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Jim Leavitt Q & A

By Times staff writer

© St. Petersburg Times, published October 6, 2000

Q: Do you feel differently about this game than previous Division I-A games you've played?

LEAVITT: This time I do. When we were getting ready for Kentucky or Baylor, I didn't think about anybody else but those schools. But . . . Conference USA is the conference we'll be in, and we are playing on the field with the Conference USA logo on the grass, and this is the premier team in Conference USA. And everybody's goal is to be the best in the conference they are going into. If you ask every other conference school, everybody's goal is to win the conference championship someday. So when you look at things like that, it makes it more exciting from that standpoint. But after this game, the next game, whoever it is we play, that's going to be the biggest game of my life.

Q: What do you think the players have learned from playing teams like Baylor and Kentucky this season that they can take into Saturday's game?

LEAVITT: I imagine our players would say that they've realized we have some talent and we can play with people. You almost have to go through that to learn it, and that's kind of too bad. If you look at hindsight, they probably look at, "Hey, goodness, we're close. We're getting there." It's a learning experience. And there's no other way to do it than to just play the teams and go through it.

Q: Do you consider Marquel Blackwell a running quarterback who throws or a throwing quarterback who runs?

LEAVITT: A throwing quarterback. Marquel wants to throw the ball, like all quarterbacks. He wants to throw, and I'd actually rather have him throw it.

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