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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 18, 2017

Steve Addazio

Greensboro, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Steve Addazio.

COACH ADDAZIO: We're excited to get back right into ACC play again. We're heading down to Virginia, play a 5-1 Virginia Cavalier team. And Coach Mendenhall has done a great job with that program and they're explosive on offense.

They've got playmakers. The quarterback is throwing the ball extremely well. Really good running back. Really good tight end, really good receivers. And you can see that in their offense. They score a lot of points and they're well coached.

On defense, they're a physical, stout, run-stopping defense. Their coverage plays tight coverage and different coverages. I think they're well put together, well coached. Andrew Brown is one heck of a player on the defensive line. And Quin Blanding on the back end.

So they've got talented players. They've got confidence. They're playing at a high level. And it will be a great challenge for us, one that we're working real hard this week to get down there, be as prepared as we can, and go down and play as well as we can.

Q. To look at the ACC talent all throughout the conference, when you look at the Atlantic division that you're a part of and obviously the Coastal Division, just what you can say about how closely contested these games are and there's not a true top team, and that the bottom team can obviously take care of business from any given week, just what you've seen from top to bottom?
COACH ADDAZIO: Well, I think this league is a great league. I think there's a lot of really good football teams in this league. There's a lot of really talented players and a lot of good coaches in this league.

And I've been in a lot of the leagues. So I've been saying this for a while. I can't speak to anybody else. I can only speak to us.

We played an extremely challenging schedule against some of the best teams in the country. We've played two of the last national champions and three that played in the national championship game.

So we're up against it every single week and we're up against it again this week. So it's just the nature of this conference. And you've got to be prepared. And it doesn't matter who you're playing -- all the teams are talented and capable enough to beat anybody.

Q. And then as far as your takeaways from your team and just what you've seen out of the guys, offense/defense, special teams-wise, what your biggest takeaways have been through the first seven weeks?
COACH ADDAZIO: I think we're gritty. I think that we have handled a lot of adversity, taking it on and went to work. Each week we've had to overcome certain things like a lot of other teams do.

But your ability to handle it and keep grinding and keep believing in each other is critically important. I think we're continuing to grow. We're continuing to develop.

I still don't think we've played our best football. And I think that's ahead of us. And obviously each week you're hoping that that week is going to be the best game that you've played.

But they've got a great mindset, a great mentality, and this is a team that's excited as heck for every game. And we just got off the practice field and had a great day today and look forward each day to improving.

Q. I'm curious, you referenced him in the opening but No. 1, their tailback, Jordan Ellis, what do you see in that matchup? And he seems like he might be your style of player.
COACH ADDAZIO: Yeah, he's averaging 4.2 yards a carry, and he's 5'10" and 210, listed that way. To me he's a power runner, he's got power. He hits the hole fast and plays with a low pad level.

I like him a lot. I think the kid's a talented heck of a player. That's the kind of running backs to me that are hard guys to deal with because they're plus-yards runners.

And if you blocked it for three, they're going to get five. If you block it for five, they're going to get eight. And I think when you like to run the football, you've got to get those additional yards, and there's got to be a physical price to pay for it, and that's got to wear through the course of the game.

Q. When you look at defending a player like that, I think sometimes it's a little bit of a shock for teams. Because your program is kind of built on that toughness and that power run stuff, is your defense maybe better positioned to take on a guy like that?
COACH ADDAZIO: Well, they certainly see it every day, I can tell you that. I mean, every day we have periods that are just good versus good. Not whether we're playing the same scheme or not. And it's for that reason, our guys on defense have to take on a power gap scheme, a counter gap scheme, an iso scheme, an inside zone scheme, a wide zone scheme. And I think that helps our defense.

I've been involved where defenses sometimes don't see that style of run and don't get it and then when they do, they're not really quite ready for it. But I think our guys see it every day now.

How we perform against it, I guess we won't know that until Saturday. But, yes, they see it every day.

Q. I remember a couple of years ago Brian Kelly brought Notre Dame in there. He's never been to the stadium before. Said he was curious about what it looked like. Wondering your illustrious career if you've ever been to Scott Stadium if you hadn't are you getting the lay of the land from Jim Reid?
COACH ADDAZIO: I would say I am getting the lay of the land from Jim Reid. And I have actually, my daughter, when she was looking at colleges, we went to Charlottesville. We stopped on the campus, which was beautiful. We went and saw the stadium as a parent.

But I have never been there in a coaching capacity. But plenty of guys on my staff have. And I hear it's quite beautiful. And so we're prepared to go into a place that's got a lot of buzz, as it should.

Their team is 5-1, and they should be very excited down there. So I'm quite confident we're going to go into a very alive atmosphere.

Q. So did your daughter consider Virginia? Where did she go?
COACH ADDAZIO: She ended up going to the University of Florida where I was. But she absolutely did. UVA -- and it was actually BC, UVA and UF. Thank God UF is a little more cost-effective.

Q. Can you talk about the challenges of going up against a multiple front defense like Virginia runs?
COACH ADDAZIO: You know, they're very talented, and they have multiple schemes. But quite frankly we see a lot of these all year-round. And style of team we are, we see a lot of multiplicity on defense. We see four down, we see three down, we see a lot of zone pressure, we see man-fire pressure. We get it all and we practice against it all.

So we've been in preparation for these things, and it's just the nature of the kind of plays and the kind of offense we have.

So I think it's more about getting prepared for physical talent that you're going to see, and they're quite talented. And they're stout. They're athletic. They play really hard. They're well-coached. They have a good scheme. It's a good football team.

And that always gets my attention when I see a good football team. This is a good football team that's well-coached and hungry. And I can appreciate that.

So I'm fully, fully aware. And we are preparing like heck as best we can to be able to take on those challenges.

Q. The performance that A.J. Dillon had last week, I assume that's what you envisioned when you signed him in February, for performances like that to help out the run game?
COACH ADDAZIO: Yeah, that's exactly the kind of talent that we thought he had. As he gets more and more comfortable with what he's doing, I believe we'll have an opportunity to see him become one of the very elite running backs in the country. And he's a wonderful kid, tremendous guy, smart guy, big, physical, fast guy with a lot of talent.

And I think it's all now about the maturation process relative to getting used to the grind of college football, high-level academics, and completely learning the system that you're in.

But I think you saw a glimpse of what he's capable of from a physicality, vision and a sheer break-away speed.

I think that was evident and so that will continue to grow and get better.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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