Virginia Tech football coach Frank Beamer talks with the news media on Tuesday. Virginia Tech (6-2, 4-0 ACC) hosts Georgia Tech (5-3, 3-2 ACC) on Thursday night.
Opening Statement
The thing with Georgia Tech, of course, is trying to get ready for a different offense in a short period of time, against a quarterback that’s very good at it, against a staff that’s very knowledgeable and has done it for a long time and has seen just about every defense they can see. So that’s our challenge there. We need to have a great preparation here this week and get ready to play on Thursday.
Thoughts on Tyrod Taylor and his leadership ability and the way he has played during this streak
I think Tyrod has been solid throughout. I think his first two losses, there were some other things involved, but I think Tyrod has been very good and here lately I think he’s been very much in control, he’s kept plays alive finding guys down the field, he’s been very accurate, he’s been a great leader. I think he’s a tremendous quarterback, but there’s a good one on the other side too that’s hard to tackle and runs that offense very well.
On giving Tyrod Taylor more responsibility in terms of audibles
I think we trust him, and he knows what’s going on, and we trust him with changing plays and changing routes. I think we tried to open it up a little bit more and not be as predictable and I think all those things have kind of gone in there to help.
On the importance having your offense on the field for long periods of time, and that contributing to defending Georgia Tech’s offense
I think you need to have the ball or be scoring. I think either way you’ve helped yourself, if you’ve got the ball they don’t have it, if you’re scoring I think it’s tougher for them to play from behind with that particular offense, so either one of those two things I think you’ve helped yourself.
Why do you think last years loss to Georgia Tech has stuck with everyone more that other losses and how much importance have you put on this game?
I’m not sure that’s true, I think that loss hurt and the next week we lost to North Carolina and that hurt, when we lost to Boise State to open the year that hurt, and James Madison hurts, I think all losses hurt equally. This is a team that leads the country in rushing offense and this is a team that is the ACC champion, you know I think it’s a big ball game but after that I think all losses hurt.
After all of the upsets this past weekend, on not falling into the trap of being upset
You know we had a meeting Saturday, and Virginia was getting ready to beat Miami and Carolina was losing and Boston College beat Clemson, and we talked and just mentally preparing for a game and how you think effects how you play, and you respect every opponent and you understand it, and we got a good lesson early in the year that any team can beat another team on a given Saturday and so we get ready to play and take care of business.
On what has to happen for a team in the Coastal division to get the separation and keep it
I think generally speaking it’s just a very competitive league. I think coaching wise there’s a lot of good coaches in this league, and there are a lot of good teams. Right now there probably hasn’t been a team that has separated themselves from the others, we haven’t gotten the great team so far but that can happen too. There’s a lot of football that has to be played, and I think it’s more to how competitive this league is than anything else.
On how much Ryan Williams will play this weekend
I think Coach Hite and him will work that out, but I think Ryan is really feeling a lot healthier now and looks like to me he’s running well out there in practice and so I expect him to play a lot.
On having a bye week and how much it has helped in preparation
Well I hope it does, you know we’ll see but I think certainly having more time to study and more time to practice it, we’ve gotten a couple extra practice days, I think when you’re facing something you don’t see every week to have that extra time should be beneficial and I’m hopeful that is has been.
On trip to Iowa, and what they stressed about Georgia Tech’s offense
I think it’s two good defensive staffs talking to each other, and I think anytime you talk like that you confirm things that you believe in or maybe get some ideas that could work, so that’s kind of what that was all about.
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