Well, disappointed where we are in the season and glad to be home and chance to play at home. A lot of areas to get better at and it doesn't get easier. 6th ranked D and we have played top 15 every week. Team that is one play away from beating them, team kicked 57-yd FG to beat them.
Chance to get better.
ON DEFENSE REPS FOR YOUNGER GUYS
I don't know who the younger guys, that is the side with older guys returning who have played. I think that if you look at critical plays the younger guys have killed us, we aren't ready to give up and we will try to get better and play and half
ON PRESSING
We had five true freshmen playing on offense, had B-back, two A-backs, one WR and the OT, that is a deadly combination
ON PITT RUN GAME
They are running for about 130, the marquee WR is as good as anyone in our league and the TE is a good player. They have two good backs and a good OL. They have started trying to pound a little more.
ON THE OL WOES
The last game they were playing against good players, other than that no
ON WILL AND EASON AT OT
Will missed some assignments, but he needs to slow himself down, there wasn't much difference between Eason and the guys playing before him.
ON ERRIN JOE AND DEMOND INJURIES
No.
ON FREDDIE BEING
BY SHIFTS
I was confused by what he was doing.
ON SPECIAL TEAMS DISAPPOINTMENTS
My take do it once shame on your, twice shame on me, it is disappointing and he won't do it again.
ON KICK RETURN
Usually if you have good returns you block somebody and hit it up in there, we didn't do a good job and we should have caught a punt that rolled 20 times, we didn't punt the ball very well.
ON PITT NEW QB
This guy is a more a prototypical dropback guy. Voytik was a good runner, this guy is more of a pocket poise type.
ON THE INT JT THREW
It wasn't supposed to go to Ike, Ike and Ricky were clearing out, Clinton got hooked by the LB, the other two guys didn't clear out and Ike wasn't open and it wasn't a good decision. You don't want to let them score on three plays and not a way to start a game against #6 on the road.
ON PREPARATIONS CHANGING APPROACH AS A COACH
We have been focused on ourselves for a while, but from an offensive standpoint, since ND, all have played the same way, don't know how you could be confused and we are killing ourselves with line calls and we are overcompensating for guys who are doing things they shouldn't. We are going back to basics and we can't throw the young guys more stuff and we have to do it better at a higher level. I thought we were going to turn the corner, we played well against UNC in the first half and I thought we would take that momentum and turn the corner, Clemson worked on us upfront last year and we didn't make mistakes and didn't score 43 points, you could plug along. We know what we do works and we do it.
ON THE DEFENSE
I knew we were young on offense pre-injuries and we needed the anchor to be the defense, the OL and the QB and none of that has panned out to this point.
ON THE CHOP BLOCK
They gave me the wrong number, he went outside instead of inside and it was the center and the a-back, we locked up and it was a good call. There were a lot of plays, we started with playaction pass and we didn't sell the motion, the second play was the kid calls the wrong play in the huddle and the third play they throw a pick. Next series we get a chop block. When you don't have veteran guys to bail you out it doesn't help. The QB checks the option from a pass and if the freshman reads it right and it is a TD, then he bounces out and there is one chance, let's run it again.
ON THE ACC LANDSCAPE OF DEFENSES
There are some really good ones, Duke is good and play well together and Cash is a great player, but no marquee guys like some schools have, they play their system. Clemson has good players, they have them. Pitt is playing good in a system, BC is the same way and they are putting up unbelievable defensive numbers and there are some good defenses, most have been 17-13, 9-7 except ours. We have to find a way to play better. We play good defense for a few series then give up a long pass. In the second half they get the ball on the 3, they throw a back shoulder fade and we need a guy behind him to stop that.
Same thing on offense, 20 plays that were 0 or negative, I've never called so many 3rd and 12, 2nd and 16s and the nature of what we do, for us a bad play is 2 yards going forward, not 2nd and 16, out of character. When it goes like that you lose confidence and you start pressing and doing.
ON GOING UPFIELD AS THE QB
In this offense you are a featured ball carrier and you are not the guy to just dish, they can take him out, I'm not sure anyone has, we haven't sealed well enough inside and he has not turned it up well.
ON GOING BACK TO BASICS
We practice the offense. When you line up guys can't tell the 50 defense, from 61 or whatever you have issues, you keep repping it and you hope they do it. If you load the read key and get the pitch key instead, you have issues. We have to coach it up.
ON MENTALITY OF THAT
You have to go back, worst thing you can do is panic. We are not bad on 3rd downs, we led the nation and set a record doing it, we have to do better. You can't add more plays when you can't do the basics. When you play good defenses and you have young people and you start trying to fix things, this guy isn't good at this or that, before you know it you have it all jacked up and it doesn't look like what we do.
ON COACHING IT BETTER
If the kid doesn't understand if the guard is covered or not, you have to coach it. Same thing on defense, the long run we had a guy unblocked two guys go in and one should go out and he goes in and 75 yards later he says my bad.
ON GOTSIS
He played his ass off and he played really well. Adam didn't play much against UNC, but he is trying to be a leader and was proud of him and the way he played. It is not so much issue with kids playing hard, it would have been easy to laydown in the 2nd half, they played harder in anything. That is not happening, they aren't saying 'oh shit' and laying down. If you have guys who can fly and run to the ball, if they overrun one three more come, when we miss the cut and the 2 misses the 3 and we lose two and we aren't good enough to fix 2 and 12 and we can't over come 2nd and 14. We aren't making plays to overcome it. There is a thin line and margin and error and you could make a case in almost any other game except the last one, Duke and UNC one or two plays, if we don't get a TD called back against ND, it is 16-13 and you have a game.
Chance to get better.
ON DEFENSE REPS FOR YOUNGER GUYS
I don't know who the younger guys, that is the side with older guys returning who have played. I think that if you look at critical plays the younger guys have killed us, we aren't ready to give up and we will try to get better and play and half
ON PRESSING
We had five true freshmen playing on offense, had B-back, two A-backs, one WR and the OT, that is a deadly combination
ON PITT RUN GAME
They are running for about 130, the marquee WR is as good as anyone in our league and the TE is a good player. They have two good backs and a good OL. They have started trying to pound a little more.
ON THE OL WOES
The last game they were playing against good players, other than that no
ON WILL AND EASON AT OT
Will missed some assignments, but he needs to slow himself down, there wasn't much difference between Eason and the guys playing before him.
ON ERRIN JOE AND DEMOND INJURIES
No.
ON FREDDIE BEING
BY SHIFTSI was confused by what he was doing.
ON SPECIAL TEAMS DISAPPOINTMENTS
My take do it once shame on your, twice shame on me, it is disappointing and he won't do it again.
ON KICK RETURN
Usually if you have good returns you block somebody and hit it up in there, we didn't do a good job and we should have caught a punt that rolled 20 times, we didn't punt the ball very well.
ON PITT NEW QB
This guy is a more a prototypical dropback guy. Voytik was a good runner, this guy is more of a pocket poise type.
ON THE INT JT THREW
It wasn't supposed to go to Ike, Ike and Ricky were clearing out, Clinton got hooked by the LB, the other two guys didn't clear out and Ike wasn't open and it wasn't a good decision. You don't want to let them score on three plays and not a way to start a game against #6 on the road.
ON PREPARATIONS CHANGING APPROACH AS A COACH
We have been focused on ourselves for a while, but from an offensive standpoint, since ND, all have played the same way, don't know how you could be confused and we are killing ourselves with line calls and we are overcompensating for guys who are doing things they shouldn't. We are going back to basics and we can't throw the young guys more stuff and we have to do it better at a higher level. I thought we were going to turn the corner, we played well against UNC in the first half and I thought we would take that momentum and turn the corner, Clemson worked on us upfront last year and we didn't make mistakes and didn't score 43 points, you could plug along. We know what we do works and we do it.
ON THE DEFENSE
I knew we were young on offense pre-injuries and we needed the anchor to be the defense, the OL and the QB and none of that has panned out to this point.
ON THE CHOP BLOCK
They gave me the wrong number, he went outside instead of inside and it was the center and the a-back, we locked up and it was a good call. There were a lot of plays, we started with playaction pass and we didn't sell the motion, the second play was the kid calls the wrong play in the huddle and the third play they throw a pick. Next series we get a chop block. When you don't have veteran guys to bail you out it doesn't help. The QB checks the option from a pass and if the freshman reads it right and it is a TD, then he bounces out and there is one chance, let's run it again.
ON THE ACC LANDSCAPE OF DEFENSES
There are some really good ones, Duke is good and play well together and Cash is a great player, but no marquee guys like some schools have, they play their system. Clemson has good players, they have them. Pitt is playing good in a system, BC is the same way and they are putting up unbelievable defensive numbers and there are some good defenses, most have been 17-13, 9-7 except ours. We have to find a way to play better. We play good defense for a few series then give up a long pass. In the second half they get the ball on the 3, they throw a back shoulder fade and we need a guy behind him to stop that.
Same thing on offense, 20 plays that were 0 or negative, I've never called so many 3rd and 12, 2nd and 16s and the nature of what we do, for us a bad play is 2 yards going forward, not 2nd and 16, out of character. When it goes like that you lose confidence and you start pressing and doing.
ON GOING UPFIELD AS THE QB
In this offense you are a featured ball carrier and you are not the guy to just dish, they can take him out, I'm not sure anyone has, we haven't sealed well enough inside and he has not turned it up well.
ON GOING BACK TO BASICS
We practice the offense. When you line up guys can't tell the 50 defense, from 61 or whatever you have issues, you keep repping it and you hope they do it. If you load the read key and get the pitch key instead, you have issues. We have to coach it up.
ON MENTALITY OF THAT
You have to go back, worst thing you can do is panic. We are not bad on 3rd downs, we led the nation and set a record doing it, we have to do better. You can't add more plays when you can't do the basics. When you play good defenses and you have young people and you start trying to fix things, this guy isn't good at this or that, before you know it you have it all jacked up and it doesn't look like what we do.
ON COACHING IT BETTER
If the kid doesn't understand if the guard is covered or not, you have to coach it. Same thing on defense, the long run we had a guy unblocked two guys go in and one should go out and he goes in and 75 yards later he says my bad.
ON GOTSIS
He played his ass off and he played really well. Adam didn't play much against UNC, but he is trying to be a leader and was proud of him and the way he played. It is not so much issue with kids playing hard, it would have been easy to laydown in the 2nd half, they played harder in anything. That is not happening, they aren't saying 'oh shit' and laying down. If you have guys who can fly and run to the ball, if they overrun one three more come, when we miss the cut and the 2 misses the 3 and we lose two and we aren't good enough to fix 2 and 12 and we can't over come 2nd and 14. We aren't making plays to overcome it. There is a thin line and margin and error and you could make a case in almost any other game except the last one, Duke and UNC one or two plays, if we don't get a TD called back against ND, it is 16-13 and you have a game.
