University of Tennessee Athletics
OUTBACK BOWL HEAD COACHES INDIVIDUAL NEWS CONFERENCES
December 31, 2006 | Football
Dec. 31, 2006
TENNESSEE COACH Phillip Fulmer
On playing in the Outback Bowl:
"We're very excited about playing this game against a great Penn State football team and a legendary, tremendously respected coach Paterno. We're prepared as much as we can be. Certainly there are areas that we have struggled through the course of the year that we hope we have improved some as we get ready to play Penn State. All of that will be seen on Monday. Our greatest asset to this point has been our attitude during the course of the year, our responsiveness as we've overcome several injuries and a couple disappointing losses. We've put those to use, we've talked about them, and we're looking forward to playing now."
On beating a Joe Paterno-coached team:
"It's not really the two coaches that are playing against each other; it's the players on the field. I think keeping that in perspective is very important. We've done that once before without the greatest of results. We look forward to that. It's exciting to be able to go against Joe Paterno."
On the Penn State Nittany Lions:
"Certainly when you watch Penn State on tape and you see how they've given up in the last four games 26 points there's a lot of things that define what this team is. The last time we played them I think we jumped out to a 10 point lead early in the ballgame and we had a player basically running wide open across the middle, dropped a pass, and that almost changed everything. The thing I remember is that we had an unbelievably tough time stopping the run. We have been in the past, typically, a good run defense. Our big concern, and history would tell you this, they're going to be physical and run the ball."
On Penn State tailback Tony Hunt:
"Hunt, I think, is a fantastic football player. I don't know that we've played two or three backs this year that are better than him. He is fantastic."
On Erik Ainge returning to form since injury earlier this season:
"Erik has done fine. We've been really trying to get Erik back on track since the injury. I'm hopeful that he's on track like he was earlier this season because he was playing extremely well and at one point I said he had a chance to be perhaps the all-conference quarterback in the league."
On the progress of his Tennessee team:
"From where we started coming off of last year and where we are now it's still about putting the exclamation point on the season and finishing it with the same pride and respect that we started the Cal game with."
On his approach to bowl preparation:
"The first several years that I did this I thought we had a pretty good formula, I really did. Things were rocking along pretty good and the results were good. Then we hit a couple years there where it just didn't happen for us very well. When we went to the Cotton Bowl two years ago I changed considerably. It is a balancing act between how much contact you're going to have and what events. We had a very nice event at the beach yesterday. We were there an hour and 12 minutes. We saw everybody and came back home and went to practice. So, keeping their focus on why you're here is the key."
On his team playing in a New Year's Day bowl game:
"Last December wasn't much fun; it wasn't any fun. I've reminded them about that at every turn, I can promise you. They're excited about playing."
PENN STATE COACH JOE PATERNO
On whether his team has anything to prove in the Outback Bowl:
"I think we've practiced hard; I think we've been all business. We haven't had any problems. I've been pleased; I think we're ready to play. I think we have a bunch of kids that are anxious to find out just how good we are."
On the prospect of linebacker Dan Connor declaring early for the NFL:
"I think everyone's different. I've told kids to go, I've told kids to stay. If Dan wants to come to me, he'll come to me. I've told him whatever you do, just forget about it all and just concentrate on getting the job done when we get down to Florida. After that, when it's time to talk, we'll talk. I haven't talked to any pros about him. I really wouldn't know what to tell him if he asked me today."
On whether he'll be on the sideline tomorrow for the game:
"I don't think I'm going to be able to make it tomorrow. I did some things yesterday; I tried to act as if I was getting attacked and did some agility drills, quick things, things that I might have to do and I woke up this morning and I'm sore as a dog all over the place. I'm going to do some more of those things this afternoon and I'm going to see whether I can work out some of the soreness. The biggest problem I have being on the sideline is being a distraction. I don't want a bunch of kids worried about where's Joe. I want them to be concentrating on playing the football game."
On his plans for pre-game and afterward:
"I'm going to go out for pre-game and then I'll see how it feels. I'm going to try to be on the field when we're warming up and then I'll go from there. I really don't know for sure what I'm going to do. There again, I wish I could tell you. I've really have tried to project exactly what's going to happen to me tomorrow and what's my best role to help the football team and to understand they don't need me as much as I think they do."
On the coaching staff working in his absence:
"You're really taking something away from a great coaching staff. They've done a good job without me being around in a couple football games. I think they can handle the football game if I'm in Timbuktu, they can handle it. I can watch the game from my hotel room and they'll do well, really."
On his Penn State squad:
"We're a competitive football team. Whether we're competitive tomorrow, there again is the next step. Coming to a bowl game, being away from home, doing a lot of different things, playing against a club that is as good as this club is I think we'll find out a lot about ourselves. Having played Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin well will have a bearing on it, I don't know."
On how quarterback Anthony Morelli will perform in the Outback Bowl:
"I think Anthony is really looking forward to playing this football game. He's practiced well, he really has. The thing I'm going to tell Anthony is he's not going to win the game by himself. He's going to go in there and realize it's going to be tough. We're going to make some calls that don't work out because we were anticipating a certain type of coverage or we anticipate something they don't do. Just play one play at a time, forget about the last one, and move on to the next one."
On tailback Tony Hunt:
"I tried to rest Tony up. I was concerned about working Tony so hard that he started to look like he was not as quick and as fast as he actually is. I told the coaches, `Look, whatever you do, if you're going to work him five plays, work him three.' I'm anxious to see him go. He's had a really good practice session coming into this one. I've said many times he's probably one of the most underrated backs in the country. We've asked him to do so many things. He's a fine blocker, catches the ball well. He makes a lot of yards on his own."
On finding the right balance in preparation time before a bowl game:
"Bowl games are very tricky from the coaching end of it. You don't want to be too easy on them because then they think they're down here for a frolic. You don't want to work them too hard because they get bored. You never really know until you do it. You really try to just be on target, and whether we're on target I don't know."
