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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 27, 2017

David Cutcliffe

Greensboro, North Carolina

DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Very proud of Gabe. Gabe's also on the AFCA Good Works team that was just recently named. He's got a good opportunity to be a finalist for the Campbell Trophy. Very proud of him. We have obviously a somewhat short week. Played on Friday night from a Saturday game, but proud of our staff, proud of our team.

Went to work on Sunday. There is not a day off until obviously the day after the game for the players. But I think everybody here realizes how big our challenge is. Miami is an extremely talented team and extremely well-coached team. They're very difficult to find any weakness. They're as balanced as anybody, I believe, that we will play this year.

So huge talent Friday night, but it's one we've got to look forward to because it's an opportunity to measure yourself when you play this kind of team and just see how hard we're willing to compete, because that's what we're going to have to do to be in this game.

Q. I apologize in advance, I'm sure this is not something you want to talk about. But looking back at that game two years ago, I know you had talked very much at the time about how the ending was something you didn't want to let linger. In retrospect, have you looked back on that and do you feel you've handled that the way you wanted to handle it or was there any aftermath in the way that game ended?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: There is no option to do anything after the game. Had I had it to do over again, which you don't you never expect -- we had a pretty nice squib kick, very short squib. Didn't want to give them the ball. I thought about an on-sidekick type kick because you know you're going to cover it. They're going to have to get on it. But you give them a shot in the end zone with a throw. The other choice, and one I wish we might have made if you had second chances, would have been a sky kick. A short sky kick forcing a fair catch or us having the ability to get down under it running down the field. So that's for all the coaches that face that situation.

Again, after a lot of thought, I think that's the best play you could make. Now, after that game, it wasn't anger. Well, it was gotten wrong and the conference announced that, but you couldn't change anything. The most difficult part was the walking in the locker room and looking at a bunch of crushed young people that I didn't have an answer for.

That probably will live with me forever. But did I ever dwell on that game? We won games before we were probably fortunate to win. Not probably, we have. We've lost some other games that we maybe should have won. So as a coach, and particularly a veteran coach, you learn to put those things in the proper perspective and the proper place.

Q. Do you think that obviously at the end of the day the perfect result would have been you having a win on your schedule there, but do you think having gone through the experience and the way you were outspoken about how it went and the changes that have been implemented not just league-wise but nationally now in many ways because of that game, that there is a silver lining of it? That there is some direction towards eliminating situations like that in the future?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Yeah, I think it is. That's how all things grow. That's how all things improve. We have a better replay system in play rather than a small monitor that we're dealing with on site. Conference offices around the country have multiple people looking, and it's much easier to get a result right.

If you're going to use replay -- we all want the game to be streamlined, and it may be a little shorter. But, in critical circumstances, all we want is replay to be right. That's a good move and a nice step in the right direction.

Q. What do you want your defense to do better against Miami than in last year's meeting? Just how much better -- do you feel you have a defense that will be up to that task this year?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Miami has got a lot of people, lot of players that have big-play potential. Big plays in modern-day football, we all call them explosives. You've got to limit the explosives so there are a couple ways of doing that. One is always tackling better. We'll have to tackle well against some really talented people with the football. Starting with the tailback, quarterback, receivers, tight ends, et cetera. The other part of it is that everybody's got to play team defense. You have to be where you need to be. And they're a team that if you make a mistake, it's exaggerated against that kind of talent.

So I'm not saying perfect, but you better play a game to where 11 people are doing what they're supposed to be doing every play. And that's the fastest path to minimizing explosive play. So it's preparation, it's focus, it's all of those things. And that's what it's going to take for us defensively to be successful against a team as talented as Miami.

Q. Bryon Fields Jr., what you can say about what he's done through these first two games. I know he has two interceptions in the first four games, and just what he's meant as a senior leader to your defense?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: He's as good a captain as you can have off the field, and he's as good a captain as you can have on the practice field, and that's where it matters most. The reason he's successful, the reason he has four pick sixes in his career, and the reason he seems to always be around is that he's athletic. He's got great feet. But Bryon studies the game, he prepares. His practice habits, it's a joy to watch him in individual drills, group drills, our competitive drills that we do each Tuesday and Wednesday, best against best.

Bryon is showing the way. That's who he is, and he's a great student, a great person. So you'll love the fact when you have young people like Bryon Fields on your team.

Q. The ACC so far to this point in the first four weeks, Clemson is where people expect them to be. Virginia Tech is 4-0, Wake Forest is 4-0. Just what you can say about the strength of this conference and seeing teams like your team rise in these first four games and seeing teams like Wake Forest take care of business. And N.C. State, despite their one loss, what they've done as well?
DAVID CUTCLIFFE: Well, it's not surprising to me. We watch a lot of tape in the summer, and of course a lot of it is associated with our conference schedule, and as you look at returning squads, we do summer scouting reports on all of our opponents and you're also watching other ACC teams that are playing people you're going to play.

So one of the comments we have as a staff throughout the summer is that there are many good teams, good players coming back in a year than we can remember over the ten years, and there is certainly balance in this league. You have to play your best. You have to hope that you can stay healthy, and you've got to prepare well every week. If you don't, you're going to come out on the short end of it. It's early yet. We have no idea the direction it's going to take. All we know is we're going to prepare one week at a time and be as good as we can be.

We've got a big task against a 2-0 Miami team. The only reason they're not undefeated with more games is obviously the tremendous circumstance they've had to deal with.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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