Postgame Quotes: Buffalo

Boston College (3-2) vs. Buffalo (1-3)
Saturday, October 1, 2016
Alumni Stadium | Chestnut Hill, Mass.
Buffalo Postgame Quotes

Buffalo Head Coach Lance Leipold

Q. I guess first off, we kind of knew that the defense was going to be really good for Boston College and it was going to be a struggle to get things going offensively, but are you surprised how much the offense struggled today?
"Yeah, yeah, I was. They're a physical group and you could see reacted real well, come downhill. Never had any semblance of any type of sustained drive or movement, so that's disappointing."

Q. What were you thinking going in to try to attack them? Were you hoping to get some quick things on the perimeter like screens?
"Yeah. You know, you could see that some of the quick throws out to the perimeter how fast they rallied, just missed a couple blocks on the perimeter, we were trying to mix it up and trying to take some shots, as well, and never fully -- when you're not getting 1st downs it's hard to gain any semblance of any momentum of a drive and to get rid of it play calling. It's frustrating all the way around."

Q. How about Jordan Johnson, the inside zone play?
"What -- I'm not sure what you're asking."

Q. Why weren't you able to run the ball on them?
"Physical group up front, get movement. I'd have to look at the film to say what exactly. We lost Tyler O'Henly Wednesday in practice to a concussion. We have a true freshman rotating in there, a right tackle who's a senior who's never started a game. He's only played two years of offense, never started a game. The other guy rotated in as a freshman. I can't say -- it's not an excuse, it's fact. You know, getting consistent movement was highly evident."

Q. Tyree didn't really try the read option keeper. Were they staying home at end or did you tell him going in that it wasn't probably going to be there?
"Yeah, we had pure option in, too, and with the conditions we just felt it's not something we live and die by, so that got eliminated off the play chart pretty quickly. Then there's some things there that they might have missed one or something, I heard Andy talking about it, but I can't say every one -- these are conversations I'll kind of flip back over. I don't know what he saw. He ran it three times, so again, credit them. They're a top-10 defense in the country, and I think we saw that."

Q. Schreck is a good weapon for you, Milano is sort of their star linebacker, 28. Didn't seem like he was giving him any separation. What did you see from the linebacking corps?
"Actually improved, confident, and you could see the experience and the speed they play on a weekly basis. You know, their ability to read, react and get downhill. Didn't get off press conference as well as I'd hoped. We wanted to take some shots, but some of the double move stuff we had, Tyree got hit on the throws, so it kind of snowballs on you, unfortunately."

Q. Just 16 points in the first half in four games so far combined; how do you get off to a better start going forward, because that's obviously an issue?
"Yeah, it's kind of been our nemesis for a while, and we've talked about it in fall camp, we've talked about it in different ways. We've changed practice to try to get into 11-on-11 stuff like we would coming out in a game. It's something we've got to get better at, and we've got to keep exploration all options."

Q. Starting MAC play, looking forward to getting that started now, because it's kind of a clean slate, right?
"Yeah, that's what we talked about in the locker room is that we win this game today, we'd be all excited, but we'd still be starting MAC play next week, and it's 0-0 in the conference, and that's where you're going to battle for, where we're at right now. It's unfortunate we couldn't have found a way to build off momentum of last week, but I'm confident in this group, their willingness to be coached, take accountability from what's not correct and work at it. And that's the thing, even at the end there, the last drive, we had a lot of guys in the game that had never played before. Jake Ames is in there, Matt Otwinowski is a true freshman playing quite a bit today, Dev Lamour made his first appearance of the season, been hurt for over a month. We had some guys out there, and I thought we continued to play hard, just not obviously the result we needed."

Q. What did you think of your front seven against their run game?
"Yeah, I haven't looked at the stats yet. I probably should have. I thought it was solid. Just off the start, there's a few things that bounced or they did some things -- late in the game they tried to spread us out I think a little bit and tried to get some things, but for the first three quarters I thought we held in there pretty good, got in some 4th down situations. Again, I still think our defensive line and really front seven is a solid group. If we keep them healthy, we'll see how they carry us on into conference play."

"Obviously at this point and as we work to get better, our defense is going to be one of the things that will be able to carry us a little bit more as we look for consistency on offense."

Junior LB Ishmael Hargrove

Q. Just talk about what you did on that play. What do you remember of that play?
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "Yeah, well, it was a man coverage, so man coverage is the linebackers are usually responsible for the running backs and things like that, and our job basically for a running back is go on the block. We pretty much free-wheeled to blitz, so I was in coverage with the running back and I seen that he was blocking everything, so I tried to -- as the offensive line was blocking, kind of find a crease open and went for it. Luckily I got to him and was able to get the ball out, and luckily I was able to jump on it."

Q. When you jumped on it there was no chance to pick it up and score.
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "Right. Yeah, especially how wet it was. I wasn't going to risk it. It was down in our territory, too, so I thought it was better safe and sorry, so went ahead and jumped on it."

Q. First three series you come out of the game and they have two punts and a turnover on downs. What did you think of the way the defense came out to start the game?
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "Yeah, we definitely came out rolling. I felt especially down there, they're a power run play offense, so we came out knowing they were going to run the ball, so I felt that the majority of the game, that's where we pretty much knuckled down, was able to limit their run offense, and so I think that was one of our strengths in their game."

Q. Do you think the Army game, the way you played, kept them from having any gash plays against you?
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "I think that definitely helped us, coming from Army to BC. Both of them are predominantly run teams. I think Army prepared us a lot more coming into Boston College, and I also think it helped us, our front seven knuckle down and pretty much play -- come out and hit them in the mouth first in our first few drives."

Q. Their quarterback was able to escape the pocket a few times and scramble. Thoughts on that?
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "Yeah, we knew he was a scrambler, and we tried our best to limit his run ability. He did get loose a few times, and that was one of the things that we wanted to cut down on was the scrambling. We know that a few plays we had, we pretty much were good on the coverage side of it, but as far as his scrambling that he kind of gashed a little bit, so credit to him for a few of his big plays he had."

Q. Their pass game, they really only kind of got you on some misdirections there. Late in the first half they had the throw back. What do you recall of that play?
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "Yeah, that was also a man coverage, and they kind of got us on the little misdirection. That was just one of the few big plays we gave up that in the long run hurt us a lot, and going forward we have to limit those big plays because they dictate the outcome of the game. Going forward, we know that we were in this game, but as I said, the big plays were what hurt us, and going forward we know that we have to limit those."

Q. Defensively is this a game you can build on, though, getting ready for MAC?
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "Oh, yeah, definitely."

Q. You were playing with them defensively.
ISHMAEL HARGROVE: "Yeah, definitely, I think especially as far as our run defense. This is a big help for us moving forward, and this is going to prepare us for future in the MAC play, and I feel like this game definitely helped us, and I feel like there's a lot we can learn from this game."

Redshirt freshman QB Tyree Jackson

Q. Tyree, is your body okay?
TYREE JACKSON: Yeah, I'm fine. I'm fine.

Q. Because you took a big hit there on one of the last ones.
TYREE JACKSON: Yeah, I'm okay.

Q. Just your thoughts overall; you knew they're a nationally-ranked defense. I presume they were as good as you expected. What did you think of their defense?
TYREE JACKSON: Oh, they definitely have some players on that team, on their defense. They have some really big athletes. Their front seven is probably one of the best in the country, so it was just -- just to play them, it's going to prepare us for the MAC, and it's a good team we played, a good defense.

Q. It looked like early you wanted to try and maybe get some quick throws to the outside. When you're throwing those to Marcus, when it left your hand, were you thinking he's got some room and it evaporated, or what did you think of that?
TYREE JACKSON: Yeah, their safeties did a great job. I'm not sure of his name, No. 9 was flying around. He's a great athlete. He was coming downhill, so I mean, he made some big plays and limited some of the stuff we could do.

Q. Schreck, it just seemed like whenever you threw to him there wasn't much separation there, either. Milan owe, 28, did you notice him much?
TYREE JACKSON: Yeah, I think he was an all-conference player last year for them, so I mean, he's a good player. But I think Mason Schreck matches up well against anybody he plays in the country. He made some plays. But it was just a battle going on between those two.

Q. Were they mostly man coverage did you feel?
TYREE JACKSON: Yeah, the whole game, yeah.

Q. I think you knew coming in that it was going to be a tough test with Boston College's defense. Was it a little harder than maybe you even anticipated? The offense really struggled to get things going.
TYREE JACKSON: Yeah, we're still trying -- we're in that process of trying to get stuff -- get it to mesh up front. We've got some guys moving around and stuff. Yeah, they were a great team, great defense. All credit to them. But we're going to get ready and we're going to be ready for the MAC play.

Q. Just 16 total points in the first half of the four games that you guys had played. How do you get going a little quicker on offense?
TYREE JACKSON: I mean, definitely that's all on us. We've got to get it going. There's not much more you can really say about that right now, just as far as we've got to get it going. Our defense has been playing lights out, and at some point we've just got to help them out.

Q. You got the turnover in the second quarter deep in their territory, had the ball at the 11. The 3rd down play, Schreck over to your left, they blitzed; what do you remember of that? Were you hurried a little?
TYREE JACKSON: Yeah, I mean, they brought pressure on 3rd down, so just tried to give mason a chance, ended up being an incompletion and we made the kick, but yeah, just tried to make a play right there. We're going to continue to get better throughout the year, and just going to get better.

Q. On the inside zone plays, the read option, you didn't really -- you didn't take any real -- made one play. Were they staying home, the defensive ends, is that what you saw, or did you go into the game saying, that's never going to be there? Which one was it?
TYREE JACKSON: No, we were still reading them, but their defensive ends did a good job of playing home. They were just waiting for -- if I would pull it, they were just waiting there, so I mean, they were just staying home, and they were a real fundamental defense. They did a great job.

Q. 1-3, but the MAC is up next; is it almost a little bit of a clean slate now because it's like now we have conference play?
TYREE JACKSON: Definitely. If you're a competitor, though, losing any game hurts. It still hurts. But looking forward, yeah, MAC play starts. Everyone is 0-0 in the MAC. Everyone has a clean slate whether you're 4-0 in non-conference or 1-4, 0-4, doesn't matter, but what matters is next Saturday we're just going to play.

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