Tuesday, September 18, 2007

Calhoun press conference recap

Before I get to the press conference, a couple of notes from practice. …

-For several stretches of Tuesday afternoon’s session, Air Force managers blasted music out of two large speakers so the Falcons’ offense could get used to playing with crowd noise. Instead of the BYU fight song, however, there were selections from rappers Busta Rhymes and Chingy and plenty of heavy metal from Metallica.

“Little different, huh?” student coach Noah Garguile said, smiling. Former coach Fisher “DeBerry would’ve had Frank Sinatra or something.”

First-year coach Troy Calhoun had nothing to do with the Deejays’ choices, however.

“I hope none of our coaches selected that music,” he said. “The music selection was horrible.”

Asked what he would have selected, Calhoun said: “There might have been a little George Strait. It would have been a heck of a lot better than what we had, that’s for sure.”

But the music served a purpose.

“You’ve got to be able to communicate with noise,” Calhoun said. “Otherwise your guys get out on Saturdays and you’ve got guys jumping (offsides) or real late off the ball. I just think it helps concentration-wise.”

-Air Force senior tailback Kip McCarthy spent Tuesday working with strength and conditioning coach Matt McGettigan. Calhoun said McCarthy likely would not play Saturday.

“Based upon what I saw today, he won’t go,” Calhoun said. “It’ll be Chad Smith, Savier Stephens and maybe Jimmy Ollis. The only reason I say maybe is because there were some spots today where he wasn’t very sharp. Maybe that’s because he’s got a little bit of a dinged-up ankle.”

On to the press conference:

-Calhoun’s opening statement: “We get to go on the road again, and we’ve got to go to a tough place, playing in Provo, one where we’ve had some struggles. And yet, I think the key is this: We’ve got to come out of this one a much better football team. I’m just telling you candidly, if we go over there and our offense struggles and doesn’t really put some significant action together until the fourth quarter, and defensively it’s 600 yards and 60 points, that’s not going to help us over the long haul of the season. We better have our necks bowed and ready to go.”

-Calhoun on whether Air Force can take some momentum from last Thursday’s dramatic overtime victory over TCU: “It doesn’t hurt you. I always thought what’s most important is that you aren’t hung over one way or the other emotionally. I think you’ve got to have enough stability about you, enough backbone, enough toughness that you learn from the game that you’ve just played, but you’ve got to be able to get your motor set on heading straight ahead.”

-Calhoun on BYU quarterback Max Hall: “You watch the guy, and you’ve heard the comparisons, and I think they’re adequate parallels between him and John Beck (the quarterback Hall replaced at BYU). He’s got a knack for throwing the ball on time, in rhythm. And yet at the same time, he’s got an ability to flush and make off-schedule plays. He’s an older guy, he’s got a couple starts under his belt.”

-On playing in Provo: “You’re looking at a stadium where it’s a great atmosphere for college football. It tends to be filled to the gills and very supportive. A place where the crowd’s close to field and their students, their graduates, their supporters over there have a lot of pride in their university.”

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