind of evened out. We needed to catch a break and we did.

Q. Can you talk about that sequence of the pass interference call on the two-point conversion.
COACH JOHNSON: Yeah, I was disappointed but, you know, I'm on the sidelines and that's what they pay the officials money for. He made the call. You got to move on.
Like I told our guys, okay, it was pass interference. They're not in there yet. Now we know they're going to run it. The ball's on the 1 1/2 yard line. If they throw it, they throw it. We know they are going to run it full out.
Come on, all of you, corners, safeties, everybody come get them. You know, we crashed and made the guy bounce and we had some guys coming over, and they kept him out.
So, you know, they weren't in there until they got in and that time they didn't get in.

Q. You mentioned the fourth and 14. Ram was the guy that missed the sack and then he makes that leap over the guy -- over --
COACH JOHNSON: Same blitz, same play. Right before the end of the game, Ram just made a great play. Leaped a running back and got a sack and really gave us the ball with a chance to maybe go down and do it.
I probably mismanaged that. But I didn't want to play for overtime. Wanted to move the ball. But that's not us. We're not a quick strike. We probably should have run the ball and played for overtime. It worked out.

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