Dooley on TM7, J.C. Copeland, LSU, Les, etc...

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On the play of LSU Cornerback Tyrann Mathieu

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"He is as active a player as you can find and their secondary is like that but he has one of those competitive knacks for the ball, the ability to change the game. I call it ballers. Some guys are ballers and some aren't. Ballers, you find them at every position. They have that something where they know how to impact a game. You get them at running back, at receiver, at quarterback, D-line, corners - ballers. And you love them. Half the times he's done it, the coach doesn't even know he's doing it. He sees it, he triggers and he creates. That's what good players do."

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On comparing today's LSU squad to the team when Dooley was an assistant there

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"I think it is fair to say that that team since 2003 -- 2001 was when you started seeing it change but then 2003 on they look the same. When I say that, it is not necessarily schematically - but deep, fast, aggressive, incredibly talented. Their D-line, they roll them in. Their No. 2s - you can't tell the ones from the twos from the threes. They have a D-lineman right now that we were begging to get when I got here and we lost him to LSU and he is playing second-team fullback. That's just the way it is. They are very deep and talented. He is a good player. J.C. Copeland. He's playing a lot. He is really rolling at fullback, but we were begging to have him at nose guard. That's what they are

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"You say do I envision us [being like LSU down the line]? Every program is a little different and we don't have 15-18 guys in the state that are calling us up wanting to come. It is a little tougher and we are going to have to shape what we do around the guys that we've got and that's what we are doing right now. We have to keep shaping around the guys that we've got because we aren't as deep and as talented at every position. Do I hope we get to that? Yeah, I expect to get to that to where we have enough to go compete against anybody every week."

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On LSU's coaching continuity despite the change from Nick Saban to Les Miles

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"It looks very similar. They've had tremendous continuity internally. I look in the media guide and all the people I know are still there in the support staff, whether it's administrative support, weight room, training room, video, academic support, admissions - they've got a system down there. And Les has done a great job. Everybody says, `Anybody could have stepped in.' That's not true. A guy can go in and screw it up pretty easily. He deserves a lot of credit - sometimes a lot harder than building is sustaining. They've gotten better and better and better. He got a lot of criticism, as all coaches do and everybody's ready to get on him, but the next thing you know he's wearing everybody out. They've done a great job. They believe in what they do, they know how to do and they've never deviated from it."

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On LSU's multiple offense

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"Here's what happens. First of all their offensive line is phenomenal. They manhandled Florida's D-line, so that ought to put it in perspective. And then they have these big, heavy, physical backs and they flip it back to them and they just go. It's just a surge, a surge, a surge. It's second-and-6, and then it's third-and-1. The defense gets tighter and tighter, and then they fake it. All of sudden their fast guy is about 50 yards down the field and they launch it. It's a little bit like the other night. One guy out there grinding coffee, hanging on, `Please don't be an accurate throw. Please don't be an accurate throw.' That's what it looks like. And if you're back there protecting that guy, then that little four-yard surge is a 14-yard surge. That's what a good power football running team looks like. If they can't have a guy who can throw it or a fast guy who can run down the field, then you're good. You can just get up there and pack the box all day on them. That's why you see their point-total higher than it's been in a long time. They're putting almost 40 a game on people, and let's don't forget they've played Oregon, at West Virginia, Florida."

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