Ash chat from MSU

[TomCat88]

TUESDAY PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
November 5, 2013

BOBCAT HEAD COACH ROB ASH
“A quick injury update, Tiai Salanoa is out this week, so is James Nelson. Tiai has a knee (injury), James has an ankle, both will be out.”

What are Eastern Washington’s strengths?
“I think they’re good on both sides of the ball. I think obviously they have a very explosive offense. They’re throwing the ball down the field, making big plays, but if you don’t pay attention to their running game they will beat you with their running game as well. So I see great balance with their offense, great point production, and a defense that is very physical. Their front line is as good as anybody’s in the conference, their linebackers are very athletic and big, the secondary is very talented (with) some of the top athletes in the conference. So it’s a very, very fine football team.”

Are they as good as advertised?
“I think they are. I think they’re one of the top teams in the country, much less in the Big Sky.”

Is there concern with the kicking game after the three blocked kicks Saturday?
“We evaluated that and I think it’s mostly a matter of elevation on our PATs. We’ll get that fixed. On the blocked punt, we just had a backup in there for Tiai Salanoa on our shield, we just had a technical problem there that’s easy to fix, so I’m not concerned about it.”

How do you describe this Montana State-Eastern Washington rivalry?
“It seems like the path to the championship has gone through this game the last three years, at least, so it’s big in that respect. Eastern Washington has a great team, a great record of championships and playoff appearances, including a national championship, so they’re obviously a team you have to try to compete with, and the good news is we’ve been able to do that the last couple of years, three years. They’ve been great games, we’ve won two of them, so we’ve been able to get up there and be on par with them, so that’s why it’s become a really important game.”

Was it nice to get some experience in a close game against UNC?
“No, I didn’t like that at all. I’d much rather have had a one-sided game.”

Does the importance of this game change your preparation at all?
“No. We try to prepare with integrity every week. We do everything the same, we work the same number of hours, we do everything on the same schedule as we do every other week. That’s what we intentionally try to set up during the course of the season – to have a plan that works, to have a schedule for our coaches that works, so you don’t have to change anything when you get to a big game.”

How have teams played Eastern Washington?
“We’ve got an awful lot of games on them now at the end of the season. There’s a lot of different video to watch, and everybody’s tried different things. Some people tried to play soft and defend the long pass and they’ve gotten gouged with the run. Other people have tried to play a very cautious containment on Vernon (Adams) and when he has time to throw he can pick you apart sitting comfortably in the pocket. People have tried to pressure him and he’s gotten away and made good plays. They’re just a good football team, and they’ve handled everything that they’ve seen so far.”

Is it just one of those nightmare offenses that you can’t really game plan for?
“Sure, they’re very talented and they’re very diverse, but we have a lot of confidence in our defense, too. Our guys are solid, Jamie Marshall does a very good job putting a plan together, our guys play well in big games, and our guys match up in some of the areas pretty well, so I think it will be a good contest. But I am very respectful of them, obviously.”

They lose three receivers to the NFL and replace them with guys having the same kind of season, are you surprised by that at all?
“I’m very impressed with what they did. I think a lot of us were hoping there would be a little fall-off in their receiver corps with the departure of all those talented players from last year, but the guys they have right now are playing outstanding football. Cooper Kupp gets a lot of the mention, deservedly so because he’s having a fabulous season, but the other guys are great players, as well. You can’t just focus on one. They’ve got a very good receiver corps.”

How hard is it to make plays on balls in the air, it seems like they throw it up (for grabs) a lot?
“The first thing is we’ve got to be there when the ball comes down. We’ve got to be , and they do a very good job with their route structure, the way they attack coverages. They’ll draw guys away to get a one-on-one matchup, put a good move on that guy and try to get separation. They do some really good things. So our first and foremost assignment is to be in the vicinity and hopefully challenge that ball when it comes out of the sky and make a play.”

What do you think you can do against them?
“I think our defense is very solid and very, very well-coached, and our guys are disciplined and we have a scheme that matches up against just about anything people can play against us. It’s a very diverse and balanced defensive scheme. Over the years we’ve been able to match up against very good offenses without having to do anything special. We’re not having to make major changes to what we do on defense. We’re going to line up and play our scheme and match their formations and read their routes and fit the gaps on the run, and I think we’ll do fine against them, because we play pretty good defense, as well.”

What about offensively?
“Offensively, I like their (defensive) front, they’re very tough up front, but our offensive line is bigger and stronger than it’s been in past years. We’ve been able to fix the running game since early in the season and be pretty effective at that. Obviously it starts with that every week, we’ve got to be able to run the football, but we’ve got to be balanced, and we’ve got to try to possess the ball. I gave Coach Cramsey a very simple assignment this week: I’d like 14 to 16 play drives that end in a touchdown. That’s what we’re going to try to do.”

They got a big lead on Montana and had a hard time closing them out, did you see anything that you can take advantage of?
“Montana had a courageous comeback in that game. Jordy Johnson was a battler, he tried to bring the team back. Montana took some chances down the stretch there, throwing the ball into coverage, that normally they wouldn’t do but they had to do at that point, and the guys made plays. It was a matter of a desperate team in Montana who has good athletes really just making a frantic and gallant comeback. It was amazing to watch. It was really impressive on Montana’s part. But they had too far to catch up.”

Is there a player you might use on the scout team to resemble Vernon or do what he does on the field, or will you have Quinn scramble around?
“We’ll do some of that. Quinn will be the scout team quarterback, he throws the ball so well and we’ve got to simulate that. We’ll have some called scrambles where he’ll get out, run around. The basic concept never changes, though. When the quarterback is scrambling the guys in coverage have to stay in coverage. We’ve worked on that for years here, it’s something that never changes. It’s not going to be a dramatic departure from anything we normally do.”

Their secondary is thin, too, does that influence your game plan?
“No. I like the athletes they have back there, they’re good players. We can’t go dialing up new things that we haven’t worked on. We’re going to use the arsenal of plays that we’ve built up from last spring through August through the season and call those plays and see how they work out.”

Ronnie Hamlin was all over last year, how do you slow him down?
“He’s a tremendous football player. I really am impressed watching him run around. He’s a big, physical athlete who can run. I’ve seen him make some outstanding interceptions and returns with those balls, so hopefully we can just know where he is, get a hat on a hat, and know where he is in pass defense so that he doesn’t make one of those plays against us.”

How do they use their run game?
“You can’t lose track of their run game. If you do you’re going to have a major problem in the game. They like to get in two tight ends, create a lot of gaps, and come off the ball and get after you. They want you to have to bring your safeties down to defend the run, then they’ll bootleg Vernon out of there. They’ve got a whole arsenal of bootlegs and roll-outs for him to fake the run and get out in space and throw the ball down the field. But you have to be sound and you have to defend the run first and if it means bringing a safety down to defend the run then that’s what you have to do. You’ve got to start with the run game, and that’s the only way to do it.”

[profisme]

“Offensively, I like their (defensive) front, they’re very tough up front, but our offensive line is bigger and stronger than it’s been in past years."

This might be the closest thing to "I think we are going to kick their butts" as I have ever seen Coach Ash quoted as saying.

[TomCat88]

There appears to be some interesting stuff on both sides when you look inside the rushing numbers. MSU has been very consistent the last five games. No less than 166 in a game and no runs of 30 or more. I have no idea what that might mean. EWU has good numbers, but they've gone about it differently. Big chunks. Not sure about that either.

Both QBs are good, but they go about some things completely differently and are identical in others. Some of Adams throws make DMac look conservative, but they're both pass first guys and have great escapability.

[cats2506]

How hard is it to make plays on balls in the air, it seems like they throw it up (for grabs) a lot?
“The first thing is we’ve got to be there when the ball comes down. We’ve got to be , and they do a very good job with their route structure, the way they attack coverages. They’ll draw guys away to get a one-on-one matchup, put a good move on that guy and try to get separation. They do some really good things. So our first and foremost assignment is to be in the vicinity and hopefully challenge that ball when it comes out of the sky and make a play.”

And SE seems to think that I am the only one that sees VA throwing jump balls

[[cat_bracket]]

How hard is it to make plays on balls in the air, it seems like they throw it up (for grabs) a lot?
“The first thing is we’ve got to be there when the ball comes down. We’ve got to be , and they do a very good job with their route structure, the way they attack coverages. They’ll draw guys away to get a one-on-one matchup, put a good move on that guy and try to get separation. They do some really good things. So our first and foremost assignment is to be in the vicinity and hopefully challenge that ball when it comes out of the sky and make a play.”

And SE seems to think that I am the only one that sees VA throwing jump balls

The point isn't that they throw jump balls, the point is that its a strategy that works for them and they're smart to do it. They'll do it until you stop them. Kupp is 6-2, Clark 5-11, Hill 5-10, Mitchell 6-2, Gehring (TE) 6-4.