QB Big Topic Of Discussion On Sunday

Excerpts from Bobby Bowden's media conference on Sunday. If you read between the lines, it seems a foregone conclusion that Weatherford will start if Bowden has anything to say about it. I suppose that someone has to take blame for the entire team and guess what? Xavier, you're it.

Q: You mentioned last week that you were getting D'vontrey Richardson some more work in practice. Is it possible to work him in some there?

A: Not yet. Not yet. I'm going to listen very strongly to what Coach Fisher has to say as to what we do. There's several scenarios that I think we both have got to look at, and that is, Is Xavier better coming off the bench than he is starting a ball game. It seems like he plays real good and then it kinds of goes away. We played real well the first half, then the second half, not as good. Wake Forest was very much the same thing. He came in against Alabama off the bench and had a good spurt there. I guess that's something we ought to look at. But I have to get with him (Fisher) before anything's decided. He'll make the final decision on that. I think he knows what he's doing.

Q: Are you at a point where you need to maybe consider going with youth, the way you did in '76?

A: It's too early for that. It's too early for that. There's too many big challenges out there we might can put it together for 60 minutes. I think it's too early for that. … If our defense could hold, we wouldn't be asking all these questions about the quarterback, would we? (laughing). What they'd go 83 yards? The guy made beautiful throws. I was watching the Auburn game, I don't know if you saw Auburn and LSU last night. The last play of the game, that reminded me of our last play. Fantastic throw, fantastic catch, great coverage, and he got beat. That's the same thing that happened to us.

Q: What has Mickey told you about what is happening with the defense late in games? They seem to play so well early, but they're giving up big plays late?

A: Somebody just makes a bad play. Somebody gets beat. Sometimes they don't get beat, sometimes they do get beat. How many interceptions did we have last night, two or three?

Q: You mentioned that the quarterback play has been feast or famine. But the defense seems to be the same way.

A: True. This is one of the oddest years I can remember where it's like this. You're playing so good, you've got the game, you're going to win and all of a sudden you lose. We played so good the first half against Alabama, played so good the first half against Colorado, played so good the first half against Wake Forest, played so good the first half last night. And then the second half, good, bad, good, bad, good, bad, no consistency.

Q: Coach, Preston Parker said last night that guys were starting to point fingers a bit after the game.

A: I didn't see one sign of that. The way we approached it after the game was we all lost it. So I don't know who would point a finger.

Q: Would there be any benefit to sitting the two older quarterbacks and letting the younger guys play a game? Could that maybe benefit the older guys as much as give the younger ones a chance?

A: You don't want to kiss away this year. … they make a 60-yard pass, we fumble on the 20, we stop them on third down and our guy gets a penalty, and get a first down and kick a field goal. We've still got a chance to do it. We don't want to panic. I still want to try to save this year if we can.

Q: You've said that Jimbo will make the call on the quarterback situation. Are you leaning one way or another?

A: I've got my thoughts. I'm anxious to see what he says.

Q: What would happen if you guys differ?

A: I'd go with him. I've hired him to get the job done. And there's not a doubt in mind that he can. He's one of the sharpest guys I've ever been around. And I really mean that. I'm talking about pros or anywhere else – knowing what and how to do things. He's having to teach our kids that.