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PURDUE UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 10, 2009

Danny Hope

COACH HOPE: Looking at the seniors this season, and the affect on their careers at Purdue and the friendships they have made so it's always an emotional day. We have got a great seniors class. They have done I think a really fantastic job from the leadership standpoint, by example, and also stepping up and showing how to be leaders.
We started off the season, stubbed our toe, started off 1-5, finished really strong and have been a football team that's never quit throughout the course of the season, and even in some games when things got -- when we got behind, always the team to fight our way back in and a lot of the credit is to the senior class.
I think they will be remembered in a lot of different ways. There are some unattractive streaks but they have been able to put an end to however many games it was without beating a ranked opponent. They can take that in the season and the big win up at Ann Arbor, something they had not done in a long time, consecutive roads losses; put an end to that. Our senior class should be credited what's happened for our football team this year and so Senior Day is going to be a big day. Great senior class.

Q. In particular, Jared Zwilling, can you talk about the way he's performed this year and what he's meant?
COACH HOPE: He's done very well. He doesn't have a whole lot of experience on the offensive side of the ball. He was a player on the defensive side of the ball right before I came back here, during that one year of transition, and he got moved over to offense and was hurt quite a bit in the beginning, and then the center is a really tough position to play.
I think it's the second toughest position to play on the football field, so he did a great job moving over to the offensive line and becoming a great player, with one of the toughest positions on the field. And he's an excellent leader, as well. He's a try-hard guy, great guy that leads by example. He's been exceptional for us this year. We have had very good play out of our offensive line, the center spot is critical, so a lot of our success across the offensive line this year is about Jared Zwilling.

Q. When you look to Michigan State, I saw them when they played Iowa, and they played a pretty solid game obviously but their defense was very hard-hitting. Can you talk about the problems their defense presents first.
COACH HOPE: They are a very, very good football team. They do not make very many errors, they are a very disciplined football team, they are fast, so they line up right. They have some rhyme or reason to everything that they do. They execute very well in all phases. I think up to this point in time they may be the best football team that we played as far as combination of talent and also execution. They do very, very well. They are a lot like Wisconsin in a lot of ways. Very good at what they do and they don't make mistakes and they are a physical football team. They go about their play selection different but they are a fine football team. Defensively they can blitz you, they can change the fronts around and they do some things to disrupt your offensive front and do a great job of running to the football and playing reckless.

Q. After the Michigan game, you said that you used the fact that Purdue had not won there since '66, somewhat extra motivation. Will you use the fact that your team is two wins away from being Bowl-eligible in the same manner, reminding them how close they are achieving one of their top goals this season?
COACH HOPE: Well, obviously that's something that we will address some. That focus puts on two games, you just want to focus on this game this weekend. Obviously if we win this weekend it puts us in position to be Bowl-eligible. They understand that part of it. But it is Senior Day and it's a game that we have to win for every reason that there could possibly be there and they are aware of that. They understand the magnitude of the game.

Q. How proud are you of your team that it's put itself in this position here with two games left, especially with the way you guys got out of the gate and how you've been able to turn it around in a positive manner?
COACH HOPE: Well, we have had a lot of fun this season. Even when things didn't go well, they did a great job of sticking together and practicing hard and playing to win. So very, very proud of our football team and our coaches. Particularly our players, I think they showed not only a lot of resilience, but a lot of character, as well.
So very, very proud of our football team to be in this position, several weeks back, a lot of people wouldn't have thought so, but been in this position before, and this is a great group of guys that really play hard and we have some good players. If we play hard and we don't make many mistakes and play hard for 60 minutes, we can play with anybody, and we felt that way all season long.
So very, very proud of our football team for sticking with it.

Q. You touched on how big this game is Saturday. What would your message be to Purdue fans with regard to the importance of them coming out and having a big crowd to honor your seniors and the fact that it is such a big game?
COACH HOPE: I think they would have every reason in the world to want to be there with us in Ross-Ade Stadium. We have had great participation from our fans this year. We have had some great wins and some great moments and the fans have been a huge part of that and hope that they will want to come back and be a part of this very special day, a chance to play Michigan State here at home, send these seniors off right, a great group of guys that I think have left some things behind that are very important for the program.
So I hope all of fans will come out and watch us play. We are playing well right now and we are putting a lot into it, playing with a lot of emotion and a lot of enthusiasm. That's been important this time of year, so it would be a great game and a great match-up. They are a fine football team, fine football team, they really are. They are just a few plays away from being one of the top teams in the country. They can do well in all phases of the game. So they will see a great football game for sure.

Q. And you have talked often about having a special season, but regardless of what happens the last two weeks of the regular season, hasn't it in some ways already been special, considering your team is one of the few in Purdue history to beat Ohio State and Michigan in the same season?
COACH HOPE: We have had a lot of great moments, that's for sure, and a lot of great things in 2009, our team has, but the big thing is, there's been a standard that this group of seniors have really hung their hat on and their team has really bought into and that's being a team that never quits. If we can do that as a football team, year-in and year-out, we are going to have a lot of fun.
In my mind there's a lot of special things that have happened in 2009 and there are still some great things ahead here in the next couple of weeks that can happen for our football team. It's really exciting to be in this position and to be playing for so much here just the last two weeks of football left in the regular season. So we are excited about it and it's a great way, or great position to be in as far as finishing the season up.

Q. The last thing I had, just how much have you personally enjoyed this season to date; is it one of those teams that obviously you love to be around and can't wait for the next practice or the next game or the next team meeting?
COACH HOPE: Well, we do have a lot of fun, and you know, came down early in the development of this particular team, talking about the meeting rooms and the practice fields in the locker rooms being our sanctuary in some ways and having a lot of fun as a football team. We have enjoyed each other's company and you know a lot of guys have really paid a heck of a price to prepare themselves for the 2009 season.
So I have really enjoyed being around these guys, they are a lot of fun and a great group of young people with a great vision and will to make it happen. It's been a lot of fun and exciting and really looking forward to the next couple of weeks with some great things to come.

Q. Will you Royce Adams?
COACH HOPE: Should get Royce Adams this back this week. He has not done a lot full speed but he's done more things closer to full speed and looks like he's going to be okay. We could have him available for receiver play and special teams play. The special teams play is probably the most important part he could help us with right now, speed on special teams could help us.

Q. Important to have him back in the mix at wide receiver, considering it doesn't look like you have Carlos?
COACH HOPE: Well, we probably won't have Keith Carlos back for this week but wait and see how it goes. Having him back in the rotation is a plus. Was really pleased with what Cortez Smith got done the other day, and that was a big lift for our team and our season for him to step up and play like he played, and we knew that he was capable of doing that.
So we are still okay numbers-wise. We are behind right now on fast guys in special teams, and Royce was really playing well on special teams before he got hurt, was playing well at receiver, too, but special teams he could really help us some.

Q. Following up with something you said Sunday, being that you might not have Mondek, you said something about there are some things you might be able to do personnel-wise, would that mean putting Ryan inside of tackle on third down like you did a little bit earlier in the year or try to keep them on the edge?
COACH HOPE: Well, it depends on what type of offenses are coming after us with and what they have got personnel-wise and to score in the game, but we have the availability to do things from a personnel standpoint, maybe go from a 4-3 to a 3-4 and lots of different fronts that we can use and we have a lot of pressures that we can use that we haven't used as much of out of different groupings of personnel.
A guy like Ryan is a special player and I would like to be able to move him around some more anyway so this might provide some opportunity just like you do a great receiver at times, when you get the ball to him, move him around and maybe he can help manufacture some plays. So I am not opposed to some of the ideas that we have had.

Q. Just from what you have seen these past couple of games when he's played so well, is he seeing any kind of different attention from offenses? Is he getting doubled or anything like that?
COACH HOPE: Well, different things happen throughout the course of the game, and the score dictates sometimes how much you are running it or throwing it, and whether they are deep throws. But when they get singled up in pass protection, he can be a real force, and he's made some hey at that and people have doubled him up some or slid their front that way.
And we do the same thing to a lot of other people's great rushers, as well, when we face some of the top pass rushers in the country this year already, we have been able to negate some of their production. And people will scheme him some, too, but when he gets singled up, he's really a load. But when you start doubling him am up, you have Gooden (ph) who is a good pass rusher and Big Mike, he's wrecking force, and Kawaan Short, it's tough to double him up all the time because somebody else makes a play.

Q. I wanted to ask about Jason Taylor, some question maybe in the spring what kind of shape he would be in coming in. Have you gotten more out of him than you might have expected eight months ago?
COACH HOPE: Well, I think the success of Ralph Bolden tells some of that tale. If you didn't have a quality running back like Ralph Bolden, then Jason Taylor would have played a lot more anyway.
They are both really good players. They came back from a serious knee injury and done some great things and he's one heck of a football player, he really is. He's got banged up some, and that complicated his role some throughout the course of the season. But he is an outstanding football player. If you look for a guy that wants to cover a kick or catch up a pass or lineup and pass protect or whatever it may be, he's an exceptional football player, and he's played some great roles for us that may not stick out in the minds of people just watching the game. But with Ralph being the player that he's been this year, that's minimized some adjacent carries, and Ralph and Jason played a lot more.
Any time you come back from an injury like that, it's a tough road back sometimes. But hats off to him because he's been a great teammate and he's been a different maker on our football team in a lot of ways. He's a real straight-up guy, excellent to have on your football team, very direct and makes sense when he speaks.

Q. You played Brockman a little bit here or there, might be a little bit undersized but are you comfortable with him a play or two getting in there a little bit?
COACH HOPE: We are comfortable with him getting in there some. That's why we put him in there the other day. But he's untested. He's not been battlefield tested yet. But he'll have to play some for us. We still have enough guys and enough players to go out there and put our front seven out there and play defense with, but he'll be a part of it. And he's a good football player.
We use him a lot on special teams and I've been trying to find an opportunity to get him in the game some because he's got a great motor and he runs pretty good. He can go out there and manufacture some plays for us, so he'll play some, absolutely.

Q. And just one more, you've been playable Beckford a lot and really rotating him and Carlino. Do you like what you're getting from Beckford; and those two guys combined, they combined for something like 15 tackles?
COACH HOPE: I think by rotating them, they are able to stay fresh and play fresh. So we go wide open and run to the ball, so I think that's helped both of those guys some. I believe that Beckford is on more special teams than what Carlino is. So end of the day he probably has more reps, but I think that's kept both of them pretty fresh which has helped them to the football.
Really pleased with the development of Dwayne Beckford, challenging to be a starter, I don't think there's any drop off when he goes into the game. So he certainly is challenging to be a No. 1, and they are slashed on the depth chart both as starters. But he's a good football player, physical football player, for us right now, we have done some great things defensively but coming downhill and being a physical tackler is something that we need more of, and that's what Dwayne Beckford brings to the table. He is a physical guy and tackles well and can get you on the ground quick. So I feel good when he's in the game, as well. Same with Chris Carlino. They are both very good players.

Q. Going back to the defensive tackles, you have Titus in there on the depth chart. What have you been seeing out of him in practice?
COACH HOPE: He's the same as some of the younger guys that have been redshirted so far this season, where he is a guy that just rotates in and out and we have used all of those guys some on the scout team offensive line this year. They kind of rotate down there. They are on the scout team defensive line and he can which check they are in there rotating with the varsity defensive line and would have been over there playing some on the offensive line on the scout team, whole group of D-Linemen have been, they have been rotating that way throughout the course of the year, and I have seen the same out of him as I have all the others. You have some varsity reps and there's a mix of those guys and not a big separation at this point in time. So we have to make a decision whether or not we play LaSalle, who has been redshirted, or take the redshirt off one of the freshman. So we will get them both ready and make that decision if we have to. That's a good question, though.

Q. You talked about the seniors and how important they have been. Any examples about what they have done this year, whether you were 1-5, is it calling a team meeting, is there any examples of what they have done?
COACH HOPE: I think when the whole thing started out and they got together and came up with their theme of one, that's really not lip service like a lot of mottos and themes can be. You have them every year, every team, every club has one on a poster somewhere but they have really as a football team embraced what this meant to our football team and hung their hat on that throughout the course of the season.
Even going out into the last game, they are realizing that it was an opportunity now and that really hit home with some of those guys before the last game, the opportunity now for every one and it's been something that we went back on a bunch, a theme that really came from the heart of those seniors.
They started the mission out with a great purpose and a great will and have stuck together all along and have at times had to pick the team up with team meetings and with leadership, not a lot of cheerleaders in the group, which is a good thing, those guys they lead by example and if that's not about enough then someone steps up.
But it's been an exceptional group of seniors from a leadership standpoint, one of the better groups that I've been around and we spent a lot of time into the last several months coming into the season talking about different phases of the program and different ideas from a management standpoint and reflected on their careers here at Purdue, the last five years we have handled some things this way, and this is different ways I've done this, and once I figure out what's the best way for your lifestyle, too.
And so those guys have had a lot of input in some of the ways that we manage our football team. So greatly indebted to the group. They have done a fantastic job in everything you can possibly ask a senior group to do, whether they are four-year starters or walk-on guys that's hardly ever played. It's been a great group of seniors, no question.

Q. With Michigan State, when you look at how their season has played out compared to yours, do you mirror each other a little bit?
COACH HOPE: Very similar in some of the games we have lost. We have probably made more mistakes than they have. We have been the more mistake-prone than what Michigan State has in 2009. They are a really good football team. You watch them in every game they played and they play hard and they play to win and they are coached really well and they get after it. Very disciplined, lots of good players, execute very well, and so we are going to have to execute very well. They don't make very many mistakes.

Q. If you can evaluate Cousins, the quarterback and also the receiver, Blair White, what those two have meant to their team this year.
COACH HOPE: They are tough to defend from a passing standpoint because their offensive line is very efficient at what they do, especially from a technical standpoint, polishes offensive line pass protection-wise and they have some receivers that are all deep-threat guys and very athletic guys that create potential big plays and they have tight ends that they have been getting the ball to a whole lot.
So they really spread the ball around. We have got hit charts, formations and what groupings and study it all and they spread it around everywhere. So the quarterback has a great feel of what he's doing and he's getting the ball to the right guy. He's not just going to one guy. He's spreading it around and makes good decisions and gets the ball out of his hand fast, very accurate passer, and he personally doesn't make very many mistakes as far as the turnover part of it goes. Very good quarterback playing very well right now. He's I think a difference maker in their football team right now. They have a very good running game.

Q. Inaudible.
COACH HOPE: He is playing every day which is unusual nowadays the same guy that comes out there: Upbeat, playing to win, competing, he's a good football player and great quarterback particularly for this team.

Q. And maybe that's how a guy goes from having his worst game to having his best, being the same every day, is that how he was able to make that recovery?
COACH HOPE: No question. That was his personality or his makeup, the character that he has is why he can go from a game where it's the worst game of his career to one that was the best of his career and again a great game in the history of that stadium. So credit to him, a lot of credit to him.

Q. The team overall, you mentioned the senior leaders, how did the team overall bounce back like that?
COACH HOPE: We always have a plan. We have done a good job as a team all year long, not just football season long, but last January of setting short-term goals and working towards those short-term goals and getting some things done and always earmarking that way and communicating with the team.
So we have been executing plans together, the football team and the staff and our program have, for several months now, and even part of the time through the transition process. You know, when you practice hard and you do your best and you don't have these tests, you don't have to give up. They have done a great job of not giving up and a great job of recognizing how close they have been.
It's been a very tough situation, trying to turn the ball over five or six times and having the chance to win. There's been a lot of hope for this football team. We have communicated with them and always had things hanging out hat on every game as far as keys to victory and I think they really believe in the keys to victory that we had earmarked for the Michigan game and did a good job of going out there and trying to execute those keys to victory and sometimes that's just not always a technical and fundamental thing or schematic thing, it's a mental thing.
Our teams are similar, ours and Michigan, two football teams that8 have made some mistakes throughout the course of the season in 2009, and we will probably both make some mistakes again Saturday. You just had to be resilient enough not to waiver very often and hang in there and keep swinging.
So to go in there behind in there at half-time and have an excellent half-time; it wasn't a Knute Rockne speech or anything like that people would have visualized, but came in there and sat down and talked about the fact that we had protected a quarterback and had guys open and moving the football and we had some drops and looked like we were able to score some points.
Just keep playing hard on defense and getting after them and they were going to make some plays because they have great players and coach them well and have a good team, just to keep hanging there and swinging away and that somewhere along the line, there would be a swing should where and we would cash in on it.

Q. Seeing where you are now, is at all disappointing or frustrating to see how special this season could have been with a couple of breaks here and there?
COACH HOPE: Well, if you're a pessimist, yeah. If you have not done -- if you did not have the group of guys you had, you can make that statement.
We were predicted to do very well and predicted to win many games. As a group we thought we could overachieve in some ways and had some guys that could become the best players in the league at their position and a lot of guys could step up and play winning football; and if we could do those things, then we could have a special season in 2009. We did that, and we ended up turning the ball over some and maybe kept us from having a great record.
But we don't reflect on it in the fashion that the question was addressed. We just don't do that. We had to do a lot of great things for that question even to be raised. We started off saying that we were not going to have any regrets, and we were not going to look back and second-guess our efforts when this thing was all said and done and we could all hang our hat on that. And when it's all said and done, we are going to be in good shape somehow.

Q. Could you expand on Blair White and what makes him stand out and what you have to do to defend against a guy of that caliber?
COACH HOPE: Well, you know, you're in the same boat with all of their skill guys. They have got a lot of great players and they are a very good football team. We make sure that we have to go out and lineup from an alignment and assignment standpoint and don't give them anything more than what they are going to manufacture anyway. We had a couple of mistakes in the game the other day and missed the line on the secondary, and next thing you know, we have a guy running down the field with no one around him running the football. You have to line up right and play right and be real diligent from an alignment and assignment standpoint, and everybody has to sprint to the ball because you are going to need some help tackling these guys, a lot of good skill players and they are a very good football team.

Q. When you talked about Royce on special teams, are you talking more of him returning kicks or more coverage type?
COACH HOPE: We will look at him at both, from a speed standpoint he's one of our faster guys, so he could be a coverage guy, assigned to someone to cover them, or to cover downfield or someone that you could put anywhere that you might want to field a kick or a football, any one of those spots, we like Royce at. We will see how he does and how much he can handle but any one of those things, he would be a candidate for.

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