Staff Report
Frank Spaziani – Boston College
Opening Statement: Sunday we got our seventh win of the season and our first road victory of the year. It was a hard-fought contest, but we are ready to look forward towards next week’s game against North Carolina.
Q: How is the health of the defensive line?
Spaziani: We have a couple of guys who are banged up right now. So it is a concern, but we will see where we stand later on in the week.
Q: How big was this win especially since it was your first road win of the season?
Spaziani: We had a lot more mistakes than we needed to have and those can be costly on the road. Our players fought through these turnovers by showing a tremendous amount of character. We controlled be ball for right around 12 minutes in the fourth quarter and we overcame a key first down and 25 so all of these things you can definitely build on moving forward.
Q: What impresses you about North Carolina’s defense?
Spaziani: They have very good players and they have a good professional scheme on defense. They keep things simple on defense. They just rely on good coaching and good athletes and it works for them.
Q: How does the UNC defense stack up against the Clemson and Virginia Tech defenses?
Spaziani: All three of those teams have good athletes on defense who are strong, fast and big so we will definitely have our work cut out for us.
Q: How important is this game in terms of developing your players and positioning yourselves for postseason play?
Spaziani: It is very big. We had a team meeting and talked about it. When we started in August we wanted to put our best effort into those 12 games in hopes of getting a 13th. These players have to come to practice and work hard every week and expect the same this week. We will see how the players respond and we will go from there.
Q: What did the team learn from the win at Virginia?
Spaziani: Well, we made some key mistakes again in that game and that can’t happen if we want to beat a very good football team. We have to keep working hard in practice to correct ourselves not only for next week, but for the future as well.
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David Cutcliffe – Duke
On practice since last game:
Going out Sunday, I couldn’t be more pleased with our work. I was really impressed with the players and with our staff. I was equally impressed this morning. We had really good work in the kicking game and on both sides of the ball. I think we did a good job of getting a jump start on rehearsing our plans. We obviously have a lot of work to do.
On quarterback situation:
Sean Renfree has torn his ACL and is facing surgery. We are working Sean Schroeder as the second team quarterback. We are working Alex King as the third team quarterback. If Thad [Lewis] were to be lost for a brief moment, we would go with Alex King to get us through a series or a few plays. If we lose Thad, then Sean Schroeder would play. He has done a nice job. Back in camp, when Thad missed probably three-quarters of our work, if not more, we had only three quarterbacks in camp. So Sean Schroeder was running with the second team all camp. I kept trying to be positive, I told Kurt [Roper] that this was great, it was force-feeding him and us to have to teach him and put him on an accelerated path. He is a bright young man. He was under the premise of operating our entire game plan and he can do that.
On Alex King:
Alex [King] is savvy and a good athlete. I would feel comfortable. Alex runs all our inside drills as a quarterback. He can take the snap, he can throw it. He is an athletic guy. We are pleased that he is available. We like to keep a guy like that around our program. Alex is a good one. That is what we will do.
On other team injuries:
We will start Brandon Harper in place of Mitchell Lederman. Harper played all last week when Lederman was hurt going in. When Lederman got worse, Harper played there. We have some limited numbers. We will release probably a fairly lengthy injury report on Thursday. Thursday is probably the time to do it, because right now it is too early to evaluate some of the guys. Vince Oghobaase still looks day-to-day and he did not work this morning. That is where we are. I hate talking about injuries, but it is just part of it. I want to focus on what we are capable of doing.
On who would play quarterback in late game situations:
Part of my thinking is to still play Schroeder and I will tell you why. We have two quarterbacks returning to the program for sure. One of them has a limited number of snaps and one of them has none. The one that has a limited number of snaps is facing surgery. I can’t assume everything is always going to go smooth with surgery. It doesn’t hurt to get our other guy reps, game reps, in case. I don’t think its great, but Schroeder and I have talked about this and he understands the circumstance. I will think about this all week long and when if we cross that bridge, we will know what to do.
On mentality going into Miami:
When I get on that plane, I want to believe we are going down there not with the hopes of winning, but planning to win. It is exactly what my conversation with the players was on Sunday night. That is the question I posed to them. I can’t answer that question for them nor do that for them. They have to do it for themselves. You focus yourself and your mind on accomplishing everything in your power to prepare to win. We don’t worry about last Saturday or next Saturday. We work on Sunday night, Tuesday morning, Wednesday morning. I don’t like the people that just raise the obstacles. I can tell you 5,000 reasons we won’t win. If I tell you 5,000 reasons we won’t win, then I have to tell you 5,000 things we are going to do about it. I talked about the challenges, what they are and what we are going to do about them. If you don’t prepare well, you won’t believe you have a chance to win or are going to win when you are playing. It all comes down to the preparation; the sincere, focused, intense preparation.
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Bobby Bowden – Florida State
On win against Wake Forest:
We played one of our better games. Our defense did much better but still gave up too much yards, too many big plays. We did force a couple of turnovers, which you need to do. Offensively, our offensive line just went out there and blocked so good that we were able to run the ball. We ran for 200 and something yards and when you can do that, it just opens everything else up. And of course, EJ Manuel, who had not started and had played very little this year, just did a magnificent job.
On EJ Manuel’s performance in his first career start:
EJ was a good prospect when we signed him. He’s tall; he’s 6-4, 220 pounds and is a nice swift runner with a good arm and has the demeanor that you’re looking for in a quarterback. He practiced well all week but the question was how he was going to do away from home in a game for the first time when it’s riding on his shoulders and he just did an excellent job.
You would think with a new quarterback, you’d have some turnovers and we only had one turnover. One bad pass he threw but we didn’t have any fumbles running the ball or anything like that and that’s because he was doing a good job ball handling.”
On the offensive line in the Wake Forest game:
The offensive line is where it all begins. If you can’t block, you can’t do anything hardly. Our offensive line protected the passer and they gave up no sacks. Wake did get a sack on the first play of the second half when they blitzed our quarterback and we had him running what we call a “naked” and that means that he’s not going to get any blocking so he was helpless and took the sack. The rest of the time, our lineman did not give up a sack and opened up some good holes for our runners.
On Jermaine’s success:
He’s running hard in the first place but he’s running smart. Those backs have to make decisions on whether to hit there or hit there and he didn’t hardly miss a cut all day. A long time ago, somebody asked me who Jermaine reminded me of and his style reminds me of Adrian Peterson, who plays for the Vikings. Don’t misquote me and say I said he’s as good as Peterson but I said, his style is like his – a straight up runner that runs hard.
On Maryland:
We have to win one more game to be bowl eligible. Maryland scares me because of what they’ve done. They beat Clemson and of course, Clemson beat us and that always makes you concerned. They’ve had a lot of injuries this year. They blitzed a lot and that can throw you off. If you can’t handle the blitz because you’re not ready for it, it can give you fits. Again, we’ve seen them beat Clemson so we know what they’re capable of doing.
On Maryland having a different type of defense than Wake:
They have a different type of defense. They’re big, they’re 300+ pounds across the front and they’re linebackers are big. They’re big, not as fast as Wake Forest, but big.
On it being Senior Day and Mickey Andrews’ last home game:
The thing that concerns you is that you have to be careful that you don’t have too many distractions. Our kids have to keep focus on the main thing that this day is all about and that’s playing the University of Maryland. And Mickey Andrews, I can’t believe that after 26 years, he won’t roaming those sidelines anymore here because our last game is at Florida and we hope to have a bowl game somewhere else. It will be a very sentimental day for Mickey.
On kicking game, special teams:
Our kicking game was real good. Our punter, Shawn Powell, averaged like 54 yards a punt at Wake Forest. He only punted twice but blasted both of them. Our kicker, Dustin Hopkins, kicked a couple of field goals and kicked many of his kickoffs so deep, that they couldn’t run them back and boy, that was big. On punt returns, old Greg Reid brings a punt back 64 yards for a touchdown and made just a beautiful return and those are significant. Jody Allen coaches our special teams; he’s in charge of that and gets some of the other coaches to help, but he’s done a tremendous job with that.
On the special NIKE uniforms, helmets:
That’s why we’ve got them on now so the kids can get used to them and not be infatuated with them Saturday. We have done well in these new uniforms but at least they won’t be black. The hat’s black but the uniforms are not. We’ve just got to be sure to focus on the ball game. The kids just have to realize that uniforms aren’t going to win the game for you. You’ve got to go out there no matter what you’ve got on and beat that other team.
On the defense:
The effort has been good all year. We talked about it today. It hasn’t been our effort. It’s mistakes, it’s mistakes. It’s missed tackles. Mistakes, missed tackles, penalties. We cut down on that last week, we did cut down on that but we still need to cut down on that more. Twenty-eight points is too many points to be giving up. They’ve got to cut out the lax-spell. They (the defense) played good, good, good and then it seemed like we went lax on that drive they (Wake Forest) made before the half. They (Wake Forest) ran the ball right down our throat.
On why Jermaine Thomas is playing so well now:
Probably experience. The more you play, the more experience you get. The more experience you get, the more comfortable you are. Then, having some success is important to confidence and he’s been pretty successful the last three games.
On how it helps EJ Manuel that the running game is getting more consistent:
Every quarterback would love to have a good running game because that keeps the defense honest, slows down the pass rush because you’ve got to stop the run. You need it all and that’s what they got last week.
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Ralph Friedgen – Maryland
On former players’ community service endeavors:
I just want to mention about Shawne Merriman’s Annual Coat Drive (which is scheduled for Tuesday prior to the men’s basketball game) and what a wonderful thing that Shawne does. We’re very proud that he is able to devote this time to the coat drive. We have other guys like Madieu Williams who just gave the largest gift to the school of public health of any former student-athlete and also is putting a school in Sierra Leone, his home country. I’m very proud of both of these pro athletes that are former players who are giving back to the community.
On the Virginia Tech game:
I thought we improved in our offensive line play. Andrew Gonnella played probably his best game and I thought Terrell Skinner played a fantastic game. He had 13 tackles and really played well. We defended the run well, but what we didn’t do was defend the big plays and the passing game. We have to make some more plays in our offense. There are some plays out there that we need to make and we didn’t make them. On Monday night I showed about eight plays to the offense where we are very, very close to just sustaining the block, breaking the tackle or making the catch to make a difference. I think we’re getting better, but we are playing a very good team this week in Florida State.
On Florida State’s offense:
Offensively, they’re second in the conference, averaging 31 points a game, 294 yards passing, 153 rushing, but they’ve lost their starting quarterback, Christian Ponder, who is leading the conference in passing. E.J. Manuel, a kid we recruited, is replacing him. He played very well against Wake Forest. I thought he was very efficient in the game and played well. Their offensive line is very athletic. They’ve got a great running back in Jermaine Thomas. They’ve got three very productive wide receivers: Bert Reed, Rod Owens, another guy we recruited, and Jarmon Fortson. They’re all averaging around 12 or 13 yards per catch and all have 30 or more receptions.
On Florida State’s defense:
Defensively, this is a team that only returns three starters. They’ve been struggling of late but they are finding ways to win games. They are extremely athletic and run to the ball very well.
On the Florida State special teams:
As always they have great special teams. They have the leading punter returner in the conference with 14.7 yards per return in Greg Reed. He’s also their kickoff returner. Place-kicker Dustin Hopkins is good as well. He’s 12-for-15, with a 52-yarder.
On facing Florida State:
They’ve won (three of their last four) games and are on a roll. It’s Mickey Andrews’ last game and I know their defense will be fired up and we will have our hands full.
On Da’Rel Scott’s status coming off the wrist injury:
He looked very good last night. We had probably our best Monday practice of the year. I’m anxious to see how he does today. We’re going to go through a lot of ball security drills and see how he does. Tomorrow when we get back into contact we will see what he does then. He has a brace on his arm but he has full use of his hands. He caught the ball very well last night and didn’t see any problems along those lines. I’m going to have a conversation with him on either Wednesday or Thursday just to see how he feels he is and make a determination on where he is at that point in time.
On how he deals with losing when he is away from football and goes home:
I’m never away too much. I get there probably anywhere from 5:30 or 6 in the morning and get home about 10:45 at night and then watch half of a television show before I fall asleep and go right back into it. It does bother me, it eats away at me. Probably the thing that has helped the most is the players. An amazing bunch of kids we have here. I talked to them on Monday, I had watched our tape and we are struggling and have some issues but I don’t see it as a lack of effort. I’m proud of them. I like being with them. That helps me quite a bit to be honest. I’m not dealing with any attitude issues; I’m not dealing with any finger pointing. I’m dealing with kids who work hard to get better, and sincerely trying to get better. As a teacher, and that’s what I look at myself as, you have students in your class that want to learn. I’m right there with them, they don’t like losing, we don’t like losing, and we’re just going to keep fighting until we start winning.
On Jamarr Robinson’s first start:
The thing I like is he plays with his heart. He was a little beat up last night. I thought he competed (Saturday), I think he made a few mistakes which is understandable. I think the biggest thing is how we grow from that experience. I think some guys have to make plays for him. I think he put the ball in some spots where it was possible to make a play and I think that would have not only buoyed his confidence but the offense’s confidence. So I wasn’t disappointed with him at all. I’ll tell you, the plays that we made were because of Jamarr and his talent, his ability to run. His feet are his biggest asset although I did think he made some plays with his arm. I thought there were a few others he could have made but overall I would say he did pretty well against a pretty good defense.
On Jamarr Robinson’s legs being an asset:
He’s able to make a good play out of a bad play. Someone doesn’t get open and he can scramble and make 20 yards, that’s a good thing. The other thing that impressed me about him, it’s the little things, and maybe only from a coaching standpoint, but he knew where he needed to go for a first down and he laid his body out to get there. He hung in the pocket and maybe took a hit or how he ran the no-huddle offense. Florida State has a new quarterback too and he was very efficient and has some people around him making plays and doing things. I wasn’t disappointed with Jamarr’s effort (against Virginia Tech).
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Randy Shannon – Miami
Opening statement: This week’s opponent is Duke and it’s our last game of the season at Land Shark Stadium. It’s also the seniors’ last opportunity to play at home. It’s a special time because of the seniors. This class has done a lot for us. These same guys have also helped some of our current players.
On handling potential Senior Day distractions:
It’s only that day of the game. If it was the whole week, it would be distracting, but this is a special time for parents to come down and be on the field with their sons. It means a lot to the kids. It will probably help us instead of distracting us.
On improving players getting more playing time:
Young guys like Curtis Porter and Jeremy Lewis have done a good job of getting better and playing the type of football we needed them to. They have stood out.
On Duke QB Thaddeus Lewis returning home:
He is a great young man and we talk every time we play. I tell him to keep going if he wants to be the guy he wants to be. He has done a great job at Duke at running the offense Coach [David] Cutcliffe wants him to run.
On Duke’s passing game:
They have a short quick passing game, with a play-action game that goes deep. They get it to guys short who can get up field. They have some running plays in there to keep you honest also.
On returning to the dominant defense of the glory days:
The last two weeks we have played very well on defense and that’s all we can concern ourselves with. We can only care about how much better we get week to week. Duke is our only focus right now. We’re young on defense right now. Our old defenses didn’t play a lot until they were older. We don’t have guys that have played three years at one position consecutively.
On quarterback Jacory Harris’ injury:
He will play Saturday.
On quarterback Jacory Harris’ interceptions:
It’s part of growing. Against Wake Forest, he threw a ball away and then against Virginia he threw a few balls away. He has progressed there, but it is all about teaching and Coach [Mark] Whipple has done a great job talking with him. We can’t put him back in a shell, because when he takes those chances we come up with big plays. A lot of times our receivers will come up with big catches for him, just this last game it didn’t work out like that.
On the unity of the team:
It shows from how we play. We have come back against Clemson, Wake Forest, Florida State and North Carolina. It shows how tight they are.
On Jacory Harris’ pass attempts:
If you get down like we did, the passing attempts will go up. When it is closer, they will stay down. That’s normal.
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Butch Davis – North Carolina
Opening Statement: Obviously weekends and Monday are a lot better when you win football games. It does not take long for the reality of the next challenge to pop up. We talked as a team about what a huge challenge the second half of the season is going to be. Boston College has been very impressive. To accomplish what they have accomplished, with a head coaching change and offensive coordinator change, they have just had an outstanding season. Frank is a very good football coach, who has a long history at Boston College going back to 1997. As a defensive coach and coordinator, you can see his thumbprint all over that program.
They are very, very physical on the offensive line. Maybe one of the best offensive lines that we are going to play against all season. His thumbprint with the defense, they are really a pressure oriented defense. They play a lot of fire zones and zone dogs, move the front a lot. They play great run defense, right now they are second in run defense and total yards in the league.
Another thing that goes with teams who play good run defense is a team that can run the football. That is another thing they do extremely well. They have an older experienced young man playing quarterback. I had a similar situation with a wide receiver I had at Miami, by the name of Andre King, who played four years with the Atlanta Braves organization. It is kind of unique situation, but those guys really become a mentor to young players and really show a lot of maturity.
It’s a unique play to play at Chestnut Hill. It’s loud and they have played really well up there this year. We jumped on the film yesterday and when the players left they had an appreciation for the challenge against Boston College.
Q: Has becoming bowl-eligible taken pressure off this team?
I don’t know. The pressure to win, I think, is because kids love to play and they want to win. And I would be surprised if this football team doesn’t come back to work tomorrow prepared to get ready to play. As we’ve tried to build this program, it’s all based on looking at the other team and realizing what the challenges are and how difficult the challenges are each week and what’s the game plan and what’s going to give us the best chance to win. And I think that these kids are learning steps and they’re learning lessons every week that we play and I think that will certainly be one of them.
On Kendric Burney’s development:
I think the more any kid plays and they get in that comfortable role of feeling confident in that they know their assignments, you can really see a lot of their personality. As a football player, he’s grown a great deal. The very first year it was a battle back-and-forth between the baseball career and the football career and where does he fit? He was so young and so inexperienced and basically had no fundamentals at what he was trying to do.
But you could tell that he was a very, very gifted athlete. The more effort and energy that he’s put into it and the focus of his work over the last two years, he reaps the benefits because he has real play-making instincts. He just has a really good gift of diagnosing routes and realizing where the threats are and making plays on the ball. He’s got outstanding hands and the plays that he made this weekend – it’s kind of like the Hakeem Nicks’ thing. You see it somewhat infrequently during the season, but we see it a lot in practice.
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Chris Graham
