Clearly Thursday night didn't go how we hoped and Clemson had a great FB team and we played as poorly as we can offensively. Good news is we can play again and we have another game on Saturday against a national ranked team.
ON #2 DEFENSIVE TEAM
We've played some pretty good defenses this year, but clearly we have to execute better upfront and get them ready to play.
ON STANSBURY
Had a chance to meet him, known each other in passing, he shares Dr. Peterson's vision for GT and he knows the place and is excited to be.
ON HIM BEING FORMER FB PLAYER
He understands what it is about. I look forward to visiting with him when he gets
ON HAVING MORE PEOPLE ON SUPPORT STAFF
More people and more staff and you can reach out and touch more people. Those guys can contact and stay in touch with recruits and it is a huge advantage. The biggest point I tried to make is this isn't the old ACC. 15 years ago you could say only a few teams put resources into football and you would be hard pressed to see one that doesn't. We've added Pitt, Miami, VaTech, BC and now Louisville. 10 years ago you wouldn't see Duke beat ND or Wake beat Indiana, you wouldn't have seen that 10 years ago.
ON NEGATIVE YARDAGE ON EARLY DOWNS
You'd like to have none, we struggled against BC, against Mercer we played okay, against Vandy we started to play okay, then last week was a trainwreck, we will see how we do. This last little bit is uncharacteristic with what we've done since 1985. We have to coach better, our told the assistants they are accountable for what they do.
ON BEING MORE INVOLVED WITH THE OFFENSE THIS WEEK
I'm involved, do the game plan and that kind of thing. In practice, normally I give the offensive and defensive coaches room to coach. I'm there for option period and pass skel, but from team aspect from start to finish
ON MARK RICHT
Mark and I are on the same page, it is really more him and Ted and me and Manny Diaz.
ON OL ISSUES
It is a little of both, you miss blocks, that is why you play the game, if you were perfect they'd all be touchdowns. They are drawn up that way. You can't have missed assignments, we played a really good team that will break your blocks. The first series, they line up in a 3-4, we wanted to run a double option, turn a guy loose. Next time we turn the NG loose with two guys on him. That had nothing to do with beating blocks. Times we ran the option, tackle took B-back, tackles had great angles on the LB, they just whiffed, if you go to the right guy, I'd like to think we could get them more, we need to coach technique better.
Second series guy blocked the read key instead it is 2nd and 15, guy said I thought he said, X and guys have to have more poise against better people. The nature of what we do against Clemson or Miami, we have to out execute them. We are not going to have better athletes than Clemson, but that doesn't mean you can't beat them, but you won't if you have 25 missed assignments. 3rd QT was so much better, got 3rd down stops on D and the offense held the ball for 11 minutes, didn't score, but we strung 1st downs and kept them off. If you score twice there, then you got a game and you play in the 4th QT. Thursday the more possessions wasn't in our favor. The longer we can make the drives go the better we were. Offensively we were bad, defensively we were bad in the first half giving up 350 yards, defense got help in the second half, we balanced the time of possession and got stops, that is how we have to play.
ON HOW HE WILL HELP WITH OL
Our guys are coached, we have guys who've done this for 25 years, it is more of an emphasis with me there. We watched the tape with the whole offense instead of just the quarterbacks. I wanted answers from them, are they confused, did someone tell you to do, and I wanted accountability in from of the whole group. Same guys who were coaching them in 2014, they don't have many answers for me, the players. I think it is a sign of not being as poised as you need to be and the other team being really good. You can't play being afraid to make a mistake and you have to just play.
ON MAKING CHANGES UP FRONT
Two weeks ago I said they could be as good as 2014, we had 500 yards against Vandy, we forget that, we will see how it goes next. We didn't lose to Presbyterian, they've won 28 straight regular season games, we were the last team to beat them in the regular season.
ON CLEARING HEADS FROM SERIES TO SERIES
I think that is a problem, when things don't go well early there is panic. I tried to stress to our guys on Thursday in our hotel. I told them to be poised and execute and the rah rah goes away after you get hit in the mouth, so you better execute and play. For whatever reason, we struggle when we play ourselves, which ever side gets the jump, we have a hard time getting it stopped, it steamrolls O vs D or vice versa. Some of it is a really good opponent, we've struggled to start defensively giving up TDs on the first possession of the last three games. We got some stops after the missed FGs, if I had the answer.
ON HOW RARE CLEMSON'S DEFENSE IS
There are two things, Clemson defense is really good. They were really good for NC game and two guys who played in the NC game are backing up. I can't tell you about the backend no one has gotten to it. They have a huge challenge this week playing a team putting up unbelievable numbers. Scores can be deceiving. Syracuse tries to play 90 mph for them to be in a 24-14 game is like us being in a 7-3 game, long term common sense would tell you if I get 15-18 possessions than in a 9-12 and you will give up more. You have to decide how you would play, if I thought it would work we would go breakneck too. I think we are a better team when we can control the TOP and play 8-10 possessions because it limits the other team. We have to be more efficient on offense and defense.
ON KAAYA THROWING THE BALL AROUND AND RICHT'S EXPERIENCE AGAINST
He is very talented, he is not a run threat and they don't use him in the run game, he is a drop back passer, DeShaun is used in the run game. I think the other part is overblown, the guys on the field play and we have some familiarity with them and they have some with us. It is their offense and our defense, it is different, it is 3-4 vs 4-3, they want to do their own thing. Manny Diaz is there DC, he is not going to change his stuff to do what UGA did, if he does that may help us, because they've been successful.
ON PERSONALITY OF TEAM BEING UP AND DOWN
Each team is different, i think this is the personality of a young team, 2014 we had 23 seniors, our offense has two seniors the C and QB, they've been in a lot of that stuff and other kids have just played a little bit, they get afraid to make a mistake and turn it loose, just my opinion.
ON FACING A DC WHO HASNT FACED A TRIPLE TEAM BEFORE
We get ready for four man, three man, high safety or whatnot, we adjust how we play based on how they line up. We don't get locked in on one thing, the nature of what we do. If I'm a tackle and I have the first LB head up inside, then I have him, as long as I've had reps against all of them I should be okay.
ON #2 DEFENSIVE TEAM
We've played some pretty good defenses this year, but clearly we have to execute better upfront and get them ready to play.
ON STANSBURY
Had a chance to meet him, known each other in passing, he shares Dr. Peterson's vision for GT and he knows the place and is excited to be.
ON HIM BEING FORMER FB PLAYER
He understands what it is about. I look forward to visiting with him when he gets
ON HAVING MORE PEOPLE ON SUPPORT STAFF
More people and more staff and you can reach out and touch more people. Those guys can contact and stay in touch with recruits and it is a huge advantage. The biggest point I tried to make is this isn't the old ACC. 15 years ago you could say only a few teams put resources into football and you would be hard pressed to see one that doesn't. We've added Pitt, Miami, VaTech, BC and now Louisville. 10 years ago you wouldn't see Duke beat ND or Wake beat Indiana, you wouldn't have seen that 10 years ago.
ON NEGATIVE YARDAGE ON EARLY DOWNS
You'd like to have none, we struggled against BC, against Mercer we played okay, against Vandy we started to play okay, then last week was a trainwreck, we will see how we do. This last little bit is uncharacteristic with what we've done since 1985. We have to coach better, our told the assistants they are accountable for what they do.
ON BEING MORE INVOLVED WITH THE OFFENSE THIS WEEK
I'm involved, do the game plan and that kind of thing. In practice, normally I give the offensive and defensive coaches room to coach. I'm there for option period and pass skel, but from team aspect from start to finish
ON MARK RICHT
Mark and I are on the same page, it is really more him and Ted and me and Manny Diaz.
ON OL ISSUES
It is a little of both, you miss blocks, that is why you play the game, if you were perfect they'd all be touchdowns. They are drawn up that way. You can't have missed assignments, we played a really good team that will break your blocks. The first series, they line up in a 3-4, we wanted to run a double option, turn a guy loose. Next time we turn the NG loose with two guys on him. That had nothing to do with beating blocks. Times we ran the option, tackle took B-back, tackles had great angles on the LB, they just whiffed, if you go to the right guy, I'd like to think we could get them more, we need to coach technique better.
Second series guy blocked the read key instead it is 2nd and 15, guy said I thought he said, X and guys have to have more poise against better people. The nature of what we do against Clemson or Miami, we have to out execute them. We are not going to have better athletes than Clemson, but that doesn't mean you can't beat them, but you won't if you have 25 missed assignments. 3rd QT was so much better, got 3rd down stops on D and the offense held the ball for 11 minutes, didn't score, but we strung 1st downs and kept them off. If you score twice there, then you got a game and you play in the 4th QT. Thursday the more possessions wasn't in our favor. The longer we can make the drives go the better we were. Offensively we were bad, defensively we were bad in the first half giving up 350 yards, defense got help in the second half, we balanced the time of possession and got stops, that is how we have to play.
ON HOW HE WILL HELP WITH OL
Our guys are coached, we have guys who've done this for 25 years, it is more of an emphasis with me there. We watched the tape with the whole offense instead of just the quarterbacks. I wanted answers from them, are they confused, did someone tell you to do, and I wanted accountability in from of the whole group. Same guys who were coaching them in 2014, they don't have many answers for me, the players. I think it is a sign of not being as poised as you need to be and the other team being really good. You can't play being afraid to make a mistake and you have to just play.
ON MAKING CHANGES UP FRONT
Two weeks ago I said they could be as good as 2014, we had 500 yards against Vandy, we forget that, we will see how it goes next. We didn't lose to Presbyterian, they've won 28 straight regular season games, we were the last team to beat them in the regular season.
ON CLEARING HEADS FROM SERIES TO SERIES
I think that is a problem, when things don't go well early there is panic. I tried to stress to our guys on Thursday in our hotel. I told them to be poised and execute and the rah rah goes away after you get hit in the mouth, so you better execute and play. For whatever reason, we struggle when we play ourselves, which ever side gets the jump, we have a hard time getting it stopped, it steamrolls O vs D or vice versa. Some of it is a really good opponent, we've struggled to start defensively giving up TDs on the first possession of the last three games. We got some stops after the missed FGs, if I had the answer.
ON HOW RARE CLEMSON'S DEFENSE IS
There are two things, Clemson defense is really good. They were really good for NC game and two guys who played in the NC game are backing up. I can't tell you about the backend no one has gotten to it. They have a huge challenge this week playing a team putting up unbelievable numbers. Scores can be deceiving. Syracuse tries to play 90 mph for them to be in a 24-14 game is like us being in a 7-3 game, long term common sense would tell you if I get 15-18 possessions than in a 9-12 and you will give up more. You have to decide how you would play, if I thought it would work we would go breakneck too. I think we are a better team when we can control the TOP and play 8-10 possessions because it limits the other team. We have to be more efficient on offense and defense.
ON KAAYA THROWING THE BALL AROUND AND RICHT'S EXPERIENCE AGAINST
He is very talented, he is not a run threat and they don't use him in the run game, he is a drop back passer, DeShaun is used in the run game. I think the other part is overblown, the guys on the field play and we have some familiarity with them and they have some with us. It is their offense and our defense, it is different, it is 3-4 vs 4-3, they want to do their own thing. Manny Diaz is there DC, he is not going to change his stuff to do what UGA did, if he does that may help us, because they've been successful.
ON PERSONALITY OF TEAM BEING UP AND DOWN
Each team is different, i think this is the personality of a young team, 2014 we had 23 seniors, our offense has two seniors the C and QB, they've been in a lot of that stuff and other kids have just played a little bit, they get afraid to make a mistake and turn it loose, just my opinion.
ON FACING A DC WHO HASNT FACED A TRIPLE TEAM BEFORE
We get ready for four man, three man, high safety or whatnot, we adjust how we play based on how they line up. We don't get locked in on one thing, the nature of what we do. If I'm a tackle and I have the first LB head up inside, then I have him, as long as I've had reps against all of them I should be okay.
