Coach Crowe's OVC Presser

WWW.JSUGamecocksports.com has outstanding video of JSU's regular press conference yesterday, including interviews with Coach Crowe, Ryan Perrilloux and Torrey Davis. However, Coach Crowe also spoke to the OVC media yesterday. Here are the highlights from that conference:

On the Tech game

We got off to a bad start. We got in a hole pretty early. But then I think we did things to be competitive even though the score never represented it. I thought we played more competitive than the score as the game went on.

On where JSU is:

I like our football team. I think right now we have a long way to go in the kicking game. Right now we are a team that is filled with sophomores, really a sprinkling of freshmen and some pretty dynamic older players that are leading the way. I expect us to get better from our experiences. There was enough to take out of that game going forward to indicate that we can be the football team we want to be.

Was he rooting for Florida State

I don't know if it makes any difference. If you look at Coach Bowden's history- he's from Birmingham, I'm from Birmingham- that's one reason we got this game because we did have a relationship. . . The history represents that if they lose an early game close they still may win the national championship. Its happened. There is a lot of 11-1 and 12-1 seasons that started out just like this one. I think they are going to be pretty much the same football team no matter how that game worked out.

On whether the money games will pay for the new stadium:

We ought to be making a whole lot more money. These are not just Division 1 games, these are real football teams. Georgia Tech is the best offensive team in the ACC last year and this version is better than last year . . . We didn't make enough money in these two games, but I do think going forward that we said that we would play this caliber of players for the caliber of money that you are supposed to get for playing them. I do think it gives you some perspective. If you want to find out how good you are, you may as well put it out there against some people that you know are pretty good. . . .

Nobody in the country has played two top twenty teams. . . . [ESPN scrolls the top 25] and there is only one name that has come up two weeks in a row and its Jacksonville State besides the people that are in the Top 25.

On Ivory:

Ques had a good game. He threw for over 60% completions. He managed the game very well. If you want to point to some things and I think that they go to management: you had two guys carry the ball for us that averaged better than 5 yards per carry; they had 21 first downs we had 20; if you call a sustained drive 7 or more plays, they had 1 we had 3; he went the length of the field and put us in the end zone at the end of the game running the no huddle; the two people that scored at the end of the game were both freshmen. He managed all that.

On getting Perrilloux back

There is not but one Ryan Perrilloux. You don't trot somebody out there and expect the same things to happen. Ryan can play on the field with Florida State and Georgia Tech and make plays that maybe even other people they play all year can't make. So we will see how it goes. Its great to have him back. He has certainly paid a heavy price for not really a reflection of where he is at and what he means to us and what his accountability [has been].

On the Challenge of Playing Tech and FSU back to back


There are some disadvantages and they are different. It was ultimate power football against Georgia Tech . . . and now you are playing the other side. You go from pure power to pure speed. Maybe the most powerful offense one week in the country. Maybe the fastest the next week. I don't know what you say other than that's what's on the schedule.