Loss on Saturday was a painful loss and it sucks to lose. We only have 12 opportunities guaranteed. Like I talked about early in the year the response from the team is going to give us the response we want. How we respond to things and how we prepare ourselves will determine the Syracuse game. We’ve responded well this year and Coach Saban used to talk about not wasting a failure and looking it in the eye. New mission this week and competing against Syracuse. They pose some different challenges offensively and defensively. Offensively they’ve changed the last two games. Defensively they’ve improved and are top 20 in several categories. They’ve had 4 guys at QB from wildcat to big wildcat, they pose a threat. On Sunday we said we are back at home playing at 8 o’clock in BDS and that broke the ice and got them excited and how it was in the stadium in the last home game. That got them excited to get ready to prepare for this week. The crowd was huge last week and it will be huge this week. We need the crowd to be loud and it was an outstanding environment.
The 1998 Gator Bowl ACC Championship Team will be in town with GOL, I won’t be able to celebrate with them, but it is exciting for those guys to be back and share memories of playing the game. I told our guys they will have the same memories to share when it is their time.
ON CUSE OFFENSIVE CHANGES IMPACTING DEFENSE, there are only so many things we can change, we have to get set, they do a lot of tempo, they don’t eat the clock, they mix tempo and we have to set our cleats in the ground and cover guys in the back end and we’ve got to get an edge.
ON THE PASSING GAME ISSUES we played a good and talented football team and we have to execute and we go out to win the game. After every game I reevaluated it and we had 3rd and 2 and we took a play-action shot to win the game, the pocket was tight and little further back. We have to grow and have precision in it. It is all 11 guys, one receiver runs a route the wrong way or a OL gives up a twist or a RB misses a protect and that blows up the play. Some of it was protection, some wasn’t crisp.
ON TAKING ZEEK OFF THE FIELD ON THIRD DOWNS AND THE INEFFECTIVE SUB PACKAGES
(Brent got a kick out of this in a not good way) He said he isn’t going to get into schematic changes and he isn’t going to act like he doesn’t see those things either. They have to win some one-on-ones on 3rd downs and guys have to get the call and get lined up too. They also can’t cover well and have the QB run for 14-15 yards by losing contain. They have to be better on third down and have the right people on the field and the right scheme in place and that was a challenge for them this year and they are working on it every week and that might be the biggest challenge on defense this year. They have to get set with their cleats in the ground and defeat blocks and get into the backfield.
ON HAYNES KING’S RESILIENCE Haynes is a competitor and we sat down and when you talk to him, his knowledge and competitiveness is what makes people great. When you get down a little bit and things aren’t right he tries to make it right and sometimes he doesn’t make the right decision and sometimes it is a route or a decision and the spotlight is on him. He is hard on himself and most competitors are. Talking to him the other day, he is a little like Brett Farve, he would throw a pick and then rip it the next one. As he got older he would rip into tight windows and make plays. He is going to be like that and there is still a lot of coaching whether you win or lose and there are things that go blindly in wins and things you have to correct in losses too. He is hard on himself and he is going to continue to grow and work on him.
ON TRYING TO GET BOWL ELIGIBLE AND DISCUSSION Up until Sunday I have not said the word, it is the same mentality each week, it is a one-game week. On Sunday I brought it up, this is playoff football and NFL Championship chances, it is win and you are in. That is the way it works. We brought it up and talked about and it is a big deal for the kids and as a alumni here it is a big deal for me and Georgia Tech and the GTAA. Heck yeah we talked about it and these guys know there is something special in front of them and they have to work to get it.
ON DEFENDING THE FAKE PUNT There were some zeros or some minuses on that play and some guys didn’t do what they were supposed to do, we were able to sniff it out and see and we were in the right call to do it. They had a mishap on their side to help us.
ON BOWL ELIGIBILITY AND WHY HE SAID IT we have a chance to do it and it is a one-game mentality and play the next game and next game. I told them there are 13 days left and win next week gives us bragging rights and it is Syracuse and it's time.
s
ON CUSE WITH PRESNAP PENALTIES AND CROWD IMPACTING IT that is huge, they’ve had some struggles and as an OL coach I get those issues, several guys with different cadences and different sounds and noises and that is tough on the center and you have to be keyed into the snap count or the cadence or their mechanism and the louder it gets the harder it is to do. The student body and the fans and the way they were for the UNC game, supporting the fellow students, we have an opportunity to make it a great home-field advantage and make it a 12th man on the field to help the defense
ON AHMARI HARVEY he traveled but wasn’t able to go but he was running better today and hopefully, he will be good to go on Saturday. Other guys are just normal bumps and bruises this time of year.
ON THE UNKNOWNS OF PLAYING A CUSE TEAM THAT PUT IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT OFFENSE LAST WEEK we have to be ready to adjust because they put in a new offense in basically six days and who is to say they won’t do it again this week and throw it 60x. There is a lot of communication that goes into as well and moving parts and that is where our crowd can have a big impact on the game this week.
The 1998 Gator Bowl ACC Championship Team will be in town with GOL, I won’t be able to celebrate with them, but it is exciting for those guys to be back and share memories of playing the game. I told our guys they will have the same memories to share when it is their time.
ON CUSE OFFENSIVE CHANGES IMPACTING DEFENSE, there are only so many things we can change, we have to get set, they do a lot of tempo, they don’t eat the clock, they mix tempo and we have to set our cleats in the ground and cover guys in the back end and we’ve got to get an edge.
ON THE PASSING GAME ISSUES we played a good and talented football team and we have to execute and we go out to win the game. After every game I reevaluated it and we had 3rd and 2 and we took a play-action shot to win the game, the pocket was tight and little further back. We have to grow and have precision in it. It is all 11 guys, one receiver runs a route the wrong way or a OL gives up a twist or a RB misses a protect and that blows up the play. Some of it was protection, some wasn’t crisp.
ON TAKING ZEEK OFF THE FIELD ON THIRD DOWNS AND THE INEFFECTIVE SUB PACKAGES
(Brent got a kick out of this in a not good way) He said he isn’t going to get into schematic changes and he isn’t going to act like he doesn’t see those things either. They have to win some one-on-ones on 3rd downs and guys have to get the call and get lined up too. They also can’t cover well and have the QB run for 14-15 yards by losing contain. They have to be better on third down and have the right people on the field and the right scheme in place and that was a challenge for them this year and they are working on it every week and that might be the biggest challenge on defense this year. They have to get set with their cleats in the ground and defeat blocks and get into the backfield.
ON HAYNES KING’S RESILIENCE Haynes is a competitor and we sat down and when you talk to him, his knowledge and competitiveness is what makes people great. When you get down a little bit and things aren’t right he tries to make it right and sometimes he doesn’t make the right decision and sometimes it is a route or a decision and the spotlight is on him. He is hard on himself and most competitors are. Talking to him the other day, he is a little like Brett Farve, he would throw a pick and then rip it the next one. As he got older he would rip into tight windows and make plays. He is going to be like that and there is still a lot of coaching whether you win or lose and there are things that go blindly in wins and things you have to correct in losses too. He is hard on himself and he is going to continue to grow and work on him.
ON TRYING TO GET BOWL ELIGIBLE AND DISCUSSION Up until Sunday I have not said the word, it is the same mentality each week, it is a one-game week. On Sunday I brought it up, this is playoff football and NFL Championship chances, it is win and you are in. That is the way it works. We brought it up and talked about and it is a big deal for the kids and as a alumni here it is a big deal for me and Georgia Tech and the GTAA. Heck yeah we talked about it and these guys know there is something special in front of them and they have to work to get it.
ON DEFENDING THE FAKE PUNT There were some zeros or some minuses on that play and some guys didn’t do what they were supposed to do, we were able to sniff it out and see and we were in the right call to do it. They had a mishap on their side to help us.
ON BOWL ELIGIBILITY AND WHY HE SAID IT we have a chance to do it and it is a one-game mentality and play the next game and next game. I told them there are 13 days left and win next week gives us bragging rights and it is Syracuse and it's time.
s
ON CUSE WITH PRESNAP PENALTIES AND CROWD IMPACTING IT that is huge, they’ve had some struggles and as an OL coach I get those issues, several guys with different cadences and different sounds and noises and that is tough on the center and you have to be keyed into the snap count or the cadence or their mechanism and the louder it gets the harder it is to do. The student body and the fans and the way they were for the UNC game, supporting the fellow students, we have an opportunity to make it a great home-field advantage and make it a 12th man on the field to help the defense
ON AHMARI HARVEY he traveled but wasn’t able to go but he was running better today and hopefully, he will be good to go on Saturday. Other guys are just normal bumps and bruises this time of year.
ON THE UNKNOWNS OF PLAYING A CUSE TEAM THAT PUT IN A TOTALLY DIFFERENT OFFENSE LAST WEEK we have to be ready to adjust because they put in a new offense in basically six days and who is to say they won’t do it again this week and throw it 60x. There is a lot of communication that goes into as well and moving parts and that is where our crowd can have a big impact on the game this week.
