Miami coach Mark Richt talks with reporters on the weekly ACC Teleconference.
MARK RICHT: We are within minutes of jumping on the bus to go jump on the plane here, so I appreciate whoever changed their schedule around to allow me to get this in before we left.
Had our three practices instead of four this week. I think we did a nice job of changing our schedule around to give our guys the most amount of rest possible and still give our coaches time to get a plan together. I thought we maximized that. It’s going to be interesting just to continue to live this thing out. It’s kind of a first for me as a head coach anyway. I can’t remember ever having a Thursday night game after a Saturday, even as an assistant coach at Florida State.
Both teams are dealing with the same time crunch, so that’s good.
We’re facing a really outstanding, talented team, very physical on defense and very aggressive defense, and offensively Jerod Evans is a guy who can run, can throw. He’s got a TD interception ratio better than just about anybody in the country, got big, tall, skilled receivers, got a back that can do good things.
It’ll definitely be a challenge for us.
Q. You mentioned Evans; the past two weeks in part I think because of the conditions at Carolina and different in Syracuse, though, they’ve kind of turned the offense over to running Jerod Evans. What have you seen there, and has that been more of a necessity as opposed to maybe what they’d like to be doing?
MARK RICHT: Well, I believe when he got recruited there, they knew the kid was big and physical. I mean, 6’3″, 240-ish, very athletic. You know that whether you have a lot of designed QB run or if things don’t develop like you hope they do in a certain pass or if something breaks down in protection, he can make somebody miss and get out in a scramble situation and make a throw or just cross the line of scrimmage and get 1st downs where the defense might have done a good job.
Those are the toughest plays to defend.
Now, the QB run is another issue, as well, because as we all know, when the QB runs, that’s one more guy that can become a blocker, and it makes it tougher on getting your numbers right. If a defense has one safety deep and everybody else is playing the run, if the quarterback is a runner there’s a blocker for every single guy except for that free safety who’s deep. The only way to outnumber a QB run game is to put everybody on the line of scrimmage and then you’re so vulnerable to the big plays. It’ll definitely be a challenge.
Q. And for your defense, what are just some of the characteristics that have made that group so effective, and I think I saw you’ve allowed teams into the red zone the fewest times in the ACC. How is your defense so effective at stopping teams before they get there?
MARK RICHT: Well, we’ve tried to get as many negative yardage plays as possible. We’re going to allow our guys to penetrate up front, and there will be some different ways of bringing backers and safeties and corners and all that kind of thing at different times. It’s not like a true blitz-happy defense, but it’s calculated, and there are times when we will get some negative yardage plays which in turn makes it tougher to get a manageable 3rd down, so we’ve gotten a good many three-and-outs. That’s important.
Now, last week we had a lot more 3rd down conversions that the opponent got, North Carolina got, and controlled the ball a little bit more and all, but for the most part we’ve done a nice job on 1st down and 2nd down getting negative yardage plays.
Q. I believe Brad’s completion percentage on balls that have gone 15 yards or longer is somewhere in the 30s, and I’m just wondering for your take on just the way the downfield passing game has played out for you guys. What has contributed to that?
MARK RICHT: Well, everybody gets these little stats, you know. I mean, my guess is anybody throwing the ball past that yardage doesn’t have a super high percentage. The farther you throw it down the field, the lower percentage that you have, but the ones that you do hit are big plays.
If you throw three bombs and complete one, you’ve got a touchdown possibly. If you complete three little slant routes or something or a hook or whatever or a little bubble screen, you might hit three bubble screens in a row, be 3 for 3 and only gain 17 yards. When you go downfield there is a high risk and a high reward, so to speak.
Has there been a couple that could have been right on the money? Yeah. Has there been a couple that maybe we could have pulled in and not dropped the ball? Yeah. So there’s a little bit of everything. Protection-wise, if you’re throwing the ball with a real clean pocket, it’s a lot easier to sight up your receiver and put it on him. He’s an excellent player, he’s an excellent passer, and I’m not too worried about Brad.
Q. I know you played in your share of hostile environments in the SEC, but I wonder if you’ve ever played at Virginia Tech, and they seem to get really, really pumped up for their Thursday night games up there.
MARK RICHT: Oh, yeah. I can’t imagine what it’ll be like. And like you say, I’ve been in some hostile environments for sure over the years, really for the last 30 years. There’s been some wild games over that time span, but I was there at an afternoon game one time, but I’ve never been there in a night game. It reminds me a little bit of LSU. LSU, during the game — if you get a noon game at LSU, you’re going to be thankful. If you get a night game, it’s going to be rough. They may dump your bus over before it’s all over. I’m saying LSU, not Virginia Tech, so make sure we clarify that. But I do think it’s going to be rocking for sure.
Q. This whole Thursday experience, do you feel a little bit out of sync with that, just speaking for yourself?
MARK RICHT: Well, you know, I haven’t had a five-day turnover as a head coach. At Georgia we never had a Thursday night game, period; that was just policy coming down from the president. I mean, it’s different, but again, I think we’ve got a very good plan. I think we’re carrying it out. I feel like we’ll be prepared, and certainly Virginia Tech is going through the very same thing.
We got time to get everything done we needed to get done, we just didn’t have as much downtime in between.
Q. I know you haven’t played Virginia Tech every year, although the team has, but over the years Virginia Tech has been known for their good defense and a fairly conservative offense. Can you talk about the changes that Justin Fuente has made on offense to open them up a little bit?
MARK RICHT: Well, like you say, I haven’t coached against them. I was at Florida State when we played them in the National Championship game years ago, but I can’t think of another time coaching against Virginia Tech. But you watch them on TV, and you kind of get a feel of what style of play they were playing. They’re definitely spreading out more and doing a lot of things that a lot of people are doing with the run-pass option stuff and getting the quarterback involved if the quarterback has the running skill to do it, and good vertical passing game. It’s outstanding.
I mean, it was obvious what he was getting done at his previous school at Memphis, and he’s having very good results here, as well.
Q. Can you talk a little bit about Jerod Evans and the problems he presents?
MARK RICHT: Yeah. Big, tall, fast, strong, athletic. Gosh, he’s thrown 17 TD’s, two picks, run for over 300 yards, some by design, some off of just plays that maybe didn’t develop just right but was able to use his athleticism to make a play. I mean, he’s a special talent. I could see why they went and got him.
Q. Playing Georgia Tech, I know you obviously had a ton of games against them. With describe the pressure of how things change knowing you’re going to have fewer possessions and plays to call than a normal game, how that changes play calling at all and to what degree?
MARK RICHT: No, you just really try like mad to maximize — you always say you’re going to get the most out of every drive, and every drive is crucial, and they are, but it’s like anything else, if you get — in baseball if you know you’re going to get 20 at-bats, that number 1 isn’t so crucial as it is as if you’re only going to have two at-bats. Certainly when you have a smaller number of drives, it even, I guess, amplifies the fact that every drive is crucially important to either score or at least move field position. But really if you don’t — gosh, I think the first quarter they had two drives, we had one, and it was over. That’s how it goes sometimes.
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