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Ready To Roll?
Written by Christian McCollum Thursday, 07 October 2010 17:51
Tausch will return to the field, although he won't be handling field goals.Brian Kelly is hoping that this is the week that his offense breaks out and puts it all together for four quarters, but says that has more to do with Dayne Crist than anybody else.
“Our offense revolves around the quarterback’s recognition and his ability to recognize,” Kelly said during his Thursday evening press conference. “If he does that, generally his reaction’s been pretty good and your response is about your athletic ability, the ability to make the throws and stay alive and keep the play extended.”
Kelly said that Crist is on his way to that point, but isn’t quite there yet.
“You know when the quarterback in the spread offense is operating when he can see the guy cooking a hamburger in the parking lot,” he said. “He really had to sort out his protections and how he was protected first. If you can’t protect yourself at the quarterback position, it’s hard to move on to stage two.
“He knows how to protect himself now a lot better and now he’s getting into the movement keys that’s going to allow him to get the ball out of his hand on time. The offense prompts the ball to come out based upon what the defense does. We couldn’t do that for a few weeks, we’re getting closer to that.”
The Irish hope that Crist and Kelly’s familiarity with Pittsburgh’s defense will help this weekend.
“He had a good week of practice,” Kelly said of Crist. “He did some things that he hasn’t done on Thursday. I’m very, very encouraged. We’ll see what happens. If I knew, I’d probably sleep a whole lot better on Friday night.”
Kelly announced that Nick Tausch will kick off against Pittsburgh instead of David Ruffer, although Ruffer will still handle the field goals.
“One of the big things in our kickoff is ball placement,” said Kelly. “We weren’t getting a consistent ball placement. He was kicking it and kicking it hard, but we'd have a squeeze left on and he’d kick it to the right and really compromise some of our coverages.
“Nick’s always been a little bit better at ball placement. He hasn’t kicked it as deep, but we’re willing to take a little bit off to ensure some better placement.”
Offensive linemen Chris Stewart and Braxston Cave are ready to go after being banged up against Boston College, but the situation is less certain at right tackle, where Taylor Dever is dealing with a hamstring injury. Matt Romine and Andrew Nuss have worked at the position along with Dever this week.
“Dever moved around pretty good today,” Kelly said. “We’ve got some pretty good flexibility at the tackle position, which we thought coming in. They practiced well. I’ll kind of wait until game time to decide what we’re going to do there, but feel pretty good after today.”
Manti Te’o did not practice on Thursday with a stomach bug, but it’s nothing to worry about, according to Kelly. In fact, the head coach said the Irish defense is as healthy as it’s been all year.
“That gets more guys on the field, it gets us a better rotation on the back end,” he said. “It just gives us more possibilities in third-down situations.”
Kelly was also asked about last year’s Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game and what it was like dealing with the rumors that he’d be leaving the Bearcats for the Irish afterward. Kelly told the team that winning the game was the only one thing mattered and that if was going to interview for any job after the season, they’d be the first to know.
“When I decided to interview for the job, I called a team interview and told them that,” he said. “They weren’t happy with me, but I told them because I promised them that they would be the first to know.”
Written by Christian McCollum Thursday, 07 October 2010 17:51
Tausch will return to the field, although he won't be handling field goals.Brian Kelly is hoping that this is the week that his offense breaks out and puts it all together for four quarters, but says that has more to do with Dayne Crist than anybody else.
“Our offense revolves around the quarterback’s recognition and his ability to recognize,” Kelly said during his Thursday evening press conference. “If he does that, generally his reaction’s been pretty good and your response is about your athletic ability, the ability to make the throws and stay alive and keep the play extended.”
Kelly said that Crist is on his way to that point, but isn’t quite there yet.
“You know when the quarterback in the spread offense is operating when he can see the guy cooking a hamburger in the parking lot,” he said. “He really had to sort out his protections and how he was protected first. If you can’t protect yourself at the quarterback position, it’s hard to move on to stage two.
“He knows how to protect himself now a lot better and now he’s getting into the movement keys that’s going to allow him to get the ball out of his hand on time. The offense prompts the ball to come out based upon what the defense does. We couldn’t do that for a few weeks, we’re getting closer to that.”
The Irish hope that Crist and Kelly’s familiarity with Pittsburgh’s defense will help this weekend.
“He had a good week of practice,” Kelly said of Crist. “He did some things that he hasn’t done on Thursday. I’m very, very encouraged. We’ll see what happens. If I knew, I’d probably sleep a whole lot better on Friday night.”
Kelly announced that Nick Tausch will kick off against Pittsburgh instead of David Ruffer, although Ruffer will still handle the field goals.
“One of the big things in our kickoff is ball placement,” said Kelly. “We weren’t getting a consistent ball placement. He was kicking it and kicking it hard, but we'd have a squeeze left on and he’d kick it to the right and really compromise some of our coverages.
“Nick’s always been a little bit better at ball placement. He hasn’t kicked it as deep, but we’re willing to take a little bit off to ensure some better placement.”
Offensive linemen Chris Stewart and Braxston Cave are ready to go after being banged up against Boston College, but the situation is less certain at right tackle, where Taylor Dever is dealing with a hamstring injury. Matt Romine and Andrew Nuss have worked at the position along with Dever this week.
“Dever moved around pretty good today,” Kelly said. “We’ve got some pretty good flexibility at the tackle position, which we thought coming in. They practiced well. I’ll kind of wait until game time to decide what we’re going to do there, but feel pretty good after today.”
Manti Te’o did not practice on Thursday with a stomach bug, but it’s nothing to worry about, according to Kelly. In fact, the head coach said the Irish defense is as healthy as it’s been all year.
“That gets more guys on the field, it gets us a better rotation on the back end,” he said. “It just gives us more possibilities in third-down situations.”
Kelly was also asked about last year’s Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game and what it was like dealing with the rumors that he’d be leaving the Bearcats for the Irish afterward. Kelly told the team that winning the game was the only one thing mattered and that if was going to interview for any job after the season, they’d be the first to know.
“When I decided to interview for the job, I called a team interview and told them that,” he said. “They weren’t happy with me, but I told them because I promised them that they would be the first to know.”