North Carolina State University Athletics
O'Cain and Bowden Coaches' Quotes
10/6/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Mike O'Cain
NC State Head Coach
On the practices during the off week:
"We didn't get any work done outside this past week. We had all sorts of
plans to go outside and work on some fundamental things, some things you
don't normally get to practice on in a game week, we were going to get
some scrimmage time in with the younger players, but we just couldn't do
that this week (because of the weather). We did get a lot of good mental
work in preparing for Clemson. We watched a lot of film, actually more
than we normally look at during a week. Since we were so banged up, maybe
it was a blessing that we didn't get to go out and someone else might
have been banged up. We were able to go out yesterday (Sunday) afternoon
and have a very good workout. It was very enthusiastic and I was very
pleased."
On Clemson's type of playing style:
"Tommy (Bowden) has a certain coaching philosophy, and that is something
he believes in and I think that is important to have as a coach and work
with that. Obviously he walked into a position where he has talent at the
position that you need to be talented. At wide receiver they have kids
that are catching the ball very well, four or five good receivers. They
have one quality back, and other decent backs. Their quarterback was
playing really well. The one place where they are probably not as
talented as they would like to be is in the offensive line, and that is
only because of their lack of experience. They are doing things though
that helps utilize the skills that those guys have and they are
successful. It's a great scheme. It's very tough to defend, they spread
you out, it's very quarterback oriented. If you get the quarterback to be
off a little bit you struggle, but if he's hot then it becomes hard to
defend."
On Clemson's new starting quarterback:
"We really don't know what kind of approach they will take. Obviously
last week they took a different type of approach in the second half with
using more of an I-formation and Pro-Set. So know there is the question
of are they going to continue to do that, or are they going to go back to
what they were doing. Now they have an entire week to get their new
quarterback ready, and we have to prepare for some different. We have to
prepare for the I-formation, the Pro-Set, and the spread out type
offense. What (Woodrow) Dantzler brings to the table is he's a better
athlete, not necessarily a better quarterback, but a better athlete. He's
going to pull the ball down and run with the football., and beat you with
that and that makes us bring a different element into the game in terms
of pass rush. We have to be able to contain him in the pocket, because if
he gets out and breaks a tackle he could go down the sideline for a
touchdown. He just brings a whole different element to the game."
Tommy Bowden
Clemson Head Coach
The importance of other players stepping up their play when Brandon Streeter
got hurt:
"There is no doubt that what the other players were able to do when Streeter got hurt was very important. I thought Woody did an excellent job. Playing well in an ACC game in front of a packed house and on TV was a huge confidence boost for not only Woody but also for the rest of our team."
The tempo of the Clemson offense and the effect the fast pace had on the
North Carolina defense:
"With the pace we use on offense, we try to eliminate the other team's defensive coordinator and the defensive leaders from the game. Jeff Davis brought up interesting point to me the other day. A defensive captain usually has good leadership skills and the huddle is his time to jump on the other guys that are not getting the job done. By not huddling we try to eliminate that aspect of the game for opposing defenses. I don't know if conditioning was a factor for North Carolina or not. All I know is that conditioning has not been a factor for us in any of our four games."
The special teams of NC State: "The fact that they have blocked something like five punts and have returned three of them for touchdowns and one for a safety definitely gets your attention. If we get one blocked it will not be because we were not prepared for it. From the minute I took this job we began working on kick protection. We are not going to be able to increase the time we spend on kick protection but knowing what they have done in the past forces us to make our preparation time more efficient."
The Clemson offense under Woodrow Dantlzer as opposed to Brandon Streeter:
"There will be a few wrinkles put in the offense because of Woody's
running ability. There is always the possibility of running the option
when you have a guy like that at quarterback. Alot of his scrambling will
come naturally though and in this offense he will have the opportunity to
make some big plays. That run he made against North Carolina was really an
impressive run. He broke alot of tackles and he ran like a tailback."
Facing an experienced NC State secondary:
"One of their base defensive fronts is to rush three and drop
eight. The most you can have is five receivers. Eight defenders can cover
five receivers pretty well. That is one of the main reasons they are so
good against the pass and have alot of interceptions this year. There are
not many good routes you can run when they have eight people guarding your
receivers. They have a very good secondary. They probably have the best
secondary that we have seen so far this year."
The importance of Clemson getting its first road win:
"As I have mentioned a couple of times, there are certain steps
that you have to take when you are building a program. One of those steps
is being able to win on the road. With only five home games, it would be
very good for us to win at least a couple of these road games."
