Pitt : Meet the Press: Paul Chryst Previews the Iowa Game

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"Meet the Press: Paul Chryst previews the Iowa game
The Panthers put their 3-0 record on the line against the Hawkeyes at Heinz Field.
Sept. 15, 2014
Coach Paul Chryst Press Conference Transcript
Iowa Game Preview

Opening statement:
“It was a good one to go down and be able to beat FIU. Loved the response by all the guys, and certainly we made it difficult. I’ve told the team, and believe this, every game there’s going to be great learning opportunities and if we take advantage of those we’ll continue to grow as a team. That’s our job, to make sure that happens. I like that the guys were around, stopped in, you see them and the way they’re approaching it. I like it. It’s a big week. Exciting week for us, a chance to get back home and play. Certainly looking forward to playing a good, well-coached Iowa team.”
On his previous experiences with Iowa’s defensive philosophy:
“There are some similarities, but they’ve had a change in the coaching. You certainly see some similarities to it, kind of the base. [Defensive Coordinator Phil Parker] has put his own spin on it, I think.”
On Alex Officer filling in at center:
“Talking to him after the game, I asked him, ‘How’d it go for you?’ He admitted about being nervous. I thought he did some good things, played with some energy, had some mistakes, but I thought he did some really good things. Like a lot of these guys, just getting through some of those simple things, playing, and we had the one quarterback-center exchange [fumble] with him and Trey [Anderson]. I thought he did some good things, but certainly he’s got some areas he can get better at. Both he and Gabe [Roberts] need to have a good week of practice. Artie [Rowell] – miss him, but great opportunities for both of them.”
On if Alex Officer is expected to start versus Iowa:
“We wanted to look at [Alex Officer and Gabe Roberts] last week, and do the same thing. I think what it does is it forces them to truly grow. If one’s approaching it like ‘I’m the guy’ and the other one’s not, I think they both need to [keep working]. We didn’t know if Gabe was going to play going into Boston College or not, saying, ‘Hey, Gabe’s going to play a lot of snaps.’ I never counted, but he probably played more than Artie [Rowell]. So they both have to have that mindset, and that’s what we have to help them do.”
On how the team responds to adversity:
“Each piece of adversity is different. Some of it’s individual, some of it’s one side of the ball or the other, and you can’t compare it to a team last year because it’s a different group of guys at different spots. I appreciate the way they respond. They’d better respond, because we self-inflicted it, too. It’s a group I like being around. Coaches, players, we just have to keep growing, keep getting better.”
On the importance of a consistent passing game:
“I think those are important things. You want to be a balanced offense because there’s going to be games where you’re going to need to be able to run the ball to win and there’s going to be games where you need to throw the ball to win. You want to be able to trust that and go with it. I thought that we’ve had our moments, done some good things, and then for different reasons it hasn’t been as consistent as we’d like. You’ve got to address that and work on it. Certainly, you appreciate being able to run the football, but we’ve got to do a better job there. I mean, the numbers are better but, yeah, we can be a lot better there. So that’s the great world we get to live in. Just keep grinding and keep getting better.”
On the rushing attack needing to improve despite the great production:
“The numbers are misleading on a lot of things. We can be cleaner. We can do a better job of the receivers blocking, we can do a better job getting through the second level, getting on our pulls. I mean, there are a lot of things we can get better at in the run game. The numbers, they look good, but we’re not where we need to be on it.”
On player remarks of having underestimated FIU:
“I don’t love hearing that. I think that it’s always first and foremost about us as a team. Any time you get an opportunity to play, it’s a great gift and we’ve got to maximize that. If he [James Conner] said it, I believe him. I have to do a better job of making sure guys see the reality of everything. But if he said it, I believe him.”
On Trey Anderson temporarily replacing Chad Voytik at QB:
“It was a hard game. [Chad Voytik] never got into a great rhythm. There were some things that I thought we could be doing to help him get into a rhythm. And I love the way that he competes. That’s not easy – first pass and he takes a shot. And then you get down, and you want to make things happen. I think there are times when you have to take what the defense gives you. I thought that he just needed to sit back, see the game, and realize that it’s just a game. You don’t need to make it more than it is. I thought he did some really good things, but I also wanted to get Trey [Anderson] some meaningful snaps going in, but there wasn’t a great moment in the first half to do that. But I love the way that [Chad Voytik] is approaching stuff. None of us are where we want to be, but I love the way that he’s approaching it, and I thought it would be important for him just to step back and look and see. Don’t make more of it than what it is, but you obviously appreciate what it is.”
On developing young starters with meaningful snaps in games:
“You love that it’s a big deal. Before going through this, I called all the guys that I’d coached and asked, ‘What do you think? What’s the best way, looking back? Did you like what we did here, or did you not?’ You try to have a good plan for them.”
On the lightning delay’s impact on game momentum at FIU:
“I wasn’t worried about that. We just have to take care of our business. We were stopping ourselves, we were inflicting the wounds. The lightning delay, I thought the guys handled it well. It’s not how you draw it up, for either team. It’s all part of it.”
On the play of Anthony Gonzalez at linebacker:
“It’s been fun to see. I’ve had a chance to be with him for three years. This year, I remember him telling me it was nice just being at the same position. With that comes confidence, and certainly he’s a talented player, and I think a really good football player. He understands, sees it. He and Ray [Vinopal] last year led the team in snaps. They do a ton of stuff for us—special teams, all the different situations that you get defensively. It’s fun being around our seniors. I’ve enjoyed being around them. It’s good. I think [Anthony Gonzalez] is doing some really good things, but we need him to be. All our seniors, we need them to be good. It’s not a big class, but we need them to play their best football. None of those seniors are playing perfect, but they’re leading it the right way.”
On Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz:
“I have a tremendous amount of respect for Kirk Ferentz, and it’s going to be a well-coached team. He believes in physical offense, physical defense. It’s always going to be a challenge. I’m excited for our guys to play. It’s going to be a good atmosphere. It’ll be a good physical game, and we’ve got to rise up and meet that challenge. It’s a great opportunity for us. The amount of success that he’s had for a long time—there’s a lot of programs across the country trying to do that.”
On Iowa’s ability to stop the run:
“You’ve got good players and a good scheme, that’s always a key part of it. You’ve got to work to get yards on them. It’s a sound defense, and they’ve got good players. Whatever you get, you’ll earn. It’s fun to play them that way because nothing will be given.”
On the status of defensive end David Durham:
“We’ll kind of see this week. Today he won’t do anything. We’ll see where he’s at. Hopefully it’s nothing long term. I don’t believe it is. I thought that Rori [Blair] was active. I thought the ends, Shakir [Soto], did some good things. Hopefully, we’ll get Dave back. We ended not taking him on the trip just so he could get some extra rehab. Hopefully he’ll be back sooner than later.”
On freshman defensive end Rori Blair:
“He’s done a good job. Rori plays with a lot of energy. He’s still learning a lot, so you’ve got to keep progressing. But I think it helped him coming in in the spring. I think that he’s comfortable with what we’re doing. Now it’s just how you’ve got to learn playing the game. The first stage of learning is learning what we do, what is our playbook, and then it’s how you apply it against different teams. I think he’s gaining invaluable experience and he’s contributing. We’ve got a ways to go, but I like the steps he’s taking right now.”
On if James Conner remains available for play on the defensive line:
“He’s still part of it. He’s had a couple of decent work days the last two weeks. Nothing has really changed, we just haven’t gone with him.”
On the team coping with the increased attention:
“I think that’s something that guys have to learn to deal with, and it’s a good part of the growth that they have to go through. You try to address it, you try to talk with them. It’s certainly a lot easier for us as coaches to isolate ourselves than the players. They’re up on campus, friends, other students, professors, families. All those things, there’s so much that these guys have to learn to deal with—obviously, the workload of being a student at a great university, the workload of the time commitments that the sport requires. Then it’s handling the extra attention and all that. So, you try to help them, you try to guide them. Like every part of our lives, you try to take the experience and try to learn from it. We’ve got to try to help them and they’ve got to help themselves. I think guys when they come, and we talk about it all the time, why did you come to Pitt? It’s to play in games like we get an opportunity to play in here. You’ve got a chance, if you do stuff, to be recognized. You have to learn how to deal with it. It’s a good part of the whole educational process. Each guy’s different, so you try to acknowledge that, but you try to talk to them.”
On the progress of the defense:
“I think we are making progress in certain areas, and I think there are areas that we’ve got to keep cleaning up. I know it sounds like a broken record, but this team, we’re doing some good stuff. You love the way guys are working, but every area—offense, defense, special teams—we’ve got a lot of things that we can get better at. That’s what’s kind of exciting about this group. And they want to be. The one thing about this group is they’ll work, and they want to be really good.”
On starting 3-0:
“It’s kind of like we were talking about earlier with the [media] attention. You’ve got to deal with it. I think you’ve got to appreciate that every weekend you get a chance to compete. You want to come out scoring one more point than the opponent. It comes in different ways, and when they do that, especially as a team…these games we’ve needed everyone, all phases of the game, to win. Those feel good. And yet, I think you’ve got to keep that balance of feeling good and appreciative—it’s hard to win games—and you’re thankful, but if you do it enough then it puts you in different situations and you’ve got to learn to deal with that.”
—PITT—"