Q & A: Bobby Bowden Part 1

Even with the difference in talent level, were you pleased with the execution of the offense, going out and doing what you wanted to do?

BOWDEN: Yeah, the execution was pretty good. They had a defense, a scheme of defense that could really mess you up . . . If a team is a 4-3, they can move these three guys over here, move them here or move them over here. When you are a 3-4, now you've got four guys you can move around. You could really blow assignments. In other words, they could put three men up there and bring two from that side, and the next time bring two from the other side, the next time bring two down the middle, and maybe next time bring all four of them and drop a lineman.They can confuse you.

That was what that surprised me last night in a positive sense -- that they didn't confuse us more than they did. I could just see us ... what I said to our offense before the game is this is probably a game where we will go nothing, nothing, nothing . . . bam . . . nothing, nothing, nothing . . . bam. But it didn't happen that way. We just picked everything up. We picked it right up. That's encouraging to me.

You are still getting a lot more drops by the receivers than you have had in previous years. In a tight ballgame, that could hurt you again.

BOWDEN: Yeah, we had drops. People wide-open would drop the ball, or be slightly covered and would drop it when they're not supposed to. You've got to hope that don't happen at the (wrong) time. We dropped a doggone pass in the end zone against Clemson that would have helped. We ended up getting three instead of getting seven. Boy, we've got to knock that out.

Have you ever been this thin at receiver in terms of numbers and also having the one guy who can change a game?

BOWDEN: I'd have to think I have, but I can't recall. . . . When we had Lawrence Dawsey, who'd you have surrounding him . . . Three other guys.

Richard Goodman probably has more drops than catches?

BOWDEN: I know it, and it's a shame because he's probably got more talent than nearly every one of them. One of these days that's going to change . . . It usually changes. When he first came here I used to sit up there and watch him practice in the tower. We had Rod Owens and Goodman. One was 85 and the other was 86, and I could hardly get them separated. I remember telling Jeffery, “Jeffery, 85 is not ready. 86, I believe, might be. He catches the ball better. This kid will drop some.”

And then, Rod got hurt and can't play. But this kid is looking better and better and better because he has speed. Great speed, and had been catching it better. But lately, he hasn't been. He's kind of reverting back because of his inexperience. I've seen it so many times where a boy in high school has a great year, then he goes to college and then the magnitude of it, he can't handle it. Drops the ball, drops the ball. It was very obvious the other night when he dropped one right in his hands and he's looking up yonder somewhere. He's got to look at the ball. Eventually, he'll learn from that.

The game was out of reach yesterday, but doggone the one in the Clemson game was vital.

I think he'll overcome that and be an outstanding receiver one of these days because he can fly.

Greg Carr had been criticized for not having the intensity in practices and games, but could his running style - how easy he makes the game look - give the impression that he's not going all-out all the time?

BOWDEN: It could be. He's very quiet. Very quiet and not an excitable type of boy, and you might look at him and say he's not into it. But he is in it. He's a competitor. His not getting any balls in the Clemson game is probably overplayed. It wasn't intentional. It wasn't because he's a bad boy. I think he didn't block the week before on a play that would have shook the runner for a touchdown, and coaches might have disciplined him some on that by putting somebody else in the game when a running situation came up.

You were here when Ron Sellers was here. Are he and Carr similar players?

BOWDEN: (END BOLD): A little. He (Sellers) was a freshman when I was here as an assistant, and then I left . . . They called him Jingle Joints because of the way he was put together.

Are you surprised that one of the receivers having the most problems is one of your most experienced in Chris Davis?

BOWDEN: Yeah, he would have had one of the greatest plays of the day if he had not ended it with a fumble. It was a sensational catch, and stayed on his feet after he did it. I don't know how he did it. Then of course he fumbles the ball. That just kind of nullifies it, you know.

One thing he can do is get open because he's so quick. It's kind of like Kez McCorvey - he could get open. But (Davis) hasn't done much with it once he's got it. Maybe that will occur before this thing is over . . . Dropping that ball, he's got to quit doing that now.

Is Goodman or Chris Davis your fastest receiver?
BOWDEN: Goodman. I think if they got in a race it would be Goodman.

Have you given much thought to rotating Lorenzo Booker through the slot from time to time and having him and Antone Smith on the field at the same time?

BOWDEN: (END BOLD) Yeah, we've done that in the past. We did it with Leon (Washington) and Booker. We did it with Greg Jones and Booker. We could do it now. But the guy who has filled that slot is No. 1 (freshman tight end Brandon Warren). You don't need Booker to do it. Let this guy do it. He's 225 pounds, and he can block and he can catch it. He can catch the heck out of it. But you could see that before the year is over, Booker and Antone at the same time.

Did you talk to Xavier Lee after the game?

BOWDEN: Xavier? I might have said hello. I might have passed him and said 'Good job' or something like that.

He just looked like he was happier.

BOWDEN: That he was happier? I imagine he was. I would imagine he would be . . . He threw like he does in practice some times, which puts the other guy ahead of him. He'd be throwing and throw one a mile overhead here, then hit one. The consistency is not there. Then he goes over, over and over again and gets pretty good at it. Now he did that in the game yesterday. He went out there and threw pretty good, then on third and long, we had to have it, the guy was open, and he threw it way over his head. That's the stuff that's not good. But one of these days, like Goodman, he'll settle down and won't do that. But he's not to that point yet; hasn't had enough experience. I would imagine he feels pretty happy that he finally got in the game and got in there when the score wasn't blown up. It was 14-7 when he went in there. I was reluctant about that.

Do you feel better about how his performance and will you be more willing to put him in that situation in the future?

BOWDEN: It's according to who we're playing. But I would like to get him in games as much as we can. A lot of it is according to how he practices . . . That's the thing fans don't get to see. “Why didn't you use so and so?” Well, it might be I watched him practice all week and he didn't look too dang good. Or it might be, “Why did you put this guy in?” He looked good and was ready to go. Fans miss a lot of that.

Coach, who are some of the players you've had over the years that don't look quite as good Monday through Thursday but then they produce on Saturdays?

BOWDEN: There are some that play better in games than they practice. They look better in games than they practice ... As long as they practice . . . Now, if they don't practice, I don't like them to look good on Saturday. It's not a good sign. But I don't know many that practiced bad and played good. But there are some that have the reputation that they play better on Saturday than they practiced.