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UNIVERSITY OF SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 8, 2009

Pete Carroll

COACH CARROLL: Just a comment about last week. We were really happy and proud to get off to a good start, playing good football, and doing things like we like to see our team play. Played hard in all three phases.
Special teams had a nice start to the season under the new guidance of Brian Schneider. And we liked a lot of stuff that we saw there. It was great to get the win at home, and get started and all of that.
Obviously, it was really exciting to see Matt take charge of his duties and do a really good job with it. Everybody was watching, and I think the really exciting thing about that is he knew everybody was watching. He knew all the focus that was on him, and it didn't faze him, and he played the way he was capable of playing, which was really cool.
So it's a good start for us. We get ready. As this week goes, we start to pick up a couple of guys coming back to us. Kristofer O'Dowd practiced yesterday a little bit. And Spicer practiced a little bit with us. So those guys are both looking to be ready for this week, which will be a nice boost for us.
And as we get ready for the match-up, it's a great match-up, and I know everybody's anticipated it. In a big way, and because it's a Big Ten, Pac 10 deal and all. And, you know, long standing programs, and success and all of that. And championship teams and things.
So it is really a great match-up. They're an extraordinary program for all the obvious reasons. They've proven it year in and year out. Great history, great players and all that. And I think this kind of game will capture a lot of focus and attention.
So what we have to do is play really well under those circumstances and handle it properly. And take advantage of this great opportunity to win a big-time game on the road that will help us, as other games have in years past. You know, if you can get this first big match-up and put it behind you and get a win with it. It means a lot to the confidence, and the pressure going into the other games won't be so -- obviously, a big win as we go through the Pac 10 schedule.
I think it's an interesting match-up. You've got young quarterbacks and that is something that is interesting from their standpoint last year.
Terrell Pryor played against us for the first time extensively. I thought it was a big move. They hadn't done that earlier in games. They had the confidence in the kid for obvious reasons. He's a great player. He's a focal point guy. You can't watch them and not watch him.
So they've got Pryor going, and we've got Matt coming in in his first away game as a freshman. It will be a good matchup. We have a lot of good things happening. A big week of preparation for us. We're going to travel early. Get out of here on Thursday. Take advantage of getting settled on the Friday day before the game. It will be a big event for our young that haven't been on the road before or in a situation like this. It's an extraordinary place to play. You know I was there years ago before the end zone was all fitted. It was extraordinarily loud. Great crowds and I can only imagine it's even more so. So huge crowds and a very exciting match.

Q. (No microphone).
COACH CARROLL: We want to carry all of the same elements it takes to play well in that challenge. The difference in this game is really the noise. The rest of it is we're going to fabricate anything other than that. It's the noise that is the factor, and we have to deal with that really well.
This is just being, you know, a college fan as the kids are, and families and everybody's talking about the game. And everybody has a big build up to this one. But we have to keep it in the right perspective and make sure we take our ability to play well into the setting and do that.
If we do that, it's like we've done in other years, then we'll have a chance to win. If we don't, we'll get hammered, you know. So that's our whole approach is to stay the same, and to play like we're capable of playing regardless of what the circumstances are around us.

Q. Your comments on Pryor being difficult as a running quarterback. If this is true, would you see yourself adopting an on offense like this?
COACH CARROLL: No, we don't have an athlete like that, you know. I think you play with what you've got. I've always said that the most difficult aspect of defending an opponent is when they have a quarterback that can run and run on plays that aren't designed to be quarterback running plays.
When a pass starts and it breaks down and it takes off, it becomes a sweep or a draw or a scramble situation. It's just so out of the normal structure, that, you know, anything can happen. So that's, that x-factor that a running quarterback presents.
I particularly like running quarterbacks, I would love to have a guy in our system. But we always come up with guys that are not of that make-up. That's why we're so excited about Aaron Corp and the fact that he brings because he can run very well.
This is a very, very unusual athlete to be this tall and this fast and have a great arm. I think you'll see he's not just a runner. He's working hard to be an all around quarterback. He's showing that.
You look at him in the spring game last year. He was a fantastic looking pocket quarterback. Throwing the ball all over the field I saw it on TV, in case you're wondering. He's doing the right thing, developing and taking pride in becoming an all around complete football player, and he looks like that. He's going to be a great quarterback. But we haven't had a guy like that in the program.

Q. Who will you use to simulate him in practice?
COACH CARROLL: We have to use Garrett Green, he's our guy. He throws the ball well and runs well, that's all you can do. We don't have anybody else that can be like him.

Q. So much of last year's game was focused on the linebacker match-ups and I've seen both teams transition there. What have you seen from their new linebackers?
COACH CARROLL: Well, the big deal was Laurenitis was such an extraordinary player. You know, everybody knew about him, and all that. And our guys were trying to match up to the stuff he had accomplished early in his career.
The guys are real active. They run sideline to sideline. They're just new players like our guys are. I didn't recognize them playing that much last year, you know. As we watched them, I was always caught by their starters.
But, like our guys, they're very athletic, and they can do all the same stuff. It's just a matter of them gaining experience and all. Their scheme looks is similar. Though it's difficult to tell just from the Navy game because that is a different offense.
But I think they're playing pretty much the same stuff, and they've been a great defense for a number of years now, you know, so, I wouldn't expect them to change, and those guys will play very effective in their stuff.

Q. Coach indicated that it was close because he has a young team, and that option attack was something they rarely see. From your standpoint, why was the Navy game so close?
COACH CARROLL: Navy presents so many problems for the defenses that you just can't prepare for at the same speed and tempo. They're so good, and so disciplined in what they do, that they take advantage of every miscue and it's a nightmare playing against them.
It's so elaborate. The triple options and so many different directions and formations can totally offset the physical match-ups and they've been able to do that highly successfully, that's what happened in this game. They moved the ball pretty consistently against them although they couldn't ever break out, but they still could make first downs. That made for a difficult game.
They made a couple of big plays on defense to get the interception to set up the opportunity to tie the thing up. You know, and they did enough to keep it going. So I think, I don't know that everybody appreciates it from the coaching standpoint particularly from a defensive coaching standpoint, that's a nightmare game to prepare for. And that's -- I wouldn't be surprised that Navy has a really big year offensively. They really look like they knee what they're doing. They're really good at it.

Q. How are you preparing for the noise?
COACH CARROLL: Really well. Hopefully, we've done a lot in camp a number of times. The noise in camp. We'll work with noise today during service period and in normal fashion tomorrow throughout most of the practice. But you just -- what you have to do is focus more so. And you have to limit the communications that are going to turn into guesswork, you know.
But in our preparation in years past, you know, it's always worked out all right. You know, you go back to the most critical play we've ever had in a noise situation was back in Notre Dame. And the play of the game, Matt makes a check off at the loudest most impossible opportunity, and everybody on the field had to hear what he said, and they did. And so the game goes on, even though it's really loud.
So we'll do a nice job of focusing. You have to focus in the huddle. Everybody watches the play caller so you can see his expressions and make the most of the communication. And we have to make our calls. At times we'll miss some stuff. If we do, we do. And they will too at times. That's just how it goes, and hopefully we can minimize that.

Q. Some teams especially in the pros do a silent count thing?
COACH CARROLL: We already have that available to us when we need it. That's just one way of communicating.

Q. How does coaching against someone like Coach Tressel affect the play calling?
COACH CARROLL: We don't -- I don't know him well enough. I haven't played against him well enough to have a great backlog of experiences. I mean, like if you're a Big Ten guy that's been in there for a long time you'd know him better than we know him.
But he's got a real obviously consistent way about him. Their defensive oriented team that runs the football, you know. That's their basic, you know, overview, and that's a great way to be a consistent winner. Practice paragraph so if they can hammer the football, they will. And then that's the way they've always liked to play. So there is a match-up in knowing that part of them.
I wish I knew him better. I wish we would have seen him for years and years and watched him and studying him and all of that so we can really make it -- they have the same situation with us. But we have a great deal of respect. That style is the classic way to win football games. That's why they've been so successful for so long.

Q. What is the injury status on Curtis McNeal?
COACH CARROLL: He looks like he improved yesterday. The guys are pretty happy with how he felt.
He's had a nagging shoulder problem that comes and goes, and I think he's going to practice today and should be okay.

Q. How disruptive do you think this defensive line can be compared to some of the others? And how important is this game?
COACH CARROLL: I don't know that yet. I don't know. We're going to play some more games to find out.
We've got good speed, and we have a lot of success in the opening game. But I don't know that yet. Spicer coming back with all the experience he has, and he has very good quickness. He might give us a little bit more penetration and play making in the back field which would be great. But we're still coming together. I really don't have a good assessment on that for you yet.

Q. Can you talk about the rotation?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah, I don't know what that rotation was. It was everybody played. But we're going in with the same idea as we had last week. Joe, and you'll see a lot of guys play.

Q. He said he has no idea what it's going to be like (Indiscernible) what can you say to him? Can you correct the noise and all of that. But what can you say to him to kind of get him?
COACH CARROLL: That's between me and Matt. Just tried to bring him down to earth. That it isn't as much different as everybody might think it will be great fun for him. If you go back -- I love Matt's comments. He said he was nervous walking down the steps, and then after that, he wasn't. His first game ever, come on, man. He had to give more than that. He wasn't. He was very much composed.
I would think he's going to have fun with it. And he's going to be excited to see what it looks like to be in an on opponent's stadium of that stature and all. And then he's going to go play. I don't think it will matter to him at all.
That's just the way he's been and how he's handled things and he has such confidence and such comfort in his own skin. That will be extended into the setting as well.
In terms of fitting everything in his ability, he's such a brute. An amazing force in the game. When you watch it carefully, and we watched him this summer some. Just to see what he was all about. And he carries the tempo of the game with his physical side of running the football. He pounds you like a fullback would. And it's a very conservative style with that regard.
They know they can make four yards with him, and he keeps pounding away. He can withstand the hits better than most. If he was with us, we would have utilized a lot of the same stuff. He's a great competitor, you know. But I didn't get a chance to figure that out. Maybe another time. Maybe that's why we didn't get him, now that I think about it.

Q. Coach do you have anything planned?
COACH CARROLL: Treat him like everybody else. Pants him, throw him in the dirt, and squirt him with a hose like we always do (smiling). No, we're not doing anything. We'll sing to him. Yeah.

Q. Did you wash the Washington game?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah, got the second half of the game. It was exciting to watch it. It was a great football game. They were in that game the whole way, and just needed a play to happen one way or the other, and a couple of passes broke out. And they were right there toe-to-toe with him.
I thought it was a great demonstration of a new way of thinking and approaching the game and all of that. So I'm sure they have great hopes. And they have Idaho coming up, and they're looking to get going. It was fun watching those guys on the sidelines and the highlights and all the coaches. It was very good.

Q. Because Damian catches better than they do?
COACH CARROLL: Couple reasons, you want someone that loves to do it. And he's got terrific hands. And he's got a knack about making people miss. And all of that together, I think he's a great canon to be back there, and what a great way to have two guys, he and Joe doing it, you know.
We'll keep working those guys. And Travon did a great job handling the ball late in the game, And I think Stafon did as well. So we're in great shape back there. I think there is something magical about Damian, and I want to make sure he gets the opportunity to show it, and help us create some plays for it us.

Q. Any updates on the sick guys? Casey and Thomas, the guys who were ill?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah, we're day-to-day on that deal. I'm not quite today-today yet. So I can't tell you what that is. But, yeah they're both hopefully back tomorrow.

Q. Lot of people make a big deal about the weight in the Big Ten. Do you feel that way about the Pac 10 at all?
COACH CARROLL: No. I don't know about that from their end of it. I've never felt that on our end of it.

Q. The last running back you had in the game?
COACH CARROLL: Yeah, Mokhtar, he had a couple of carries, he's been pounding away at the surface team, and it was great to get him a couple of reps in there. He transferred in from Oregon State, via junior college, and it was a nice reward to get him a chance.
I thought that in the overview of that game for everybody to have a chance to participate and so many guys get to play, was really a blessing for us after all of the hard work through the off-season and in camp and all of that. We were very fortunate, and it was great to see those guys out there. He hammered it up in there a couple of times. It was good.

Q. Do you run into Ohio State while recruiting?
COACH CARROLL: Around the country we do. Not so much in California at times. But we get out in the far reaches, certainly, they're everywhere around the country, and do a great job. They're very strong on the northeast, and they do a nice job down in Florida as well. So they're a big challenge to us.

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