Oct. 25, 2005

Head coach Frank Tavani

On the bye week and preparing for Saturday:
"It's kind of the same situation we were in last year. It's a stretch of four league games, and you've got to win all of them to run the table and control your own destiny. The bye week came at a good time physically for us. It was time to get some rest and heal up a little bit. It also gave us some extra time to prepare for a pretty complicated (Bucknell) option offense."

On the starting quarterback situation:
"There's never a quarterback controversy. We're going to start Brad Maurer and play both quarterbacks (Maurer and Pat Davis)."

On the tailback options:
"We're going to start Jonathan Hurt and play three tailbacks. I think Alfred Belton re-injured his ribs, so he's questionable right now."

On Leopards' health:
"Well, Archie Fisher may be able to come back. Unfortunately this weather keeps us from working him out the way we really would like to work him out. Jack Thomson was able to heal up after getting injured in the first half of the Harvard game. The biggest factor right now is the sickness on campus. It's almost at epidemic levels in terms of the flu and sore throat. I've never had more kids tested for mono than I've seen in the last couple weeks. It's just that time of the year. My biggest worry right now is keeping everyone healthy from that rather than the injury factor."

On Chad Walker's health:
"Chad had a full practice last night and looked pretty good. He's our best blocker as a tight end and he's very athletic. He runs very well so he affects coverage in the passing game. He may not be getting a lot of passes thrown his way, but he definitely affects the coverage because he runs so well. It's just a conditioning factor between him and Brandon Hall. With the foot injury that Chad had, he couldn't do a lot of conditioning. Brandon's stock definitely went up. He's a kid that was asked to step up, and he did and made some plays. It puts us in a situation now where we have both available. It also gave the two freshmen an opportunity. Michael Conte played well in practice, while Brendan Willard got some time in the game and really stepped up."

On Justin Lauver:
"Justin is available. Unfortunately, his cast doesn't come off until Monday and then the pins will come out. So, I would doubt that we will utilize him. He was out running around last night, but he has that huge cast on his arm right now. I think he will be available for the last three games. Obviously he would like to play Bucknell because he lives right around there (Winfield, Pa./Selinsgrove) and wants some bragging rights. As of right now, my choice would be to hold him rather than have him out there with a 10-pound weight on his arm."

On Bucknell's offense:
"We watched their tape against Lehigh, and they threw the ball pretty well since it looked like they faced some man coverage with more guys up front. The extra time in preparation is certainly helpful for us. As we know from the offense we saw last year, on any one play they can go to the house. Everyone has an assignment in there. We play an entirely different look, they know that and that's no secret. So we're playing with three down guys and four linebackers. All that it takes is for one guy to fall down, trip over somebody or miss a tackle, and they are out of the gate. With Dante Ross getting better and better each week at the quarterback position, he had what I thought was his best game throwing the football this past weekend against Lehigh."