Alabama / LSU postgame interviews with Brodie Croyle, Tyrone Prothro, Charlie Peprah, Shaud Williams, Mike Shula, Joe Kines, Dave Rader

These comments came following the 2003 LSU game as Coach Shula answered questions from the press pool ...

Coach Mike Shula … It’s difficult when you don’t play well against a good football team. And they’re good. They’re very deserving of their #3 ranking. They’re big and strong and fast. We talked about getting off to a good start, and then we didn’t get off to a good start and lost some momentum. Offensively, we couldn’t make a first down early in the game. They got up on us with 10 points, and then at the half we made some plays on some underneath route, but just couldn’t get any points out of it. The beginning of the third quarter, we got the turnover from Charlie Peprah. What a great play on his part. And then we don’t get any points out of that because we didn’t get a first down and then missed the field goal. That took the wind out of our sails a little bit. But our guys fought hard. It’s disappointing and we’re not going to make any excuses. Again, it starts with me. So we’ll continue to work as hard as we can to get things fixed. We all know what’s coming next week with the Auburn game. So we’ve got to get this looked at and corrected and get it out of our system as fast as we can. We’ve got to get ready to go down to Auburn and play solid, winning football. Obviously, Ray Hudson did not play today. We made the decision not to play him. He’s not suspended, but we didn’t play him today. As far as him playing next week, that’s a decision we’ll make later. We’re still gathering information and that’s about as much as I want to say because we’ve got team rules and team policies. We’re going to follow those and handle it within our own framework and not make it public. That’s what we’ve done since I’ve been here. It was a disappointing night, but we’ve got to find a way to bounce back and get ready for Auburn.

He’s got good poise and a strong arm and is accurate. We’ve played against some good quarterbacks in the SEC and then Jason White for Oklahoma. But Mauck looked like he was playing with a lot of confidence and playing in a groove. Of course, he’s got some weapons to get the ball to and he does a good job of that. They do some “check with me”s that gets their team in the right play

Can you talk about the variety of blitzing they used and what you tried to do to counter act that?

They have a bigger variety than most teams. Last week, we saw some blitzes where they were bringing a lot more than we could protect. But on the third play of that game, we get the ball out quick and it’s an 86 yard touchdown. This week, we had some chances against some one-on-ones where we didn’t quite execute it. We made some mistakes when they weren’t blitzing everyone too. They’re good at it, and that makes you make mistakes. Brodie hung in there tough, but just didn’t execute well in the passing game. We talked to our guys about continuing to fight. If you hit a play against the blitz then you’re back in the game. Obviously, we didn’t.

Can you talk about the first quarter and a half where (LSU punt returner) Skyler Green kept changing field position on you and how that affected you offense?

Well, we’ve got to make first downs. We’ve just got to execute better. LSU understand that they need to get you in second and long, and they put a lot of guys up inside to take the run away. In my opinion, they can afford to do that more than other teams because they have good cover corners. They do a nice job. That’s why they’re that effective defensively.

It was good to get him back in there. He’s about 100 percent. He had that spell where he was hurt during the year. But I don’t think any of the backs could get into a groove when we weren’t making first downs. But he had a couple of plays where he bounced it outside and made some yards. We’d like to see more of that with everybody, not just Ken.

I think they are comparable. They’re different as far as their personnel and their schemes. But productivity-wise, they’re neck and neck in my opinion.

Tyrone Prothro kind of stepped into the spotlight tonight. Is he becoming one of your go-to guys?

Yeah, he’s a true freshman that’s making plays. Even when he makes mistakes, he still makes plays. He let that short kick drop, but then picked it up and breaks about three tackles. We’ve got to find ways to get him the ball. He’s still in the learning process, but watching he and Brodie work together made you feel god about their future together.

Can you talk about Skyler Green’s punt return in the first quarter? Were you kicking to him?

Yeah. The punt team takes all eleven guys, as we all know. It takes the punter to hang the ball up there, and it takes our guys to get off blocks and cover. A lot of that is speed and getting in the right position and not let yourself get blocked. And that’s not even talking about the returners, and LSU has two of the best in the conference if not in the country. But that gave them field position and put our defense in a bind. We just want to make some first downs offensively just to sway the field position if nothing else. But they don’t have man weaknesses.

How tough is it for the seniors to leave their last game at Bryant Denny with a loss?

It’s tough for all of us to swallow. They’re disappointed but the main thing they can’t do is have their heads hanging. We’ve got to swallow this, take it on the chin, but we’ve got to stay together as a football team. I know we will because we’ve done that all year. And we’ve got to move on because we have a big game next week.

Click on the name for parts of their post-game interviews ..
Coach Mike Shula (Head Coach)

Brodie Croyle (#12 So. QB, 6-3 200 lbs. Rainbow City, AL - Westbrook Christian High)

Charlie Peprah (#26 So. LCB, 5-10 189 lbs. Plano, TX - Plano East High School)

Reposting small portions of these pages is allowed on message boards and chat boards by members. All other reuse is prohibited.
© 2003 Druid City Online Publishing