Washington State football coach Mike Leach addressed the media during WSU's weekly Monday press conference. The video is courtesy of WSU athletics and a transcription is after the jump.

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(When the offense struggles does that usually mean Connor is under pressure?)

 

Not always. I mean sometimes. I thought we protected him inconsistently the last game but we did move the ball well and still had some very productive periods on offense. I didn't think it was our most synchronized effort but there are a lot of people that would like to move it as well as we did and score as many points as we did. I didn't think we were consistent, I thought we could have been better. I thought we started slow but the offensive line's a big part of it. You get bigger runs and you get better protection. They're the most important position on offense.

 

(Have they played as well the last two weeks as they did earlier in the season?)

 

I thought they played well against Utah. I didn't think last game was their best performance but I thought it's certainly not just them. I've seen Connor play better, I've seen our backs play better, I've seen our receivers play better. I thought Vince played a really strong, tough game without some of those other guys went soft and looked for the sideline a little bit.

(Is containing USC's pass rush with Leonard Williams going to be a big factor on Saturday?)

 

I think he's a factor no matter what. Big, strong guy (who) commands attention. He commands a little bit. Everybody's got somebody who's pretty good and sometimes they're good in combination but individually, he's a really good player.

 

(Does commanding attention mean offensive line shifts or just Connor being aware of his location?)

 

A little of both, a little of both and then just understanding that you've got to make things happen kind of quickly.

 

(What does the defense need to do to create more turnovers?)

 

One thing is we need a consistent lineup in the secondary, which we've struggled to have. I mean we had three guys back there last week that combined have probably played about a half of Division I football. We've got to get a cohesive unit back there that's played together a little bit, I think would be very helpful. That's the biggest thing, we have to mature in the secondary and play better there.

 

(Is the athleticism that much greater in these young players than the upperclassmen they're jumping over?)

 

Well, they've been playing better. They've been playing better but it's been a revolving door with who's ready to go and who's not.

 

(Is what they're doing in practice and the coaching you're giving them not translating as well lately?)

 

I think we don't play, we're limited in our numbers and I think that we're thin and sometimes it's a fatigue factor as there are some that aren't ready to go.

 

(Has the coaching that you've seen met your expectations?)

 

Well, I think you always try to improve with regard to that. That'd be like me asking you to compare a bunch of stories and say alright, give me your last 20 stories. Do they all meet your satisfaction and your specifications. You're always shooting for the best and for perfection and sometimes you come closer than others.

 

(Their running back, Javorious Allen, is already over 1,000 rushing yards. How big an emphasis is he?)

 

Good, very explosive player. One of the best running backs in the league. Starting to get the attention he deserves, I think. He's not one of the first guys you've heard of but I think he's really having a good year. Very explosive and strong.

(How much of Kessler's success is due to Allen's emergence?)

 

I don't think there's any question. I think it's had a huge factor and I think they do simpler stuff.

 

(How did you feel about the sideline attitude during the Arizona game?)

 

Mixed. We could have been better there, I thought, for sure.

 

(The timeout you called against Utah seemed like call of a rallying point for the team. You've called a few similar ones in similar situations – do you feel those messages are still getting through?)

 

Well, you always call timeouts. You're going to call timeouts no matter what. We'll continue to call timeouts.

(When you speak to the team do you feel like they're taking the coaching as well?)

 

Yes, if they don't then I replace them.

 

(What was the thinking behind not having a Sunday practice this week?)

 

It's that time of year.

(To give them more rest?)

 

It's late in the season. We've done the same thing every year and nearly everybody else does it, too.

(How did you feel the defense responded to the uptempo offense of Arizona?)

 

I thought upfront we did some good things. I thought late in the game, whether it was getting our calls in or getting lined up, I thought late in the game they got us about three times. Early in the game we didn’t have much problem with the tempo itself.

(How do you avoid starting slow against USC?)

I don't think it's always technical, I think getting all kinds of moving parts together at the beginning of a game. We have our struggles with Top-25 teams. So does everybody else. So, we're gonna fight through it.

 

(Where have you seen this team make strides this season?)

 

I think, offensively, we're moving the ball as good as anybody in the country. We're not as consistent as we might be but we move the ball very well. I'd say those are definite strides because we're doing it with a fairly young group there, too.

Then we've been erratic. I thought up front we've done some good things as far as defensive line, as far as guys pushing and emerging and stuff like that. It's just been having to operate by committee at some of the other positions I think has been a problem.

 

(How does this team compare to your first team?)

 

Better, definitely better. The whole league's better, too. Better, they play harder. Shoot, when I first got here the wheels would blow off right off the top, right away. We had a lot of guys in that group that weren't terribly committed.

(Is it more of a hurdle mentally than physically right now?)

 

I think it's both, I think it's both. I mean, I don’t know how much you exercise but what were you like as a senior in high school compared to a senior in college? I mean, definitely you improve physically, too. But I think mentally is a part of it too. Freshman year in college you get there that first year and then dealing with the dynamics of change I think is a tall order and you get better as you go. Although there's a handful that, I mean I can think of guys that just worked their way out of college with other demons.

(Do you spend much time coaching the mental side?)

 

Yes, you always do.

 

(Are you doing that more now than coming out of fall camp?)

 

I can't say more, your approach is different but you always do some of that.

 

(Is USC completely different under coach Sarkisian than a year ago?)

 

A little bit, not a ton. Of course defensively they give you some space but then they'll also play some man and then offensively similar, they're kind of a run, play-action group and that's what they were last year. It seems like they've kind of pared down a little bit of what they did last year. Their focused in on more specifics it looks like.

(Do you expect another game in the trenches?)

 

It will be very important. Our defensive line being able to disrupt their running game and then our offensive line being able to give us enough time to move the ball, so yeah it will be a big factor?)

 

(How did you like Dom lining up on the right side?)

 

I thought it was OK. I thought he could have finished the game better but I think he does a quality job and I thought he did some good stuff. We've been doing that for a little bit.

 

(Injury-wise how are you looking, especially with River?)

 

We don't talk about that, as you know.

 

(Do you think the team has consistently improved?)

 

I do think we've improved for the most part. I think that of course we've got opponents that have improved, too. We've battled depth so from that standpoint we might be playing different guys at times but of those specific guys have improved, that's probably true, they have, but are they better than the guys we've had to replace? That's probably maybe not true.

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