BOBBY PETRINO: We had a nice win last week against Wake Forest on the road. It was hard fought. I think Wake played very well and our defense had a great game. We worked hard on practice, looking forward to the game Saturday.
Q. I was wanting to get an injury update on the guys injured on Monday, Lamar, Rankins, Bonnafon, Tyler, Dee Smith, anybody that has been banged up?
BOBBY PETRINO: Well, we’re hopeful that they’ll all be ready. We’ve got some time left in the week. We had guys out there practicing yesterday, so we’re hopeful and feel like they’ll all be ready to go. We’re encouraged that they’ll all be ready to go.
Q. Has Lamar (Jackson) shown any effects of being slowed by the ankle at all or is he moving about as well as he was before?
BOBBY PETRINO: He moved around well yesterday.
Q. You had mentioned the other day just hoping to kind of ramp up the offense a little bit some more. What are some things you’d like to see out of the offensive line specifically that maybe has led to some of the sacks and things the last couple weeks?
BOBBY PETRINO: Well, first and foremost, we’ve got to quit hurting ourselves with mistakes and penalties because that sets us backward and gets us in bad situations, so we’ve got to continue to work on that. Pass protection is 11 men working together. The receivers being on time, the quarterback understanding what’s going on and getting the ball out on time, and the offensive line communicating. We feel like our communication broke down a little bit last week, so we’re working really hard on that.
Q. And the one thing additionally from me is how have you thought that Devonte Fields has bounced back the last couple weeks after you said you had a brief meeting with him after the Florida State game?
BOBBY PETRINO: Well, he had his best game last week. He had his most productive game as far as tackles, tackles for loss, hurries on the quarterback, sack, so I was very encouraged the way he came back, and like I said, he had his best game against Wake Forest.
Q. Obviously you talk about ramping up the offense. Does part of you go, well, we’re in November now, we are what we are and we’re going to have to win 21-20, 21-14 type games this year?
BOBBY PETRINO: No, never think that. We always feel like we’re going to get better and we’re going to start moving the ball. We had some games last year where we struggled and we played really well on offense in the month of November. We’re going to go with that one, that we’re going to come out and play well in the month of November.
Q. Syracuse, just their offense, the biggest threats that you’re seeing on film and kind of going into this game how you’re assessing the offense?
BOBBY PETRINO: Well, I think they’ve been running the ball well. They’ve got a nice scheme that they’ve got going. I think they feel comfortable with it. They get help because the quarterback can also run and run option, and I’m impressed with the way he delivers the ball. I feel like that they’ve improved a lot on offense, and we’ve got to do a good job of really stopping the run, particularly on 1st and 2nd down.
Q. And then as far as defensively just what you can say about their blitzing schemes and the way that they attack the quarterback, just what you’ve been seeing?
BOBBY PETRINO: Yeah, they’ve always given you a lot of pressure. You know, we go back and watch last year’s game against us and then their games this year, and they do a great job of really bringing guys from both sides of the field and disguising. I think they’ve worked hard on their disguising, and they’re doing a nice job of that. So it’s going to be important for us to get to 3rd and medium and 3rd and short and stay out of 3rd and long.
Q. When you’re watching Syracuse on film, can you talk about Brisly Estime I think is how you pronounce it? He’s leading the league in punt returns, seems to be a pretty elusive guy. How do you scheme for that or how big a threat is that?
BOBBY PETRINO: Yeah, what we need to do is make sure we get the hang time that we’ve been getting. That’s certainly been one of our strengths of our punt cover team and make sure we get down the field and cage them in. They do a nice job of holding people up at the line of scrimmage and blocking for him, and then he’s really quick when he catches the ball. They usually makes the first guy miss, and he’s done a really nice job of returning punts for them.
Q. He’s also a kickoff return guy. Hasn’t been quite as effective, but he’s still done some damage in that area, too. He seems to be their big-play threat in that regard; is that fair?
BOBBY PETRINO: Yeah, no doubt about it. He’s been a guy that has made big plays for them. They seem to be getting him the ball more and more on offense, also. I think it’ll be a good match-up because we felt good about our kickoff coverage team and we felt good about our punt team, so it’s certainly something that we’re looking forward to.
