Press Conference Quotes from G. Selvie, Coach Leavitt, et al

[Brad]

Courtesy USF:

Sept. 16, 2008

Media Luncheon Press Conference

USF Defensive End George Selvie

On the defensive performance against Kansas…

It was a fun game, an exciting game. They ran their offense really well. We made some halftime adjustments. The coaches said to go out there and play Bulls defense, so that is what we did. We tried to get some pressure. The secondary started covering better. We just went out there and tried to get that win.

On finally getting his first sack of the season…

I got some pressure, and I finally got there. It was a shoestring sack, but I’ll take them where I can get them. I was really happy that I got that out of the way and get over that hump.

On FIU and what he can learn from how they played Kansas…

We watched some film yesterday. We saw that they run some screens, and a lot of different stuff. They have screens and the little shovel. Kansas ran a lot of that too. They run the offense real well for what they do. We are watching film to see what they do most. I haven’t seen much out of them because we just started watching film yesterday. We are working on it.

On preventing a let down this week against FIU…

No, we are just going out there and continue practicing hard. We have to focus on today, and go out there and run our defense and prepare for this FIU team. Coaches said we came out kind of flat, but then we got emotional in the third quarter and started coming back. Then the crowd got into it. We have to start faster and go out there and play faster and end faster.

On the FIU game two years ago…

My freshman year, we won 21-20. We barely beat them. They got the best of us that day. It was a good game. They came out to play, just like FAU did last year against us. It’s another Florida school. We are coming to your place, playing against you. They are going to come out ready to play regardless of what we do. They are going to fight the whole game. We have to come out with our best game. This is a big game for us and them.

USF Head Coach Jim Leavitt

It was a good win. Now it is on to FIU. Any time you have two Florida teams, there is going to be so much emotion involved. We all know this. You’ve got a lot of players that are familiar with each other. Emotion is high. I know that they will play at a very high level. We are opening their new stadium. That is a real big event for them. They’ve had two weeks to prepare for us, if not more. We’ve had three games. They’ve had a couple. It is going to be a heck of a ballgame, there is no question. I said this last year when we went down to play FAU, and I’m going to say it again this time - it is going to be a heck of a ballgame. We are expecting a 60 minute battle, if not more. We are going to have to play at a very high level to have a chance to win. We are going out to practice earlier today than we normally do on Tuesdays. We know how much work that we have to do. We are going to get on the field at 3 p.m. and go until we need to. We practiced a little bit longer last night than we usually do. We ran quite a bit because we have to play better football. If you don’t get better, then you are going to lose. Last year, we got to a point where we didn’t improve, and we lost. It is a very big game for us. It is a great challenge for us.

On the game against FIU in 2006…

We were down. I don’t know what it was in the fourth quarter, but we were losing. I think it was 14-6, or 20-6 in the third quarter. We had to battle back. We were very fortunate to win that game. Our guys know how big of a challenge this is. They have speed; there is no question about it.

On Jamar Taylor’s play against Kansas…

He did a good job. Jamar did a real good job. I thought he ran with real purpose. The amazing thing about Jamar is that he is on our punt return, our kickoff team, and on our kickoff return, and runs the ball. That is a full duty there. He does everything at a high level. It is very important to him to play well. He did a great job last game.

USF Quarterback Matt Grothe

On the FIU game in 2006…

It was a little scary. We were favored going into it. I think we were thinking a little bit ahead. Luckily we won that game. It was a little scary.

On not taking FIU lightly…

The last couple years there have been some games that we haven’t done as well as we should. Coaches got us yesterday and were telling us that we have to go out and take care of business. Great teams, when they are supposed to win, they win. When everyone has them winning, they win. They don’t struggle. That is what we need to do this week.

On Taurus Johnson’s touchdown against Kansas…

I was jumping up and down, and going a little crazy. When he first caught it, I didn’t know. I was so far away that I couldn’t tell if he was out of bounds. When they showed it up on the big screen, I knew it was a touchdown. I tried to get the crowd going a little bit to make it harder for them to make a choice and say that it wasn’t a catch. That was a big play in the game.

On which one regular season game he is looking forward to the most…

I’ll let you know when that week comes.

Video of Leavitt, Grothe and Selvie Press Conferences is also available at GoUSFBulls.com.

[Rizman]

Play FIU hard, because they will come out and want to knock our blocks off and take our ranking away.

[BULLfreak]

Great teams go into games like this and takes care of business. Lets see if they are a great team.

55-10 USF over FIU