Boston College Athletics
Football Prepares For Important Road Game
October 16, 2006 | Football
Oct. 16, 2006
As his team prepared for an important road game at Florida State this Saturday (3:30 p.m., ABC-TV), Boston College Football Coach Tom O'Brien talked with media members on Sunday afternoon. A recap of his weekly media teleconference:
Opening Statement:
We played very well on Thursday night against Virginia Tech. It was a great effort by our defense. Once again, they did not give up a touchdown and only gave up three points. Offensively, we took advantage of some turnovers. I think the best thing we did on offense was take seven minutes off of the clock in the fourth quarter, making the game into a three score game.
On special teams:
Any time that you play Virginia Tech and come away with no major problems, it has to be a success. We did an excellent job in kicking and in protecting the kicker. We need to work on our kickoffs right now, but I'm very happy with our performance on Thursday evening.
On the health of Matt Ryan:
He's gimping around and limping a little bit. We'll see how he is this week. He's come back before and hopefully we'll be able to come back this week. He still has his ankle problem, but now he has a foot injury. It's a similar situation after the Central Michigan game. He won't practice today (Sunday), and we'll see how it is on Tuesday. He's obviously shown his toughness in the past, and we'll just have to wait and see how he is and see if he can perform.
On the kickoffs:
We're going to have to re-investigate this week. We'll have to spend more time on kickoff situations this upcoming week. We'll kick earlier this week and chart some kicks and do some things that we didn't get to in practice last week.
On the health of the rest of the team:
The major problem right now is with junior tight end Jon Loyte, who has a turf toe. The medical people are not sure if he will make it this week or not.
On the importance of the Florida State game:
Every week we prepare as if it's the last game we're going to play. This week we have to prepare for Florida State, who has great athletes as everyone knows and it's a very difficult place to play down there. We have to worry about ourselves and can't be concerned about what everyone else does in the conference. If we beat Florida State, then we can move on from there. They have great skilled people and great team speed, both offensively and defensively. They have a fast track field, and we'll have to contend with their speed.
On the play of the freshmen:
The freshmen are doing well and that's why they're playing for us. We're pleased with the effort we've gotten out of everybody, and the freshmen have added a little spark of life to the team. They're all playing well right now.
