Indiana University Athletics
Cam Cameron's Tuesday Press Conference
11/17/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
Cam Cameron's Tuesday Press Conference
"Well, obviously it was nice to see our guys come back and play the way we played earlier in the year. It was nice to see that at the end of the game we found a way finish the game and win the game against Minnesota. Purdue is obviously a big challenge. Look at the teams they've been beaten by-Notre Dame, Southern Cal, Wisconsin, Penn State are all very good football teams. I think this Purdue team is better than last year's Purdue team. We've got a big challenge ahead us. It's an Indiana-Purdue game and our guys will be excited to play and I'm sure their guys will be excited to play. It should be a heck of a football game."
On how Purdue QB Drew Brees compares to other QB's IU has faced this
season
"Obviously they're all good. I look at last year when they had Billy
Dicken and there's a guy who basically didn't play for four years and all
of the sudden he's first-team All-Big Ten. I thought that was one of the
finest jobs I had seen in quarterbacking in quite some time. This guy (Drew
Brees) has came in and exceeded that. He's got more mobility than people
believe. He can run so he can hurt you running the football. He's extremely
accurate. I think his arm is stronger than (Tim) Couch and (Joe) Germaine.
This guy is something. He really is. If you look at the film, he's got
great poise and a great feel for what they want him to do. They've done
a great job of coaching. He doesn't force the ball very often."
Kentucky's offense vs. Purdue's offense
"They're two different offenses. Kentucky is a two-back offense
that uses the one-back. This team (Purdue) is a one-back offense that uses
no backs. They spread you out more. They are a lot deeper right now at
receiver than Kentucky is. They've got really five or six good receivers.
All of them can run, catch the ball well, and understand what they're trying
to do with the football. There's a lot of differences (between the two
offenses)."
On the last game of the season and injuries
"The first thing is you're not going to put a guy in a position
where he can seriously injure himself by playing banged up. At some point
in time it's just pain and not really an injury. It's just bumps and bruises
and those kind of pains. It also depends on the depth. In some cases you
may not have anybody but that guy (that is injured). I basically told our
team at the hotel on Friday night that if you're breathing on Saturday you're
playing. It will be the same this week. If you make the trip and are breathing,
you're playing."
On Marcus Floyd 's play vs. Minnesota
"I thought that was the best he's played because we're asking our
tailbacks to do some blocking and we have to do more than just run the option.
He took a couple of good hits and hung on to the football. He's a sophomore
who probably shouldn't have played last year but we had to play him. He's
getting better."
On Chris Gall's play vs. Minnesota
"That was the key for us to run the football. He (Chris Gall)
was able to block (Minn. SS Tyrone) Carter at times. All those long runs,
Antwaan had a couple, and on the option where Marcus (Floyd) scored, Chris
Gall's block was the key block."
On Indiana's red-zone scoring
"I think it's probably because we're throwing the ball less down
there. Antwaan's clever down there. He can find a crease and at times
make something out of nothing. We've got to continue to do that (score).
Against any team, especially against a team like Purdue, when you get down
there (red zone) you need to come away with points no matter how you do
it. You're always looking for ways against an offense like Purdue to possess
the football and score when you are down there."
On Purdue's offense
"It's a good offense. Joe (Tiller) has been running it for close
to 20 years. You've got some formations where you spread people out. The
teams that have given them problems are teams that have done some unorthodox
type things. I thought Michigan State at times just did a good job of covering.
If you're going to defend this type of offense you've got to get some corners
in your program. You've also got to have linebackers that can run and play
in space. Penn State has the ability to do that. They don't have a ton
of corners but they've got a lot of linebackers that can play in space.
If you look at the Michigan State game, I thought the corners were a big
factor and the pass rush. You look at the Southern Cal game and they've
got some good corners. In the Wisconsin game, Wisconsin gave up a lot of
yardage. When they got down inside the 20, they (Wisconsin) did a nice
job against them. It's a heck of an offense. You're always evaluating
an offense for two reasons. One to try and stop it, and two, to figure
out things that you can do that are in that offense."
Purdue inside the 20
"Anytime you can make a team kick field goals you're going to feel
good about what you are doing. We haven't been real successful at that.
They throw fades and they do a lot of clever things down there. They run
the shovel pass and the draw. They can still run the football. They put
five good receivers out there and find your weakest player in defending
the pass and just go after him."
On the area the team has shown the most progress this season
"Attitude and that means a lot of things. That's not to say that
we had a negative attitude last year. Just the attitude it takes on a day-to-day
basis in order to improve. They've (the players) really bought into everything
we've asked them to do. It starts with that kind of attitude."
Cameron's view of the rivalry between Purdue and IU
"Everybody knows Lee Corso. Coach Corso talked about Purdue every
single week. He talked about it in his home visit when he recruited you.
He always had a watch on that said 'Beat Purdue.' I don't know if you
guys ever knew that. Everyday when he would see you, all summer or whenever,
he would say 'What did you do to beat Purdue today?' Above his door in
his office it said 'Beat Purdue.' He would conclude every meeting with
'and remember Beat Purdue.' So you hear that for four years and we had
a lot of great games when I was here as a player. Everywhere you go around
the state, there's somebody there from Indiana and somebody there from Purdue.
It's a year around rivalry. There's been a lot of great games, not only
here but in West Lafayette. It just has a ton of meaning. My father in
law has a degree from Indiana and a degree from Purdue. So it goes on and
on and on."
