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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 16, 2016

David Cutcliffe

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: I think everybody realizes the task we have going to Pittsburgh to play a really, really good, well rounded football team in the Pittsburgh Panthers. People think about their offense and defense, but they're physical in the kicking game and dangerous there as well. So it will take our best effort for four quarters to be able to go up there and compete with these guys.

I'll take your questions.

Q. To look at this most recent victory over North Carolina and to keep the team's hopes alive of a Bowl game, just what you can say about the resolve of your team and the next man up approach with some of the guys that have had to step up.
Q. You know, I am proud of our team. I'm proud of the way they've gone back to practice and approached. We really almost had a different team every week of the season from a standpoint of who's starting or even who's playing in multiple cases. The mentality has been great. It's been inspirational to me. I've said that multiple times.
We right now know we have a huge task. The thing that pleased me the most -- of course, we had a couple days because we played on Thursday. When we started back practice on Sunday, you could tell it was about moving forward, and I think they have great respect for Pitt, and that helps a great deal.

This is making our program better although it's kind of tough to deal with this as we've gone along each week. There's no question that it's making our program better every week.

Q. To look at the ACC and the level of competition and its evolution just in Coastal Division alone, with Justin Fuente coming in, Pat Narduzzi not having been at Pitt for a long time, and Mark Richt coming to Miami, just what you can say about the level of competition and what the ACC now looks like.
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: In the nine years that I've been here, there's been obviously numerous coaches and programs that have been outstanding. I think right now we're at an all time high in the nine years that I've been here. When you've gotten the addition of Pitt and Syracuse and Louisville, that's had an impact on our league. And the level that Clemson's played. Florida State's won a National Championship. Clemson plays for one a year ago.

The consistency every week that you have to play with to win is very similar to the almost 30 years I was involved with the Southeastern Conference. So I think it's a great opportunity for us as a league to continue in the direction we're headed and work like crazy.

We'd better get better because the alternatives, if you don't get better as a conference, then you're going to get worse. So hopefully, we continue this pattern.

Q. I was wondering if you could talk a little bit about your play-by-play man Bob Harris, retiring after the basketball season, after 40 years doing football and basketball. I know he's meant a lot to your program over the years.
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: He's meant a lot to me personally. He's become a really good friend. We do a daily radio show instead of part of the television show at times. He is just such a person of integrity. He loves the players of the game.

That's one thing that Bob Harris has managed to do in his long, long career of radio broadcasting is he's kept the athletes at the forefront of it, and all of us who are involved in college athletics need to constantly remind ourselves of that. It's not about us. It's about the athlete, and I don't know anybody who epitomizes that better than Bob Harris.

I'm just thankful I'm not going to have to miss him as a friend. We'll still get some good time together. He just represents a grand era of radio broadcast in college football.

Q. What are you most pleased with about your defense for the most part of these last five games that you need to continue against Pittsburgh?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: We're going to have to play really well against these guys. We're minimizing more and more some of the damaging big plays. We've had a lot of people step up. Our depth has improved, I think. Because we're playing so many people, we've become a better second half defense. That makes a huge difference. I like the way that bodes for the future. We're referencing some good young defensive players that we blend in.

We have on our defense 25 first and second year players right now, and we're going to obviously sign a few more. So I'm excited. I think Jim Knowles and the defensive staff, Ben Albert, the new addition, have done a tremendous job with this team but also building toward the future.

Q. David, the least amount of points Pitt has scored in a game this year has been 28, and most of the time they've been in the 30s, high 30s and 40s. What seems to make their offense go so well, so efficiently.
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: What I would call complete balance. You return an entire offensive line. You return a quarterback. You return a great back. You return a tight end and part of the receiving corps. So the players are balanced everywhere. When you have a back and a tight end to go along with an outstanding offensive line, what it does is it isolates wideouts, and when you do that, you get burned.

So they certainly are physical. Nobody has really just stopped them, and you're probably not going to. So you'd better minimize the damage as best you can.

Because of the style of offense, they also dominate the time of possession. So you'd like to sit there -- and they're very good on defense -- think you can try to keep the ball away from their offense, but you can't really do that. A year ago, we played them, and they had the ball 40 minutes, and we had it 20. That's not a recipe for victory. So they're a difficult team to play.

Q. Obviously, James Conner, big, powerful, everybody knows what he can do, but it seemed like on that little swing pass he caught out of the backfield and took for a touchdown, he showed more speed than maybe I was aware that he had. I don't know how that struck you.
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, it does strike me that way. I kind of thought all year long -- I looked at him on tape studying other opponents, seen him on television a couple times. He looks like he's maybe a little leaner, and if not weight, just age and body fat and conditioning, and he's worked so hard, bless him, to overcome not only a severe illness but rehabbing a knee.

So to me, it looks like the youngster's worked so hard to improve himself, it's starting to show in his total game.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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