Sept. 13, 2005

Head coach Frank Tavani

On last week's win 7-0 win over Richmond:
As far as I'm concerned, that was a pretty nice win in an old-fashioned, low-scoring football game. There was good defense on both sides of the ball, and some great offensive plays. The ball was moving up and down the field inside the 20's with some really big plays being made defensively. I thought we really rose up to the occasion. We knew we had to step it up and we certainly did that. The defense just did a tremendous job. We just kept battling the way we do and that shows you what kind of character this team is starting to develop in terms of knowing how to win.

On facing Princeton in week three:
It's a scenario where we've televised our first two games, and I'm sure they will know every formation we ran in the first two weeks. It's to our advantage that we have a couple games in already, while this is their first so we're going in blind. We're going to have to be prepared to handle things on both sides of the ball that we haven't practiced against.

On the opening drive vs. Richmond:
We started adjusting and reacting to the speed of the game. The key to the whole opening drive is that it took a lot of time, and we just went from there and held them off. I was hoping to hold them to three points, but to hold them to zero was great. Say what you want, but they were certainly bigger and faster. I know one thing is that we were the better conditioned football team. They got very fatigued and their big linemen started to move slower and slower. Our defensive staff does a great job of getting our guys prepared to play aggressively whether you're up 10 or down 20.

On the Leopards' punting situation:
We simply go for field position. Rick Ziska is considered our best "pooch" punter and he's certainly demonstrated that. David Yankovich is young yet and has a pretty powerful leg. He's got an opportunity to average 40 yards per kick at some point in his career. Field position is a major component of every football game, and we maintained that throughout against Richmond. We kept them pretty deep in their territory. They had a long way to go most trips down the field. Basically, it's all about where you want to place the ball.

On Shaun Adair's fourth-quarter catch:
Shaun's done great things for us being a freshman. You're only going to see more of him. Coach Faragalli chooses very carefully when and if he inserts freshmen, but Shaun has such great speed and hands that we're starting to get him in certain situations to gain experience. You'll see more of him. He's special and he can outrun anyone.

On freshman linebacker Andy Romans:
I talked with Andy about not playing a whole lot last week when he was the primary back-up, and he was a little disappointed just because he's such an intense player. We explained that it's a situation where there are three senior linebackers ahead of him that don't like to come off the field either. Andy's ready to step in there and he'll get his chances. He's really fun to watch in games and out at practice. He's a great contributor for us on special teams, we've already seen that, and he just loves football. With two more inches he could have been at any school in the country, which is why we were so happy when we got him.

On Brad Maurer's hip pointer:
We were very fortunate that our medical people jumped on that pretty quickly, since you don't want to let him stay out there with that thing. They got him into the training room, gave him treatment and he got back on the field. He's going to be fine. Brad's a pretty tough kid.

On senior quarterback Pat Davis:
We don't have a back-up quarterback, we have another first-team QB. We have the luxury of replacing a first with a first. I don't even blink with putting Pat in, our calls don't change at all. He has handled the situation tremendously and is a great athlete that takes advantage of the opportunities when he has them.

On last season's loss at Princeton:
Not to dwell on the past, but we're all too aware of what happened last year with the weather and the flood. It took a toll on our kids, and to complicate things we went out and played our worst football game. Credit Princeton for getting us to do some things that we normally didn't do. That was the only time last year that I can say we felt embarrassed about the way we played. We certainly want to rectify that, and go for a 3-0 start heading into league play. I think we've got a little chip on our shoulder, and we're looking forward to starting to prepare at today's practice.