Nov. 8, 2004
Coach O'Leary MAC Teleconference
November 8, 2004
Q: "The way you're team lost that game it seems like they are snake bit. Could you talk about that, and give us an update on your quarterback situation."
O'Leary: "It was a tough loss. I thought we had opportunities there. Each team had opportunities before that game went to overtime to put that game away in my opinion. We had some good field position, and you just have to put points on the board when you get the opportunities. We just fell short that way. The PAT shouldn't have been a question whether it was good or not if you hit it right down the middle. It's a tough loss. The kids hung in there, and defensively I thought we improved. We'll go from there. As far as our quarterback situation, Kyle Israel left the game with some tendonitis in his leg. He'll be evaluated later today to see where his status we'll be."
Q: "Your defense seems to get better and better each week. Do you find yourself spending less time with those guys than earlier in the season?"
O'Leary: "I try to equal the time that I spend in all three areas, but I'm spending more time this week with offense. Defensively I think they are improving each week. You're not where you need to be yet. You can see steady improvement each week as far as assignments and responsibility is concerned. The big thing there is that we have stayed healthy for a couple of weeks in a row, and we haven't had to make a lot of changes due to injury. That has really been a major plus. Offensively we just haven't gotten on track. We have a lot of youth in a lot of areas, and you just have to get the right chemistry as far as getting some things done."
Q: "If it evaluates out that Kyle is ready to go, is he going to be the guy Saturday?"
O'Leary: "Yes, he will be."
Q: "Give us a quick capsule of what you see in Ball State."
O'Leary: "I think Ball State has done some good things. I think they are very similar to our situation with some youth in some areas. They have an outstanding running back that has gained a lot of yards. They also have a receiver that has a lot of catches and a defense that is scrappy that flies around the ball. Again it's similar to us. Sometimes they're on the field longer than you would like to be. I think that eventually wears on defenses, but they are well coached as far as schemes are concerned. The kids have an understanding of what they are supposed to be doing on both sides of the ball."