McDonnell has the answers
The University of New Hampshire will meet the University of Northern Iowa in the Football Championship Subdivision playoffs Saturday. The game will be played at the UNI Dome, and is scheduled to start at 7:35 p.m.
UNH (7-4) is one of five Colonial Athletic Association schools in the 16-team playoff field. Massachusetts, James Madison, Richmond and Delaware are the others.
Northern Iowa (11-0) is the tournament's No. 1 seed. Northern Iowa's unbeaten season included a 24-13 victory over Iowa State.
This is UNH's sixth appearance in the FCS playoffs. The Wildcats are 3-5 in playoff games. Northern Iowa is making its 13th playoff appearance. The Panthers are 15-12, and that includes a 24-21 playoff victory over UNH in 2005.
UNH coach Sean McDonnell provided the following answers during Monday's CAA conference call with the media:
Question: Did you guys really feel you had a shot at the playoff spot and what was the emotion like? It seemed like after the game last week (a 39-14 victory over Maine) everybody was resigned to the fact that that was it and saying their goodbyes, then all of a sudden -- wham! -- you're in. Just wondering if you could comment on the emotional roller coaster that you were on and what the players are feeling?
McDonnell: We played early (noon) and after the game knowing for the most part that over the course of history there had only been one or two 7-4 teams that had gotten in ... and you're sitting there and then all of a sudden you come up after the game an you see that a couple things have swung your way. Colgate lost a game. Georgia Southern is losing a game and there's a little bit of life going on. Realistically, I'm sitting there with the staff and we're thinking it's gonna be tough to take five from a league. And then later in the night you watch the Villanova/Delaware game and Villanova beats Delaware and there's another 7-4 team that's very, very deserving to be in. A great football team. So you go through all that and then you wake up the next day and we planned just to have the seniors -- a couple guys in the locker room -- and that's what we did. We're sitting there and then it came up on the board. I tilted my head, wanted to make sure I was seeing what I saw. We got in. Just to see the looks on our seniors' faces. Knowing they got another opportunity to play a football game. They got an opportunity to play for a national championship, and I think deep in our hearts we believe we're one of the top 16 teams in the country, because of the strength of schedule, because of the competition we played, because of the way we played teams. We have an opportunity. Right now everybody's 0-0 coming into this weekend.
Question: Have you gotten any tape of Northern Iowa? What are your initial thoughts about them and is it significant to play a team that beat you a couple years ago?
McDonnell: First, we don't have any tape yet. It's very tough for both of us to get to and from their place to our place. We expect to get it in around noontime (Monday). We have the tape from two years ago. We've watched that a couple times already. That's the only thing we have on them. Obviously we played them at our place. A tremendous football team. They're very deserving of the No. 1 ranking. They do it in all phases of the game. They do it very well. I think it all starts with their offense. They're very effective running the football. They're a big team. They average about 306 pounds on the offensive line. got a 279-pound tight end. One of the receivers is 227 pounds, so they're a big, physical team. They run it very well with Corey Lewis and I'm really impressed with (quarterback) Eric Sanders, the kid who played against us here. Defensively, they don't let people run the ball against them. I think they've picked off 21 passes this year. They have a good turnover ratio. They have 31 turnovers to only 12. We're playing a team that has beaten a Division I-A team and is the No. 1 team in the country for a reason. We have our hands full with them.
Question: Are you encouraged going in by the way the defense played against Maine? You said it after the game, it was one of the better defensive efforts of the season for your team. Is that encouraging for you?
McDonnell: Yeah, it is. Knowing that if we can stay healthy and keep guys alive we have a chance to be OK and slow people down. I thought we played all right for a half against (Massachusetts) the week before. Got worn down a little bit. A couple guys got injured during the game and didn't play as much as we needed in the second half. It's gonna come back to see if we can stop the run against them and making sure we don't turn the ball over. If we can slow them down running the football and keep the ball in our hands we got a shot to win the football game. That's about it.
Question: I know you'd rather go in not with the four losses and have locked up (a playoff berth) earlier, but is there any thought that you may play a little looser? Playing with house money -- that sort of attitude?
McDonnell: I don't know. I know one thing. As I told the kids, it doesn't matter what's gonna be read, what's gonna be said, anything about it because right now we're playing and that's the only thing that's important.
Question: Can you contrast the moods. There's giddiness in the field house (Sunday) and then you come to work today and look at the opponent you guys are taking on. They're scoring 36 points a game, giving up maybe 13. Reality kind of set in a little bit?
McDonnell: You're in this tournament for a reason and the team that's the No. 1 team in the country is obviously a very good football team and has not only done it against great competition within their league, but also beat some good teams outside the league including I-A opponent Iowa State. Also, the reality sits in that we're in a pretty good league and the teams that we have played this year that are in this league have given us some battle tests that we're gonna need to play in the playoffs. I think over the course of these last three years the teams that we have played in our conference have made us a better postseason team. Does it add up this year? I'm not sure, but I think our kids, our coaches, know that we've been here before. I think we're all very, very excited to have an opportunity to represent not only the CAA, but the University of New Hampshire as well.
Question: When you look at Ricky Santos' numbers you kind of wonder, "How do these guys ever lose?" When you do have trouble, what's gone wrong for you this year?
McDonnell: Couple things. Our defense has not stopped the other team in the run game. We have not created turnovers on defense, and (as a result) on offense we've not had the ball in our hands. When we've had it we've turned the ball over. You go to the game we lost to Northeastern late in the year, they ran the ball very effectively and held it out of our hands. Uncharacteristically for our team we had three turnovers in that game. You go to the University of Massachusetts game, we turned the ball over twice in that game and in the second half we didn't stop the run. If people know who we are they know that offense has been our forte here for a long time, When we've been good, when we've been able to play successful football, we've been able to create some turnovers. I look at Northern Iowa and I see a team that doesn't turn it over. I look at Northern Iowa and I see a team that runs it well. I look at Northern Iowa and I see a team that stops the run. We're gonna have our hands full. Coach Farley has done an unbelievable job with that program. We're just lucky to be playing in the tournament.
