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RUTGERS UNIVERSITY MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 5, 2011

Greg Schiano

Rutgers - 20
South Florida - 17

COACH SCHIANO: I'll start with I was really proud of our coaches and our players and our football program, the family here that -- the way they stuck with it down 17-3. I don't know how many teams trust each other and believe each other, have that kind of mental toughness to keep going. I'm very, very proud of them. We certainly need to get a lot better, but when you have fighters like we do here that have kept us close in every game, won some, lost some, but to come back tonight and win this one was very important for our program, for those kids and for these coaches. I'm very pleased, obviously, about the way they fought.

Q. Chase specifically not throwing a pass in a month and then coming in to do it on that last drive, how impressed were you?
COACH SCHIANO: That says a lot about Chase. I've been saying all along we have two good quarterbacks, and the way Chase has prepared these weeks that he has not played in games, he cherishes every rep he gets in practice, he works in the meeting room and studies things as if he's the starter. He really came in and did a great job and came up big for us.

Q. Talk about the break on the kickoff returns, absolutely perfect timing for that?
COACH SCHIANO: I'll tell you what, great job by our kids and great job by Coach Smith. He came up to me and said "I'd like to make a little change here, are you all right with it." I said, "Sure am, Rob, if you think it'll work," and the kids executed it perfectly. Really Jeremy Deering, what a great thing for him to do it against his hometown school.

Q. How much did you age tonight?
COACH SCHIANO: They're all tough on your age.

Q. Secondly, talk about the offensive line, how they had to adjust, had a tough time against that defensive front.
COACH SCHIANO: That's probably the best defensive front in our league. It's one of the better ones around. They lead the nation in tackles for loss. That's not by accident. We knew going in it was going to be tough sledding. The thing that they did, we found a way to make some plays when we needed to.

Q. Could you talk about Sanu in general and then in particular that catch he made on 4th down?
COACH SCHIANO: Mohamed is a great player. I mean, that's -- every once in a while you get to coach one of those great players. Just got to make sure we keep finding ways to get him his touches. I think he had two at the half, and Frank made a conscious effort to get the ball in Sanu's hands. I thought it was excellent.

Q. At the end when Chase throws the interception in regulation, are you disappointed in your defense that they were able to move really three plays down to the 10-yard line in that short a period of time?
COACH SCHIANO: Well, the defense was in some tough spots tonight. They were out there quite a bit. I don't know how many total plays, I didn't even look. We have not played -- you know, we've been on one of our best paces this year as far as defensive plays we've had to play. They ran 86 plays tonight. They were moving the ball. I thought we made some critical -- a couple little errors. I knew them right when they happened in the first half, and then that one drive we made a couple. But I thought they played their tails off and made plays when they had to, made plays to win the game. When you make that interception, go into overtime, bang, stop them, bang, stop them, and then intercept it, that's the game. I had every bit of confidence in San San Te. Same side of the field, how about that? That was special.

Q. What about Coleman? He's had a lot of drops this year, if you will, and he comes through in a big spot like that.
COACH SCHIANO: Thrilled for him. He's a great kid. He's going to be a great player. Sometimes you get -- any athlete can get a little mental block going. Hopefully this frees him up and lets him play the way he's capable. You guys saw him in the spring. Just kind of hit a little bit of a slump. Hopefully this pops him out of it because he's a big-time player.

Q. Any word on Savon?
COACH SCHIANO: Yeah, I'm worried about Savon. I don't know factually now, but we'll have to get tests done. I'm more than concerned.

Q. Sanu had seven catches in that game-tying drive. Do he and Chase just have a pretty good chemistry together or did the play calling get different at that point?
COACH SCHIANO: I don't know. I mean, we came out in the second half, we said we were going to consciously try and get the ball in Mo's hands and see if he can't do his thing. In that two-minute drive -- they've thrown a lot and caught a lot together, so maybe there is.

Q. I have to ask you, what about next week? Have you made a decision on your quarterback situation?
COACH SCHIANO: You've got to give me at least a couple hours to enjoy this one. I promise you, I'll fight -- you've got to do your job, I'm with you, but I get two hours. We get to turn the clocks back tonight, maybe three hours, then we've got to go defend the triple option again. This is our schedule, triple option, spread, triple option. You've got to give me just a couple hours to enjoy this.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COACH SCHIANO: He got banged up in the first half. I was afraid he wasn't going to come back and play. He got a little dinger and he begged me and then he got banged up again, and I said, let's just let Zo go. He wasn't having any of that. I said, all right, get in there. That's five interceptions so far this year. The kid is playing very well.

Q. Did you have any angle on the missed field goal at the end of regulation?
COACH SCHIANO: Yeah, he kind of shanked it pretty good. You could see it from my angle pretty quickly.

Q. Is this one of the more satisfying wins you've had, midway through the fourth quarter stagnant and then come back?
COACH SCHIANO: Take them any way you can get them.

Q. It looked like -- were you just setting up for the field goal in the overtime there?
COACH SCHIANO: Yeah, we weren't going to risk getting sacked and getting out of field goal range or getting a holding penalty or anything like that. I was hoping we'd pop one of those, and we almost did; he was this close to popping it. But I had every bit of confidence in San San, and he had every bit of confidence in himself. He really impressed me this week the way -- he's always been a hard worker. The way he did it this week, though, from a mental standpoint, from a film study standpoint. When you think of a kicker, how much really -- this guy really upped it a notch, and I think you reap what you sew.

Q. You mentioned Coach Smith made an adjustment. What set Jeremy free? What did he change?
COACH SCHIANO: Coach saw they were overplaying it a little bit and he just made a suggestion, let's start it that way and then pop it out, and I was really -- we have that in our repertoire but we hadn't game planned or planned to use it in this game. So that's a good job of coaching by Rob. He adjusted on the fly.

Q. Was there something specific from Gary that led you to change at that time? Why at that time? We saw him run back into the tunnel for a minute.
COACH SCHIANO: No, it had nothing to do with any injury or anything. Look, some nights you're not moving the ball, and whether it's the quarterback's fault or not, it isn't working. So at that point I wanted to try to shake it up. I didn't want to go in and come back in the locker room with three points and say woulda, shoulda, coulda. I've always told you that we've thought about it. It hasn't been the case in the previous weeks. This week it was the case, so we did it.
I know there's a lot of conspiracy theories, but there's really only one thing I'm trying to do and that's win the football game, contrary to some scuttlebutt.

Q. What does it mean to be Bowl eligible?
COACH SCHIANO: I forgot about that. The kids reminded me. I was just so happy to win the game. It's great. Six times in seven years, I think, you know, ten years ago Rutgers people might have signed up for that. I understand my expectations are higher, but I'm happy we're going back to a Bowl game. Wherever it is, I'm happy we're going.

Q. The obvious change was Chase at quarterback, but you made some shifting along the offensive line. What kind of prompted that, and what does it mean for kids to kind of step in like Desmond at left tackle on the fly and perform fairly well?
COACH SCHIANO: I think it speaks volumes to the family and the unselfishness that these kids have and that this program has. Desmond Stapleton, he started how many games, then he got demoted. He could go in the tank. Instead he just continues to prepare, coaches the young guys, and when he gets his chance, Coach Flood has a confidence level in him in these situations where he's been there before. He's got some medical things that he can't go 70, 80 plays, but he might be able to give us 20 great plays. I leave that up to Kyle. I think Kyle does a very good job of having a feel of when to play who. But I've told you we're going to play about seven or eight guys on that offensive line and Kyle decides when.
Again, I love -- you look at a guy like Chase, you look at a guy like Desmond that just keeps battling, a guy like San San who's had some tough spots here recently. Instead of moping and putting his head down, he went and worked harder and smarter and got it done. Really, it's good that they can learn from -- when you do work harder and smarter that it's good to give them results. That's certainly something that's -- it's competitive athletics, right? This thing turns on a dime and we win it. Very well could have been on the other side. That's the way the cookie goes. It's fun to be on this end. That's what I know.

Q. (Inaudible.)
COACH SCHIANO: Yeah, Mark I didn't think was significant as the week went on. He banged his head, but I kept getting reports that he should be okay. Then all of a sudden it gets to Thursday night and he still says he's got a headache, and then Friday -- and we're not going to play a kid -- nowadays if he's got a headache that is really bothering him, we're not risking it. So he wanted to play, but we're not going to put a guy out there if that's the case.

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