Opening statement: “We’ve got to have a great week here trying to get ready for this team. Short period of time is tough. You look at their offense, 60 percent of the time this year it’s ended up in a touchdown on their drives. That’s like fourth in the country. They’re very efficient, they’re very good, got talent, I think they’re 11th in the country in total defense. Again, a good football team, a really good football team. Got our work cut out.”
On Cody Journell: “He’s made some mistakes, but he’s certainly a good kicker. Good kid, good family, made some mistakes. But as far as his ability kicking, he’s solid. Got the same flight every time. Made some big kicks. Good kicker for us.”
On whether Journell will be the kicker against GT: “Yes.”
On whether previous discipline played a factor in Saturday’s suspension: “Well I made that statement Saturday after the game. That’s all I’m saying about Cody.”
On what kind of changes they make in a short week: “Well, after the game Saturday we went back and graded the film. Today is Tuesday, you guys may not realize it, but it’s really Tuesday as far as our practice preparation goes. It’s packing a lot of stuff in a short period of time. Only time you see this offense this year.”
On GT’s defensive improvement: “I think they’re good. What did I say? 11th in the country in total defense. They’re playing hard, playing well, playing very disciplined. Ted [Roof], I’ve known him for a long time. He’s a good coach. He’s coaching them well.”
On VT’s comfort level against even fronts (I.E. against a defense with four down linemen): “I think we practice it against ourselves, we practice more against an even look. You’re going to see both of them throughout the year, so you’ve got to get efficient against both of them.”
On being ready for ACC play: “I’d say we are where we are. I think that offensively we left some plays out there Saturday. But there are things you can learn from, and how quickly we learn and get better I think is the deal. Defensively, we played hard. The quarterback got us a couple times. I think he’s a really good quarterback, really good quarterback. He functioned very, very well. We’re still learning and how quickly we become consistent and efficient, that will tell us how our years going.”
On low blocks by GT: “I think they chop a lot, but I think they are certainly within the rules. I like ourselves, our football team, to chop. If you’re good at it, it makes the defender have to adjust to you. It’s not like you’re standing up now and get your hands on a guy. There’s an adjustment. So it’s a very efficient way of playing.”
On how you practice it: “Yeah, we’ve got a chop period today for our defense. The worst thing is to get in the game and go against it if you haven’t practiced. Because they’re very good at it. That’s what they do and they’re good.”
On whether Sunday practices have emphasized cut blocking: “Most option you see right now is the read option, or it’s back off the line of scrimmage. They’re running some of that. Most of their option is right at the line of scrimmage with the mash there with the fullback. Getting that operation down and getting a good read is really important this week. We’ve got a [TJ] Shaw guy that ran the offense in high school and he’s going to run it this week for us. He dresses out some of the time and if he does a good job this week we’re going to take him with us to Georgia Tech. He’s an important guy this week trying to give our defense a good look.”
On GT using more Pistol: “Well, you see that quite a bit more and they just use it enough to make you practice it a little bit. They’re still basically at the line option.”
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Chris Graham
