Tommy Bowden Press Conference

by Dan Scott - Correspondent - Tue Nov 20 11:38:44 GMT-04:00 2007

Quick Notes and Quotes from Tommy Bowden's weekly press conference:

- A lot of games come down to turnovers. Turnovers will be a factor in this game. Turnovers, penalties, kicking game...there are several factors.

- In a rivalry game a lot of what you read doesn't matter. You throw a lot of stats and other things out the window.

- The No. 1 objective is to win the conference. No. 2 is beating South Carolina. No. 1 is now gone, so No. 2 becomes No. 1.

- Being 6-2 vs. USC: You're only as good as your last game...Success against them has been under two different coaches. Past success really doesn't mean anything. It's more 'what have you done for me lately?' Maybe when I retire it will be nice to go back and look at it, but it's not significant right now.

- Fan perception: SEC has had conference championship a lot longer than ACC has. But lot of fans on each side still think this game is more important.

- Once you lose the rivalry game a whole bunch you may not be there any more.

- Bowl hopes: Game is more of a motivating factor for them because they might need to get seven wins in order to go.

- We need to go out and play with the same effort and intensity we did last week. I'll talk more about that than I will bowls or things like that.

- Getting 10 wins more significant now since the ACC championship game is no longer possible. But focused on the ninth one. Got to get that one first.

- Every pass protection has a weakness. Every blocking scheme has a weakness. Every defense has a gap. The key is finding it at the right time...There are certain things we'll try to do in the running game. Whether we'll be successful, we'll have to wait until Saturday to find out.

- If we were playing a non-conference opponent right now that wasn't a rival I'd be concerned. But playing your rival brings up the emotion and intensity.

- This game has always been intense, regardless of who wins.

- I like the fact that this team has showed up to play every game, and I think we will Saturday. They've left everything on the field every game.

- If this rivalry ever wants to get to the national level it deserves both teams need to have success on a consistent basis.

- Contract extension: Terry Don always does it at the end of the year. That's when we'll discuss it.