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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 31, 2011

Greg Schiano

COACH SCHIANO: Whatever happened at Pittsburgh happened, I don't know, but I just finished watching the Cincinnati game before I walked in here. B.J. Daniels is as good as ever. I mean, this kid is something. And he always -- is he a senior yet? We've got to get this guy graduated. He seems like he's been playing forever, really a good player. I mean, I have a lot of respect for the kid. He's tough, he's smart, he can make every throw. I think he's really good.

Q. Is Wynn okay? I don't remember if he returned to the game.
COACH SCHIANO: Yeah, he returned. He's a tough kid. He's hurting, but that's life, life in Division I football. But he'll be fine.

Q. Have you made anything official with the quarterback situation? Is it going to be Nova?
COACH SCHIANO: Yeah, I think it's going to be Gary, but like I said on the call, we have to stop turning the ball over, that is for sure. The fumble -- the C-Q exchange, I don't know, I don't know who's fault that is to be honest with you. We could sit there and pretend we know, but we've got to get it. Both guys, we have got to get it. The one interception at the end of the game, it's a hail Mary at the end of the game; I don't count that. The one interception he's got to learn -- I don't think he was throwing it away; I think that's the issue. I think he was trying to get it in there. He needs to throw that ball away. We need to live to see another down. It's been a first -- a young quarterback issue.
One of the things, though, I went back and I watched all the games last night until late, just ran them, I didn't grade them; I just watched offensively, watched them, and it was just the passes. I wanted to see from the beginning of the year and watch Chase and watch Gary because when you lose two games in a row you'd better look at everything.
But you know what, again, after looking at it all, it looks very similar. You know, North Carolina dropped some interceptions, Ohio dropped some interceptions, Ohio caught an interception. Those things aren't it. What I see is I see Gary making some plays that I think give us a chance to win. We scored 31 points. 31 points is plenty of points to beat West Virginia. We didn't play defense well enough to beat West Virginia, that's what it boils down to. It's not offense.
So I believe that's where we're going to go. But again, it's not going to be -- you're not going to stay in there if you turn the ball over you can't stay in there. It's no different than a running back doing it. But yeah, that's kind of where I am right now.

Q. Have you seen him not make the same -- a progression?
COACH SCHIANO: Yeah, he's made improvement, sure. He's made some big throws, too. He's rolled some digs in there and some deep balls that got dropped that are really big-time throws, and not only did it -- but did it under pressure. The thing he does very, very well is when he feels pressure, moves in the pocket. That's where I think we've saved ourselves some sacks, moving in the pocket, feeling the pressure and yet keeping his vision down the field, maybe too much. Maybe he's got to learn to tuck it and go like he did and got the first down; maybe he's got to throw it out of bounds and live to see another down.
But the plays he's made moving up in the pocket, you know, that is hard to coach. You coach it, you drill it, but that's a feel thing that he has a very, very good feel for.

Q. With Jamil Merrell is it just a matter of him finally being healthy?
COACH SCHIANO: Yes.

Q. What does he do so well that makes you want to start him?
COACH SCHIANO: He plays very hard. He's 255 pounds. He's got talent. He's got to get better with his assignments and following through on his assignments. If he'll do that, he can be an extremely valuable member of the defense.

Q. What's going on with the defense? Like you said, it was atypical last week.
COACH SCHIANO: Mistakes, and not mistakes that were forced by our opponent. That's where -- I'm not a big tennis fan, but know there's a saying in tennis, "unforced errors," is that what they call it? That's what it was. And that's no disrespect to West Virginia; I thought they did a very nice job.
But there was about 12 plays in that game where whether it was a defensive front, secondary or linebackers where we just didn't do what we were supposed to do, and that comes back on me. I'm the coach. I'm running the defense. And if the players don't either know what to do or follow through and execute it, that's my fault.
People want to say, well, the players should -- well, yeah, they should, but that's why they pay me money, to be the coach and get them to do it. That's my job. Me and the rest of the defensive staff, we need to coach better, and the players need to play better, because it's unfortunate. But that's in the past.
We've got to do it this week. We've got to carry out our assignments. We have a saying around here: Do your job. We all have to do our job, starting with me.

Q. B.J. Daniels has only been down nine times. Is that a combination of the offensive line or B.J.?
COACH SCHIANO: Combination. Yeah, there's been people -- he's been very hard to get down on the ground. He's got eyes, he's got like 360 vision; he feels it, and when he does, he can spin out of it. He can run forward. He is a credible athlete. I keep telling the kids every year, you look how he carries that ball around. Usually you should be able to get that ball out. He must have the strongest set of hands. I forget where we were together, but he shook my hand and I damn near lost my hand. It got engulfed. So he's got huge hands, very strong hands.

Q. Can you draw anything from the game two years ago?
COACH SCHIANO: No, I don't think. He was a true freshman, right, or a red shirt freshman? I don't think. I think it's a different scheme. At that point he was much less developed as a quarterback, and we -- it was one of those nights where everything we did was hitting.
But in the same breath, he knows he's going to get hit by Rutgers' defense, so that may be in the back of the mind. Who knows.

Q. Brandon Coleman had four catches. What's keeping him from being more productive?
COACH SCHIANO: The little things of being a receiver. I think he'll get it. I think maybe pressing a little bit; when you have some drops then you start to press. He's got to relax and go play. He's a very talented guy, and he'll make a lot of plays in his career here. We've all seen him do it. He's just got to do it in games.

Q. Is there a point where you sit him down or --
COACH SCHIANO: Well, he hasn't played that much. It's not a point. I think he played seven plays two weeks ago and I don't know what he played this week. He's not getting a lot of plays. Again, everything you do around here is based on production. You compete for your piece of the pie, whether it's touches or plays. That's just the way we do it. That's what we believe.

Q. What's mood of the team after a couple tough losses?
COACH SCHIANO: Angry probably. You know, they know that -- I never say should have, because it didn't happen. Why should have -- if I'm on the other side, no, it shouldn't have been; we did it. But opportunity, that's, I think, why they're very angry.
But it doesn't do any good to worry about the past. Take that and fuel your fire moving forward. Who knows what's going to happen. Nobody knows. Just go play your best this week. That's all you can control. Let the chips fall where they may.

Q. Is the Big East wide open enough where you could see a 5 and 2 team winning it this year?
COACH SCHIANO: I don't know. Connecticut left our stadium 3 and 3, 0 and 1 in the league, they won it last year. I don't know. How the heck do you know? As much crazy stuff that's going on in this league, maybe a three-loss team wins it, who knows.

Q. In terms of defensive pressure and sacks, is it speed or --
COACH SCHIANO: Both. They have great team speed. I think they're very well coached, they know what they want to do, and they do it well. They do a lot -- they don't do a lot in each area, but they do each area; they zero blitz, they zone blitz, they man, they max drop. I think they have a very well-conceived package. Coach Snyder, I've known him for a long time. He's coached defense at Ohio State, he's been a head coach, very, very good football coach, very sound. And again, the kids know what they want to do, and they do their best. They play for this guy. You can see that. They play for Coach Holtz.

Q. Is everything okay with Joe?
COACH SCHIANO: Burton is just doing things that we think he warrants playing time, not at the cost of Joe's touches, but you can see what we've seen in practice. That one play where the pile is there and all of a sudden Burton comes spitting out of it, that's the kind of toughness this kid brings. So we're going to keep working him in there, but we're going to keep -- you saw some one-back runs with Joe, too, where he wasn't the fullback, he was the gun back. So I think that's all good stuff. I think Frank is doing a good job of moving the touches around to the people who deserve them.

Q. How maddening have these past couple of games been for you? The team has been right there. The fans see it, they're getting angry. How do you handle this?
COACH SCHIANO: You know, I love the fans, and I love Rutgers, but no one is more disappointed when things don't go the way that I expect them to than me, and I'm not going to -- I know one thing: I can't do any more than I'm doing. I'm going to try to do it better. Not more, because more you'd roll me out of here on a gurney, but better. So be smarter, try to teach a little bit better, try to hold people accountable just a little bit more, because you're right, we're not very far off. It's disappointing but not discouraging. We'll be fine.

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