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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 6, 2017

Paul Johnson

Greensboro, North Carolina

PAUL JOHNSON: Well, good morning. Certainly we've got a very quick turnaround coming off of extremely tough, physical game on Monday night, a game that we were really disappointed we did not find a way to win. Felt like we had every opportunity to do so, but have to give Tennessee credit. In the end they found a way to make a play and win the game. But move forward, hopefully we'll get some guys back. Like I said, it was a physical game, and we'll be playing here again in three days.

Q. In terms of what you saw from Marshall in Monday night's game, how much of that had you seen in practice that was kind of the reason you gave him the starting job, or did he exceed your expectations at all?
PAUL JOHNSON: Well, I thought he played well. He certainly had done a good job in practice. That's how he won the job. I don't think you ever think a guy is going to go in and rush for 240 yards and five touchdowns, but he did a good job executing what we were trying to do against the way they were playing defensively, and you know, overall his performance was as good as expected or maybe a little better.

Q. You do have a quick turnaround against a ranked FCS team that didn't have to play last weekend. How concerned that maybe you're hurting yourselves with this scheduling this week?
PAUL JOHNSON: I'm really concerned. I think I voiced my opinion on that when we did it, but when you play a team that's a ranked FCS team, having coached on that level, I know they've got some really good players. I think they've got 13 transfers I counted just looking through the roster from Division I schools, so it'll be a challenge, especially coming on a short week.

Q. With the short week and the physicality of the game on Monday night, how are you handling practice?
PAUL JOHNSON: Well, we tried to do -- we watched the film and got through with the game yesterday, and we'll cut back, go about an hour and a half in shells today, and really not have any contact, and then we'll do a regular Thursday practice, which for us is about an hour, and we'll go play. Shouldn't affect us on offense a whole lot. We kind of do what we do and we adjust once the game starts. Defensively it's a little harder.

Q. With the number of carries that Marshall had in the game, was that just a byproduct of how they were playing you guys?
PAUL JOHNSON: Yeah, pretty much. They were trying to run the linebackers, so we ran a lot of follow plays and some things, and then on the option, like on the belly option, they weren't taking the quarterback, so it just kind of ended up, and there wasn't an opportunity to pitch very much. I mean, the last play of the game, two-point play, if he kicks the ball, the guy probably walks in. But you know, he played really well for the whole game, and the game should have never been in overtime anyway.

Q. I'm writing a story about the flexbone offense. Do you believe now in your 10th year at Georgia Tech, do you believe the last decade and your success there has changed any minds around the country or brought more teams to potentially run the flexbone?
PAUL JOHNSON: Doesn't look like it. I think the only teams that are doing what we do are probably ourselves and Army and Navy, and both of those guys were assistants for me. You know, it kind of is what it is. Everybody has their idea on things, but I don't see a big rush of people doing it.

Q. Does it matter to you at all, or do you prefer to be one of the few?
PAUL JOHNSON: Oh, it doesn't matter to me. I think that people -- there's a lot of good offenses. You just have to know the system and try to be able to tweak it. It's just something that we've done for a long time and we believe in and have had a lot of success doing it at different schools. You know, I used to wonder why more people didn't do it because it's certainly a great equalizer and gives you a chance to be competitive. But to each their own, and there's other ways to do that. I mean, but if you're at some schools in the country, if you're in a conference with Ohio State and Michigan and some of those schools, you're not going to out-recruit those schools. So you'd better not be doing the same thing they're doing. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense. And you could say that for every league. We're not going to out-recruit Florida State and Clemson here, either. If you're going to play with them and beat them, you've got to be doing something a little different.

Q. Given the fact that Marshall and Benson were both making their first starts, have you ever had a pair have that kind of performance in their very first college games against an opponent the quality of a Tennessee?
PAUL JOHNSON: Probably not. I'd have to think back to -- we probably haven't had very many times where both the quarterback and the B-back were first-year starters. That would probably limit it in itself. But you know, the way they played and their stats on Monday night, probably not.

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