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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 2, 2016

Mark Richt

Greensboro, North Carolina

MARK RICHT: Playing a great team in my opinion, very physical, offensive football team, runs the ball as good as anybody I've seen this season, really great play action pass that goes along with it. Offensively they're just putting a lot of points on the board, staying true to who they are, and really running the rock and benefiting from it with their play action.

Defensively a team that just will get after you. Very, very difficult to run the football against, No. 6 in the country in that regard, so we've got our work cut out for us there.

Looking forward to the opportunity of being back home, playing in front of our crowd.

Q. Obviously three of your last four games have been close. Do you feel like there's one or two things that if you improve upon it'll flip the margin to the winning side?
MARK RICHT: Well, you hope so. We certainly were in those games. The Virginia Tech game got away from us, and even in that one there's some moments where we could have closed the gap and got over there to score but were not able to get in the end zone.

Yeah, I mean, the thing you tell the players, and they understand, is you never know which play is the play that's going to make the difference in the game. You know, that's why we have to do everything right on a consistent basis, more consistent basis. We understand we're playing good teams. We understand they give scholarships, too. We understand they're good coaches, too. But some of the things that happened that have kept us from having the success we want has been some self-inflicted wounds, whether through penalties or through missed assignments or maybe not the proper technique in tackling or whatever it may be. So we've just got to keep banging away at doing things right and believing in each other and staying positive. That's where we're at right now.

Q. Pitt has one of the best pass rushes in the ACC and in college football, and one of the best pass rushers in Ejuan Price. Can you talk about protecting Kaaya and how important that is and how confident you are that you can give him the time to throw?
MARK RICHT: Well, we've struggled in that area, obviously, especially the last two games, and part of it is getting ourselves behind the chains, getting into 3rd and longs, getting ourselves behind in a ballgame where we have to throw the ball from the pocket more than we'd like to, just down after down.

Any good pass rushing team is going to get excited about that and be able to tee off on that. We've just got to do a better job on first and second downs and then try to start faster where we don't feel like we're playing from behind and just have to chunk it every down.

Q. When you look at Pitt on paper, are they as good as their numbers suggest?
MARK RICHT: Oh, they are. You see it on paper, but when you watch the film, you can see that they're dynamic in how they get after you in that regard. I mean, their 3rd down package is -- it gets exotic in their looks and the things that they do, but just an old-school four-man pass rush is a bear because they've got a big man who can push the pocket up in the face of the quarterback, and then they've got Price, who's a jet on the end, to force the QB up in the pocket, and that's a pretty lethal combination of pass rush.

Q. You mentioned having to rely more on the pass because you've been behind in games. Is that the reason why the run numbers aren't as good as they were at the beginning of the year? Is there something more to that?
MARK RICHT: Yeah, that's part of it. That's part of it. But we've not run the ball well in our early downs. We've gotten ourselves, like I said, into some 3rd downs where it's not as manageable as you'd like it to be, and you just about have to drop back and chunk it if you want to have a chance at it. You might be able to spit a draw here and there or some kind of a screen pass, but you just can't get in 3rd and longs.

Part of it is the fact that we've been behind and had to abort the run to a certain degree, because a lot of it is just early in the game, early in drives and things of that nature, we've just not blocked as well and not found it as well as backs, and then when we do get it through the line, the linebacker corps, we haven't blocked as well on the perimeter on a consistent basis. We've got our moments. You can take our highlights and they're pretty impressive, but again, you have to do it down after down, not just every so often.

Q. I was wondering what's your take on James Conner of Pitt and the kinds of problems that he presents. I don't know if you've faced a tailback exactly like him this year.
MARK RICHT: Not this year, I don't think. A bruiser, physical, tough, experienced, loves the game, loves life, obviously, after -- especially after what he went through, I'm sure he appreciates every moment he gets in life in general and especially on the football field. Just a great story of faith and perseverance and toughness, physical and mental toughness, and now he's healthy and pounding people. He's a special player and a special person.

Q. They've also got an explosive guy in Qadree Henderson, not only on kickoffs, punt returns, he can catch passes, he can carry the ball, too. He's sort of the kind of guy you always need to know where he is.
MARK RICHT: Oh, yeah. Well, and he's run for, I think, 345 yards or something like that. A lot of it is on the speed sweep, but that's exactly what you want, a guy who can really motor, a guy who can really run, and when you have to respect that, it creates seams when you decide to hand off the ball inside to your big back, and it's a great combination of skill and scheme, and it also opens up some tremendous passing opportunities, as well.

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