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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 11, 2017

Dino Babers

Greensboro, North Carolina

DINO BABERS: We're excited to have an opportunity to play Clemson.

The game last week against Pittsburgh was a big game, gave us an opportunity to get back to 3-3. The guys are excited about the opportunity to play the defending national champions.

Q. Good morning, Coach. You talked last week, comparing your game with Pitt to the Marvin Hagler-Tommy Hearns boxing war. Do you have a comparison for Syracuse and Clemson this week?
DINO BABERS: No, not at all (laughter).

Q. Coach, I would imagine every coach in the country that's playing a top-ranked team the rest of the season is going to point to Iowa State going into Norman and beating Oklahoma. Is that something you brought to your team's attention, that it's any given Saturday now in the NCAA football, especially as well as you played Clemson in the Carrier Dome?
DINO BABERS: I think the one thing that I take away from the Oklahoma/Iowa State win is Coach Campbell is another MAC coach from the MAC Conference. Used to coach at Toledo. And along with Coach Doeren who is at N.C. State, doing a fantastic job down there, and Coach Clawson at Wake Forest. I think that once again shows how strong the proving ground is or the coaching world is when you come -- that's a very fantastic conference and there are a lot of good coaches that came from that conference.

I think they understand and know how to play up and play opponents that are bigger than them. And they know they've got to cross the Ts and dot the Is and play a clean game to have an opportunity to win. I think they have the roadmap or the GPS system to give their team a chance in games like that. That's what I take away from the Iowa State/Oklahoma game.

Q. Coach, what's going through your mind when you watch that Clemson defense on film and how do you scheme for that kind of a "D"?
DINO BABERS: IDK. IDK. You look at it, there's no holes. There's no weaknesses. It starts with fantastic athletes. They do an outstanding job in recruiting. Obviously, Coach Venables does a fantastic job with the defense. He's got a lot of experience with spread teams from his Oklahoma background, being in the Big 12. I just think he puts a lot of fantastic athletes in the right spots and gets them to play at a high, feverish pitch.

You put those combinations together and you're going to have a national championship type defense, and that's exactly what they have.

Q. A couple of key match-ups that you're looking at that are just going to be huge for you guys?
DINO BABERS: Yeah. I think all the match-ups are going to be huge. I think their front four is OMG. Their line backers can run with anybody. Their nickel is like a linebacker. Their corners are shutdown guys and their safeties, you can't see over them.

We've got issues, and that's just on the defensive side of the ball.

Q. Okay. Then what about on the "O"?
DINO BABERS: When you go on the other side, they're a complete team.

The coolest thing, the biggest compliment I can give Coach Swinney is you're playing a football team. Sometimes you go against teams like that and you're playing a bunch of individuals, guys that are waiting for their turn to get drafted in the first round and go make money in the pros. That's not what you've got when you play Clemson. You're playing a family. You're playing a team that cares about each other and it's a big task.

Q. Good morning. You guys have been consistent converting on fourth down offensively this year. What have you learned, I guess, over your whole career about when to go for it on fourth down and has anything informed your decisions this year?
DINO BABERS: I really think you need to go with your gut in those situations. Sometimes you can tell how important the momentum is and keeping the momentum sometimes you realize, hey, this may not be a good time to do it because you may be giving momentum back to them and it could snowball on you from there.

So in those situations, in fourth down situations, based off of who you are playing and where it is in the game, I like to go with my gut intuition when it comes to stuff like that.

Q. Thank you, Dino. Secondly, before you arrived at Syracuse, had you been exposed to virtual reality at all? Your quarterbacks are mostly using it this year. What benefits do you see it providing them?
DINO BABERS: I'd never used virtual reality with the quarterbacks before I got here. Our quarterbacks really, really do enjoy it. Hopefully -- it's kind of, for the millennials, it's kind of how you guys learn anyway. I was a little standoffish at first, but my quarterback coach, Sean Lewis, was constantly after me, we need to do this, we need to do this.

So we dipped into that world, so to speak, and our young people enjoy it. It's the way you guys play with your video games, and they attest that it helps to bring them along mentally faster.

So if it's going to help a position come along quicker, and get more experience, I'm all for it especially when you're talking about getting quarterbacks ready to go in the ACC Atlantic.

Q. Good morning. You mentioned the Clemson defensive line earlier. How do you feel about how your own offensive line has done this year as you go into that test?
DINO BABERS: I feel that my offensive line has a huge task, and whether they're ready for it or not, it's going to happen Friday around 7:00, I believe.

Q. What's your assessment of the job they've done so far this year?
DINO BABERS: My offensive line?

Q. Yes.
DINO BABERS: I think they've done okay based off of their youth. But we need to be a heck of a lot better if we're going to get to where we need to be.

Q. Hi, Coach Dino. Talk about playing Friday night, being the main game on Friday the 13th. I know a lot of people are very superstitious about the game, the number. Are you very superstitious about Friday, the 13th?
DINO BABERS: Yeah. I hope it's not my end. I hope it's my beginning.

Q. Talk about Clemson. They have a great defense, but Bryant, the quarterback, is going to be playing, but he's going to be on a bum ankle. What do you guys have to do to make his night very -- havoc on Friday?
DINO BABERS: I don't know about the bum ankle thing. All you got to do is hand the ball back to one of those five star tailbacks or throw the ball up to one of those five star wide receivers.

Their backup quarterback, I think he was like the number one quarterback in the country or something like that. The big thing with Clemson is not necessarily who's playing quarterback. It's the other 21 guys. It's the ten guys on offense and those 11 guys on defense that happen to be fantastic football players as well. They've got a good team, regardless of who the quarterback is going to be.

Q. Good luck Friday night. I hope you have a lot of noise in the dome.
DINO BABERS: Thank you very much.

Q. Dino, a lot of writers nationally, when they see Alabama and Clemson, they think there's a giant gap between those two teams and everybody else.
Based on the teams that you've played, the tape that you've watched, do you feel like there's a giant gap between where Clemson is and maybe the other teams in the conference, or do you think that's overstated?

DINO BABERS: I'll tell you what, that's a tricky answer. Let me say this: I've only -- traditionally, the statement is true. Those guys are different than everybody else. Alabama's different than everybody else. Clemson is different than everybody else. That statement is -- there's nothing truer than that statement.

Now, that being said, last year, the University of Pittsburgh found a way to beat Clemson, and they lost one game. I can't remember -- I believe Alabama lost a game last year too, although I can't remember who it was.

And I think there are some teams in the ACC Atlantic where if you catch a team where they're senior and junior oriented and their strength is in defense or an offensive team that can control the clock, I think you have a better opportunity versus the Clemsons and the Alabamas. So I think there are some teams in both conferences that can give those guys fantastic games, but they're really, really good. That's why they won the national championship last year, and Alabama, I don't know, has won four out of the last six or something like that. I can't keep track, they've won it so much.

Both of those organizations and both of those universities are doing a fantastic job.

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