ACC Football Coaches Quotes: Groh and Amato |
NC State Head Coach, Chuck Amato – On preparing for the Thursday night game: Today (Sunday) is going to be Monday. We're already having the press conference. Tomorrow will be Tuesday. Tuesday will be Wednesday and Wednesday will be Thursday. We'll actually do a little bit on Wednesday. It's what we've done the last two times that we've played Thursday night games. We've got to be careful in what we do because we had a very physical game against Connecticut and we're banged up and bruised up. We've got to go on and that's what we'll do. We'll do Connecticut real quick and jump right into Clemson. This afternoon we'll do agility drills. We'll have a short practice outside and it will be good to get some of the aches and pains out anyway. Tomorrow and Tuesday will be big work days. On the players getting pumped up to play on national TV Thursday night: Well it's another game. They all are (pumped up). If they don't get pumped up for the other games then there is something wrong with them. The biggest thing is the quick turnaround, but we both have that problem. We wouldn't be playing this game (on Thursday night) if either one of us had an open date. It's something that we've got to bite our teeth and go after it. We've got to go to school and everything else like we do during the week, but we've got to go hard. On Boston College joining the conference: I understand that they've been issued a request to come, but it's out of my hands. It sounds like we want to do something to get to 12, to get to a championship, to get to more money, to get to where they wanted to get to to begin with and probably the quicker the better. And why not, they were one of the teams that from the very get go that were looked at and said that this would be a great fit for the ACC. It's another media market and there's a lot of good Italian food up there too. On the addition of Boston College to the league improving the perception of the ACC: It doesn't if just having a championship game makes it appear that the quality of your schools have gone up, but the teams that have already come into the league, in Miami and Virginia Tech have already raised that bar quite high. With those two and Florida State going into this past weekend we have three of the top six or five teams in America, depending on which poll you look at. Adding Boston College, who plays them all really good and have beaten teams like Notre Dame, I think it's going to be good. As far as football is concerned it's going to be something and it's going to make the rest of us look at it and we're going to have to sprint. On the speed at which the ACC moved to add a 12th team: I really haven't given it a whole lot of thought because when you're playing like we are right now we are worried about other things than that 12th team. You know, really it doesn't surprise me because I do know that it sounds like, from what I hear, that they want to get it done. On the effect that the 12th team will have on the future schedule: I would have to think that it would effect everybody's schedule because right now, from the models I saw, what you guys put in the paper, we're in a five-team division and that would add a sixth. So now we have to play all five of those teams, our crossover rival is North Carolina so that's six. So now instead of three others we'd just play two others. So everybody else I guess it's just dominoes. On the changes that Clemson has made offensively throughout the season: They started out the year against Georgia in a more traditional two back set. And they still had until the last couple weeks they went back to playing Tommy ball. They've got three outstanding wide receivers. They're offensive line is bigger than they've been since he's been there. They probably average around 6-4, three hundred eight, ten pounds. Those wide receivers, you've got Curry who can fly. He's the motorcycle. You've got one who's just big and physical and one is so athletic. All three are different. All three can beat you. They are all doing the same things, they like to go vertical. We'll put a lot of speed on the field that night. We put a lot of speed on the field against Texas Tech and it didn't do any good. We're just one of four teams in the last four weeks that Texas Tech has thrown for over 400 yards against. On Clemson quarterback Charlie Whitehurst: I think that he's got it all. He's big, he's smart and he's got all the passes, all the pitches. He can throw the short, the intermediate and the deep one. He's a tough kid. He's not afraid to move out of the pocket and run for some yards. That's not what he wants to do all the time because he's such a good thrower. I think that he's one of those that is destined to be a big-time quarterback, not that he's not already there. On whether or not the preseason hype and expectations has worn on the team: No. No, I really don't. I think they've handled whatever the word pressure means. The thing I said from the very, very get go, are we just going to be visiting or are we going to become a permanent resident? Usually before you become permanent resident you become a renter. You rent a little bit and then you get enough equity and you go get yourself a big house and become a permanent resident. We've got to find out not how they would handle the pressure, but how they would handle being put into that situation. That's part of it. That is without a doubt part of this thing of getting into the top 20, top 15, top 10 and so on and so forth. Knowing that you're supposed to be there. We went from nowhere a year ago and two years ago and three years ago, as far as preseason stuff is concerned, to wow. And we're a totally different team than we were then - as we've all seen. That next step, that permanent resident, you've got to buck a lot of people now. Guess what? You're gonna have to buck a lot of people who are in this conference. The way are conference is going to look next year, going back to the question earlier, there's three teams in our conference that are permanent residents of the top 10. Even though Florida State wasn't supposed to be there this year. That's the next step. That last step is tough now. Going from a non-medal winner in the Olympics, to a bronze, to a silver, to the gold. On how the two teams have done since NC State and Clemson met last: It's a big game because it's the game we're playing this week. It's a huge game because it's an ACC game. I don't look at what we did since we played them last year. On the importance of establishing the run in this game: I think it's always important. I like to be able run the football. The team that probably wins the rushing stat in this game is probably going to win the football game. On the problems with the pass defense: The problem is that we're not very good. I thought we played much better this last game and we'll have to bring that up another level because of the wide receivers that Clemson has. We played against a quarterback last week that was second in the country for touchdowns thrown, behind somebody we played about four weeks ago (Texas Tech's B.J. Symons). We have got to continue to get better at our pass defense or we won't have a chance. On what the defensive backs have learned this season: What have learned? They've learned that we have to cover people closer than what we do at times. These quarterbacks are getting so much better at throwing the fades. If you play bump and run then people say quarterbacks have to execute the fade and people are executing the fade. We have got to finish our coverage. We just can't cover for five yards or eight yards. We have to finish the coverage all the way until the whistle blows. On how Philip Rivers stacks up against the best quarterbacks in the country: We wouldn't trade Philip for anybody. Philip has already broken a lot of records in this league and will break a lot more. He's a winner. He's a competitor. He's got a lot of character. He's smart. He makes great decisions. He's just somebody you'd want to go to war with when you have to. On whether or not other teams have tried special defensive tactics to stop NC State's passing attack: We've seen people come here and drop eight or even drop nine. Cover with nine and only rush two. They'll take away all the cuts. We've seen some people do special things, but Philip, because of the number of games he's played here, has seen about everything that you can possibly see. On the health status of T.A. McLendon: T.A. came out of that game a little sore. It's not his hamstring. His body is sore, which is what he needed. We had a long talk about that I believe it was Wednesday. He hadn't been hit in three and a half weeks - three and half games. His body has to get used to it again. I'll tell you what. His performance the other day was probably the hardest he's played at any time. It sure didn't look to me that he had any indication that the hamstring was even tweaked a little bit, thank goodness. His body is a little bit sore, but he'll be fine. On Philip River's performance against UConn: He didn't have one of best games yesterday, but you know what? The all-pro quarterback has a day every now and again where it's not his best day. And he still did good enough. On Connecticut's defense and whether or not they did anything different to stop NC State: No, they didn't do anything we haven't seen before. They were covering our people close. When you go to no backs in the backfield, you've got five to protect and they've got four coming. That's one double team and three single blocks. Those single blocks have got to protect. Virginia Head Coach, Al Groh – How does Florida State compare to Clemson in terms of athleticism? Groh: Clemson was, in terms of athletic skill and speed, exactly what we anticipated that they would be- the most athletic and fastest team we've played this year. Until we were finished with that game, they were the leader in the clubhouse. Now I think we're playing a faster team. Is Florida State as powerful as it was last season? Groh: Physically on defense, I'd say more so. Offensively, last year's group was a rare college line in that they had a number of highly talented players who were very veteran in their system. Now the line this year is about how that line looked as it was beginning its developmental process. That is they don't have four or five fifth-year seniors. In terms of talent, they don't have the same level of experience as (last year's) line. Were Clemson's speed and athleticism the difference in the game? Groh: When I watch their defense play, there are a lot of players that just look fast on tape. Then when I look over at the other side of the tape, there are a lot of players in white uniforms (UVa) that looked fast on the tape, too. Ahmad Brooks is a fast player. Darryl Blackstock is a fast player. Kai Parham's a pretty fast player for his size. So, yes, it's looking faster. It's getting more that way. Obviously, we don't have yet the vertical speed at the outside receiver positions that team's like Clemson and Florida State do. Will freshman WR Deyon Williams have that speed? Groh: When he really learns how to use it, yes. If you were to look at Deyon's high school tape, he would look much faster on every play than everybody else on the field. That probably was a lot of times without going pedal to the floor. In this league, you have to go pedal to the floor on every play, because all of those slow guys he used to run past are in his past. He's not going to play against them anymore. That's what he's got to learn. The reason he's playing against the players he is now is because most of them were judged to have been of similar speed to him or they wouldn't be playing in the game. Does freshman WR Fontel Mines have that kind of speed? Groh: Every receiver's about creating space some how, some way. Some guys do it with vertical speed. Some guys do it because they're shiftier. Some guys do it with size, but he's going to be more of a size-receiver. When he learns how to use his size, then he's going to be able to create space just by moving him out of the way or they can't move him out of the way. Is WR Ryan Sawyer a dependable player? Groh: Where ever you expect him to be, he is. Whether it's special teams- he and Ottowa (Anderson) both. This is two weeks in a row that we've gone against a team ranked at the time tops in the ACC in kickoff returns. From what I read, Clemson was tops in the NCAA in kickoff returns going into the game. For two weeks in a row, now every kickoff has been a touchback. Kurt (Smith)'s done a great job with that on a percentage basis. Those that were returned, none of been returned beyond the 20. Ryan and Ottowa both had remarkable plays on kickoff coverage. Obviously, they are two starting receivers and they are two of our very best special teams players. They play on all the punt teams. They play on all the kickoff coverage. Ryan plays on the kickoff return. Their contribution to the team is tremendous. That's one area in particular that you can't have undependable players on special teams. So he (Sawyer) is dependable is everything he does. On QB Matt Schaub's second interception, to which receiver was he throwing? Groh: He was trying to throw the in-cut. The in-cut was about at field goal level. So that's where we were trying to go. Matt was a little bit high with the ball all day. He was a little high on that one. On Tom Hagan's punts: Groh: I think that's where we lost the opportunity. We had three +50 punts (punts inside Clemson's 50-yard line) early in the game on Saturday. In the first two games, we had six downed inside the seven. We had three opportunities on +50 on punting the other day where we could have really created a tremendously long field for Clemson. We were not as effective in doing that as we have been in the past, so I'm more disappointed in those than I am in some of the longer range ones. On Kurt Smith's kicking: Groh: Obviously he's doing less field goal practicing. His kicking duties are concentrated on pretty much being a kickoff man. Whether it's working on on-side kicks or kicking the ball away, not just for distance but ball location, which he's also improved significantly. We're interested in where on the field besides how deep. I don't think there's anybody on the team doing much better job with their responsibilities than Kurt is. On LB Rich Bedesem's return vs. Clemson: Groh: He played a couple (plays) on the goal line. That's little bit of short-ranged stuff where I thought he could function very well without necessarily having all his speed back. Now we're another 48 hours removed from that and we're anticipating a pretty good leap forward. He was good yesterday (Sunday) when I spoke with him. It's our hope and his expectation that by Saturday he'll be zipping along pretty much like normal. Then we'll probably be back in the three-man rotation like we've had in the past. Obviously, (freshman LB) Kai (Parham) has earned more playing time. He played very well the other day. Do you have to do something to balance the adrenaline and keep things in perspective for FSU? Groh: No, I don't think about trying to balance it or settling them down too much. It's a challenging opponent. It's going to be an exciting environment. I think human nature being what it is, they're going to be excited to play. I'm going to be excited to play. I think the environment will excite Florida State. That's good. On LB Raymond Mann: Groh: Ray's been a really good, solid player for us. I'd say tackles, assists, the sack on the stripped fumble that he had, that's one kind of game-changing plays for him. Clemson ran for 194 yards. What are the main reasons? Groh: That's a good point. Clemson was averaging 2.9 yards per play (rushing) coming into the game. This is fantasy football. What occurs in the game is real. I always get a kick out people who say, 'if you discount this play or discount that play.' That's like saying if you discount the fact that Kareem Abdul-Jabbar was 7-2, he would have been an average player. The reality is he was 7-2. It doesn't make any difference how the ball moves. In our evaluation as to the effectiveness of the run defense, if you subtract the reverse (play), which was a crap play the way we played it, it's all our fault. Three terrible plays on it, but it still counts 52 yards. It's not an every down play. If you subtract the 52 yards on that and the 13 yards on the recovered fumble, guess how many yards per rushing play Clemson averaged? (2.9) I already gave (you) the answer. As the coach of the team and the defensive coaches in evaluating how the interior seven performed against the run, on a play-by-play basis, the average was 2.9 (yard per rushing play). On NT Andrew Hoffman: Groh: It's nice you asked about him. It gives us the chance to talk about a guy (who) he plays a position that doesn't get discussed much. He's had three very good games in a row. I think he's really hitting his stride in his position. That is before we got here, there was no true nose tackle. He became one, Monsanto (Pope) was the nose tackle the first year (2001 under Groh), and that was the position Andrew was going to play. He was redshirted and didn't major in it like those guys who were going to play in the games. Last year was really his first year competitively in his career playing the position. He did a nice job with it. Probably this game marks the halfway point of his career as a nose (tackle). He is really hitting his stride. He has a good understanding of his position. His technique's real good. He's seen all different types of noses. He's seen all the schemes. His pass rush was probably as productive for us the other day as he had. He's had some real good games for us at the position. Are you better prepared up front this year for Florida State's running game? Groh: I hope so. Maybe the cycle is turning a little bit. We played against five seniors last year, most of them fourth or fifth-year seniors. Of (our) front seven, that includes the four linebackers, four of front seven were freshmen. That was quite a disparity. Those players certainly have a lot more experience. They've improved their skills. They do have more size and strength. More is yet to come, but they're well into their careers. We'll see, but it certainly has the potential to give us a better matchup. On LB Mark Miller's sack near the end of the Clemson game: Groh: That was a good play for us. I thought we had four times in the pocket with real good pocket penetration, most of them on sacks. We had a legitimate opportunity to get the ball. And we didn't do that. Now that's a sack, and that's really positive play for the player. But I think we certainly would have liked to have played better offensively than we did in stages of the game. We can also say, 'we need to do more on defense.' Teams that have a lot of fumbles recovered, if you trace that back, you'll probably find that most of those fumbles recovered occur in the pocket rather than on inside hand-offs. Has the gap in the ACC between Florida State and the rest of the teams closed any? Groh: When we go a few years at a time- two, three four years- and other teams other than Florida State have won the conference championship then I think it would be fair to say things have changed. That hasn't happened yet. Until that happens, things look pretty much the same. What's going on (with personnel) on punt returns? Groh: You'll notice that in many of the games we've played, there have been very few punts returned- both ways. That has something to do with our punt protection and coverage style. Florida State's defense allows few points. What have they done differently? Groh: Nothing. They went through a run there, pretty remarkably. There are four or five of the guys that played that position who went on to become first round draft choices- (Andre) Wadsworth, (Peter) Boulware, (Reinard) Wilson. They had good players there. They have (Kevin) Emanuel who's a pretty dynamic pass rusher right now. It kind of looks like what it used to look like. I can remember going down there, doing a film study and workouts with those players. While I didn't have to coach against them, I have first-hand recollection of what they can do. They were just guys on the college level that were too much to handle. Has LB Dennis Haley become more dependable? Groh: Yes. In every respect. In special teams play- he's doing a lot better with it. He made a significant play for us (partially blocked punt). As I said after the game, one of the things we wanted to do twice was to significantly change field position with special teams. We were really able to do it three times, and his play was one of them. He had some good plays in the nickel. He's getting a lot of turns there. He's getting a good background in it. Any advantage to playing Florida State after its loss to Miami? Groh: None that I can imagine. On Virginia's defensive backs vs. Clemson's big receivers: Groh: It's either built their confidence factor or their fear factor. I can't tell yet which one. On Florida State's talented tailbacks: Groh: (Greg Jones) looks the same. I've seen his famous run to open the season down at Chapel Hill. That's why I said he looks the same to me. The difference a little bit here is that they have the most acclaimed running back in the class of two years ago in (Lorenzo) Booker from California. You know there's a lot of great running backs in Florida and the Southeast. So if they decide to go all the way out to California to get one, then it's pretty safe to assess what his ability level's going to be. He's a very sudden, very dramatic player. He redshirted last year when they played a lot of other freshmen. He would have gotten the ball in the games but not enough to make it worth it with (Nick) Maddox and Jones already ahead of him. I know they're anxious to get him the ball. Dramatic things happen with him. He's getting some of the carries that maybe would go to Jones if he were the only tailback. On staff members that played on the 1995 UVa team that upset Florida State: Groh: I'm glad you reminded me of that. I'm getting so old. They're getting to be ancient history. I'd forgotten about them in that respect. That will be up to them (to discuss with the players). All the players know what both (Mike Groh and Anthony Poindexter) of them did. But it certainly is nice to have some living legends around here as models of that. Did you watch that 1995 game on TV (son Mike Groh was the UVa quarterback; Al Groh was an assistant coach with the New England Patriots at the time)? Groh: Oh, yes. It was very exciting. I remember planning the whole week. The kickoff didn't quite match with when I usually got home on a Thursday night. So I remember trying to start every day about a half hour or 40 minutes earlier than usual. So that by Thursday, that would accumulate up so I would have an extra two hours or so ahead. I got home at 30 seconds before the kickoff. I paced around the floor in front of the television set for most of the next three hours. Pretty exciting. Between getting up early and going back in Friday, about 2 o'clock in the morning I received a telephone call (from Mike), so I got to live through all of that. Are some games largely more important than others? Groh: Well, when you play another contender. This team (Florida State) someone's got to beat them, or they'll win it (the ACC Championship) again. Most people aren't going to beat them. If you have designs on finishing ahead of them, somebody's got to beat them. You have to say, 'if it's not you, who's it going to be?' I don't know if it's us. But the other teams that have the same designs of trying to move up, they have to have the same attitude, too. They're going to say, 'if Virginia doesn't win, these guys don't have too many conference games left. Someone's going to have to beat them soon, and it's got to be us.' Maryland didn't beat them, so it's not them. In that respect, sure, when you play the team picked to win it (conference championship) and is currently in the lead, if you anticipate finishing ahead of them, yes, it means a little bit more. On ACC race after Saturday's loss at Clemson: Groh: The race is still on.
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