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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2016

Dino Babers

Greensboro, North Carolina

DINO BABERS: Obviously disappointed in the loss last week against N.C. State. They did a fabulous job. It was a game that we thought we definitely had a chance to win and it was unfortunate it didn't work out our way. Florida State, outstanding football team, well-coached, probably athlete-wise, the second best group of football players we've seen since Clemson.

This is going to be a very, very daunting task for us, and we're going to have to play perfect football to have an opportunity to be successful.

Q. Yesterday Zack kind of said, Zack Mahoney kind of said that Steve Ishmael was a full-go in practice. What's his status for this upcoming Saturday?
DINO BABERS: Same thing. He started practice yesterday, and then he didn't finish practice. I'm not quite sure what the issue is. But he just doesn't feel comfortable with one of the nagging injuries he got that's still with him from the Clemson game.

Q. Also, different question, obviously we talked all sane about how your defensive line is very young. You also have a (Indiscernible)? What's he meant for the line?
DINO BABERS: I think he gives us depth, and an older guy that can get in the game and maybe do some more solid things. He made a big play for us in the Virginia Tech game. He was the defensive lineman that recovered that fumble on our sideline that cemented the game. So we're glad that we've got him. He's done some good things for us this year. Unfortunately, he's only got one year and he'll be done here in the next two to three games.

Q. Hey, Coach, I saw you on Monday, and you talked a little about Coates, what stood out from him the most watching film?
DINO BABERS: I just think he has fantastic balance for a running back. You say you can't measure someone's heart, but you can see his heart every time he puts the ball underneath his arm. He's courageous. He doesn't give up on runs. I thought he was really, really good, but I didn't know how fast he was until I saw the Clemson game, and I saw him run away from the Clemson secondary people. We couldn't run away from Clemson's secondary people.

So he's probably one of the fastest or the fastest back that we have in the conference. The guy's just an exceptional, exceptional football player.

Q. Just on Francois, as a freshman, watching him on film, what stands out about him?
DINO BABERS: That he's really good for a freshman and he's going to be around for three more years. This guy is the future of their program. He's going to be really, really, really good as he gets older.

Q. On Monday you said Eric was getting a second opinion for his injury. I'm curious, have there been any results from the second opinion? Has the status changed for this weekend? What's happened since Monday?
DINO BABERS: Well, the second opinion hasn't happened yet, and the status hasn't changed.

Q. On a different note (Indiscernible) looked like he took a tough hit to the head against N.C. State and he wasn't moving for a while, kind of on the ground there. How's he doing? Does he have a concussion? What's his status for Florida State?
DINO BABERS: Well, I think we've got to leave all that stuff up to the ACC thing. We're not supposed to be talking about injuries and all that stuff. I saw the tape, you saw the game, I'm going to leave it there and you can see the report on Thursday.

Q. Coach, you put up, the offense has put up some pretty nice numbers yardage-wise but you're not scoring. How frustrating has that been for you since your previous teams have done really well?
DINO BABERS: I think that I wouldn't use the word frustration. This is a process, and I told everyone when I got here, this thing really takes over in the second year between Game 4 and six, and we've been occasionally great, and we haven't been consistently good. My thing is not only on offense and defense and kicking game, is that you need to have consistency in your program, so you have a balance and you have a foundation.

We're working every day and the players are working every day for us to be consistent. Once we get there, we'll be doing the things we think we should be doing, not only with this football team, but in the ACC conference.

Q. If Eric isn't able to go this weekend, is there a point where you've decided who you want to start, and is there a point where you'd like to have that locked in?
DINO BABERS: Well, I think right now that based off how well Zack played, Zack should be the guy that goes up first, but we haven't decided. We have to still see how everything fits in the game plan.

Q. Now that you've gotten a chance to look back at Zack's tape, what are a couple things you're working on with him to prepare him a little bit for Florida State?
DINO BABERS: I think Zack played extremely well versus North Carolina State. I think the first half he was exceptional. I think 9 for 13 or something to that effect.

It's not about what Zack does for our football team. It's what the other 21 guys have to do. Anytime you lose a person of Eric's caliber, you don't expect the back-up guy to come up and play at that same level. What you want is the other 21 people to elevate their game so your football team has an opportunity to win. We need everyone else to play better, and we need Zack to play within himself.

Q. Florida State's had a couple younger receivers emerge in recent weeks, Nyqwan Murray, No. 80, and Auden Tate No. 18. What have you seen from them and what kind of challenges do they present?
DINO BABERS: Very long, very athletic. You can see that the passing game is growing with the young freshmen as they move later and later into the season, and these guys are just developing. You can start to see that they almost know what the other person's going to do before they do it. Those receivers are explosive. They're up to the receivers that they traditionally have on the edges, and they're more than capable of making plays and changing games.

Q. Obviously, last Saturday one of the big issues for the defense uncharacteristically was not being able to get off the field on third down. After looking at the tape, what do you think the issues were there and how do you plan to fix those before Saturday's game?
DINO BABERS: It's not issues. It's about we have to put people in position to make plays. First and second down you can do some things, but third down is a very clear down. Either you're going to bring pressure or you're not going to bring pressure. If you don't bring pressure, you need people on the back end to make a play. If you do bring pressure, you need those pressure people to make a play or get home because the people on the back end are under stress.

When we put those guys in those situations, I thought the N.C. State guys did a fantastic job of making plays, even though our guys were in the right position.

Q. Do you think that one works better than the other, either putting them in pressure or not putting them in pressure?
DINO BABERS: I don't think you should ever have one pitch. If you're a baseball player and you're a pitcher and you only have one pitch, you're probably not going to be in the league very long. You need to have at least two and maybe even three.

So I think it's best to play and go back and forth between those things so that the coordinators and the players don't know exactly what you're going to do. The only time you can do one thing dimensionally on a football field is when you're drastically better than your opponent, and we're not there yet. We need to be able to mix it up.

Q. To take a look at kind of the next man up approach that's happened at the quarterback position as well as the cornerbacks, the offensive line, and pretty much all throughout the team, just what you can say about what you've seen from these players that you didn't bring in recruiting-wise, but how they've stepped up and when they've had their number called, they've been able to go out and do positive things this season?
DINO BABERS: Fantastic question. I can't speak enough about the closeness on this football team. The la familia, the Ohana, this is a family. When guys go down, other guys are pulling for the back-ups to come in and play and play well. Even the guys who are hurt are coming back and helping the guys that took their positions. You just see the love. You can see how tight we are as a unit, and hopefully it will pay off this Saturday, and it will pay off next Saturday, and we'll get an opportunity to have one more.

But, if not, there's no doubt it's going to carry us into the 2017 season, and all these young people playing, all these young people playing before their time, they're going to be one year older, and we're going to go from a very inexperienced team to a very young, experienced football team. Fantastic question.

Q. Obviously it takes time to win games. It takes time when you come in as a new head coach to turn a program in the direction you want to go in. But in the world we live in today, as a head coach, how do you respond to that knowing the logical part of that means it's going to take time to improve this program, but on the outside looking in, there is a constant need for it to change right now?
DINO BABERS: One thing, I don't settle for anything. I'm not going to settle. So there is no bone in my body that says, hey, I'm looking forward to next year. My whole task is finding out or finding a way to win now. I think as long as everyone has that mentality that we're not going to settle and we can do everything we can to win now, and hope that we can. And if we can't, then at least we know we did everything we can possibly do.

We're always in the now; we're not in the future here. And I think that's what you need to do in collegiate sports when you're dealing with the young people. You're dealing with the present and not dealing with the future.

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