Highlights from Tommy Bowden Press Conference

by TigerNet Staff - Tue Sep 30 13:31:49 GMT-04:00 2003

Tommy Bowden Press Conference

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On first impressions of Maryland:

"I think the most impressive thing about Maryland is that their

defensive coordinator does a really good job with their scheme. He

seems to have a scheme for every game. He really has a nice wrinkle

for every game. He's a sharp guy."

On facing Maryland coach Ralph Friedgen:

"The last two years he's certainly had our number. I think Clemson

beat Maryland for eight straight years, and then we've lost the last

two. It seems like we're productive offensively against them. He's

a good motivator and has obviously done a good job with the team.

His success as an assistant came offensively. He's always got a

really good plan. He has success against other teams as well, we're

not the only team."

On learning from Rich Rodriguez and West Virginia versus Maryland:
"Rich (former offensive coordinator) runs some similar formations to

us. There's not too much we can take from that game though. Their

(West Virginia) quarterback is struggling, ours is not. I think our

point of attack will be a little bit different. Maryland had some

success last year pressuring Charlie Whitehurst. But again, that was

the first game where he faced some really fast bullets. I don't

think it'll be too much of the same attack (as West Virginia). But

you'll see some of it, because we do have similar formations. I have

talked with Rich just once since their game. You learn a lot more

from watching film."

On preparations during the bye week:

"I think it was really good for us. We did a whole lot of hitting,

probably more than we've done in past years. We did some live

scrimmaging. We did live short-yardage, live goal-line yesterday and

the team responded well. We had a pretty hard practice yesterday in

full pads.

In years past, Maryland has been the hungrier team than us. Now the

role is reversed, they've got the bullseye on them and I'm anxious to

see how we respond. We feel pretty good about where we are. A lot

of that has to do with seniors keeping the team focused."

On the state of college football:

"I think you have to bring your "A" game every given Saturday. Had

Southern Cal brought their 'A' game, they probably would've beaten

California. Had Kansas State brought their 'A' game, they probably

would've beaten Marshall. Then Marshall didn't have their "A" game

for Troy State. That's the hard part. You have to be ready every

Saturday. If you look at the state of college football, very few

people are doing it every week."

On Clemson's potential:

"Very few people have their 'A' game the very first game of the year.

What you do is like to show signs of improvement over the course of

the season. I think there were signs last year, but all of a sudden

we threw a freshman quarterback in there. This year, we've been

healthy. The players have gotten a little bit better. It was a

really solid performance against Georgia Tech. If we could bring

that performance every Saturday, then we'd be a contender in the

conference without a doubt. But you could say the same thing for

just about every team in this conference."

QB Charlie Whitehurst

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"I hope we don't get overconfident. I think that might have been what hurt Georgia Tech when we played them. Hopfully we can take a lesson from them and stay humble and know we have not arrived yet."

WR Airese Currie

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"We expect to go up there (Maryland) and win. We just feel so confident right now."

DB Justin Miller

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OL Tommy Sharpe

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Overconfident? "I don't think so. We are not even thinking about Georgia Tech anymore. We got to think about Maryland. We haven't beat them two years in a row. So we can't be too confident. We have something to prove and we have to go up there with the objective to win. And that's all we can think about right now."

LB John Leake

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"If, keyword 'if', if we play like we did last week we will not lose another game. The keyword is 'if' though. We got to play like that every week. So don't get that out of context."

DL DeJuan Polk

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On Maryland: "Their offensive line is very good. They do a lot of different things. They run the ball at you. They run some option. We have to stay in our gaps."