MSU coach Rob Ash
Photo by: MSU Sports Information
Rob Ash from Tuesday Media Lunch, October 15, 2013
10/16/2013 4:20:00 PM | Football
A look at Rob Ash's comments from Tuesday's Media Lunch
TUESDAY PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES
October 15, 2013
BOBCAT HEAD COACH ROB ASH
What did you get done during the bye week?
"I caught up on some sleep and rest a little bit. One of the things that happens in a bye week is you don't have to come in quite as early in the morning or stay quite as late every night. You don't have to stay after practice to watch film during that first week because we're not having a game that weekend and we can sleep in a little bit. I got a chance to watch some games on Saturday and really feel pretty rejuvenated. We thought the rest was for the players bit it's just as much for the coaches, too."
What have you seen from Weber State?
"Weber State has always played us tough. They're a very physical team on both sides of the ball. That goes back to the roots they had when Coach McBride got physical, tough players into that program, and they're still playing that way. They've had a terrible schedule, brutal schedule. They've had some difficulties with injuries. I'm waiting for them to break out and have a great football game, one of these days and hopefully not this week."
How do you use your time during the bye week to prepare for Weber State?
"It's more about doing the same amount of preparation over a longer period of time. We had a more relaxed schedule in terms of being able to analyze all of their games, but we did some things during the first week that weren't about Weber State, necessarily. We always do that for the bye week no matter who we're playing. We went back and did a self-scout, where we go back and see what tendencies we need to break on offense and defense. We also worked our young guys. We had a scrimmage last Thursday for redshirts in the Stadium. They had a great time with that. The guys that play all the time were an amazing audience, they had fun watching them play. And (the bye week) gave both the coaches and players some time off. It's not as significant as you might think. It's just a little more relaxed schedule with the same amount of preparation."
Did the bye week help the team physically?
"I think this week helped us as much as any (bye) week since I've been here in terms of getting guys ready to play, getting guys healed up. We had a lot of guys who have bumps and bruises, guys like DeNarius and Mike Foster, Cody Kirk, Tiai Salanoa, Barnett. A lot of them have injuries that have just been chronic, and every week we play they just don't have a chance to recover. This last week we rested all those guys. They were out on the field, they did some running and conditioning, but not much football. That really helped, and I think it's going to make us a fresher and more resilient kind of team this week."
Do you have to find extra motivation to get the team ready for this game Saturday?
"I always work on motivation way ahead of Saturday. We started it last week, we started (again) on Sunday. We had a good practice Sunday, we had to replace the workout we didn't get on Saturday because we didn't have a game. So we worked out on Sunday, we started talking about getting ready to play, and of course we'll do that again the rest of the week. I don't think you get ready to play on the bus trip or on Saturday morning. You get ready to play when you practice during the week, and that's what we try to focus on."
Did you get the sense on Sunday the guys were refreshed?
"I absolutely did. It was a lousy day, was wet, snowing, cold, and they had tons of energy. They were very, very eager to practice, they were excited to get started, we had the game plan pretty much in place by that time on Sunday afternoon, so that (put) us one day ahead of where we usually are, but more importantly it got them out there, got them running around. I could tell there was an extra step in their physical energy they hadn't had the previous week."
Is there a point of emphasis in stopping Josh Booker and Bo Bolen?
"We just have to wrap up and tackle well. The biggest problem we had defensively against Stephen F. Austin when we lost that game is that we hit people but we didn't tackle. These two running backs, if we just hit them they're going to break tackles and make plays. We have to wrap up and get them down, and that's been a point of emphasis. Because they're good runners."
Is it important to identify where Anthony Morales is at?
"We've got to know where he is. He's an outstanding player, very physical. We've got to get a blocker on him every single play because otherwise. He'll be a guy making plays on our running backs if we don't get a blocker there first. We've got to know where he is. They've been struggling without him. When he's back they're a lot better football team."
Does the change of quarterbacks mid-season throw a fold in the game plan?
"Actually he's played quite a bit, so we have quite a bit of tape on him. He's a really good athlete, and I think he's going to be fine in this league. He got throw into the fire early (in his career), but he's starting to get better and better and better as he goes along. Again, we're going to have to be very disciplined in our assignments because that spread offense could be dive, it could be quarterback keep, it could be the bubble screen or the pitch outside, and he's starting to run that better every time he goes out there."
How did the recruiting efforts benefit from the bye week?
"I think a lot. The first week we were off we had some mandatory recruiting time, so we basically told the coordinators they couldn't have the assistant coaches for a couple hours here, a couple hours there so that they could work on their recruiting. That helped us a lot. We went and saw games last Friday all around the state, went to visit high schools, which you can do at this time. We can't talk to players right now. We did a lot of evaluation, and once in a while now we'll sit down as a staff and evaluate one position that we're recruiting, what kind of guys we're starting to put on our board for that position. So I think we got a lot done."
Do you feel like you have momentum after a two-game win streak?
"Yeah, I kind of have mixed feelings about that. I hope so. I felt like we had great momentum Saturday night after the NAU game, but I don't know if we can sustain that for two weeks. Sometimes after a bye you come out a little flat because you haven't had that timing, that schedule, that routine you've always been in. We should have some momentum I would think from that win, but being the bye, I just don't know."
Are you worried about coming out flat on the road?
"No, I'm not worried about that at all. I think the North Dakota game showed our team how to play a road game. We talked about that a lot coming off the SFA game and fixed it, and hopefully that problem will remain fixed. We'll continue to talk about what we did that week (of the North Dakota game)."
October 15, 2013
BOBCAT HEAD COACH ROB ASH
What did you get done during the bye week?
"I caught up on some sleep and rest a little bit. One of the things that happens in a bye week is you don't have to come in quite as early in the morning or stay quite as late every night. You don't have to stay after practice to watch film during that first week because we're not having a game that weekend and we can sleep in a little bit. I got a chance to watch some games on Saturday and really feel pretty rejuvenated. We thought the rest was for the players bit it's just as much for the coaches, too."
What have you seen from Weber State?
"Weber State has always played us tough. They're a very physical team on both sides of the ball. That goes back to the roots they had when Coach McBride got physical, tough players into that program, and they're still playing that way. They've had a terrible schedule, brutal schedule. They've had some difficulties with injuries. I'm waiting for them to break out and have a great football game, one of these days and hopefully not this week."
How do you use your time during the bye week to prepare for Weber State?
"It's more about doing the same amount of preparation over a longer period of time. We had a more relaxed schedule in terms of being able to analyze all of their games, but we did some things during the first week that weren't about Weber State, necessarily. We always do that for the bye week no matter who we're playing. We went back and did a self-scout, where we go back and see what tendencies we need to break on offense and defense. We also worked our young guys. We had a scrimmage last Thursday for redshirts in the Stadium. They had a great time with that. The guys that play all the time were an amazing audience, they had fun watching them play. And (the bye week) gave both the coaches and players some time off. It's not as significant as you might think. It's just a little more relaxed schedule with the same amount of preparation."
Did the bye week help the team physically?
"I think this week helped us as much as any (bye) week since I've been here in terms of getting guys ready to play, getting guys healed up. We had a lot of guys who have bumps and bruises, guys like DeNarius and Mike Foster, Cody Kirk, Tiai Salanoa, Barnett. A lot of them have injuries that have just been chronic, and every week we play they just don't have a chance to recover. This last week we rested all those guys. They were out on the field, they did some running and conditioning, but not much football. That really helped, and I think it's going to make us a fresher and more resilient kind of team this week."
Do you have to find extra motivation to get the team ready for this game Saturday?
"I always work on motivation way ahead of Saturday. We started it last week, we started (again) on Sunday. We had a good practice Sunday, we had to replace the workout we didn't get on Saturday because we didn't have a game. So we worked out on Sunday, we started talking about getting ready to play, and of course we'll do that again the rest of the week. I don't think you get ready to play on the bus trip or on Saturday morning. You get ready to play when you practice during the week, and that's what we try to focus on."
Did you get the sense on Sunday the guys were refreshed?
"I absolutely did. It was a lousy day, was wet, snowing, cold, and they had tons of energy. They were very, very eager to practice, they were excited to get started, we had the game plan pretty much in place by that time on Sunday afternoon, so that (put) us one day ahead of where we usually are, but more importantly it got them out there, got them running around. I could tell there was an extra step in their physical energy they hadn't had the previous week."
Is there a point of emphasis in stopping Josh Booker and Bo Bolen?
"We just have to wrap up and tackle well. The biggest problem we had defensively against Stephen F. Austin when we lost that game is that we hit people but we didn't tackle. These two running backs, if we just hit them they're going to break tackles and make plays. We have to wrap up and get them down, and that's been a point of emphasis. Because they're good runners."
Is it important to identify where Anthony Morales is at?
"We've got to know where he is. He's an outstanding player, very physical. We've got to get a blocker on him every single play because otherwise. He'll be a guy making plays on our running backs if we don't get a blocker there first. We've got to know where he is. They've been struggling without him. When he's back they're a lot better football team."
Does the change of quarterbacks mid-season throw a fold in the game plan?
"Actually he's played quite a bit, so we have quite a bit of tape on him. He's a really good athlete, and I think he's going to be fine in this league. He got throw into the fire early (in his career), but he's starting to get better and better and better as he goes along. Again, we're going to have to be very disciplined in our assignments because that spread offense could be dive, it could be quarterback keep, it could be the bubble screen or the pitch outside, and he's starting to run that better every time he goes out there."
How did the recruiting efforts benefit from the bye week?
"I think a lot. The first week we were off we had some mandatory recruiting time, so we basically told the coordinators they couldn't have the assistant coaches for a couple hours here, a couple hours there so that they could work on their recruiting. That helped us a lot. We went and saw games last Friday all around the state, went to visit high schools, which you can do at this time. We can't talk to players right now. We did a lot of evaluation, and once in a while now we'll sit down as a staff and evaluate one position that we're recruiting, what kind of guys we're starting to put on our board for that position. So I think we got a lot done."
Do you feel like you have momentum after a two-game win streak?
"Yeah, I kind of have mixed feelings about that. I hope so. I felt like we had great momentum Saturday night after the NAU game, but I don't know if we can sustain that for two weeks. Sometimes after a bye you come out a little flat because you haven't had that timing, that schedule, that routine you've always been in. We should have some momentum I would think from that win, but being the bye, I just don't know."
Are you worried about coming out flat on the road?
"No, I'm not worried about that at all. I think the North Dakota game showed our team how to play a road game. We talked about that a lot coming off the SFA game and fixed it, and hopefully that problem will remain fixed. We'll continue to talk about what we did that week (of the North Dakota game)."
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