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Coach Ferentz - 09 16 14 1
An interview with:

COACH KIRK FERENTZ

COACH FERENTZ: Welcome. Captains
are the same as they've been. Louis Trinca-Pasat,
Quinton Alston on defense, and Brandon Scherff
and Mark Weisman offensively.
Injury-wise, we're hoping to get Macon
Plewa back. We'll see how that goes. It's
day-to-day right now. Then Riley McCarron is
cleared so we'll get him back in the fold this week.
Other than that, not much to announce there.
Then with Pittsburgh, obviously it's our first
away trip this season. We'll travel on the road for
the first time, which is a challenge in itself. Then
the bigger challenge is playing Pitt. They're really
playing well now, 3-0. Statistics show they're
playing well on both sides of the football. They
have a field goal kicker who is confident and
competent.
It's going to be a big challenge offensively.
They've got a big line that's very athletic and very
well-coached. The running back is having a great
season. Needless to say, they've got other backs
that are very good, too.
They have an outstanding set of receivers,
one in particular that's doing well. Statistics reflect
what they are. They're a very good football team
and we have a big challenge. We'll get to work on
it today.

Q. Have you been able to discern some
of the reasons why the offense struggled the
last couple weeks?
COACH FERENTZ: We're just not playing
well enough to win right now. Go back to work this
afternoon.

Q. Did Canzeri get hurt last week?
COACH FERENTZ: He came down on
that kickoff return and banged himself a little bit.
We expect him to be ready today.

Q. LeShun Daniels just didn't get in the
rotation?
COACH FERENTZ: We're trying to find
the right rhythm right now and the right mix. Yeah,
clearly we haven't found it yet. We're going to
keep working on that.

Q. LeShun out right now?
COACH FERENTZ: We'll see how this
week goes. We're not ruling anything out. Again,
we haven't found the right rhythm, right tempo.
We'll just keep working at it.

Q. One thing I noticed last week, you
had about a minute left, you don't want to stop
the clock for Iowa State, but maybe you can
call a timeout. Take me through that.
COACH FERENTZ: Not so much at that
point, we weren't thinking about it. As they got
closer to the field goal, we thought about it. I'm not
sure what a big difference that was.
But it is a consideration. It also gives them
more time to operate. They had three timeouts,
too.

Q. Is there a rule of thumb when you're
in that spot? We want to save X amount of
time for the offense or let's not let their offense
rule?
COACH FERENTZ: It's both. It's one
versus the other. Pick your poison.

Q. When you talk about the right
rhythm and right tempo, what precisely does
that mean?
COACH FERENTZ: Well, whatever it
takes to move the ball. Sounds like that's the focal
point now. We've had some really good drives this
September 16, 2014


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Coach Ferentz - 09 16 14 2
year, some long drives, productive drives, but we
haven't done it consistently enough. That was a
big factor certainly I think more so in the third
quarter.
To me, if you look at the game, we got
totally outplayed in the second half. Third quarter
we had a turnover and then didn't do anything with
the ball during that quarter. Then the fourth
quarter we couldn't get off the field defensively. To
me, those were the two things if I summarized it
what I would look at.

Q. Teams are loading up trying to stop
the run, clambering for throwing the ball a little
bit longer. Is that not there? I think you would
consider that.
COACH FERENTZ: It is. We've had
some shots down the field, some near misses.
Especially two weeks ago we had a couple in that
game that maybe would have uncorked things a
little bit. Long foul balls, they don't count.
It's something I think every team wants to
do. I know the quarterback gets the focus on a lot
of that stuff. It's usually a little bit more involved
than that. Might be good coverage. Might be a
receiver not reacting properly to the coverage, so
the quarterback doesn't get what he anticipates.
It's like anything, a pretty intricate thing.
But clearly we're not operating as well as we need
to. Seventeen points the other day wasn't enough
to win. That's the bottom line.

Q. It appears that the zone read has
been ineffective. One play where the nose
guard was right there, missed by two blockers.
Was that by intent?
COACH FERENTZ: No, we don't have a
play where we just let a guy go like that, especially
on the interior. To your point, some people cut
defensive linemen loose, over the guards, read off
that. I've seen that several times. Colgate, to
name one. Just saw Virginia Tech doing the same
thing. Some people do that, but we don't have it in
our plan. If you see that, that means something
got miscommunicated or wrong reactions out there
on the field.

Q. Seems like there's a little bit of that
every play.
COACH FERENTZ: That's offensive
football, too.

Q. You want to blame one thing, but...
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah. If you're not
doing as well as you would like to do, typically
there's going to be scrutiny, introspection,
whatever. Usually it's a pretty intricate deal. If it's
just one area or one point, then usually you see
coaching staffs trying to address that, change
personnel, et cetera. But I don't think that's the
case right now. We just have to do better.

Q. Were Powell and Willies okay
Saturday?
COACH FERENTZ: Yeah, they're both
fine. Saturday, and as far as I know today. I think
Scherff is okay today, too.

Q. You have a great rush defense.
What is the key to the matchup?
COACH FERENTZ: I can't speak to their
case too much. But in our case two of the teams
that we played weren't as geared to trying to run
the ball. Ball State, it's part of their package. The
other two, probably more pass oriented.
Who we are right now, like rankings, three
weeks into it I'm not sure what rankings count for
other than obviously the four or five teams. Then
statistics, at this point they tell you some things but
they don't tell you everything.
These guys, Pitt is not throwing for much
right now. There's a reason they haven't had to,
but they can throw the ball. One thing for sure,
they've demonstrated they can run it. They've run
it against everybody, three teams.
When you look at the film, they're really
impressive up front and then obviously the back's a
really good player, too. They have a couple
behind him that haven't had many opportunities.
Quarterback, too.

Q. You said after the game that icing
the kicker is 50/50, is there a rule of thumb or is
that a gut call?
COACH FERENTZ: It's funny, I'm only
smiling here 'cause I was driving home last night,
whoever it was iced Philly's kicker, maybe I was
hallucinating, it was like an instant replay, dj vu
all over again.
Yeah, that's one thing I haven't stayed up
late thinking about. It hasn't woke me up.
Probably should go back to '85. Didn't work in '85.
Should probably just hang my hat on that one.
I don't think that was the turning point of
the game.

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Coach Ferentz - 09 16 14 3

Q. I think you said after the UNI game
you would really have to throw the ball down
the field to loosen some things up. You
mentioned maybe that's not working. Do you
think that's a reason why the running game
isn't clicking?
COACH FERENTZ: I don't think it's that
simple. We've had routes down the field. If they're
not open, we're not going to throw them. It's one of
these deals, so...

Q. What are Powell and Willies missing
that would make them bigger parts of this
offense?
COACH FERENTZ: They're young guys.
Derrick is young chronologically. DP, as you
remember, he's been here for a year basically. He
missed the entire pre-season with a hernia
surgery. He's working his way back in. We love
the guy. He's a really talented player, high-energy
guy. We'll work him in.
Nothing against either of those guys. It's
just where they're at right now. They've got growth
to make.

Q. How do you think Anthony Gair did?
COACH FERENTZ: Anthony did okay.
His first real action where it counted. He's going to
have to do well this week because he's going to be
out there the first half.
He stepped in and did a competent job.
Hopefully now he can build on that.

Q. Do you see potential for Willies and
Powell expanding their roles?
COACH FERENTZ: Absolutely. It's not
something we're trying to bring Derrick along. It's
got to happen. The other part about it, he's playing
right behind our best receiver right now. Tevaun
has grown into a pretty good receiver.
It's a little bit more complex than that.

Q. Do they have versatility to move to
different receiver spots?
COACH FERENTZ: At this point not a lot.
But at some point that may have. Yeah, this is
probably not the week or time for that.

Q. You tried a couple different things to
increase the pass-rush a little bit. How do you
see that as far as those four guys?
COACH FERENTZ: Historically that's kind
of how we've been built. We did, believe it or not,
blitz a little bit the other day. It wasn't overly
effective. I almost wonder a little bit in retrospect if
our guys might have been a little paralysed by
analysis. We have respect for their running ability.
This quarterback runs a lot, too. But at some point
you got to cut it loose a little bit and go.
The other part of football is coming out.
It's not so much about sacks as it is about
disruption. We didn't disrupt them enough early
last week. Made it tough.

Q. Do you see any similarities between
what Coach Chyrst is running?
COACH FERENTZ: Very, very similar.
Was impressive at Wisconsin. Maybe more
impressive now.

Q. What have you seen from James
Conner?
COACH FERENTZ: A little bit. Mark is
really more of a fullback converted into a running
back. This guy is a pure running back, I would
describe him as. He's a big back, too. He really
does a lot of things very, very well.
It's going to be a real challenge. He's
strong. He's fast. He had a good ability to pick
holes, see holes. They're very big and very
athletic up front. It's a good group, tough group to
prepare for.

Q. How did the series with Pittsburgh
get made and why?
COACH FERENTZ: I don't think there's a
generic answer. Other than since I've been here,
we've always had the philosophy of trying to play
two BCS conference teams. It's not always
worked out every year. But that's pretty much
what we've done.
The other part is at least, I'll go on record,
I'm not so sure it's the smartest thing to do to travel
west. I'm not a big fan of that. We've done it,
gotten back here at 5 or 6 in the morning a couple
times twice. I'd just as soon not travel to the West
Coast time zone. I'm okay with that for a bowl
game, but it's an undue burden on anybody.
In a perfect world you would rather go
where you recruit. But it's hard to check off all
those things. We've played at Syracuse and
Pittsburgh. At that time they were both in the Big
East. Those were two teams that were available
and attractive.
Scheduling is hard. I think that's why we're

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Coach Ferentz - 09 16 14 4
playing nine games in the near future. I can see it
going to 10, too. Scheduling has really become a
tough thing to do.

Q. You talked about recruiting
Pennsylvania. You've gotten out of that area.
Is it something you're still looking at?
COACH FERENTZ: Not really. I kind of
lost my interest when Shawn Lee went to Penn
State. I don't blame him. I get it. It's really hard
for us to get kids out of Pittsburgh or Western PA.
It hasn't been productive for us. Probably better
places for us to spend time.

Q. When you identify your ideal
offensive identity, how has that definition
changed from OKeefe to Davis?
COACH FERENTZ: The comparison I'd
give you, we've talked in here ample times about
what kind of quarterback we're looking for. You
look for one that's going to move the team, get it
done. Say the same thing about running backs.
Fred Russell, Shonn Greene.
So the bottom line is, one thing I'm firm on,
I think we have to have the ability to be balanced,
and we would hopefully play in a physical nature.
We're not going to be a finesse offensive football
team. Have the ability to run or pass. That could
come out of a three-wide set, could come out of a
one-wide set. I'm not as hung up on those things.
Probably part of that, you know, it's where
you coach, too. You have to recruit to whatever
your style is going to be. If you're recruiting,
there's ebb and flow, which most places there is. I
think you have to have some flexibility there.
That's kind of the deal there.
Personally my preference is to be a
balanced attack.

Q. What was it about Iowa when you
first came here?
COACH FERENTZ: There was a job open
in June. It was really random. I'm only laughing
because it was probably the most -- I've been hired
twice out of the blue, and both of them were just
about as random as you could be.
This one I did call here. I got to Pitt late. I
got there in June of 1980, so I missed spring ball. I
had to finish up my teaching obligations. I got
there in '80, June of '80. I got there before summer
camp. It wasn't till after spring ball the next year
that I thought like maybe I can do this. I don't
know.
So usually coaches change jobs in the
wintertime, December, January. Long story short, I
had a two-year contract with my wife. She was
going to support me for two years. This was open.
Joe Moore gave me his blessings, so I applied.
My only intent was just to interview so I
knew how to interview so when I had to go look for
a job the next year, I'd have some clue what I was
doing. That was the only reason I came out here.
The rest is history.
I came out here, had no idea how good a
place this was, the people that were here. It wasn't
like it was some master plan. My goal was to stay
at Pitt for another year. I was having the time of
my life working with Joe Moore.

Q. The targeting call on Saturday, I
think people have a hard time interpreting the
rule?
COACH FERENTZ: My guess is yes.

Q. The problem a lot of people have
with the rule, they're reckless?
COACH FERENTZ: Most people would
agree, it's a hard rule to officiate. Hard to officiate.
There are going to be a lot of mixed opinions. My
feeling when it all started was when everybody in
the stadium says, Whoa, that's when a guy should
get tossed out. That's my personal feeling,
personal commentary. A tough rule to officiate.

Q. Did you tell Jordan to approach it
differently?
COACH FERENTZ: I thought he was
trying to avoid targeting. That was my view of it.
But it's easier said than done.

Q. Jake in the past has shown
toughness, stayed in the pocket, gotten hit. In
the second half a couple times he seemed to be
more bothered by the rush than usual, went
down almost without contact. Does that draw
any kind of concern?
COACH FERENTZ: No. I didn't even see
it that way. One time in particular there was
nothing open, there was nowhere to go. He got
down. I didn't see it him being restless on
panicked. There was nothing there. That happens
sometimes.

Q. Are the penalties with the targeting
rule just?

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Coach Ferentz - 09 16 14 5
COACH FERENTZ: The adjustment that
was made, it's revealable now, I think that was a
good step, me personally. Probably to me the next
step is to review it during the week. Then the foul,
that suggestion is what if a guy gets one in the first
half. It's probably a done deal. It's just one of
those deals.
It's one of those things, like a lot of
bang-bang plays. It's open to interpretation. I
think the intent of the rule is outstanding. To me
when everybody in the stadium says, Whoa, look
at that, that's targeting. That's how I look at it. We
saw one of those last year, helmet to helmet on a
guy that didn't have a chance to defend himself. I
get that.
It's a tough thing. It's the way it goes. You
still have to play aggressively.

Q. When Iowa State got its first
touchdown, were you hoping they would
review that when you took a timeout?
COACH FERENTZ: Typically, at least as I
understand it right now, you're probably wasting
timeouts when you do. Anything close is getting
reviewed. Sometimes you take that extra step, I
guess.

Q. Where do you sit with the Beathard
experiment?
COACH FERENTZ: We'll keep talking
about it, yeah. We'll see.

Q. Did you think you might use him
next week?
COACH FERENTZ: It's a thought every
week, for sure. It's a thought every week. Not the
most prominent thought apparently, but it's a
thought every week.

Q. Was Mick supposed to take the field
goal that Marshall took?
COACH FERENTZ: We had some
discussion on that, yeah. Marshall did a great job
on that. I'm hoping that's a good thing for his
confidence. Hopefully it will be.
It's like everything, it's clearly cloudy, I
guess.

Q. I know coaches don't live in the
same world that players do. Quite a bit of
negative culture coming their way. How do you
tell them how to deal with it?
COACH FERENTZ: This comes with any
loss. If it's an in-state deal, amp it up times two,
just like everything last week as well.
We all got to move on. Whether we win or
lose, that's how it goes. We can worry about it out
of season. What we really need to do now is move
on. Pretty simple. Like every week, we need to
worry about what we're doing and matching up
against our opponent.
People that can't do that aren't going to do
very well over the long haul. That's just how it is.
Easier said than done. I understand that totally.

Q. How do you handle it yourself?
COACH FERENTZ: The same thing. It's
the same thing. You got to move on. You got a
day to bleed and a day to feel bad. To that point,
our fans were outstanding Saturday. Three weeks
in a row, great crowds, great enthusiasm. I know
they're all feeling bad, too. Hopefully our players
are more invested. For coaches, this is what we
do. You're not human if it doesn't affect you. But
you can't let it affect you for long. If you do, you're
not going to be around long. That's one of those
deals.

Q. How is Greg Davis doing? Is he
frustrated?
COACH FERENTZ: If we were 500 yards
a game, 35, 40 points a game, he'd be doing great.
But we're not.
It's coaching. He's been around, too. He
knows the drill.

Q. You've been around Ken or
whomever, not scoring enough points, you'll
get negative feedback. You've been with Ken
for so long, your review process is probably
different than it is with Greg. How is it
different?
COACH FERENTZ: It's really not different
at all. We considered a wide range of people in
the job when Ken went to Miami. I like to think I'm
pretty fortunate. I'm surrounded by just a great
group of people on our staff, our support staff.
But Greg is an outstanding teacher. He's
an outstanding human being. He's a solid person.
If you coach, especially if you coach and have a
rsum, a long career, you're going to go through
highs, you're going to go through lows. If you don't
go through the highs, you probably are in a
different profession at some given point. But if

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Coach Ferentz - 09 16 14 6
you're in it long enough, you're going to get your
tail kicked. That's just the way it goes. That's part
of the deal. If you can't deal with it, you probably
have to do something else.
Greg is stellar. Unbelievable. I can go
down the list of everybody on our staff. Weve got
outstanding coaches. If you play, it's the same
way. You can't be a good player, I'm not
suggesting I was ever a good player, but you can't
stay in the game and compete if you're going to go
home and cry every time you get beat. It doesn't
work that way.

Q. You mentioned statistics after three
weeks. You look all over the country, there are
teams getting many yards a game. Why is it so
difficult right here right now?
COACH FERENTZ: I can't answer it. All I
know is that we needed 21 Saturday. That's the
only stat I know. Or we had to hold them to 16.
We didn't accomplish either of those. I've been
here 16 years. Those are really the stats I worry
about, how many points we give up and how many
we get.
Really doesn't matter how you win, what
kind of style of points you get. The objective is to
win the game. We didn't get it done. Like I said,
the magic number Saturday was 21. We came up
short.

Q. You mentioned you meet with Greg
every day.
COACH FERENTZ: Yes.

Q. How involved are you in the game
plan?
COACH FERENTZ: I spend more time in
our offensive room. That's kind of where I hang
out. They'll let me. So I'm totally in tune. Not like
something is going on I'm not aware of.

Q. Memories of last time you played
Pitt?
COACH FERENTZ: How good are they?
I'm a coach, I have a sick mentality. I flash back to
'08. That's the last time we were there. The '11
game was better. We had a chance to win one,
dropped the other. The '11 one is better certainly.
This will be the third head coach that I'll face at the
University of Pittsburgh. Ironic, isn't it?
I feel like we faced Coach Chryst before
because we have. It's just now we're wearing
different uniforms. Looks very similar to a good
Wisconsin football team. That's our focus right
now.

Q. No memories from that fourth
quarter whatsoever?
COACH FERENTZ: I just liked the way it
turned out. That's the day we did get more points
than the opponent. We reached our goal that day.
It was a good day. It wasn't easy. I remember the
guy that was the first-round draft pick last year, he
was a pain in the neck. Tough guy to block.

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