|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
UNIVERSITY OF NOTRE DAME MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 13, 2008David BrutonMaurice CrumTHE MODERATOR: Questions, please. Q. Ball possession is so important in this game with the way they control the football, could you just talk about or discuss how important getting off the field is, and getting your offense more possessions? MAURICE CRUM JR.: Yeah, it's extremely important in this game to try to force your turnover, or try to get them off track to keep field position for your offense. Because, again, they get going, they can hold the ball for a long time. The object is to try to get the ball to the offense as much as possible. Q. David, do you get the feeling they're always in four-down territory, they have the football they're always either 3rd and short or 4th and short, and they're inclined to just keep pounding and keep turning the possession of the football? DAVID BRUTON: Oh, yeah, they do a good job, especially on first and second down, putting themselves in that position where it's 3rd and 1, 4th and 1. They run the quarterback follow or quarterback sneak. You know, with that type of offense, you've got three running threats at a time. You know, like you said, every possession and every position on the field is four-down territory. Q. What is the image, what is the lasting image in your head from last year's game? MAURICE CRUM JR.: I think for me it's just probably just seeing them celebrate after the game. I mean, that's with any loss. You just see the other team, you see they're faces and you're down. DAVID BRUTON: Yeah, I'd have to agree with Mo. Just, you know, just them coming in and putting up a great game and coming out on top, just how happy they were, and how enthused they were. Just looking across at our team and how down we were, you know. Q. You don't -- I mean, there is a hesitation to use the word embarrassment, because that could mean to them, and that's not what anybody wants. But yet, when you're part of a program that's beaten another program 43 times in a row, is there an embarrassment or emotion that you felt last year? MAURICE CRUM JR.: Well, for me personally, I take like every loss like the same. I mean, the streak or whatever. I mean, like I wasn't here but for four of those games on or whatever. So it's like, the streak's not really, you know, it doesn't really apply that much to me. But I take every loss the same, they all hurt just the same for me. DAVID BRUTON: Every loss hurts the same. There is no difference. It could be a team that's undefeated and we lose a close game. A team that hasn't won a game, and we end up losing to them. You know, every game's just going to hit just as hard because you want to come out in the game, and you know, you have this feeling that you're going to win and you want to win, and you're doing everything you can to win. Sometimes it just doesn't happen. Q. Defensively last week did you get some stride or found something that worked with the way you guys played overall last week? MAURICE CRUM JR.: I think it was just -- we had a good week of practice. I think the prior week kind of added to it, just because I think we kind of felt like we let the team down or we could have had a better performance. I think it was just a combination of things. We're doing what we do. Guys tuning in and focusing. You know, when we do focus, we can be pretty good. Q. How do you guys feel about the performance (indiscernible)? How do you reconcile with those things? DAVID BRUTON: It's hard to reconcile those two things, you know. At the end of the day, it's still a loss in the column. There's no individual, there is no factions in this team. You know, we're all one, and we're all in this together. We understand that, you know, some days we've got to make more plays or some days they've got to make more plays, you know. It's a give and take relationship between the offense and defense. You know, some days one entity or the other team has to step up more. Q. In a situation like that is there a temptation to try to pick off every pass and strip every ball carrier, instead of tackling? Do you feel you need to either make a turnover or score the touchdown? MAURICE CRUM JR.: I think you want to, but at the same time if an opportunity presents itself, you just have to make that. You can't try to force the issue. Because forcing the issue a lot of times can put you as a defense in the worst situation. Trying to go for an interception and miss it, give up another touchdown or trying to strip the ball and the guy breaks the tackle. You've still got to just play within the framework, within the defense, and that is pretty much how plays are made. Q. In the context of a game like that, do you go up to the offense and try to encourage them or do you just kind of stay away from them? How does the dynamic of that work in the course of the game? MAURICE CRUM JR.: It's just, I mean, like during the course of Saturday only thing I said was, Jimmy, just keep playing. We're going to keep playing. And I would tell everyone on the team that we're going to be together, we're all in this together no matter what. So don't get down on yourself, don't worry about it, just keep playing. It's our team. Q. Is it that easy to do to not get frustrated when the offense turns the ball over like that? MAURICE CRUM JR.: For us, it's what we do. Our job is to go out no matter what the situation, no matter what the score or what's going on. Our job is to go out and make stops, so we can't get frustrated at all. Q. But what is it about this team that would prevent it from dividing? MAURICE CRUM JR.: I think it's just our unity. We have an extremely close team from the locker room end-to-end, everyone's extremely close. I mean, you can go to any part of the locker room, sit down and have a conversation with any guy on the team, and enjoy the conversation. There is no egos, and everyone's like I said, we're all in this together. DAVID BRUTON: We put in a lot of work in the off-season, throughout camp, and continuing throughout the season, you know, to mitigate the possibility of a divide of the team. Us, as captains, and leadership committee and everybody who is on this team has done a great job eliminating the possibility of dividing and recognizing that we're in this together. We're all as one. Q. Lot of times when people look at Navy they think (Indiscernible) can you talk about some of the players? MAURICE CRUM JR.: I think White is a pretty good back. I think he showed excellent speed, and a few times I've seen him break the tackle and get up the sideline and he's been out the gate. So I definitely think you can't sleep on guys like him, because he's one of their play makers. DAVID BRUTON: And another guy like 89 Barnes. He's made plays on the deep ball when they do throw it. He's been able to adjust to the ball or just catches it right behind the guy's back or high pointing the ball. He does a great job adjusting to the ball and making the big play. Q. Kyle said that you and him are looking forward to this game as far as being involved down there. Can you talk about that? DAVID BRUTON: You know, just it's a way for us -- for me to try to beat him in tackles. It's just, we just have a little fun and just tackle battle that's going on, that we have between each other. But what we're looking forward to it in a sense that we both have to play very disciplined games since we're the back end. We've got to be aware of the situation and be alert on our threats and make sure our eyes are in the right position at all times. We realize the consequences that the band could be striking it up the other way. Q. David, you definitely in terms of obviously you've still got work left to do here. But in terms of looking ahead to the future and possibly getting drafted, how much does that play into your mind at all right now, or is that just something that you're not even thinking about at the moment? DAVID BRUTON: I can't honestly say it's not something that hasn't crossed my mind at times. But in terms of how it effects my play, I've had my motivation with my son and with the Lord. The NFL is not the biggest motivation for me, you know. At the end of the day, football could be over in one play. I feel as though if I kept dwelling on the fact that the NFL is a possibility, it could become a distraction. And right now my main responsibility is to lead this team to more victories and, you know, just continue to be a team player. Q. You're talking about being over in one play. Yeah, I think people got a little bit of a scare there at the end of the year toward the end of the Pitt game when you guys rolled over on that pick. Was that something that crossed your mind at that point? DAVID BRUTON: Yeah, you know, any time you land on your head and you feel numbness you start to worry. It's by the good graces of God I'm okay. I'm good. It wasn't anything serious. But at the time, thoughts run through your head, you know. And after you just ask what if you landed a little harder or something like that? But, you know, it didn't happen. I'm still standing, still walking, still playing. You know, now we joke about it a little bit. I told him to run through my legs a little harder, so I can get all the way around and land on my feet. But it's not something to take light of and take it, you know, not recognize the fact that football could be over. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|