Tommy Bowden Tuesday Press Conference

by Dan Scott - Correspondent - Tue Oct 03 11:26:52 GMT-04:00 2006

Tommy Bowden Press Conference, Windows Media, (30:12)

LB Maurice Nelson, Windows Media, (1:00)

Notes/quotes from Tommy Bowden during his Tuesday press conference:

- Wake Forest gives Clemson so much trouble because of their option style and the blocking scheme. They've showed up to play harder than we have, and that means Coach Grobe has done a better job than I have of getting his team ready to play.

- Coach Grobe is a Christian man, and most of you know that I profess Christianity. Having said that, Coach Grobe has taken me closer to Hell than I ever wanted to go (laughter).

- Respect and focus: Won't be a problem this time. Them being 5-0 gets your attention.

- Dirty line play?: His linemen play like I wish mine would play. I wouldn't coach my team to play dirty, and I don't think he coaches his to play dirty.

- The environment at Wake won't be a problem. In the past maybe it has been. At least their biggest game since 1987. I know there will be a lot of electricity up there. But 31,000 is not going to make more noise than 83,000. But it is a big game for them and it's a big game for us.

- Seniors have a pretty good grasp on making underclassmen feel a sense of urgency. First five games are a pretty good indication that they've expressed to them the importance of showing up and being ready to play.

- Overconfidence isn't an issue if you've lost 2 out of 3 to them. Even the games we've won we've been fortunate to win.

- They lead the ACC in sacks and lead the ACC in scoring defense. No. 1 in ACC in redzone scoring, and No. 1 in ACC in redzone defense. They're doing a lot of things right.

- They can always outnumber you (in the box). You can either make them miss a tackle, or you can challenge them with downfield passes.

- No. 1 factor for Clemson's success so far has been defense. If we're ever going to be a championship team it will start with defense.

- ACC down?: Roughly played a third of the season. Proper evaluation can be made after the season. It will be interesting to see how it unfolds. It goes in cycles anyway.

- The key is learning to take each game with an equal amount of a sense of urgency. The next game is always the most important game. We haven't played our best yet. That's the goal. Try to play your best every week.

- Won't be adding any new wrinkles. You more or less attack a scheme. We'll go in trying to run the ball and see what happens.

- First five games have indicated we're a pretty good team. I wish the season were over and we were having this discussion. But there's a lot of football to be played, and in coaching you never know if it's going to keep up.

- Merriweather gimping around quite a bit Monday. Don't know about him. Hamlin should be close to 100 percent. Still no definite word on Billie.

- 2003 game: Remember coaching for my father as a young coach and lost to Southern Miss. Seen other coaches suffer similar defeats. I take it in the context that it's part of the profession. It's happened to everybody, and will if you stay in the business long enough. But that game stays as a reminder. Hard to flush that out.