MIKE LEACH

Question: Can Gabe Marks have the same kind of impact as Michael Crabtree? Their statistics are similar.

Mike Leach: I don't know, he does a good job catching the ball. I think he's still improving. I think he's still steadily improving as player. Michael Crabtree, you're talking about a guy that won two Biletnikoff awards so that's pretty tough company.

Q: Does Stanford's reputation give it a psychological edge?
ML: I don't know, I guess that depends on the other team. It only does if you let it but they are a physical team. They're very physical, especially in the o-line and the d-line.

Q: What do you see in their quarterback, Kevin Hogan?
ML: Good player, does a good job running the unit, which I've always thought its the most important job that a quarterback has, within the scheme that they do. I think he runs the unit real well and it seems like he's probably a pretty good leader. They're going to run first, run it, run it, run it and then they'll take a shot at you and he does a good job of that.

Q: What makes running back Christian McCaffrey so effective?
ML: He's a real versatile guy. I think his versatility is kind of the biggest thing. He can catch it. He can run with it. He's really good with the ball in his hands. Just a complete, overall player, you know.

Q: Have you seen their offensive set with seven offensive linemen and two tight ends?
ML: Yeah, they've been doing that for awhile. Yeah that's just playing to their strengths. They have big people and they get them all out there on the field and they hand it to that guy.

Q: Was the jumbo set you guys used last year cribbed from Stanford?
ML: No. No, we certainly didn't. I prefer it if you have quality receivers, guys that can catch it, when you do your tight set but we were just limited in who we had so we put linemen out there.

Q: How impressive was receiver blocking this week?
ML: I think it was better than average. It wasn't great, it was better than average. It was better than it had been the week before. Maybe not as good as against Oregon.

Q: How important is that for your offense?
ML: Well, it's really important. We'll flat-out not play people if they don't block. Receivers expect people to block for them while quarterbacks are throwing them the ball, so when running backs have the ball or other receivers, they better block.

Q: Is physicality what stands out most about Stanford?
ML: Yeah, they're consistent and they're patient.

Q: The 43-yard screen to Gabe Marks was an example of good downfield blocking, which the offensive line struggled with earlier in the season?
ML: I thought our line did good, I also thought our receivers did good but I thought our offensive line did good. It was a pretty synchronized play and then of course Gabe just followed them. Yeah, I thought that was really a well-executed play.

Q: How do you think Kyrin Priester played?
ML: I thought it was the best game he's had. I think he steadily improves and emerges and yeah, he's getting better and better. We haven't seen his best yet, we haven't seen his best but he's getting closer.

Q: Is the defense doing better at game planning to the opponent?
ML: Well, I think we're better defensively than we've been in the past. I think coaching-wise, I think they're a real committed group that's in the trenches and emphasizes and is more demanding about their scheme. I think we're also more versatile about what we'll do. We have more speed on the field and we'll bring more pressure, and I thought defensively it was real instrumental early in that game to stop Arizona, which gave us the upper hand and of course we never trailed. But then as Arizona rallied we'd rise up either offensively or defensively. But I do think they're playing together well, but I think they can play together better. I think we're improving defensively but defensively we need to work toward that mentality that they can flat-out take away games from people. And I think our defensive players and coaches are working well that direction. We're not there yet, though.

Q: Does Alex Grinch spend more time tweaking scheme and adjusting to opponents than most?
ML: I think the biggest thing he does best is he's committed to the fundamentals and doesn't let them off the hook. The fundamentals, he insists that they're run to precision. It's not like a bunch of elaborate schemes as much as it is good technique, good fundamentals, and emphasis over and over, where your eyes are and where your body is on a particular play. It's not just some big elaborate bag of tricks. It's precision executing what the call is.

Q: What do you think makes the team so good on third or fourth and short?
ML: I think highly-motivated, playing hard. I think guys like Destiny lead that mentality but also just working toward that and being committed to things like that have been an emphasis since camp.

Q: Why do you think the team has been outscored in the third quarter?
ML: I don't know. Don't know for sure. I think, especially the Oregon State game, we just relaxed, which is inexcusable on our part but the biggest thing we need to do is just play complete from start to finish.

Q: Do they play differently when you have a big lead?
ML: Well, I think you should play the same the whole time. You should maximize your performance and your effort the whole time. In the big picture it helps you improve overall, as a player, and then I think it's you want to play at as high a level, as consistently as you possibly can and I think that's very important.

Q: Did you think Gabe Marks' redshirt year helped him and have you ever redshirted a non-freshman before?
ML: I redshirted a lot of guys a lot of different years. At the time Gabe was behind Isiah Myers and I think the redshirt year helped him. I thought he had a great offseason and is steadily improving this season.

Q: Is there a difference between Graham Harrell as a coach and a player?
ML: Well, I don't have a great answer for that. He's the same guy, he's a very steady person. As a player he's playing and as a coach he's coaching so there are definitely some differences but he's just a clear, sharp student of the game type of guy and he does a good job with those receivers. Receivers can kind of be up and down people and I think he does a good job leveling them up and keeping them focused, positive and the rest.

Q: What stats would you like to see included in the postgame books that are not there now?
ML: Well, the most wasted one, the biggest waste of time is time of possession. And what's interesting to me is that was a national obsession for decades and now it's viewed as more of a waste of time. But it probably took 50 years for that to happen.

I don't know how you could blitz stats on there. That would be kind of interesting if you could manage that. It's not like there's a shortage of stats and numbers, if anything there are probably too many. I can't think of anything we're really missing on it. They'll come up with something, though. Well the passing efficiency rating, that's a wasted stat. I don't know any coaches even, with rare exception, that knows how that's tabulated.

And I mean, seriously, NFL, college, they're both different. All over the business, nobody knows how that's added up. Nobody knows what that means. I mean there will be some guy that has a handful of attempts or something like that and they'll say, "Oh, jeez, he's got a great passing efficiency rating.' Well a team's not worried about him. They're worried about a guy that throws for a bunch of touchdowns and a ton of yards, that's what they're worried about.

What's the other stat I was thinking of? Oh, yeah. One thing I think, I think that sacks should be counted against quarterbacks and offensive linemen. In other words, they shouldn't be on the rushing total. I think rushing total should be a running back stat. Not one that's contaminated by the quarterback, if it's the quarterback's fault, or the offensive line's fault. I think sacks should be in a separate category as far as tabulating it and I think tabulating yards, that's a running back stat and I wouldn't mess with sacks in it.

Because you look at it and a quarterback gets sacked, or botches something or even some punter's running in a circle back there or something like that and it doesn't look like the running backs are getting their job done so you have to go back and split it all up to see exactly what the running backs actually did do. I think rushing should be carries where they're trying to run the ball, you know? So like if a quarterback runs forward, fine, that's on the rushing total. But this notion that some guy getting sacked, it doesn't tell me much and then I have to go back and break it down.

Q: Were you following the College GameDay saga this weekend?
ML: I'd like to see them and of course, our flag's in the background of College GameDay all the time, so nobody's been a more loyal supporter of College GameDay than the Cougs. I've had College GameDay a couple times and it's fun, it's exciting for everybody. I don't have a lot of time to enjoy it myself, personally, because I'm kind of preoccupied with the game.

It's a good experience and I know that it's memorable to the schools and fans where they have it.

Q: Can use that as motivation for your team?
ML: Probably won't be on my list of things I run across them. I try to narrow it down to a few, I try not to have too many things going. Our biggest thing is going to be focus on ourselves, be the best team we can be and continue to improve.

Q: Is losing in the past motivation for this team?
ML: Well, the biggest thing is the hard work continues and all these games are going to be hard wards that go to the finish because of the nature of this conference. So we have to be willing to battle and play the entire game. Because there's no easy path and then some of it's just the self-motivation of improving and getting the most out of yourself. That's what's going to be required. Especially here and especially the rest of the way.

Q: Something to be said for some of the older players knowing what it's like to lose a lot?
ML: We'll find out because we haven't really accomplished anything yet. We've just got to go out there and win this game this week.

Q: Do you feel like they're handling the winning well?
ML: We just need to take each one of them separate, just do each one of them separate. Worry about one play at a time.

Q:  Do you worry about building up this game?
ML: Well they need to handle it but I have handled it as little as possible. There's nothing special about this game, we've just got to go out and play the best we can. There aren't special games and there aren't special plays, either. You make the most out of them and then do the next one, and then do it one more time. That's what we've got to focus on.

Q: You said you were going to deliver a message on special teams last week. Do you think it got across?
ML: Well, it was a bad punt and we missed four tackles, so I think only a portion of it got across. So, yeah, I mean they can't miss four tackles and he can't have almost a non-hangtime line drive.
 

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