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Published Sep 5, 2024
Full Recap of O'Brien WEEI Interview On Thursday
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Kevin Stone  •  EagleAction
Staff Writer
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@kstone06

Full transcription of what Bill O'Brien said on The Greg Hill Show Thursday morning with Hill, Jermaine Wiggins and BC alum Courtney Cox...

On if he was surprised Bill Belichcik joined Instagram

"I was and then you know what was classic, is he called it 'Instaface,' which clearly he knows it's not Instaface, it's Instagram. But, yeah, I was pretty surprised by that, but, he's a busy guy. He's got a lot going on. That's pretty cool, he's staying busy, he's staying busy in his year off."

On if Belichick doing all these media gigs gives him the impression he won't coach again

"No. No. I think one of the things with him is, if you look at everything he's doing, it has something to do with football. So, he's able to watch the tape and talk football with all the different people he's talking to and review games, things like that. I think he's definitely staying sharp in my opinion, to be a coach again."

On the student reaction after the FSU win

"Yeah, it was awesome. We have a couple guys on the staff who have kids that go to school here and they sent them videos from the campus while we were still in Tallahassee...our plane broke down, so we didn't get back until Tuesday. We had to stay overnight on Monday night, so we had all these videos of campus. I think that's what's cool about college football...the students can get behind you. I think that's a big deal for our team. if we can keep this going - which is a big thing - we've gotta try to stay consistent and keep going. Getting the students involved is a pretty cool thing."

On how impactful the heat and humidity were during FSU win

"Yeah, it was definitely hot. We had some hot practices relative to Boston, but it was a different heat down there. I do think...there were a couple guys that cramped, but I thought our team for the beginning of the season was in decent shape. I give a lot of credit to Craig Fitzgerald and his staff, they did a great job. I think it's more about the hydration before the game and things like that that we can get these guys a little bit better at. But, overall, I thought our guys sustained for 60 minutes and I thought that was big. I mean, we finished the game. We had the ball with six minutes to go and Florida State never got the ball back. I think that says a lot about our team."

On if NFL experience with coach-to-QB communication puts BC ahead of other college teams getting adjusted to it

"Yeah, I think that's a great point (Wiggy). When you first do that...when i first did it was 2009. It takes you a while to kind of learn and get into the rhythm of how that works. It's not the hardest thing in the world, but it takes a while to learn. It shuts off at 15 seconds, when you can press the button to start talking after the previous play, all that. So, our guys, they've done that before. We did it a lot in the preseason and I do think overall, it just helps the rhythm of the game. I think it's better than having the players all look over at the sideline and you're holding up boards. I think it's better for the rhythm of college football and I thought our guys - for the first game - did a decent job with that."

On the response drive to go up 28-13 against FSU

"Yeah, I think that's going to be a key moving forward. In every close game that I've ever been in, you have to have some type of drive like that. Like, an answer drive. Football is a game of momentum, so if you can stem the tide a little bit and answer a good drive by them with a really good drive...and that penalty on the kickoff was huge. The one thing our guys did a good job of in this game is they did not retaliate. There were three unsportsmanlike or late hit penalties on Florida State and I think that's going to be key for us. Like, we had really no penalties in the game...that's huge (Greg). I have a strong belief in how to win: take care of the ball, tackle well and don't commit stupid penalties. I think if you can do that, you've got a real shot to win a lot of games, so we've got to keep that going, that's a big deal."

On not allowing this weekend to become a 'trap' game

"That's the thing. We came back on Tuesday. On Tuesday afternoon they...give these guys credit. I really preached to these guys (Courtney) that one at a time, man. Just take care of your responsibilities today. They went to class. We had like six guys that had to move, they had to move their rooms or whatever, something happened there. They did that. They got that done and alright, we're on to (Wednesday). Yesterday we had a good practice, they came ready to go. I think these guys realize that we can't look ahead. We can't look back. We've got to turn the page and really focus on Duquesne. We practice (Thursday) morning at 9:15, let's have a good practice and let's move onto tomorrow. So, that's all we can do is just keep talking to them about those types of things. Like, you can't look ahead, you can't look back. You've got to take care of where you are right now."

On if BC or the Patriots will win more games this season

"I knew you were...I sit here in preparation for this interview and I'm like, 'I know Hill's gonna ask me something like that.' There was no doubt. I am not going down that road. No. No. Come on."

On if he's ever addressed the possibility of making the new 12-team playoff with the team

"I'll give you two answers to that. No. 1 is, I think when college football went to the 12-team playoff, I think that was a great move because - as you know (Wiggy) - being involved in the NFL playoffs is awesome. It's a great experience and the closer we can get to that type of experience for college football is awesome. As it relates to BC, I love the question and think you have a great point, but we've just got to worry about today, man. We can't be worrying about anything other than having a great practice on a Thursday. Like, we've got a lot to cover today and we've gotta really just focus on today and not really concern ourselves with anything other than getting ready to play Duquesne."

(Full interview here)

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