Head Coach Bobby Petrino
Opening Statement:
A: “We watched the video and it was tough to watch. We liked what we saw from our defense and we liked their effort. They made plays and got turnovers. We did some good things on special teams, but offensively we weren’t close to what we needed to do to win the game. We had a lot of opportunities and a lot of missed opportunities. That’s disturbing to me because I felt like we were really climbing the ladder. I thought we were getting better each week from game one and on. We took a big step back yesterday. We got handled up front and they were the team that was more powerful and aggressive.”
Q: Is there any news on Wayne Gandy?
A: “They are probably doing the MRI as we speak or just finishing them. Wayne’s injury is discouraging and it would be something that would hurt us. He’s done a nice job of providing leadership for our offense. It would be tough if the news comes out negative.”
Q: Would you replace Wayne Gandy with Renardo Foster?
A: “Yes, that is probably what we would do.”
Q: Are there any other injury updates?
A: “Linebacker Stephen Nicholas has a high ankle sprain and that will probably take a couple of weeks to heal.”
Q: What is your plan for the quarterback situation?
A: “I think it’s in our best interest and gives us our best chance to succeed if we stick with Joey (Harrington). I think he understands our offense, he knows what we want to do and how we should execute. Yesterday, he took a lot of hits and toward the third quarter, I felt he wasn’t completing a lot of passes he would usually complete. I thought making a change (at the position) would provide a spark for us and help us get something going. I think it was the right thing to do. It did provide us with a spark, but we weren’t able to finish it off and get the ball in the end zone.”
Q: Would you keep Byron Leftwich as the No. 3 quarterback?
A: “No, he would be listed as the No. 2 (quarterback). He would have been No. 2 yesterday if we didn’t have the holding issue. I just don’t feel like he has a complete understanding of our offense. He’s only been here for a short period of time. He has worked hard at it and has learned a lot about it.”
Talk about the comments from Alge Crumpler yesterday.
A: “I spoke with Alge this morning. We had a good conversation. There is one agenda here by the coaching staff and that’s to win every week. Win the game that we are playing that week and that’s it. I think we had a good conversation and there is an understanding that we don’t like to put things like that in the press. I’d rather him walk in my office if he had something to say. It was a decent meeting. There was a lot of frustration after the game, obviously. We had a lot of opportunities where we needed a touchdown or field goal to win the game. We didn’t get it done.”
Q: Isn’t it your prerogative as a head coach to bring in people who support the program?
A: “I think our players have done a nice job of working hard and, for the most part, everyone in the locker room has been good. I certainly don’t want situations like this to happen and we are going to keep going. One thing you can be sure of is that we are going to keep working and practicing hard. We have to show up better on offense than we did this week.”
Q: What was the issue with some of the breakdowns in the offensive line?
A: “Tennessee has a very good defensive front. They are very physical and they move their front a lot. Albert Haynesworth caused us a lot of problems. Both of their defensive ends were very active. We didn’t get enough push to run the ball and they put a lot of pressure on us when we tried to pass the ball.”
Q: Do you have any options (in other players) to help your offensive line block a little better?
A: “No, we don’t have a lot of options. We just have to get back to what we were doing. Our run game is a work in progress. We thought we were getting better at it, but we took a big step backwards. I do want to give credit to the Titans because they did a nice job and we didn’t.”
Q: How far away is Byron Leftwich from being where you will have confidence in him to give him more playing time?
A: “He knows what the offense is. It’s the lack of reps and the lack of playing under intense situations. That’s the problem with missing preseason games.”
Q: Are you concerned with Joey Harrington’s confidence?
A: “You are always concerned about confidence when you don’t have the performance that you want. After the Jacksonville game, his confidence was shook a little bit. He came back, prepared and came out with two good performances. When a quarterback is performing well, usually everyone around him is doing their job and performing well with him. I felt at the time during the game he was missing completions that he usually could make. He was a little bit off and it was time to have him sit down for a while.”
Q: How big of a loss would it be with Wayne Gandy out?
A: “No question it’s a big loss for us if he’s out. He’s a guy who has all kinds of experience and he’s been doing a nice job of helping the young offensive linemen. He’s done a nice job of leading the team. He did a great job of competing yesterday against a defensive end who was really good. Wayne held his own and kept the quarterback clean for the most part. It was a tough match-up and he competed.”
Q: What’s the status of Rod Coleman?
A: “Rod practiced last week three times. There were a couple of things we saw in practice that said he wasn’t 100 percent and ready to go. We didn’t want to take the chance of him not playing if he wasn’t 100 percent. He felt like he could have played and he’ll definitely be ready by Monday.”
Q: Is Dwayne Blakley close to returning?
A: “He took a lot of reps and it’s a situation where we felt the same for him. He had three days of practice coming off of an injury and we wanted to give it one more week of rest.”
Q: Talk about Todd Weiner’s injury?
A: “It’s too early to say and we’ll probably know more this afternoon about him.”
Q: Talk about Trey Lewis’ performance against Tennessee.
A: “He keeps improving. Everything is new to him and that’s something we were talking about before the game. Each week when you change the game plan, it’s a lot for him because he’s never been through it before. It’s a learning experience and a work in progress. He’s worked hard at it and he’s big and physical.”
