Q & A: Bobby Bowden Part 2

I imagine there are some who look good in practice and don't perform well in games?

BOWDEN: Sure, but that's the pressure factor.

Last week you closed ranks a little bit and everyone seemed on edge. Were you miffed your team was in that situation and was it a little confounding to you because of what you expected from this team?

BOWDEN: I'm always miffed when things don't go right. I'm always miffed . . . I've coached long enough not to get alarmed about (offensive struggles). Did you see Georgia yesterday? First half they didn't look like they knew how to play football. I've been through that. I know exactly what is happening. They were not in synch for some reason . . . So sometimes you're lucky to just hang on, hang on, hang on until you finally get something going. If you win by one, “Lord, thank you.” We were supposed to lose yesterday and we won. Thank you. I've been through a bunch of those.

Everything goes back to Alabama for me. I can remember one year they won a game, lost a game, tied a game and won the national championship. I can remember things like that, which means just because you didn't get off to a good start doesn't mean your season is over. It doesn't mean you're not going to have a good team. It just means your team hasn't jelled yet. It has to jell.

Were you concerned that you could see a pattern that was forming in the performances after three games that needed a little more attention?

BOWDEN: I don't think we worked any harder or we emphasized anything more than we normally do.

You did say last week that you weren't going to go through another game without the ball being thrown to Greg Carr, and you got that fixed?

BOWDEN: Well, yeah. We might have said that, but what does that have to do with it . . . It did get taken care of, but great players have to make great plays. They have to make them. He made them yesterday. Why didn't he make them the week before, or the week before that? Great players have to make great plays.

Did you see the end of the N.C. State game last night?

BOWDEN: No. I saw the highlights. Boston College was ahead of them and they threw a long touchdown pass to the corner.

That changes what the standings look like even more in the Atlantic Division, doesn't it?

BOWDEN: Yeah, because N.C. State is undefeated in the division. They've lost several games but none of them in the division and none of them in the conference. That was their first conference game, right?

Wake Forest is 4-0, which is the best overall record in the division. Are you surprised?

BOWDEN: Isn't that something - go to Oxford and beat Mississippi there . . . It's amazing. I always thought that guy (Jim Grobe) was one of the best around, that coach.

Drew Weatherford said after the game that having two quarterbacks makes it tougher for your opponents to prepare because they can't just spend all their time getting ready for one guy. You've had some experience with that over the years, but is that a pretty valid observation?

BOWDEN: If they are both good it is. If they're not any good, it isn't . . . I think coaches, if you put this quarterback in and run this type of offense, and then put another quarterback in and run another type of offense, that's a problem. You've got to do this for him and this for him. Now you don't have time to work on all that stuff. But our quarterbacks, both do the same thing. They might do it differently. One may be bigger or a little faster, but you'd use the same defense on our guys. You'd use the same defense on No. 9 as No. 11. You'd just tell your rushers to be careful because one of them might run out of there. Or he might throw it farther. You might say something like that, but you wouldn't change anything. Now if you had a Charlie Ward and a Weatherford . . . That kid can run. We'll have to rush him very cautiously. You would have to play that different.

That's what Florida is doing now with Tim Tebow. When he comes in, he's running. He's like a fast fullback and they are running the option with him.

BOWDEN: I think that's what Urban wants. That's the offense he wants to get to. A quarterback who can throw and run.

What is your practice schedule during the off week?

BOWDEN: We'll give them Monday off. During an open date, we work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. We'll give them off Friday and Saturday and have six more days (to prepare for the next Saturday). But because it's a Thursday night game (against N.C. State), we'll work Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, give them off Friday, and work Saturday to make up for that. I'm not sure what we'll do on Sunday, probably have to have meetings or something. The NCAA says you have to give them a day off, but (the next) Friday can be that day for us.

Would you give them the day off if you didn't have to?

BOWDEN: Take a day off? We'd give them days off when we can. We only have one open date, but the kids need to be off some.

How much of a different dimension does Brandon Warren give you at the tight-end spot?

BOWDEN: He's definitely a threat. You can't ignore that position anymore. We've had guys in there who were strictly blockers and didn't catch well, didn't run well, that people could ignore. You can't ignore him. And (Caz) Piurowski is close to the same thing, only a bigger specimen but not as fast. He's not as dangerous deep but he can catch the ball good and he's got a big body that can shield you off in there.

Piurowski is pretty good at picking up blocked extra points and getting into the end zone for you, too.

BOWDEN: You know, I didn't even realize you could do that . . .

Brandon said that the shovel pass to the tight end was put in last week. Whose idea was that?

BOWDEN: I've seen it with slot backs, but I don't know if I've seen it with a tight end, either. That goes back to your question of why don't you put Booker in the slot. Because you've got (Warren) in the slot. He's bigger and is close to as fast.

What does it mean to have two tight ends who are receiving threats?

BOWDEN: It means you can practice and work on it a little bit because you've got two of them. You'd hate to just have one guy because if you build a game plan around him because he can do good things, and then he gets hurt and nobody else can do it, then you've wasted half your offense. You need a guy who can do it and another guy who can just about do it. With No. 1 in there and then Piurowski comes in and tries to do the same things, not as fast but bigger . . . 6-7 instead of a 6-1, so he makes up for it in range and size. Now he's never going to break things like No. 1.

Brandon has also said that he might play a little defensive end, too. Is that a possibility?

BOWDEN: He could do it, but the thing is, how do you practice it? . . . But he was recruited as a tight end who could rush the passer if we ever needed it, and that's probably what he'd do.

Is there a correlation between having two tight ends that are part of your offense and the fact that your defense has played better against tight ends who are receiving threats? In recent years, that position had been quite a bugaboo for your teams to defend.

BOWDEN: That would help you. If you are out there practicing every day and never saw it, then in a game you saw it, you better have prepared for it. Now if you are out there in practice and our team uses the tight end a lot, that's going to help them, make them more aware of it and they'll try to cover it.

Joe Surratt has had an impact at fullback. How pleased have you been with his performance?

BOWDEN: I'm very pleased. You lost your two fullbacks from last year who played for two or three years for us, so Surratt has got to be ready. We have a couple of freshmen coming behind him we think are going to be good, but Joe has to do it. Joe has done a real good job. A fullback's job is three things Ð No. 1, he's got to be a blocker; No. 2, he's got to be able to catch a pass coming out of the backfield; and No. 3, he's got to be able to make short yardage. You don't ask him to make long yardage. That's a tailback. You don't ask him to go way down field for a pass. You ask him to slide out in the flat. That's about all you can get out of a fullback out of an I-formation. What else can he do? He can go straight ahead, out in the flat or block. It's not a glorious position anymore. It's really almost the status of an offensive lineman. And when you get to pro football, it's the same thing. They're using a fullback, or an H-back, or an A-back, which is kind of like a fullback who can run real fast.

Surratt was a guy who wasn't a highly recruited guy but you apparently saw something in him.

BOWDEN: When we saw him in high school, we thought he had what you are really looking for in a fullback. He was making yardage. Of course, in high school he weighed 245 or 250 and was playing against 170 pound linemen. Occasionally, there are big guys. But he was able to knock his way through for eight or nine yards and maybe even break a long one at times because he did have pretty good stats.

You've got a pretty good relationship with his high school coach, Mickey Lindsey at Pace, don't you? Does that help in recruiting?

BOWDEN: Yeah, sure have . . . When we go out and visit high schools and get to know their coaches, there are some that are more reliable than others. There are some that want to sell you every player they've got, you know. And you darn well know that guy can't play. Then there are some that are very conservative, very cautious. If they say one is good, you better get him. So it helps to know the coach and how reliable his recommendations are. There are some coaches that if they say a player is good enough, you just go and take him. Then there are others that you better look at a lot of film, a lot of film.

You've now played 16 true freshmen. Is that a record number for you?

BOWDEN: True freshmen is the key word. We've played freshmen before but not pure freshmen. It probably is. I can't remember playing more than that . . . It's great for morale. The more you play, the better the morale.

What has changed? Is it circumstances? Are kids better?

BOWDEN: I think they're pretty good. Dadgummit, you get guys injured, then some are better than what you are playing with, you know. These kids will be pretty good one of these days.

You had one freshman out there with three days' practice in Kevin McNeil.

BOWDEN: Sure did. That was an injustice what happened to him. What happened is there was some type of error on his transcript coming from high school, and the NCAA Clearinghouse wouldn't accept it. So they got it all straightened out and sent it to them, and it must have sat on their desk for three weeks and we're approaching the season. This kid can't play until he gets it straightened out. He can't practice . . . I felt so sorry for him. Finally, they said everything is fine, so he's playing in your (fourth) game. He didn't have but a couple of practices . . . (The way he played) Shows you what we saw in him when we recruited him. He's a player.

Andre Fluellen said that Alex Boston is playing so well at defensive tackle that that could become a permanent position for him. As guys get healthier, could that be the case, that he wouldn't go back to defensive end?

BOWDEN: That could be. It happens sometimes. A guy gets moved to a different position and finds out he's better there than he is there. So that could happen.

Chuck Amato has had a lot of success against you. I know you have to go through self-doubts wondering what he knows because he hasn't had the better team most of those games. Are you looking at doing things differently?

BOWDEN: Here's a couple of things. No. 1, he was with me for 18 years. He's been to all our meetings and knows everything I'm thinking . . . He's heard how I talk to the boys. He's heard me talk to them at halftime for 18 years. He's heard me talk to them before a ballgame for 18 years. He's been with Mickey (Andrews) for 18 years. He knows what Mickey likes to do on third-and-1. He knows what Mickey likes to do on fourth-and-1. He knows what Mickey likes to do on first down. He knows what to get into that can give Mickey problems. So he does have that advantage. Tommy (Bowden, Clemson coach) has about the same dang thing. He knows what his old man is going to do. . . . That's a little help.