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PURDUE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 16, 2008

Joe Tiller

THE MODERATOR: Okay. Good afternoon. Welcome to week three of Purdue football. We will be taking on Central Michigan at home in Ross-Ade this weekend. Coach Tiller is here to address your questions. Let's go ahead to the phone lines.

Q. I just wanted to ask you, first of all, starting off with Kory Sheets' performance against Oregon, I know there's been some knocks on him over the years in terms of fumbling and such and perhaps not meeting potential. Do you feel that he's getting close to that potential that he showed when he arrived, and what's different about him right now?
COACH TILLER: I think what's different about Kory is that he's maturing. And I think with the advent of Jaycen Taylor being injured, I think that he is playing with a greater sense of urgency today than he ever has since he's been at Purdue. And I think you combine that since of urgency with maturity and you get the type of performance we saw Saturday.

Q. How important for Purdue's program was the fact that you not only were on national television but played well, and, I believe, your game was replayed on classic over the weekend? Can you talk about the importance of not only getting out there on national television but playing, you know, very competitively in that game?
COACH TILLER: Well I don't know about getting on national television. I just as soon the game would have been played at 12:00 noon; that's what seems to be the time we play games now. That would have been 9:00 in the morning in Eugene, Oregon. I think that would have been really good.
So playing on national television, I don't put much stock on that, or in that rather. And if it's being played on classics, they must have run out of classics. I don't think that was a classic game.
It was a hard fought game. I think both teams were very tired at the end of that game; which is, to me, an indication that you've left it out on the field, that you've given great effort. And I think that was true in both teams' cases.
And those are the games that I enjoy the most. When you can watch a game and you can say, Hey, when the game is over, those the guys gave everything they had, whether they won it or lost it. Certainly you prefer to win it, but I always look at the effort level because I think that's what we expect. We expect competitive athletes to give great effort, and that's what both teams did.

Q. Coach, you have a receiving core that some of the guys haven't played a lot. Now here they win against an elite secondary in Oregon. What do you feel that they might have gained from that experience?
COACH TILLER: Well I think it really helped them. I agree with you, I think it's certainly one of the better secondaries we've ever seen. And I think playing against good competition helps you elevate your own game.
I think that our young receivers learned more. I think Des Tardy, for instance, grew up a lot in that particular game. Greg Orton continued to show up. And, you know, I just think it's, you know, it's -- the competition level is good for your team, and certainly it's good for players who haven't, you know, seen a lot of action because it forces them to grow up in a hurry.

Q. My last question is, obviously, this is the third time you've played this team in a pretty short span of time. In a way, is this somewhat like a conference game just because of the familiarity between the two teams?
COACH TILLER: I hadn't thought of that, but you're pretty accurate there. I mean, it's very unusual for you to play a non-conference team and have, you know, a real handle on them. I mean, we know their personnel better than any non-conference team that we play simply because of the repetitive nature of playing them.
You know, I know who Ontario Sneed is, Antonio Brown, you know, Dan LaFever. I don't need people to remind me what their names are. Usually I know players' numbers I don't know their names. I know these guys names. So it tells you are very familiar with them.
So it's certainly a different approach. I shouldn't say approach, but it's different experience. And, you know, one we look forward to. It's challenge to try to find a way to come out on top when you play a team this often, this frequently.

Q. Hi, Coach. I've just got two questions for you. Let me ask you, is there any attempt to throw in -- I don't know how much game planning you've done -- but there is any attempt to throw in a few extra wrinkles or try to get maybe creative considering that you've played CMU twice and they probably know you as well as you know them. Are you going to game plan more than maybe you do in other games?
COACH TILLER: I don't think so. I think that, you know, we are who we are. And I think CMU is the same. You know Dan LaFever's going to carry their offense. You know what you might see is one phase of the offense featured a little bit more than a different phase.
But, you know, for us evaluating them, you know, when they struggle a little bit he basically takes the game over. By that, I mean, you see a lot more empty out and quarterback runs than, you know, if things are moving along pretty smoothly for them. That's been a tendency that was true against us. But it's also true against, you know, the folks that they've played.
You know, what can you do about it? Well you probably have a little better indication of what's coming, but there are no guarantees in life. So you always look for the -- you know, I'm sure they do and we do, we always look for the tendency breaker and do a little bit more of that in a game like this.

Q. Let me ask the question a little bit differently. From an offensive point of view, is there any incentive for you to maybe put in a few extra trick plays or put in a few different things that maybe CM hasn't seen before?
COACH TILLER: No. I mean, what you do over the course of the year is you probably -- every week you're adding maybe one new wrinkle that you didn't -- you know, last week, for instance, we put Justin Siller in the game and shifted Painter outside. We may or may not do that again the rest of the year, but teams have to practice it.
So oftentimes, you know, it's a little chess game that you are playing. And sometimes some of the things that you do, you do simply because it forces your opponent to spend more time from a preparation point of view. Then they might get away from defending some of the basic things that you really are going to lead with in the game.

Q. Excellent. This is a two-part question. First, what have you taken from your previous two meetings last year with CMU you can use this game? Secondly, is there anything you want to do differently?
COACH TILLER: What we learned last year? We learned it ain't over till it's over. You know, in both games we've had leads, substantial leads against the Chippewas, and in both games they come storming back. And you hang on and you are on the ropes and you are hanging on to come out of there alive. What will we do differently?

Q. Correct. Yes.
COACH TILLER: I don't know as though we would do anything differently.
I think that, you know, you have to prepare for each opponent based on what you see and what you think you can do against them. And what we did the last two years -- they haven't -- offensively I don't -- you know, I've watched all three games on them so far offensively, and I've only watched two of the games on them defensively, but they haven't changed on offense. It's -- you know, you can't tell the difference between this year's offense and last year. As a matter of fact it's the exact same guys. I don't think they graduated a single skill guy. The same receivers -- might be a different tight end but it's the same receivers, same running back, same quarterback running the same offense.
Defensively they look to me like they've installed more pressure. You know, they bring a lot of different looks a you. That's a little bit of a change from last year. But they did a lot of that last year too. To me it looks like a lot of the same once again.
I think defensively they run better this year than they ran last year, collectively as a unit. I like their defense. I respect their defense certainly more this year than we did last year. Not that we didn't respect them, but we thought there were some things we could really take advantage of. I think those players are a year older, a year smarter and a year better, and it will be more difficult the to try to take advantage of some of the things we saw a year ago.

Q. Obviously, Curtis had real big games both times against CMU. Had a lot of passing yards. Is he going to do anything differently maybe this time, or have you said anything to him, or is there any -- what do you do to make sure he has that same kind of performance again, I guess is what I'm asking?
COACH TILLER: Hope he goes out and throws it as well as he did the last two times. I don't think you -- I think he did have -- he had two big games, but, you know, those weren't typical game for him. What we hope is that he has a third one in him. But, you know, I don't think there's any guarantees in life that that's going to happen. But, I mean, we're going give him that opportunity to throw the football that's for sure.

Q. So you think that those games were more just him having big games and less about the fact he was playing CMU's defense?
COACH TILLER: I think it was less about what?

Q. You think that those big games he had against CMU was more about the fact he had just abnormal games and less about the fact of the team he was playing?
COACH TILLER: Now I understand the question.
Yeah, I think, you know, he had a couple better game of his career. I'm not sure he can do it a third time, but we'll certainly give it a try.
I don't think that CMU's defense, you know, had as much to do with that as him being hot you know, so to speak, those two days. Although, if you look at the game last year, he started the game and had most of the yards the first half and really cooled off the second half. Whereas in the bowl game he really played a more complete game. So I think they are did two different games there.

Q. Is it easier said than done for a team to recover from a heart breaking defeat like the one you suffered Saturday? And how challenging will that be for you and your staff to get your team to bounce back from that game and be in the right frame of mind this week?
COACH TILLER: I think it's always something that you, you know, goes through your mind. But, you know, oftentimes you depend on your senior leadership. Because, you know, I don't need -- it's broken record. I've been around the game a long, long time. And sometimes, you know, as a coaching staff it's really interesting, you know, based on the outcome of a game, people sometimes question, what did you say or what did you do, you know. And the messages are the same oftentimes before a win or before a loss. It's just that sometimes the receivers don't -- they don't quite hear it.
So, as a result, you rely on your leadership within your team. And I think we have good senior leadership. I think we have pretty mature football team. I like the way that they've responded to date, and certainly we hope that that will continue to be the case.

Q. Drawing on your past experience, is it easier for coaches or players to get over those tough kind of losses? And do you say much, you know, after the fact, or do you just try to take out the positives? Or is there at all any of the what if game played during the week or the day or so after the game?
COACH TILLER: Sure. Well I don't think you can ignore, you know, not having done something that you can do better. I don't think you just sweep it under the carpet and assume it will go away. But, you know, we take Sunday as a day to really reflect on the game and evaluate the game and then correct any mistakes that we've made. But after Sunday, you know, it gets filed away.
You know, actually I don't want to hear our players talk about the game after Sunday. I don't want to talk about the game after Sunday. You know, it's time to move on. And I think if you don't, it's like going through life looking in the rearview mirror. You're always looking at what is behind you versus what's in front of you.
So you know our emphasis has always been on, you know, moving on and let's take a look the what's coming ahead of us and let's get ready for it.

Q. As a coach, Joe, I can't remember many, if any, off the top of my head through your Purdue career, but have you had many games, or a game that has turned out to spoil a season or put a damper on a season that you can remember that maybe your team never got over?
COACH TILLER: I can't remember. I think if there was I would remember it, if it spoiled the whole season, but I can't put my finger on a single, just one game where that was true.

Q. Last thing I have. Do you feel even better about your team now than say you did a week ago after what you witnessed on Saturday? And, if so, in what ways?
COACH TILLER: Yeah. I made the comment to our team in the locker room afterwards that I felt we got better Saturday because of course the quality of the opponent we played was significantly different. And I thought that our effort level -- really we responded to the challenge. And that's always a good indication that, you know, you as a football team, you can expect bigger and better things from your team, provided they can come through with that type of an effort on a regular basis. So I thought that we improved.
You know, there were some things that during the game we improved at. There were some things that we need to remind ourselves, you know, that we need to tighten it up and not relax in a given situation. Although I don't think we relaxed, I think in the third quarter quite, frankly, we got tired. I think our defense was on the field for 50-some plays in the first half, which is a lot of plays, so that tends to wear on you.
But overall I thought our team got better because I liked the way we ran. I liked the way we hit. And I liked the way we competed against a football team -- I don't think -- I think now today on -- what is today -- Tuesday that I think it's pretty safe to say we're not going to go against a better second. I didn't know that going into the game. I thought that. I thought, Hey this is a really good secondary, I wonder if we'll go against the better one. I don't think we'll go against the better one all year.
I think we had some receivers grow up. I think we just got better as a football team.

Q. How has Cory Benton done in his first two games as a starting center?
COACH TILLER: Good. You know Danny and I were talking about this -- Coach Hope and I were talking about this, and Cory is, you know, he's an athletic center. You know he pulled -- actually made a key block. I think he's a guy that has good athleticism. He has real good understanding of what we're doing.
I think there were a couple times Saturday and probably will occur in the future where he just gets out coursed. You know you put a 312-pounder on his head or something and sometimes when he is snapping the ball he gets out muscled a little bit. Outside of that, I don't think there's much more we could ask of this guy that he hasn't given us.

Q. Just from a character standpoint, when a guy like him shows up as a walk-on and doesn't get his opportunity to do anything for four, five years, what does that say about a guy.
COACH TILLER: Says he's a character, number one, if you know him. But he's a guy that's stuck, you know, with it and, you know, he's not a guy that particularly early when he first arrived had much to say. He was a pretty quiet guy. He is a lot different guy today than he was then. Of course, he's been in the program and he is a lot move comfortable around everybody. But you always make the assumption, I think it's accurate, that hey there's a little something to this person or they wouldn't hang around.
Probably one of the least desirable things to do in a Division I college football, or whatever division we're in, is to be a scout team linemen. Those guys get pounded all the time. He had a couple of years of that. Not just one but a couple years of that. And he stuck with it. And those guys usually come on-- and, as a matter of fact, I couldn't tell you one that hasn't come on and played for us that's been through that.

Q. Are you still trying to figure some things out on the offensive line? I notice in the depth charts Zach Reckman is now listed as a tackle and Plue has moved into guard. Are you still kind of working that out?
COACH TILLER: Yep, we are.
I think the return of Sester helps us, makes us a better O-line. I think it gives us some options too. And, you know, I think it allows us to move Jones around, Miller around, and Plue around. So it's interesting how one guy coming back can have a domino affect throughout the line.

Q. Just following up on Sester. Do you anticipate him to play more or start this weekend?
COACH TILLER: Yeah. I think he had 22 snaps. I really -- don't necessarily hold me that to, it's 20 something snaps he had. This week we'd like to have him get 40. We don't want to necessarily put him in there for the whole game but we'd like him to maybe double up those snaps.

Q. You holding out any hope this weekend you might get one of the guys back you haven't had; whether it be Werner, Adams?
COACH TILLER: Werner is actually going to have scope surgery -- tomorrow, Tom, or today? Today or tomorrow. Tomorrow, I believe it is. Which is pretty good news really. Because they think that they can correct it. You know, they tried a shot to settle it down, to shrink the, whatever it is he has. And they actually think they can clean it up.
On the x-ray there's a little piece of bone about the size of a lead in a pencil so it's very small that actually is rubbing on a nerve. If they remove that he could be pain free. So we look forward to that. He could make a fast recovery after this. But that probably would eliminate him this week but might not from now on. So that's what we're hoping for.
Adams had surgery. I saw him yesterday. I don't think we'll have him this week but we'll have him next week. And Zwilling I think will play this week.

Q. You worked Jared in slowly. He seemed like a first-teamer a week before the season. So obviously --
COACH TILLER: It's really hurt him.
If those other guys go out there a couple games all of a Sunday they separate themselves from you or vice versa and it makes it tough. I think he's got an uphill battle here. But he is -- he practiced some on Sunday, and I think he'll probably practice just about everything tonight.

Q. One of those formerly injured guys Ryan Kerrigan played extensively last week. I assume that's a little more what we'll see from Kerrigan this year?
COACH TILLER: Yeah. He is about probably 85 to 90 percent healthy now. And I think as time goes on, you know, as long as he doesn't have a relapse we think he'll get better and better as time moves on.

Q. He gives you, like McGee, sort of a different look than what you have had at defensive end right, more powerful?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, he is a strong and physical guy. He is a 250-pound guy but he played at 270, if that makes sense. He plays with real great hip leverage. I mean, he is a strong guy.

Q. On Sundays when you guys are doing evaluation stuff, do you look at it from a coaching perspective too and wonder or second guess yourself a little at all whether it be, you know, personnel decisions or clock management stuff?
COACH TILLER: I don't have to second guess myself at all. The media does a wonderful job with it so there's no need me doing it.

Q. We're doing our defining moments thing that we've been asking you about throughout the year. The '99 Notre Dame game and the stop near the goal, what do you recall about that?
COACH TILLER: We stopped them near the goal line. (Laughter.) Is that the one that Fell sat on the ball?

Q. Yeah.
COACH TILLER: That's what I remember. I remember two things about that. They were down there and they had a chance obviously to score and win. They ran a play and Jason Loerzel was trying to signal or time-out and thank God the official didn't see him because that would have played right into their hands, you know. And that was a real learning moment for us. Because, I don't know why, and I think it's 2008 and Jason doesn't know why he was calling time-out but he was. And they didn't see it so the clock continued to run.
And then, of course, when they ran the play, you know, and blew the whistle, blew the ball dead then Fells went over and sat on the ball so they couldn't re-spot it and get it going again.
But I thought it was a, you know, that was a classic game to me. At least from our point of view, and really Notre Dame's too. Because they could have won the game on the last play of the game.
So, you know, it was a hard fought, good football game. And, you know, there was some ebb and flow in the game. And just a fun game to be around. Those games are always a lot more fun when you end up on the winning end than the losing end. But I like good football games. I prefer to win them. But if I'm watching two teams play that I am not associated with, I just want to see two teams get after it.

Q. How do you think the offense has played the first two games?
COACH TILLER: I thought the offense played not as good as they will play as they move along.

Q. What do you attribute that to? I know you said earlier you thought it would take some time for the receivers --
COACH TILLER: I still believe that. I think our receivers are growing up slowly but I like the way Des played Saturday. I think that's the first time since he's been here that he really looked comfortable to me on the field. And, you know, I just hope that will carry over now. You know, it's really his first playing time, extended playing time. And I think between he and Keith Smith I think we've got two very capable inside receivers. And I think we need to get the ball to them even more.
I think that Greg came through and had the type of game that he's capable of having. And I think we need to have another guy show up. I think that, you know, Brandon Whittington did some things. But, you know, the guy that I'm looking for to break out one of these Saturdays is Valentine. I think he has way too much talent for the amount of productivity we're getting out of him right now.

Q. You talked about how Curtis is laid back and needs to kind of work on the vocal leadership kind of thing. Does that kind of -- his personality and what he is, does that hurt to have at a quarterback position?
COACH TILLER: There are pluses and minuses to it. There are pluses and minuses to it.
Sometimes you know it's good to the have a guy that's the proverbial cool, calm and collected. And other times you'd like a guy that, you know, will stir the pot, get things going.

Q. Who kind of brings that fire for you guys on offense right now?
COACH TILLER: Oh, I think a guy like Benton does, you know. Taylor used to. Taylor was excellent at that. I think Sheets, I think that's another part of Sheets that we're sighing beginning to surface. He is doing a little about the more of that. But I think that Benton's good at it. And I think that Geo is pretty good add it. Orton is pretty good at it too.

Q. I thought I saw you on the sidelines maybe in the third quarter kind of gathering the offense together in a little huddle during the Oregon game. Is that something that you typically do or was there a certain message you were trying to get across?
COACH TILLER: Well, you know, at that point of the game that was the first time they punted into the wind, if you recall, and it died on the four-yard line or three-yard line and, you know, our goal is to make two first downs. You know, we practice that all the time during training camp. We call it coming out offense.
And what we wanted to do is to get at least two first downs. Because if we get at least two first downs and then we're forced to punt, we can got least get the ball across mid-field and lengthen the field.
If you can't get at least two first downs, they usually have possession of the ball on your side of the 50, which then results in some type of a score.
So I just reminded them, Hey guys, What we need to do as a team and offense is stay positive and stay focused here; remember what's our goal, you know, two first downs. I said, we actually got 30 yards so we got the equivalent of three first downs. We met a goal that's a very critical goal. We've turned the field over. We're going to go out and go to work. You know because we don't score or some such thing let's got get our daubers down. Let's stay with it.

Q. We've talked about Kory's performance, Kory sheet's performance on Saturday, and the shuffling kind of like in the offensive line. But, having said all that, against Oregon in particular, what did you think of the performance of the offensive line?
COACH TILLER: Pretty good. Better in the second game than the first game.

Q. Kind of living up to what you kind of thought they would do? Considering --
COACH TILLER: I made the comment to Coach Hope, I said, By the time we get to the Big Ten play, we've got a chance to have a pretty effective offensive line.

Q. And then when you look at the CMU offense, and you try to answer the question, okay, what makes them so good? I mean, is it basically because of the talent of the quarterback? I know he's got good skilled guys around him. Is it the schematic stuff they do? How would you break that down?
COACH TILLER: I would say both of it.
It's really interesting to me, over the years, as you all will recall, those of you who have been with us throughout all this, is early on I kept getting the question, Is it Drew Brees or is it the system? Remember those questions? As a matter of fact, you asked the damn question. (Laughter.) Anyway, and I would always respond the same. It's a little of both.
You know, the system's a good system. You know, it's obviously designed to spread the field, create match-ups in your favor, et cetera, neutralize a great defensive -- I mean a lot of things about the offense that are attractive. But also if you don't have a good trigger puller, it really doesn't matter, you know. The same is true with Central Michigan's offense.
I mean, they present some real match-up challenges for you. Brown is a good receiver. Probably as good -- you know, maybe their overall core of receivers maybe we'll see a better core. I don't know. Maybe we saw a better one last week. I don't know. But they're big and experienced. Brown is a special player. But the real special player for them is LaFever.

Q. And is he more of a threat as a runner than in the past?
COACH TILLER: Probably so. But I think he has an awful good touch, you know.
And this offense, you know, we've never -- we've had some strong armed guys but we also know through experience that arm strength isn't the most critical prerequisite to being successful at quarterback play in this offense. That accuracy is what it's all about. And this guy's extremely accurate.

Q. Is their offense not a carbon copy but at least similar to Northwestern?
COACH TILLER: Yeah, very similar to Northwestern's. As a matter of fact, probably a carbon copy of Northwestern's. Very, very similar. I think their coordinator or their offensive guy came from Northwestern. Somebody came from Northwestern. It's very similar.

Q. You mentioned the last, the two games last year with big early lead then they came back. You put your finger on that. Did the they change anything the second half or are they just the type of offense they're going to get you one way or another sooner or later?
COACH TILLER: Yeah you're playing roulette with them -- Russian roulette with them, you know, each time you take the field. But I think the first game we had a big lead and, as I reflect back on that game, I think that we let up on the accelerator a little bit. They stomped down on it and we let up on a little bit and that brought the game back to the point where, you know, they could have won the game.
In Detroit, I didn't think that was true. I didn't think we let up. I just thought that they were just better. They took more chances at that time of the season than they did earlier in the season against us.
So I think that the because of this -- even though we had a pretty substantial lead in Detroit, I think because they had the success they had against us in West Lafayette I'm sure they talked about that in the locker room. If I were coaching I would certainly bring that up. And so our approach in Detroit was different than our approach in West Lafayette.
West Lafayette it was, okay, let's go out there and continue to execute. And in Detroit it was, you know, we know we've got to go execute because they've got the firepower to come back. They've done it before. And I think they took more chances and it paid off for them.

Q. Chess matches in football I think are fascinating. As you well know. In the bowl game you guys got what you -- the success you wanted out of it, the no huddle or the hurry up, whatever you wanted, kind of got them confused, not getting the match-ups they wanted. They're obviously probably preparing for that or expecting that. So how does that chess match work there?
COACH TILLER: Won't be -- the element of surprise is gone, so now it becomes execution.

Q. Finally, Anthony Heygood, he is like the grand old man playing with a bunch of guys that haven't shaved, aren't shaving yet. How is he holding, how he is doing?
COACH TILLER: Good. Although I thought he wore down. I thought Anthony played well early in the game and well late in the game. In the middle of the game he looked fatigued to me. But, you know, you never have to question Anthony Heygood's effort level. That hasn't changed.

Q. Last week you said Kory Sheets you expected maybe around 20 carries a week for him, 29 last week. Was that more because of how he was playing or did you go into the game kind of expecting to give him the ball more?
COACH TILLER: No, we wanted to run the ball more than we had the previous week. We felt like against Northern Cal -- remind you we played three or four backs against Northern, so we wanted to play a lot of people but we always wanted to run the ball more than we did. We didn't play -- I think Halliburton played only a couple plays, and Siller played a handful of plays, otherwise sheets got the carries.

Q. Since you've played Central twice now, everyone kind of knows what to expect. Is the energy level for this maybe compared to going into last season for the first time where, you know, obviously it's a mid-major that the you are playing?
COACH TILLER: I think it's better. It should be better anyway. Because I think our team really acknowledges the fact that this is an explosive team offensively. And, you know, they can do a lot of things against most people.

Q. Coach, I just had one question. I think you said you had seen Central Michigan's first three games on tape this year. LaFever, is he better than he was even last year or in the case of has he just picked up where he left off last season?
COACH TILLER: I thought by particularly -- I thought he made some mistakes here in West Lafayette that he didn't make in Detroit. And I don't see him making those mistakes, so obviously he's matured. He's really at the height of his college days any ways. I don't know if he can play better than he's playing right now.
THE MODERATOR: Okay, Coach, you're done. Thank you.
COACH TILLER: You bet.

End of FastScripts

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