Oklahoma State University Athletics
Quotes: Fiesta Bowl Defensive Press Conference
December 28, 2011 | Cowboy Football
Dec. 28, 2011
Fiesta Bowl Central
Photo Gallery
Young Video
Martin Video
Lewis Video
Brown Video
OKLAHOMA STATE
Bill Young
Q: How did you feel the defense performed against Oklahoma?
Bill Young: We played just a little bit better than most people think. The problem with us is that playing in the Big 12, you encounter so many explosive offenses. I'd say 5 or 6 of them are in the top 10 of the country, in my opinion. So we faced a lot of very talented teams and that skews your stats a little bit. But we did have a nice solid game against Oklahoma and I was excited about that. It was a huge game for our program.
Q: You're ranked near the bottom in yards allowed, but number one in the nation in takeaways. Can you explain that?
Bill Young: Nobody in the country works harder in forcing turnovers than we do and it's been a point of emphasis for the last three years. We double-whistle all of our scrimmage plays against the scrimmage plays on scout team. With the first whistle, everybody stops on offense; the defense continues to play to try and get a turnover, rip the ball out, etc. As coaches, we're out there sounding like a bunch of idiots screaming, `Rip, Strip, turnovers' and all that. After practice each day if we haven't created five turnovers against the scouts, we have to run a gasser for each one we didn't get. It's just across the field and back, but it's a good reminder. Obviously we chart them during the ball game as well, but it's just a major point of emphasis. Whatever you emphasize, you have a chance of getting.
It really has (been a point of emphasis throughout my career), as with all of our coaches. We all have the same philosophy on defense: score; if we can't score, force a turnover; if we can't force a turnover, get a three-and-out. That's a philosophy that most coaches have.
The thing that I'd like to point out is if you look at our Big 12 stats. If you look at our nationwide rankings, it get's misconstrued; a lot of teams are playing three or four teams that are maybe sub-division, but when you line up against Baylor, Oklahoma, Texas Tech and teams like that with those offenses, your defensive stats are going to be a little bit tougher to accomplish.
Q: Does Andrew Luck remind you of anyone you've ever faced before?
Bill Young: I'm sure we've faced somebody similar, but he is a unique individual. He is a much better athlete than I think a lot of people anticipate. The catch he made against UCLA on the sidelines was just phenomenal. He runs out of the pocket. He is a patient guy and obviously very, very intelligent. He is kind of the total package, and that's obviously why he's predicted to be the first guy in the draft. He's just a great player.
Q: Is Stanford your most difficult offensive matchup this year?
Bill Young: They are different than most of the teams in the Big 12. They are probably most similar to what we faced versus Texas; they're going to run a lot of tight ends and they have a huge offensive line. I think that they have two offensive linemen projected to be first round draft picks and a tight end that is projected to be a first round draft pick. They're obviously a very talented offense. We've been playing basketball on grass for about nine games, and all of a sudden its going to be smash mouth football; that's hard to simulate.
Q: What has impressed you about the Stanford running backs?
Bill Young: They never get tackled for a loss. They continue to drive their feet and move the pile. The thing about them is that they are a very patient offense, from the standpoint of they're happy to get two or three yards on first down, and come back and try to get two or three more on second down. Then they'll hit you with a play-action pass while you're sucking up trying to play the run too much. They're a very patient group.
Q: What kinds of drills have you ran to keep your players fresh?
Bill Young: The big thing that we did was to cut back a little bit. We gave them a long time off after a last ball game; we took an entire week off. Generally you would start right in preparing for the bowl. Boy, when they came back they were so much fresher and so much quicker. So that's one of the things that helped us. In playing an offense like this, it's difficult to not just line up and play against heavy run plays. You have to get ready to get all your run fits in against each call you're going to use, so it's made it tough to prepare, but we try to keep it as fresh as we can.
Q: Will you be rotating guys out more often on the defensive line because of the size of Stanford's offensive line?
Bill Young: It's something we always do and it's something we have to do. Our guys will be leaning on their big guys all day long. Not only that, but their tight ends are as big as most people's tackles. They are huge, when you get guys who are 6'9" and 267 lbs., that's a big guy.
Q: Can you use the Arizona game as a blueprint to plan for their offense?
Bill Young: It's a totally difference offense. Arizona is lot like the teams in our conference, like Texas Tech. They played four wide outs most of the time. Occasionally, they'd line up with a tight end. But it's nothing like what we're facing with Stanford. They line up with what we call `23' personnel, where you've got three tight ends in the game, a full back and a tail back. It's nothing like what we've seen in the majority of our games. It's difficult to prepare for because it's something you haven't' seen. There's not a lot of carry over.
We watched them all, but we tried to focus in (on film) on the games against defenses that were similar to ours. 4-3 is a pretty based college defense, so there are several teams that run it. Some had little nuances with the defensive end on the outside of the tight end, as opposed to head up like we do, so we changed up some of the blocking schemes. Pretty much their whole schedule was like that, with the exception of Oregon, which was obviously totally different. They're more of a three man front.
Q: What's the matchup like with their offense making few turnovers and your defense creating lots of turnovers?
Bill Young: That is a real key right there. They do a tremendous job of never turning the ball over. Their running backs almost never fumble and their quarterback throwing an interception is a rarity. His touchdown-to-interception ratio is phenomenal.
Q: Would you compare Stanford offensively to Kansas State?
Bill Young: That's a great analogy. Kansas State is one of those teams where Coach Snyder and his staff have created a very patient group. And they're going to run the football. The difference is that they are primarily a quarterback run team. Now we'll get some looks at the wildcat, with the quarterback lined up as a wide receiver; they've run that in some games, so we are preparing for it.
Kansas State would run the powers and the counters, and have the big, huge offensive linemen like Stanford has. So there are a lot of similarities. At tight end, they had a 6'8" tight end like Stanford, as well as a 250 lbs. guy who could run very well. There was a lot of carryover there in that game.
Q: Has outscoring opponents in the first quarter helped your defense create turnover opportunities?
Bill Young: It has and that's one of the real issues for us in this ball game. Our offense has been off. What kind of rhythm will they have? Will they be able to move the ball against a very good Stanford defense? But the thing that our offense has done is has forced a lot of teams like Baylor to go for it on fourth down in the first quarter. We probably lead the nation in the number of opponents that have gone for it on fourth down, just because they can't afford to give the ball back to our offense. In turn, that puts our defense on the field longer if we don't stop them.
Q: Who are the individual leaders on the defense?
Bill Young: Jamie Blatnick is one of our captains; he was voted a full-time captain before the Oklahoma game. He is a three-year starter and a solid individual. We only have four seniors in our top two units, so we don't have a lot of seniors, but the guys who are seniors, including James Thomas who is a backup, are strong leaders for us. We really play with some very high character kids and the chemistry on our team is as good as I've seen anywhere I've ever coached. That's a real testament to our head coach who is demanding and wants our players to do everything the right way. They've bought into that and it's a team type atmosphere which as a coach you love that.
Q: How do you feel about facing Luck, a guy slotted to be the number one pick?
Bill Young: Looking at him, you're thinking that the guy is the first pick. That's a tremendous individual right there. I've never faced the top pick in the draft, but I have coached one: when he was a sophomore, I coached Dan Wilkinson. He is the only guy in the draft taken first as a sophomore. But we were smart, we redshirted him. Obviously, we got to coach against a Heisman trophy winner this year who was a really a good player as well, but we're really impressed with Luck. He's obviously going to Stanford, which says a lot of his academic side. He really is in total control of their offense and has been for a long time. He's a very smart individual.
Q: How do you deal with the fact that Stanford's offense is different than what you've faced before?
Bill Young: Run catching has just got to be right on. Their offensive line is probably the best offensive line we've seen in the last three years, in my opinion. They do a tremendous job of getting a guy into his gap and going to the next level, and picking up a linebacker. All of a sudden you have a seam in your defense, and the safeties and corners are forced to make tackles; when those positions are making tackles, the other team is making yardage. They're a very patient team that three yards is plenty for them on one down, because they'll get ten yards or five yards on the next. We have to be patient and understand that hopefully sometimes they'll make a mistake, and get a penalty, or we'll get a tackle for a loss.
Q. '86 team still stands all these years later. What do you remember?
Bill Young: Unbelievably talented football team. We were the defensive line and two deep with our second-team players went on to play in the NFL. A lot of them did, Trace Armstrong, Shawn Patterson. Very, very talented football team.
Q. I bet your own team, it seems like there was maybe some sort of defensive - at least as far as the whole game from start to finish against Oklahoma that you haven't necessarily shown?
Bill Young: We played just a little bit better than most people think.
The problem with us is playing in the Big 12 is such a bunch of explosive offenses. Total offenses, I would say five or ten of them - I mean, five or six of them in the top 10 or 15. You face a lot of very talented team. It skews up your stats a little bit.
We had a nice solid game against Oklahoma and was excited about that. That was a huge game for our program.
Q. Bill, your defense was 107th ranked in the country in yardage, number one in turnovers, turnovers gained. How do you explain that? Can you go over a little bit about the drills or whatever approach you use to cause fumbles?
Bill Young: Nobody in the country works harder in forcing turnovers than we do. It has been a point of emphasis for the last three years. We double whistle all of our scrimmage plays against the scout team. At the first whistle everybody stops on offense and the defense tries to get the ball to turn over, rip it out, strip it out.
As coaches we sound like a bunch of idiots screaming "rip, strip, turnovers" and all that. After practice each day, if we haven't created five turnovers against the scouts, we have to run a gasser for each one we didn't it.
It is just across the field and back. It is a reminder. We chart them in the ball game. It is a point of emphasis. Whatever you emphasize has been your chance of getting.
Q. Has that been your emphasis throughout your career?
Bill Young: It really has. All of our coaches we have the same philosophy. Our number one goal defensively is to score. If we can't score, we want a turnover. If we can't get a turnover, we want a three and out. We didn't create that philosophy. It is just what most coach versus.
Q. If you could be first in total defensive and 107th in turnovers would you like that straight?
Bill Young: No, we would like the turnovers. I would like to point out if you look at the Big 12 stats, if you look at the nationwide stats, it gets misconstrued because you are talking about a lot of teams playing three, four teams that may be subdivision or whatever.
But you line up against Baylor and Oklahoma and Texas Techs and teams like that, the offensive stats are going to be a little tougher to accomplish.
Q. When you look at Andrew Luck, does he remind you of anybody you have faced before in your career?
Bill Young: I'm sure we faced somebody similar, but, you know, he is a unique individual. He is a much better athlete than I think a lot of people would anticipate. The catch he made against - I can't remember who it was.
Q. UCLA?
Bill Young: Arizona or somebody on the sideline was just phenomenal.
He runs out of the pocket. He is a patient guy. Obviously he is a very, very intelligent guy. He is the total package. That's why he is predicted to be the first guy in the draft. Great player.
Q. You mentioned you played a bunch of good offenses in the Big 12. Do you anticipate Stanford being the most difficult matchup?
Bill Young: They are different than most of the teams in the Big 12. They will probably be more similar what we saw versus Texas where they are going to be a lot of tight ends, huge offensive line. I think they have two of their offensive linemen are projected to be first?round draft picks, tight end that's first round draft pick.
They are very, very talented offense. We have been playing basketball on grass for about nine games and now all of a sudden it is going to be smashmouth football. Hard to simulate.
Q. What have you been impressed with the Stanford running backs?
Bill Young: They never get tackled for the loss. They continue to drive their feet and move the pile. They are a very patient offense from the standpoint if they can make two or three yards, they will try to get three or four more on second down, and then they will hit you with a play action pass when you are sucking it up to play the run too much. They are a patient group.
Q. Earlier this year you were looking at different drills to help keep the players fresh. Did you come up with any?
Bill Young: The big thing that we have been able to do is cut back a little bit. We gave them a long time off after our last ball game. We got an entire week off. Generally we start preparing for the Bowl and they come back fresher and quicker. That helped us.
In playing an offense like that, it is difficult to not just line up and play heavy runs like that. You got to get ready to get all your run fits in against each call you are going to use. It has made it tough to prepare, but we tried to keep them as fresh as we can.
Q. You guys have had to rotate players in and out all season. The standard offensive line, all of them are around 300 pounds. You guys have given up 15 pounds on your D line. Do you feel the rotation will help keep you fresh?
Bill Young: It is something we always do and have to do. You are exactly right. Leaning on big guys all day long, not only that, but their tight ends are huge. You get a guy, 8, 6, 9 pounds, that's a big guy.
Q. Anything more you can learn from the Arizona game considering it is a common opponent?
Bill Young: It is just a totally different offense. Arizona is much like a lot of the teams, Texas Tech and a lot of the teams in our conference. They are four?wide most of the time. Occasionally they line up with a tight end or two tight ends.
It is nothing like what you are going to see versus Stanford where they will line up with what we call 23?personnel where you have three tight ends in a game and a fullback and a tail back.
Q. Is it one of those deals where you throw that film off to the side and focus on the other side?
Bill Young: It sure is. It is nothing like what we have seen in the majority of our games. That's one of the things that's difficult to prepare for because it is something you haven't seen. There is not a lot of carryover.
Q. Which games of Stanford did you watch the most?
Bill Young: We tried - we watched them all, obviously. We try to focus in on the games where their defenses are similar to ours.
Q. Are there a couple specifics?
Bill Young: There were several. The 4?3 is a pretty basic college defense. So there were several teams that run it. Some had a little nuance where they would take the defensive end and put him in the outside shade of the tight end as opposed to what we do.
They changed some of the blocking schemes. Pretty much their whole schedule is like that.
Obviously Oregon was totally different. They are more of a three?man front.
Q. If you had written a reasonable best?case turnover, what would it have been?
Bill Young: 30 something. This is the most turnovers that we have ever been around. It has really been a blessing to get this many.
Q. So 35 would have been ??
Bill Young: 35, 36 would have been a great number.
Q. Can you ever remember a matchup that you have been involved in where a team takes care of it as well as Stanford against a team that strips it as frequently as yours does?
Bill Young: That is the real key right there. They do a tremendous job in not turning the ball over. The running backs hardly ever fumble.
The quarterback, it is a rarity for him to throw an interception. I forget what his touchdown/interception ratio is, but it is phenomenal.
Q. In terms of their ball security, it kind of reminds me of the Kansas State matchup because they are not going to do anything silly.
Bill Young: That's a great analogy. Kansas State was one of those teams that Coach Snyder and his staff are a very patient group. The difference is they were primarily a quarterback?run team.
We will get some wildcat switches where they will take the quarterback and smooth them out to the wide receiver. They have done that in some games we are preparing for.
Q. They are not similar in how they take care of it?
Bill Young: Kansas State we run the powers and the counters and have the huge offensive linemen that Stanford has.
There are a lot of similarities. They had tight end like Stanford had, 250 guy that could run really well as a tight end. There was a lot of carryover in that game.
Markelle Martin
Q. As a defensive player, do you want to take extra special pride in trying to shut Luck down so you can put Brandon up on the stage a little more?
Markelle Martin: I think before every team you want to do that. We understand what we have to do first. I just think we got to stop the run. I think that's something they harp on us and something we have focus on.
Q. They are different offenses and different quarterbacks. In preparing for this and watching him on film, are there some that you see in practice?
Markelle Martin: There are some power plays and placement of the ball, something we see every week. So I think that's something we see and rep every day. But I think they are completely different.
Q. They are probably going to be more physical than I think any of you guys have faced this year. They may be more physical than anybody in the country. Did you guys ?? and Coach Young called it playing basketball on grass for the last three months. How do you get prepared? You got a month to do it, but were practices any more physical? Is that not necessarily ?? I'm wondering how you get prepared for a style of offense that you haven't seen played at this level?
Markelle Martin: We have the same style and structure that we take into practice. Normally where we are kind of go live, I think the linebacker does more of inside run than usual for them. Outside of that, it is the same structure. We know when the time comes, we have to turn it loose.
Q. You lead the nation in takeaways. Are you aware you have might have to be more patient to wait for the takeaways in this game?
Markelle Martin: You understand you have to be patient. Whether the time comes, you can't force it too much. We just have to be patient. They don't turn the ball over and we live on turnovers. Something has to give.
Q. Can you compare their offense to anything that you have faced so far this season? You have seen so many spreads and really not a pro?style offense?
Markelle Martin: It is kind of hard to ?? I think the closer we can get to is A&M and what they try to do with us in the second half and they tried to run the ball and we wanted to come out pounding the game.
Outside of that, I don't think there is a team in our conference that does what they do.
Q. What type of challenges does that present that you haven't seen?
Markelle Martin: Just have to read the keys. They are a physical team. They are going to move the ball up the field. If you can be calm and patient and just understand it, that's what they do. We are going to get our chance, you will be all right.
Q. Jamie said at some point schemes kind of go out the window and you got to tackle the guy with the football. Is that how you approach it?
Markelle Martin: That's exactly how you have to approach it. Somebody is going to be singled up to make the play. That's just something we are aware of and we are going to pay attention to that.
Q. When you look at Oklahoma game, it was probably the best defensive guys you guys have played all season and the Texas Tech game was a couple games before that. Do you feel this defense is starting to find itself a little bit and has emerged over these past couple of weeks?
Markelle Martin: Me personally, I think the defense has been doing the same thing the whole season. I think they have been forcing turnovers. At certain points, we run well. Certain times we pass well. It is the same thing we have been doing all year.
Q. Two, three games into the career when you guys were getting all the turnovers, were you like, okay, this is nice, but we need to step up. Maybe stop allowing so many yards. At some point in the season, did you say this is kind of where our defense is at? We create turnovers?
Markelle Martin: I understood it was something we were harped on. Just being an older guy and understanding the situation, certain types of offense we had, our defense has to come from within. I just understood what was going on.
We would like to get off the field faster.
Q. That's their MO. They like these long, methodical?type drives. The yardage thing is probably going to be a bigger deal in this game. I know you guys have been trying to force three and outs all season. But is that even more important now?
Markelle Martin: When we get the yardage brought up, yardage doesn't mean that you win the game obviously. For us being the defense on 80?play games, we are used to it so we are prepared for it. We have done it all year.
Q. How much did the break help you guys to get those legs recharged up before this game?
Markelle Martin: I think it was more of a mental, just to get away and see family. You were anxious to get back and get to work, you heard a lot of talk at home. So just ready to get back and taking care of the things I needed to take care of and get back to football.
Q. Your last two ball games, do you consider them having been two of your better games of your career, or are they remembered at that because you had such spectacular games?
Markelle Martin: I don't know. I just go out there and have fun. It defines the moment of the game. Lucky for me I had the opportunities and I made the most of them.
That's what we preach. Go out there and make your plays. I think we have a couple guys doing it.
Q. The combine is in about six, seven weeks. Have you decided where you will train? Will you go back to Texas? Will you do it in Stillwater? What are your plans for the Combine?
Markelle Martin: Right now, we are focused on the Bowl game. I have to take care of that first. The clock is running right now.
If I take care of this Bowl game, everything will fall into place.
Jamie Blatnick
Jamie Blatnick: We don't have a name for a lot of this stuff. Sometimes you got to get lined up in the gap. If you get misaligned and the linebacker is not there and you are supposed to be there, you get gassed for 20, 30 yards. Definitely can't have that happen.
So I feel a lot more confident with it. At the same time, it is still ?? I expect to see something new. I don't expect to go there and haven't it figured out already. So you just got to play on the fly.
Q. Who are the main guys for eyeballing the formation and aligning everybody? Who is making calls?
Jamie Blatnick: I thought you were asking me about keys.
Q. No, I'm asking who is responsible. Is it Caleb?
Jamie Blatnick: Caleb gives a lot of the calls.
And you can tell him I said this: He is not very loud.
Q. Yell louder?
Jamie Blatnick: Yeah. He is not very loud. So I tend to give a lot ?? some of the formation calls. It is really ?? it is really open mic back there. It is not really like, okay, we are waiting for Caleb or Mike or somebody or Markelle to say something. It is one of those things where it comes up, we're saying ?? we are giving formation calls and alerts and really the quarterback gives a lot of alerts or route alerts and things like that. It is kind of a group thing. There is no one person that says it.
Q. You mentioned you have seen some things you didn't have a name for. Give me an example.
Jamie Blatnick: They got ?? they have sets where they bring in three more offensive tackles and have this ridiculous unbalanced line.
Q. Super off balance?
Jamie Blatnick: Yeah. I have never seen that before. And I was like, what do you call that? Truck or tank? We ended up calling it probably both.
It was just so different because you are used to seeing a couple offensive linemen and a tight end. They have got four offensive linemen and a tight end. Which gap do we slide to now? It is a tricky thing.
Once you get the hang of it and figure things out, it is not too bad.
Q. Will you be going up against Jonathan Martin; do you know?
Jamie Blatnick: I know numbers. Not so well with names. 77?
Q. I can't even remember what his number is. He is a big guy.
Jamie Blatnick: Tackle?
Q. Yeah, offensive tackle.
Jamie Blatnick: Then yeah.
Q. I'm curious. Your defense is going up against the guy who is going to be probably the number one pick in the NFL draft. What do you think of that challenge?
Jamie Blatnick: I think it is a great opportunity. You don't get that chance very often. And you just got to take advantage of it.
Q. Well, this Stanford team, they love to just grind the ball out on the ground. That hasn't been your team's strong suit this year. What do you think of that? What do you think of your chances of stuffing their ground game?
Jamie Blatnick: You know, I think it is a good challenge. We know they will come at us heavier on games. They have big backs and big linemen.
It is going to come to effort and giving it to them and not letting them control the tempo and the momentum of the game.
Q. One thing their offensive coordinator mentioned, their defensive coaches pointed out to their offense how quickly the OSU offense gets started and scoring in the first quarter. He said, obviously, they do a good job of getting offenses out of what they want to do and that just feeds their defense on turnovers. Do you get that sense? Do you see that scenario? Is that when a game starts going that way, you got to start looking, okay, now they are going to go for broke?
Jamie Blatnick: When the offense, when they start doing well, we do well also. We have more reps obviously and a lot more snaps out there.
Once a team starts getting behind, they get a little bit desperate and now we need some chuck plays instead of 2?, 3?yard plays and we got to score instead of eating up the clock.
That's crucial. A lot of teams come in with the thought of we are going to keep their offense off the field and keep them cold. But the offense gets the ball and scores, now it is like, okay, now we are behind the eight ball. Let's get going. It speeds up the tempo of the game and helps the defense out.
Q. Have you had a good time so far? You guys get more free time at this Bowl. There is not a lot of organized activities. You get to do things on your own?
Jamie Blatnick: I have had a blast out here so far. You know, this is a beautiful town. I went to the mall yesterday. If they didn't have maps, I would be lost in there for a week. That place is huge. I thought, This is ridiculous. It is a lot of fun, hanging out with the teammates. Played a couple games of shuffleboard. Never played that before. Not too shabby at it.
Q. You seem to be game adaptable. You were one of the guys on the chess set in the Lubbock airport.
Jamie Blatnick: I do play a lot of games. I can do a lot of things (laughter).
Shaun Lewis
Shaun Lewis: We take pride in everything. We want to make our own defense. We do what we can and just take what they say about us and add that to the fuel on the fire.
Q. What are your birthday plans?
Shaun Lewis: I don't even know. I kind of celebrated my birthday last night.
Q. How old are you now?
Shaun Lewis: Twenty.
Just hanging out.
Q. Is it weird to be away from home, or are you usually away from home on your birthday?
Shaun Lewis: I'm pretty much at home. This past year I was in San Antonio. It is something I can get used to.
Q. Did you get any presents?
Shaun Lewis: Just the phone ringing off the hook and the gifts that the Bowl gives us.
Q. Best present be a win?
Shaun Lewis: Oh, yeah. Put that ring on my finger, that would be a nice birthday gift.
Q. You have never seen an offense like Stanford this year. Can you compare them to any team you have seen? I heard K?State thrown around. Luck won't pound the ball like Klein did. Brodrick said Texas because the way they run the ball. Is there any team they can compare them to?
Shaun Lewis: The closest team would be Texas A&M and OU because how balanced they are and they have a quarterback that can throw the ball as well as running. I would say those two teams.
Q. What kind of challenges does that present, you have seen a pro?style offense for the first time?
Shaun Lewis: With the challenges we face, the things they like to do, they bring out the three tackle sets and running the big tight ends. They want to establish the run first.
Q. Jamie said he was surprised when I first started watching film. I didn't realize they didn't run the ball because everybody hears about Luck, Luck, Luck. Was that probably the most surprising thing?
Shaun Lewis: That was definitely the most surprising. I thought they would be a typical college spreading the ball out.
They grind it out. They want to run the power every play. They do the running game. They have a scheme most teams don't face.
Q. Something has got to give if you force the turnovers. So it will be a fun matchup.
Shaun Lewis: We just have to be patient and wait for those opportunities to come. It might not be on defense. They might be on special teams. Give offense the ball back, whether it is defense or special teams, it could be in our favor.
Q. The one knock against you guys has been the yards you have given up. That's the way you like to play, is methodical, three yards per play, one of those types of things. Not that you haven't been trying to get three and outs and short drives the whole season, but is that even more crucial to get your offense back on the field?
Shaun Lewis: We can get them at third and long, which they really get in, I think that would help us out. We can get in those packages to stop the bass. That will be the thing, getting them in third and long and getting some pressure on Luck.
Q. It sounds like it might be a real basic football game. We got a tackle and get third ?? third?down punts.
Shaun Lewis: They do a good job of what they do. So all we got to do is just get back to doing what we do, just be patient and waiting for our chances.
Q. Have you even glanced at the stat sheet or has Coach Young communicated to you that you finished with 42 takeaways? I asked him what would the best?case scenario have been. He said 30?something. Obviously you exceeded that.
Shaun Lewis: We know how many turnovers we have and how many to break the national record. That has been stressed to us. Hopefully we can get four in this game. But the chances of that happening are placed on a lot of things. We are well aware of how many turnovers we have.
Q. 22 is Luck. Weeden is 28. But Luck's maturity and the way he handles himself on the football field, it is almost like he and Weeden are the same guy.
Shaun Lewis: Yeah. He is very sharp.
Q. You can relate to how other teams feel when they play Weeden?
Shaun Lewis: Yeah. He reminds me a lot of Weeden. He is not the same system, but team guys. They run offense well. Everything revolves around them.
It is definitely a challenge facing a similar quarterback to ours. Probably a little bit more press, but it is definitely a challenge.
