Franklin: Scott could have had 250 Yards

Here is some of the interview with offensive coordinator James Franklin tonight:

Q: Did Steffy practice?
No. Nothing, not yesterday, not today.

Q: How much would he have to practice in order to have a reasonable chance to play Saturday?
I think coach’s rule is you have to practice by Wednesday and definitely by Thursday. If I remember correctly.

Q: So tomorrow is a big day for him?
Yes, I say it is very questionable.

Q: Was he trying to practice some yesterday?
That is the type of kid he is. He was going to try to go if at all possible. That didn’t make a whole lot of sense to me.

Q: Can you evaluate how he played yesterday?
I don’t think we played very well, obviously. We only scored 14 points, and that is as a full group. If you really watch the film, and really watch the game, we had a chance to have a lot of big plays and score a lot of points. We just didn’t do it. Quarterback. O-line. Running back. Da’Rel Scott could have had 250 yards rushing very easily. As a group we didn’t play well. As the quarterbacks, we didn’t play well. It’s the first game. We are going to grow and learn from it.

Q: Did the X-ray results come back?
I’ll find out when coach finds out and let him discuss that.

Q: With all the success you had running…
At some point, we said let’s run the ball more in practice to get that going. We ran the ball well in the game. Our timing was not the same in the passing game, so we have to get that going for a number of reasons. I was pleased with that, but at the same time I know we are going to have to throw to be successful, so I was trying to mix the throws when we could. We had some more shot plays. We tried to get the ball down the field, but the protection broke down and some other things happened. I was pleased with the running game, but I expect Da’Rel Scott, who is as explosive as any back in the country, to not get caught on a couple of those. We talked about that. He has very high expectations of himself too. Very pleased with the Meggett kid. Very pleased with how we blocked upfront. Hopefully Morgan Green back will help, too.

Q: Do you feel you left a lot of big plays on the field that were there?
Very much so. A bunch of runs that we got caught on. I was surprised Darrius didn’t get out on one play. Da’Rel could have rushed for 250 easy. The throw to Darrius, if we throw that two yards longer, he is still running into the end zone. We had some missed assignments on that play as well. The running back went the wrong way in protection. Typical first game mistakes. How many points, yards and plays that we left on the field.

Q: Getting more vertical too?
We definitely want to get the ball down field more. There is a time or place for that. The better you are on first down, the more chances you can take. Everyone on our team had issues that are correctable. One thing I talked about: I coach extremely hard Monday through Friday. On Saturday, just play. I want them to do the same with practice. Practice with a sense or urgency then don’t change anything with the game. It’s good enough.

Q: What did you think of Portis’s play, is there an impetus to get a pass or two in for him?
Definitely. We had a couple situations where things weren’t called correctly, formationally. We will get that cleaned up. He was a little nervous. His first action in two years. That will grow.

Question about being conservative
I became more conservative because we weren’t throwing the ball well. I am a big believer in momentum. We started that but didn’t build on it. And the 30 yard line seemed to give us problems all day long. We were running the ball well and weren’t throwing the ball well.