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Head coach Jim Leavitt spoke with the media early Monday afternoon in the BIG EAST weekly teleconference, and GoUSFBulls.com has the complete transcript from his conversation with both local and national media members still talking about the win over Florida State. From the impact the game has had locally to the comparison between B.J. Daniels and Syracuse quarterback Greg Paulus, both of whom have played collegiate basketball, Leavitt covers it all.
Go here to listen to what every BIG EAST coach had to say during the teleconference.
Click here to watch Leavitt's interview after Monday night's practice. He didn't say a lot, but he'll have more to say at his weekly press conference Tuesday, which can be viewed on BullsVision. Until then, enjoy!
Jim Leavitt's opening statement -
"It was a good win for us. I feel like our guys played very, very hard against a good football team. Syracuse, they're really a different team from what they've been in the past. I've been very, very impressed watching the film. They play extremely, extremely hard in all phases, on offense, defense and special teams. We all know about their quarterback and the story and boy he is that good. He moves the team so well. His throws are so accurate. He has all the throws, has great feet, a quick release, and you know he's a winner. He's so impressive. Williams, the receiver, does a great job. They have awfully good running back. I'm very, very impressed with their coaching and what they're asking their guys to do. On defense, they are very, very aggressive. They're going to come and give you a lot of different looks when they come after you. They're very active. They play very hard. Everybody plays hard. It's the BIG EAST Conference. It's what I've been saying all along. The BIG EAST is very strong. I keep getting those questions all the time. People are asking me about that and I keep saying the same thing for the last number of years. Hopefully more and more people will pay attention to that."
On overall depth compared to last couple years -
"It's still not where we've got to get it. We need to keep recruiting, and we need to keep working hard on that end of it, but we're getting somewhat closer."
On avoiding the midseason letdown -
"We'll find out as we go. One reason is we've had some injuries, there's no question about that, but everybody gets those. We've had them this year as well, as everybody knows also. The other thing is the BIG EAST is that good. When you've got BIG EAST teams playing against each other, it's a whole other world. You have to play at a very, very high level all the time with great focus. That's just the way it is. We'll see how this team will do. I don't know. We'll wait and see. I know we have the capability to play very good football, but you've got to do it on a consistent basis. We've got to get better and we've got to improve as we go through this year."
On the fine line of when to take out a starter -
"Every game we go into, I never know what is going to happen. We play to our best. There's too much parity at there in the country. Everybody can play at a pretty high level. We are going to do what we do. We've done that with Matt many, many games. We'll do what we do with whomever we have in there. You can't just say when something will happen and when it won't and how and against who and all those kind of things. You try to prepare depth. You do what you can, what your quarterback does best, all these cases. You hope you stay healthy and you hope that whomever else you have has good reps and ready to go if they don't."
On the impact locally from the win and what he saw on film of Daniels -
"This, certainly locally, is big, because you're in the state of Florida, it'd be like any state out there. Well, I don't know. It's probably unique, for me here because I grew up here. For us trying to build this program, it always has been about Florida, Florida State and Miami, and I understand that. They've all won national championships. They've all got great traditions. Those programs have built great, great traditions. To be able to beat one of them at that moment, it means to me that we can at least be in the discussion, that we're a competitive team with those guys in this state. With recruiting, certainly that's important for players to see that, for high school players. We recruit mostly, 90 percent is going to be in the state of Florida. It's just what we do. So that part is really important.
"As far as breaking down BJ, he does what he does. You saw him out there. He runs around, throws the ball a little bit, hands it off, and sometimes he keeps it. He has a lot of confidence, as you would hope your quarterback would. It's the most important position on your team in my opinion. He needs to be a leader and he needs to be able to do what your offense allows. He made a number of mistakes. He's got things he's got to get a lot better on. I think he knows that and hopefully he will."
On why the win was so big -
"Nationally, Florida, Florida State, Miami have been that good through the years. To lose a guy like Matt Grothe, who is a sensational player, an absolutely sensational player, and has been the quarterback in a lot of those big wins you talk about. To go to Tallahassee on a sold out afternoon, when it was very hot, to win a game like that, for this program it's a great step for us in being a competitive program in this state. And then to see 12,000 - some people were saying up to 14,000 South Florida students, alumni, past players and fans, made it that much more powerful, because of all the efforts that so many people have put into the program. We're not there. We know that. We just won a game. We know that, but that game was a good win for South Florida and certainly that moment was pretty significant."
If it's now the Big 4 -
"I'll let you all decide that. People ask me all the time in the past about whether we are or not. I said well really to even get into that discussion I think we need to beat one of them. So I said we might be in the discussion. They might talk about us a little bit. Those guys won national championships. We haven't done that. They've done a lot over a lot of years. I'm not going to debate all that kind of stuff. I just think that maybe over coffee people might talk about South Florida a little bit more than before."
On having all three linebackers hurt during the game and how he felt the other linebackers played -
"We understand it's going to be a group effort. A lot of people are going to have to play. We played five or six linebackers in the game. That's just the way it is. I told everybody, 'If you're going to travel, don't get on that bus if you're not ready to go.' We pretty much play everybody that we bring. We wouldn't bring them if we didn't think we were going to play them. I thought they did well."
On if there are any nagging injuries for Saturday -
"I'm sure they're a little bit sore here and there, but I think we're okay."
On if they plan for having a certain time of possession -
"You certainly look at it, because the more you have the ball, it sure helps than not having the ball. I saw the Bucs play the Giants last weekend. I saw the time of possession with the Giants was unbelievable. That's certainly a factor. It doesn't always play out that way, though, as we all know. I think the thing is you focus in on getting first downs, but you also want those explosive plays. Sometimes those explosive plays are not going to lend itself to possession time. It's something we talk about. It's something that is important, but not limiting the explosive plays as well."
On having basketball backgrounds and the similarities between Daniels and Paulus -
"I was wondering if anybody would kind of look at that. Going into this game I was thinking about it last night a little bit. Both have played a fair amount of basketball. Certainly BJ hasn't played as much and not to the level in college. They both have great feet, and they both have leadership qualities. They certainly have handled a ball, if it's been a basketball or football, but they've handled it. Both of them have great eye-ball skills and the coordination as far as those things go. Certainly leadership is huge, because they've got to do it in both areas. I see some similarities certainly with the feet and mannerisms. You see some of it. Does it help? I think anytime you play another sport at a pretty high level, certainly the sport of basketball, my gosh, it's not going to hurt any, that's for sure."
