Sept. 4, 2007

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EASTON, Pa. - Lafayette held its second football media luncheon of the season Tuesday at the Pfenning Alumni Center. Here is what head coach Frank Tavani and some of his players had to say:

Head coach Frank Tavani:

On last Saturday's game against Marist: "Certainly you like to get things off to a positive start, and everything kind of came into place pretty well. We started off with a little adversity, getting ourselves in a hole a little bit, but we certainly changed things around after that - after the missed field goal. And we had an opportunity to play a lot of people, which in the first game is always helpful because there are a lot of guys that you don't really know enough about until they get in game situations. I guess, in terms of scripting it, you probably couldn't have scripted it much better than that. Michael DiPaola had an outstanding night, first time out, and was pretty poised and relaxed and executed, and just did a great job. And you look at other guys out there for the first time - big night. Kyle Roeder getting the start out there and Kevin Logan, and guys that have just waited around for a long time, and now they've got their opportunity and they're certainly seizing the moment. It's real satisfying, as a coach, to watch that happen."

On Georgetown: "Georgetown kind of had a look at a first week of getting their new offense going a little bit and their quarterback played extremely well. They've got some very athletic backs so any given play they can break a big one on you. So it's going to be important that we do our thing, control the football with our offense; keep their defense off the field. And then we're going to wreak some havoc with that offense and hopefully create some turnovers because when that offense gets going they are very difficult to control."

On how much the offensive line helped first-time starting quarterback Michael DiPaola: "There's no question that our offensive line had a great night for Mike. I mean I said to him afterwards `Jeez, you didn't even get touched. So you haven't had your baptism yet - a blindside sack or taking a hit on a scramble or something.' It's a big strong group that we're going to make you stop the run and if you're going to put seven, eight in a box to go stop the run, we've got some pretty dangerous receivers out there were going to protect. It does start with the offensive line and they had a solid night together and we got the five of them out of there pretty quickly unscathed, which is always helpful."

On strategy against Marist and Georgetown: "We weren't going to go too complicated because, again, we're starting out an inexperienced guy at the trigger, regardless of who was going to line up there, nobody's really taken any game reps. We probably stayed a little bit more conservative in terms of the overall package of what we asked that position to do. Again, like any week, you're going to look at what you think you're going to be able to do well, and work that, have some adjustments ready to go based on what could happen, and then see what happens and then go from there. Everybody early in the season tries to get you with some sort of surprise. We'll see some play I'm sure that Georgetown didn't run against Stony Brook that we're going to see this week. They are going to probably see a couple of things here or there. It's the old chess match."

Senior linebacker Mark Plumby:

On defensive coordinator Coach Loose's strategy: "The stuff Coach Loose runs is definitely complicated to learn at first. Last year I had a rough start. Coming out there it's tough to go out there and run schemes and be able to play at the same time and not think about everything. This year I definitely feel a lot more comfortable out there."

On the defense: "I definitely think we can get better. There were a couple of mistakes that we made and some things weneed to touch up on but we'll definitely be improving a lot and getting a lot more aggressive as the weeks come."

Senior tailback Anthony D'Urso:

"It felt good to get out there and get a lot of reps running the ball since it's been awhile. I was behind Jon Hurt, who was one of the better backs that came through the program. Maurice White is another tremendous running back. You know all the running backs have talent; everybody can step up and produce here. When you get your shot, you just have to do it. It felt pretty good out there and hopefully I can keep that going."

Senior wide receiver Kyle Roeder:

On playing in a night game: "It was good to be out there. Coming out of the tunnel, especially after halftime when it was dark and everything and the lights were on - that was exciting. And then also the fans, I think it brought a lot more fans. I don't know the exact attendance but it seemed like it was pretty packed. That just added to it and that was exciting for everybody out there."

On wide receivers blocking for backs: "We've been working on the blocking a lot more downfield in the past two years. Especially when you've got backs that can break any play. It's always a point of emphasis because a 35-belly to Russo can end up being a 40-yard touchdown, and one of our backs can make that happen; spring him for another 20 yards. The line can do it and then we can't let up - we've got to be able to make that last block to get him in the endzone. There's always a chance for a big play with our offense and the running backs we have. We do like to work on that in practice."