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UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 9, 2008

Charlie Weis

COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Good afternoon. I'd be remiss if I didn't start this press conference with Notre Dame/Michigan week with saying something to Tommy (Brady), one of my two favorite Michigan players of all time. Obviously (Notre Dame defensive coordinator) Corwin (Brown) being the other one. But here's to a speedy recovery and a quick return back to the field.
Now on to this week. (Michigan head coach) Rich (Rodriguez) came over from West Virginia where he'd been for the last seven years. Going to six Bowl games in a row. Won four Big East titles. Obviously he comes with big credentials. Calvin McGee came over with him to coordinate the offense, and so they obviously are used to being able to develop and get rolling with a highly efficient, high-powered, high-scoring offense.
There are elements of that already in place. For example, they've been in the red zone five times this year and scored four touchdowns.
From the first week to the second week, second week they rushed for 178 yards and over five yards a carry. So you can see they're well on their way to implementing their offense at Michigan.
At quarterback, it's interesting, because I think we could see three different quarterbacks in the game. Everyone will talk about (Steven) Threet and (Nick) Sheridan and the battle going on between the two of them. But I expect to see Carlos Brown in the game as well. I think they'll have a Carlos Brown package that we'll have to practice.
He should be back. I know in training camp that was one of the other elements they added that they haven't had the last couple of weeks. So we're going to have to get ready for three different quarterbacks.
They started two pure freshmen, true freshmen here in the first couple of games in McGuffie and Shaw. And Shaw got banged up. I think he hurt his groin here in the second quarter of last week's game, allowing, opening the door for Minor and Grady to get in the mix. Now Minor only had one carry but went 15 yards for a touchdown. And Grady was not allowed to play in the first game but he got back in the mix last week.
They've got a big fullback in Moundros's return, starter at fullback. And although Butler has been the primary tight end, I have to definitely include Massey in there, especially having a dad who played here in '69. And he's got seven starts over his career as well. So I think they feel pretty good at the tight end position.
At the three wide receiver positions, they're really two deep in all three spots. The X, Mathews, who actually hurt his ankle against Utah and didn't play last week, I think we'll see him back this week. Him or Stonum will be at the X.
You've got Savoy or Hemingway. He also missed some time with his shoulder, but we think we'll see him back, too, at the Z. Then their slot, Odoms, a true freshman who can flat out fly. He's a small guy but he can fly. Or Clemons will be in the slot for them.
Now, their offensive line is anchored by Shaw on the right tackle, started again this last week. Now Ortmann at left tackle got injured last week. I don't know if he'll play or not. When he went out and Nowicki went in for him, I think they might put in Dorrestein over from the right tackle over to left tackle if Ortmann can't go and McAvoy, Molk and Moosman will handle the inside left guard, center and right guard.
The strength of their team at this point is their front 7 on defense, their whole defense, but they returned seven guys on defense and a few more with a lot of game experience. And their front 4 is all back, the strength of their team. Only giving up two touchdowns in two games, and they haven't allowed a touchdown in six quarters.
Coach Shafer is over from Stanford who we won against last year and doing a lot of the same stuff, really good scheme on defense. And only giving up a little over 15 points a game and 41 yards rushing. And the 41 yards rushing is bad enough. It's 1.1 average per carry. Giving less than 35 percent on third down. Not giving up any fourth downs, and they have nine sacks in two games.
And their front 4, you've got Jamison and Graham at the ends. They're both good. I mean you can take all four of them. Taylor and Sagesse and Johnson at defensive tackle. This front 4 is as good as you'll go against. They're experienced, big and good. At linebacker, they have one returning starter, Ezeh who is now playing middle linebacker. In his career he's played outside and inside. He's settled in at middle linebacker. They shuffled the linebackers a little bit from the first game to the second game. But looks like Thompson and Mouton will end up being the two linebackers.
Thompson is a bigger guy. He started at Sam last week. Ezeh, as I said, he was the returning tackler from last year. He was the returning starter. But he's also defensive player of the week in the Big Ten week one.
And Mouton is a converted safety that added about 20 pounds in the off season and they moved him into will. He is very athletic, looked very impressive at his first start at linebacker.
The secondary, Trent has the most experience at corners. Started 31 times at one. Handle the corners. Harrison and Brown handle the safeties. Harrison will go down when they go to nickel, go in, cover the slot and bring in Stewart at safety.
Then they're solid on special teams. And their specialists in particular. Mesko is a great guy, award candidate as a punter. Lopata, he handles the kicking and Wright handles the kickoffs. And usually the ball gets inside the 5-yard line. He's hitting the ball pretty well on the kickoffs.
Griffin handles the short and long snap, and four guys, two in the punt return and two in the kickoff return, with Cissoko and Harrison as kick returners and Warren and Odoms at the punt returners. As you notice, all those guys are involved in the mix either on offense or defense as well.

Q. Charlie, you talked the other day about, you talked to the team the second quarter saying that they were playing as if they were waiting for something bad to happen. Do you think the need to win against a higher profile team or couple of wins to get the mind-set off of last year?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I think any time you're playing somebody with a tradition of Michigan who is a big game every year you play them, I think it would really help as we were talking about it would help the confidence of the team if you could beat a team the quality of Michigan. I think that would be an understatement to say that that not be true.

Q. Just wondering, your predecessor, when they lost 38-0 to MIchigan, they did 38 -- drills of 38, 38 pushups, etc. Did you do anything like that, or did you remind the team in the off season about the pain of that loss?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I'd have to go back two years if I wanted to do that. We'd be doing a lot more than 38. Because two years in a row they've whooped us pretty good. So we'd be in the 70s. We'd be doing a lot more than 38.

Q. You mentioned how big this game is. Usually most seasons this is one of the big games of the week. This year your two rivals are the big game of the week. Ohio State/USC. Does that bother you at all that it's overshadowed?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: No, I think that for us we're only worrying about Michigan. That's what we're worrying about. We've got enough concerns just trying to beat Michigan. I can't worry about what's happening with the Buckeyes and the Trojans. Let everyone else worry about them.

Q. Last year, when Mike Hart made the guarantee, you said if someone wants to give you a lay-up, you'll use the lay-up. Do you think you gave Michigan a lay-up with your "To hell with Michigan" quote?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I'm glad you asked that, Tom, so I could get that out of the way. It was just a matter of time. You know, anyone who is a Michigan fan should know and understand that that comment pays respect to Bo and his mentality when playing an opponent.
As a matter of fact, (his son) Schemy and I had a big chuckle over this in summer during training camp. And we shared a moment that this question would probably be asked on this day. So take it for what it's worth. But I think that's a very respectful comment towards Coach Bo's "To hell with Notre Dame."

Q. Charlie, two years ago you kind of downplayed the rivalry, I think, leading up to it. Have you learned, I guess, in your college career about the importance of the rivalry games and that they do mean more maybe to the players?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I think that there's definitely merit in that statement. The problem is every week there's a game, especially with most of our schedule, there's several repeat opponents that you play year in and year out.
So if you sit there and put all the emphasis on Michigan, what are you saying about Michigan State? What are you saying about Purdue? What are you saying about Stanford?
I think it's important not to differentiate from the head coach's perspective and the team's perspective and be disrespectful to the other opponents in addition to the one.
Now, with that being said, you know you definitely feel the magnitude of the game when you're playing against a team like (Michigan). So let me not underestimate the magnitude of the game.

Q. Your fans really care about this game and USC. Does that play into, I guess, kind of piggybacks on Tom's question, but the way that you at least talk about it publicly?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I usually don't talk about the games much different. I might say it a little different to the team each week. But I think that there isn't a time that I go into a game against an opponent where I don't feel that I'm respectful to the team we're going against.
I understand the magnitude of playing against Michigan. It's a rival in several ways. It's not just the traditions of the school. It's locale. It's recruiting. There's a whole number of factors that are involved in it. Besides just the winning and the losing. I think there's a lot that could be gained by going and putting a good performance against a tough opponent.

Q. Charlie, their defense with Shafer coming over, scheme-wise, philosophy-wise, is it discernibly different from the defense they were running before?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Very similar to Stanford's defense. It was different than what they were doing. But very eerily similar to what we studied last year against Stanford. I think he came in. He's got good players to place into this system, because that front 7 they're pretty stout starting with their front 4.
But I think he's been able to run his packages with a very smooth transition and looks like there's not too many guys that are too confused in what they're doing.

Q. What does that mean? How would you describe it?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: They really have two different defensive packages. They had three packages really going into the first week where they had a regular package, nickel package, then an odd package.
But when they shuffled their linebackers around and made a more athletic will in there, put him in that position right there where they could just go in and out from their over to even defense that they play and their 4-2/3 personnel to their odd package they go in and out of those two things and you have to be ready for both those packages.

Q. Regardless of what people made of the offensive line last week, you talked about Michigan's front 7, are people going to be able to draw pretty fair conclusion about where your guys are up front based on the guys you're playing against?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: You're going against a very formidable front. So I think that it won't take much for everyone to figure out how things went. Because we didn't give up a sack last week. Well, this team has nine sacks in two games. Something is going to give here.

Q. Charlie, the first two years with Brady Quinn, the screen game was a big part of your offense. You struggled with that last year. You used it a lot again in your opener. How important is the screen game to your offense, number one? And number two, what do screens do to an opposing defense?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Well, the answer to the first part is the fact that I think it's always important, when a team is pinning their ears back just coming after you on defense, I think a screen is a very underused weapon for defenses that play like that.
Now, with that being said, you also have to call the screens that match the schematics of who you're going against. Because let's say you're playing against a team that's playing man coverage the whole time and you're running screens.
Well, now, you have to teach linemen how to block a hugger, which is the cover guy on that back, rather than just getting the running space and going to the look DBs down the field.
So I think it's a combination of the two things. It can slow a pass rush down, number one. But, two, you have to apply the screens to the schemes the teams you're going against.

Q. Do you feel that you're much better prepared to be successful with that aspect of your offense this year?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: We've spent a lot of time off season on screens. The other thing, which goes hand in hand with those, Tim, is that screens are also a way to get a quarterback going, to get the quarterback a little momentum, get a few completions under his belt. If all you do is just come out slinging it down the field all the time, the risk/reward is high, but the completion percentage goes down.

Q. We in the media have only had an opportunity to see your short snapper Braxston Cave twice. One was in the game last week and one in the open practice. On both occasions, several of his snaps were to the left of your holder. Obviously he's been your most consistent or he wouldn't be your guy. Has that been a problem that he's been dealing with? And who is your back-up? Would you go for back-up?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Kevin (Brooks) would be the back-up at the short snapper. Kevin, that's all he does all practice long is snap. Braxston is a center in practice. He gets freed up in practice goes snap. I would imagine if all he did all practice was snap, you know, his accuracy would probably be better, because that's all Kevin does. So if you ask who I would pop in there, that's who I would pop in there.
The thing in the short snapping I'm just a little reluctant to put in a smaller body in a situation like that. Although, in practice this week that will be one of the things we judge based on how things are going. If we have to put in a smaller body to get a better snap, that's what we'll do.

Q. Looking at a replay of the game, the announcers talk about how you consistently ran to the left side. It was pretty simplistic. I'm sure there's reasons for that. But would you hold back things in your offense for next week when you're in the middle of a battle for your life this week?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Yes and no. You know, for me to sit there and say that we were schematically planning to run everything to the left because this week we're going to run everything to the right, that would be a lie. That was not the case, because you're still trying to win the game.
Now, would you hold things back? Yeah, you would hold things back. But not at the expense of losing the game.

Q. Last thing for me. You know, the pace of the game sometimes are so slow, especially home games, Saturday's game was three hours and 40 minutes. Is it difficult to keep a team motivated when there are so many long stretches during the game?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Surprisingly not. Because there's a lot going on on the sideline when they're not in. The only thing that really slows the game down besides the dreaded TV timeouts, the thing that slows it down is when the offense, the opposing offense is on the field for a long time.
That's the one time that really the game seems like it takes an eternity. Then and only then is when the game seems like it's going slow. Because you want to get the defense off the field and you want to get the offense back on the field. When that happens, it was like in the first quarter last week, you talk about later in the game, the first quarter is the one that felt like an eternity for me because we weren't on the field very much on offense.

Q. Are there games where schematically it's more of a Harrison Smith game where he's going to be on the field more and so forth?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Absolutely. And he's not alone. There's a couple other guys that were in that mix. Like Ian Williams, for example, didn't get as many snaps as we'd want to play.
So against teams that spread you out the whole time, you only can play so many of those big guys inside. So I think that there's games where you'll see certain players a lot more involved in versus other games.
Now, we're trying to get our best players on the field at all times. But some of what they do with those nine, 10, 11 guys sometimes it affects the rotation and the numbers on a weekly basis.

Q. What did you see from Armando (Allen), both in the return game and running the ball that you feel like you can build on with him?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: He's obviously more decisive in what he's doing than at any time last year. And he's also stronger. And he'll also know when he's in open field to be looking for a safety that's coming to hit him in the face. Because he got rocked pretty good on that one. But he's playing more like I was hoping to have seen him play early last year. He's much better prepared for the big picture. And he's more physical and certainly hasn't lost any speed.

Q. You've got the'88 championship team coming in this week with Holtz. How do you as a coach tap into that and help your team with that?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: First of all, if you don't involve Lou, you'd be dumb. So at the end of the week we'll get him in here and we'll do all we can to use any assistance we can from him. But I think it's a very, something that is very telling when you say this was the last team that had Notre Dame at the top and that's what your goal is, that's what you're shooting for, that's what every Notre Dame team should be shooting for, to get Notre Dame back so that they aren't talking about 20 years since, 20 years since the last one.
I think it's really, really good for Notre Dame to bring these teams back. But it's a little different bringing the '88 team back than the '53 team back, because there's names that are more in the forefront for these guys that you can educate them on.

Q. Your visit with Rich Rodriguez when he was still at West Virginia, was a big impetus of that to learn how to go against Jon's (Tenuta) defense because he had some success in that ball game? And what did you learn from him when you visited?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: It was more to learn how to put in a portion of the spread which we were figuring we were going to have to use early in the year. And Jon happened to be the first guy dialed up that we were going against. But I thought it was really interesting how he calls almost every play at the line of scrimmage. I've run no huddle for years. But no huddle is a limited package where you have X number of plays and you run those plays over and over again.
Now, they have plays and a lot of teams do this. Chuck Long was doing it the other day. Get the formation, get to the line of scrimmage. Look at your line of play, look what the defense is and see if you want to alert and go to the opposite side based off the coach's calling it from the sideline. I was fascinated with them doing that. I don't know if mentally I could do that.
I guess if I had their system in there and had one formation like they'll do a lot of times, you probably could get used to doing that. But I was intrigued by how he did that and what forced him to check from one side to the other side and obviously I came back with those notes. I don't know how much they'll help us, but I got 'em.

Q. Charlie, I know you talked about him a little bit on Sunday. I was hoping you could revisit Mike Anello. Simply put, what makes him so good?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: First of all, on punt team, when you have two gunners -- and David Bruton is the other one. If you give special attention usually, you're going to give it to David Bruton. But he's a guy you go out there and say physically this can't happen. And he's very fast. And he torques his body and he gets through the mess and he can tackle. And he's got a very high motor.
And he has a knack for making plays. And he did last year, too. It's not like he's a novice at doing this. I didn't give the kid a scholarship because of his appearance. I gave it to him because he earned it. And he earned it because of making plays like that in practice every day. How rarely do you get an opportunity to make four unassisted tackles on special teams, two of them inside the 20. But this is nothing new. This is nothing that our team would find a big surprise.

Q. He's another one of those wrestling guys. Those guys seem to have a way of sort of overachieving and doing some different things. Would you agree with that? Is there something about these wrestlers that lends itself to that?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Well, the few that I've had, that's their track record usually. There's a lot of parallels. Look at Trevor (Laws) and I look at a few of those other guys that (Mike) Ragone is a wrestler. We'll see how that all plays out when he gets back. Lane Clelland was a good wrestler. We'll see how that plays out as he develops. But most of these guys, you have to be a sicko to wrestle anyway. And I think that it kind of helps in your development as a football player.

Q. You don't win a game in the first quarter, obviously, but I think you know, the Irish have only led once in the last 16 games after the first quarter. Can you talk about that and what you see the team needs to do?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I'm harping more on the fourth quarter last week than the first quarter. If you really go back and break the game down into quarters and segments rather than starting with the first quarter, I'm starting with the fourth quarter. Because if you pick up from the play between of the two safeties, McCarthy and Bruton, and you just watch that play until the end of the game, I don't know if there was one bad play. I don't remember it. But there probably was but I'm talking offense, defense and special teams. So for almost an entire quarter every play was good or close to every play was good.
One of the things I'm going to talk to the team about today, and I talked to them about it yesterday, we go back to the first quarter last week or are we picking up from the fourth quarter? That's a very subjective thing that I'm saying, but you can understand it. That would be my rationale. Because I'm trying to carry over from the fourth quarter of last week rather than give a parallel to the first quarter last week.

Q. Have you had a chance to talk to Tom Brady since the injury?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: We were, not too long ago, we were sharing texts, about an hour ago, to tell you the truth, we were sharing some texts. I told him I was going to mention him at the, so he didn't get caught off guard I would mention him at the press conference so I didn't have to listen to him whine at me or something like that.

Q. Talk a little bit about the '88 team, Lou Holtz will have a statue dedication this week. As a guy who sat in his shoes for a few years, your thoughts of him as the Notre Dame head coach?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Any time you have a couple of guys in the history of Notre Dame that have lasted a decade here and with great success. I think more than anything else, I look at like Lou and Ara (Parseghian), I group them together in different stages of Notre Dame history as guys who have been great mentors for me. Because I can't tell you how many times I talked to Ara and Lou about different subjects and get their opinion how would you do this and what were you thoughts on that. And there's no one quicker to return a phone call than those two guys when it comes to me asking for some guidance. And I do lean on them.

Q. What do you think made him a good coach?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Well, I think that he's tough. I think he's smart. I think he's a good motivator. I think he's a good leader. He's not afraid to make a tough decision. Not afraid to stand apart from everyone and make a decision that might not be popular with everyone else.
I think that he was a good play caller, too.

Q. When he won his title you were young in your coaching career at that time. A colleague of his of sorts but probably a Notre Dame fan as well. Do you have any impressions or memories as a Notre Dame alum and as a fan from that run?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Oh, I probably had some friendly agreements with a few of my friends at the time that I ended up on the long end instead of the short end. But other than that, that was a ways to go. I had a different stage of my life and different issues at the time.

Q. With Michigan's offense, what makes it so difficult to go against? Is it just the way they read things?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Well, I think that the fact that the quarterback as a weapon, when everything is running the way Rich (Rodriguez) wants it to be running, the quarterback is as big a weapon as anyone else they have on the team. And normally when you're going in to stop a team, you know the quarterback is somebody you have to worry about his throwing or containing him in the pocket. But you don't have to worry about him so much as a weapon in the run game.
So they have a whole other element because their quarterback and his system sometimes is as good, if not better, than all the rest of the other guys. So that's why I think we'll see (number) 23 a little bit at quarterback in this game now that he's healthy, because the other two guys are more of throwers and this kid is a running back that has played some quarterback.
So I expect to see him a little bit when it's all said and done.

Q. Now, obviously San Diego State's offense, they throw the ball more than Michigan does, but the fact that you have a team that that likes to spread the field, does that help make it easier?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Formationally, yeah, because you have to learn to play in space. We've been talking throughout training camp about being able to play in space. Not every team is that way, but it's in vogue right now.
There's a lot of teams getting three open or four open formations a whole bunch of times. And I think the more practice you have of playing in space, the more you get used to doing it.

Q. And you hit on it before, but it sounds like speed would just be the main attempt to counter what they do.
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Yeah, I think speed is very important. Like I mentioned, Odoms, plays in the slot. He might be a small guy but one of the fastest guy you could see. McGuffie, he might be a freshman, but you saw him get better from the first game to the second game.
But another thing, even though (McGuffie's) not the biggest guy in the world, he's really fast. And I think in this offense, you know, I think Rich will continue recruiting speed, because that's one of the bases of everything they end up doing.

Q. On their defense, Graham has spent a lot of time in the opposing team's back field so far this season. Is he the kind of guy you have to game plan against and what makes him so effective?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: One of the problems is if you just worry about him you've got Jamison on the other side. And Jamison's not any slouch. As a matter of fact, I think he might be the clear leader in sacks. Whereas I think last year Graham led their team in sacks, the year before, career-wise, Jamison's the leader.
So if you sit there and try and just take one guy out of the mix, you can always take one guy out. And the other side happens to be formidable, which this one is, it presents a big problem. But he has very good edge speed. And he's a converted linebacker that's a defensive end. And any time you have a converted linebacker that's a defensive end there's a good chance you're dealing with a high level of athleticism.

Q. Rich said yesterday that he's probably relying on his defense more at this point of the season because his offense is still trying to get its feet about it. Are you a little bit in that same boat? Is your offense still trying to to get its feet about it?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I think that this will be a very good test being able to answer some of those questions, because once again, if I go back to John's question from before, if I had to answer that question based on the first half, versus based it off the fourth quarter, I'll give two answers. I know they're stout on defense. I think that we'll be able to know a lot more about where we are after this game is over.

Q. Can you make a case for the argument that your team might be dealing with less pressure this week to play San Diego State, you're a three-touchdown favorite. That starts to swell a little bit when the game is close. Can you say now, well, hey, we're playing Michigan, yeah they're retooling but it's Michigan, is there something that can be said that maybe your team plays a little more free and less pressurizeded this Saturday?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Less pressure playing Michigan?

Q. Sounds great.
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I have a tough time fathoming that being the case. I understand your argument, though. You're coming off a bad year. You're supposed to beat the team soundly. You're fortunate to get by. I get that. I understand the logic, but I think this is Michigan. I think that the guys will have a high -- their radar will be way up come 2:30 when I start talking. By 2:45, I think that there will be no misnomer at that time.

Q. Bear with me on this next one. If you had to choose one and not the other, I know it's an absolute, but if you could have your team improve, and I mean no turnovers, better run game, better kicking game, or would you rather have just the team win again? If you had to choose one or the other this Saturday, what would it be?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Always win. I'll pick win every time. So if we come in and we win by one point, you want to tell me how bad the win is versus us not turning the ball over and us losing, guess what? I'll take the win every time. 100 out of 100.

Q. With the improvements between game one and game two, what happens between game two and game three?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: We're worrying about Michigan, Tim. Let me tell you something, I'm just trying to get to Saturday.

Q. It applies to Michigan. I'm applying it to Michigan. They're going for game two --
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: That's them. I mean, I can only deal with us. I can't deal with them. They're getting some guys back that's going to give them more wrinkles. They ran the ball better in the second game than they did in the first game. They haven't given a touchdown up on defense in the last six quarters. Gave up some up in the first half against Utah. In the last game and a half they haven't given up a touchdown.

Q. I'm going to ask you that question next week.
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: For us? Yeah, I think you can ask me that next week.

Q. With the celebration penalty being emphasized this year the way it is, have you addressed that with your guys?
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: Well, we've addressed it now two different situations. We addressed it, first of all, at the Pitt opener game with the defensive linemen (from Bowling Green). Now we've addressed it with the Washington and BYU game (with the Washington quarterback). So the players, they look at it like, oh, why would they call something like that. But that's not the point. The point is they did. And it just shows you the impact you can have on games with one celebration for a very short amount of time that isn't even a carried-away celebration.
So we just keep on using them as teaching tools and try and hope that it doesn't manifest.

Q. Where is the balance? Because obviously you want to see emotion from your team.
COACH CHARLIE WEIS: I talked to the team. Then I talked to the officials before the game. I told the officials that I encouraged our team to party with their teammates. I said when you make a big play, just look for your teammates. Don't bring attention on yourself, look for your teammates. And I told the official. I asked the officials a rhetorical question. I said now I'm assuming if they go and party with their teammates you're not going to be calling that a personal foul, right?
But you want them to play with emotion. You want them to be excited about what they're doing. But I think that the big thing is you have to do all you can to try not to bring attention to yourself.
BRIAN HARDIN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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