On the depth at running back for Clemson:
"Tye Hill will get a lot more playing time this week, and one of the
other two (Bernard Rambert and Yusef Kelly) will get less. We've
only got one ball and three guys, so there's only so many plays each
can get. You've got to have a pecking order and I think Tye's
performance deserves his pecking order to go up a little bit. But, he
has not moved up the pecking order enough to start, Bernard will
still start."
On the balance of Clemson's offense last week against North Carolina:
"Balance is what you strive for. To me, balance is more determined
by what the defense does. It didn't bother me against Duke that we
had to throw it 50 times as long as we had completions and scored.
The balance was more so a result of the defensive scheme played by
North Carolina. I was pleased, because traditionally this offense
has been balanced over the course of the season in the past six
years. I'm a little more pleased with how the statistics look at the
end of the year than after a single game."
On Maryland's defense:
"They're good. They're good versus the run and the pass. That's why
they've won so many games in a row, at least one of the main reasons."
On Maryland star linebacker E.J. Henderson:
"He's a really productive player. If you're going to run the ball,
you have to be careful about assigning two guys to him because that
will free up someone else. I wish he wouldn't have stayed, I think
he was close to coming out after last year. He's a good player and a
potential first-round draft pick. He plays like one. He's in the
middle where he can make a lot of plays from sideline to sideline. He
is like Keith Adams was for us a couple of years ago. His intensity
rubs off on the other players. He is aggressive and runs real well
and has size and speed. I can see why a lot of folks would be
interested in drafting him."
On the difficulty of the game against Maryland:
"It's going to be similar to the Georgia or Florida State game, or
even the N.C. State game. If we turn the ball over like we did
against N.C. State, we'll get beat bad. If we don't, we'll have a
good chance to win the game."
On the notion that Clemson has stage fright for national TV games:
"No I don't believe so because I thought we played really well
against Georgia and against Florida State. We scored 31 points at
Florida State and we hadn't scored many there in the last 10 years.
I wouldn't call that stage fright. I thought we performed pretty
well. I'd like to play perfect on national TV. But anytime you play
on national TV against a ranked opponent, the mistakes that cost your
team are magnified. The players get more excited than scared to play
on national TV."
On this game being a measuring stick for Charlie Whitehurst:
"This will be a good indicator. Maryland is better than both the
teams we've just played and they've beaten those teams rather
significantly. I don't think there is any doubt that for us to get
to the next level, not so much Charlie, we've got to beat Maryland.
We all need to play better for us to win Saturday, and he's just a
piece of the puzzle. Everybody plays a significant role, but this
will be a bigger measuring stick than last week for sure."
Tommy Bowden Press Conference
- Real | Windows Media
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