Here's some quick notes about what Eli Drinkwitz talked about at media day:
Recapping Saturday: disappointed in performance and preparation. We all take full responsibility for not playing to our full capability.
Slow start on both sides of the ball, third downs, inability to run the ball or stop the run. Got to correct those
Begins with playing complementary football
"I take full responsibility for everything that happens in this building"
Clear and direct message to the team: one bad day doesn't define the season, the response will.
"How we respond will define who we are as a team"
The focus the rest of the week is how to improve and how to beat UMass
UMass is better than its record
They've led late and they're clearing learning what coach is trying to instill in them
Very multiple in the way they attack, multiple fronts, multiple coverages, multiple blitz schemes
OC is an NC State grade, Drink knows him from his time there
Gonna need to play better defensively, more simplistic and better tackling
Will have hands full in a unique environment
Shouldn't have mattered who was playing quarterback, we should have been better
We haven't had to face this challenge yet this year (rebounding from a loss). It's a chance to see how this team steps up
"We all have a perfection dream, but that's not reality"
Obviously, a lot lacking (pass rush), there's a lot of different things we can do and will challenge ourselves to do better this week
Really hitting on everyone accepting responsibility for lack of execution
We were unable to get into a rhythm, unable to run the football, unable to get a back-and-forth game because of how we opened
They were able to pressure the quarterback because they had no fear of the run game
"Brady did a really good job of scrambling and creating first downs, one was called back, we haven't been hyper-focused on the quarterback run game," but might in the future
Haven't seen anything or asked him. Says "He is fully healthy" about Cook
You look at everything, the preparation, the travel, the practice plans. A slight adjustment can change the direction of a football team
We have officials here on Wednesday's and we need to do a better job of handling it when those guys point out issues (on key penalties)
There needs to be a more concerted effort to find an offensive rhythm
"I didn't see anything on the film that told me we had a lack of effort"
Did not respond on either side of the ball with making the plays necessary
Have to respond better
"I expect more competition from every position on our football team"
"We need to compete to get the best out of our team"
Defensively, got some challenges to bounce back from. Got to get back to being an attacking team
Offensively, figure out how to continue to run the ball effectively to help create explosive plays vertically
Asked about Luther's body language "There's nobody on the team questioning Luther's drive, competitiveness or want to win. Everyone saw him competing for catches at the end of the game."
UMass does an excellent job taking RPOs, and they do a lot of double moves
"We want to play aggressive, but we can't bite on double moves"
Recapping Saturday: disappointed in performance and preparation. We all take full responsibility for not playing to our full capability.
Slow start on both sides of the ball, third downs, inability to run the ball or stop the run. Got to correct those
Begins with playing complementary football
"I take full responsibility for everything that happens in this building"
Clear and direct message to the team: one bad day doesn't define the season, the response will.
"How we respond will define who we are as a team"
The focus the rest of the week is how to improve and how to beat UMass
UMass is better than its record
They've led late and they're clearing learning what coach is trying to instill in them
Very multiple in the way they attack, multiple fronts, multiple coverages, multiple blitz schemes
OC is an NC State grade, Drink knows him from his time there
Gonna need to play better defensively, more simplistic and better tackling
Will have hands full in a unique environment
Shouldn't have mattered who was playing quarterback, we should have been better
We haven't had to face this challenge yet this year (rebounding from a loss). It's a chance to see how this team steps up
"We all have a perfection dream, but that's not reality"
Obviously, a lot lacking (pass rush), there's a lot of different things we can do and will challenge ourselves to do better this week
Really hitting on everyone accepting responsibility for lack of execution
We were unable to get into a rhythm, unable to run the football, unable to get a back-and-forth game because of how we opened
They were able to pressure the quarterback because they had no fear of the run game
"Brady did a really good job of scrambling and creating first downs, one was called back, we haven't been hyper-focused on the quarterback run game," but might in the future
Haven't seen anything or asked him. Says "He is fully healthy" about Cook
You look at everything, the preparation, the travel, the practice plans. A slight adjustment can change the direction of a football team
We have officials here on Wednesday's and we need to do a better job of handling it when those guys point out issues (on key penalties)
There needs to be a more concerted effort to find an offensive rhythm
"I didn't see anything on the film that told me we had a lack of effort"
Did not respond on either side of the ball with making the plays necessary
Have to respond better
"I expect more competition from every position on our football team"
"We need to compete to get the best out of our team"
Defensively, got some challenges to bounce back from. Got to get back to being an attacking team
Offensively, figure out how to continue to run the ball effectively to help create explosive plays vertically
Asked about Luther's body language "There's nobody on the team questioning Luther's drive, competitiveness or want to win. Everyone saw him competing for catches at the end of the game."
UMass does an excellent job taking RPOs, and they do a lot of double moves
"We want to play aggressive, but we can't bite on double moves"
