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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 25, 2017

Dino Babers

Greensboro, North Carolina

DINO BABERS: Well, obviously disappointed about the loss at Miami. Hats off to Coach Richt. It was a really good game. Was disappointing not to have an opportunity to win it at the end. It was one of those contests where as a football team, another close loss, we have to learn to win those games. That's the difference between having a great season and a good season. Hopefully we're learning our lesson well.

Great opportunity for a bye. We're really banged up. We got a lot of guys hurt. Hopefully we can get a bunch of those guys back to the contest after this week when we go down to play Florida State. We're going to need those individuals because they're a fine club.

Q. Recruiting, at the introductory press conference you talked about how you need to take care of New York state with regards to recruiting. Almost two years in, how well do you think your staff has done that?
DINO BABERS: Well, we're doing the best we can. We've got the moms and the dads that have to help us as well. We're trying to recruit the best players out of the state of New York possible.

The one thing I always want to do, I just don't want to recruit a young man because he has New York state on the back of his rÃ©sumÃ©. I really want to recruit people from the state of New York to have an opportunity to play in the Carrier Dome, someone that the fans can get behind and rally, gets fans in there, they actually get to watch him play.

I don't think it's fair to recruit young men just because they're from the state of New York, then they really don't have an opportunity to participate and get an opportunity to get on the field, experience what playing college football it's all about.

We always start in the state of New York. We're always looking for the best players in the state of New York that we think are capable of playing on our team. From that point on, we start spiral graphing out trying to find the best players across the country.

Q. I think it was sometime during camp, you were talking about the schedule. You said something along the lines of, If we make a bowl game, that would be a real accomplishment. I think anyone would have agreed with you. Eight games into the season, 4-4, you probably learned a lot about your team, maybe the landscape of the ACC isn't exactly what everyone thought it would be. How do you look at the chance to make a bowl game now?
DINO BABERS: I thought about this from this year to last year. This is a good question. I thought one of the things that we did wrong last year is that we kept talking about bowl games before we talked about just winning the next game.

When you go back and you look at the 2016 season, based off of our GPA, APR ratings, which are so high, we were basically one win away from going to a bowl game. If we would have won one more game based off of what happened we would have went to a bowl game. To be one game short for the 2016 team and talking about going to bowls the entire year, this year I just don't want to do that. You know what I mean?

We had another tough loss at Miami. We want to try to find a way to just win the next football game. We're playing a team that was ranked in the top three when the season started at their place, and we haven't won a game on the road in a week from now. We're going to stay locked in, trying to win the next game. If it works out, it works out. I just don't want to start looking ahead like that.

I get it that you guys got to, I'm not saying you can't. But me individually, with the guys on our team, we're just looking at the next game.

Q. You said you're hoping to get some guys back, D-linemen with leg injuries. Is that something a guy can jump right back in from or do you need to get them going a little bit with practice beforehand?
DINO BABERS: They haven't done any running. You're asking me if they're running on the side, and the answer is no. We have to get them back where they can play in the game and defend themselves. Just because a guy can walk around or jog around doesn't mean he's healthy enough to go in there and keep himself safe in an atmosphere of a football game. We haven't even got them to that stage yet.

If we get them back into a situation where we think they can defend themselves out there and not get further injured with their injuries, then they may be in an -- there may be an opportunity where they can get 10, 15, 20, 25 plays. Even by doing that, lessening the load on the other guys that are playing, that could make us and our defense better.

Q. Moe Neal got more time last game than he has in a while. How have you seen him progress? Do you see him getting more time the next four games?
DINO BABERS: It's hard to predict that stuff. I think the thing about Moe, I've always said this, he's so unselfish. He's good at a lot of things. He's kind of like our fire. If there's a fire here, he can go there. He's so unselfish. I wish I had a team full of Moes. If you have a team full of Moes, you don't worry about who gets the credit, you normally end up with bowl seasons, everything normally works out.

He's a very unselfish guy. I'm glad to see he had some success in the game. I love it when he does have success in the game. I hope he has opportunities, and I hope that he does, with his opportunities, have the same type of success he's been having.

Q. How would you evaluate special teams, punt and kick returns?
DINO BABERS: I think we're steady. I think we're consistently good in that area. I don't think they are hurting us in any way. I think they are definitely doing their part.

Q. You said you weren't going to recruit guys just because they're from New York. Some coaches --
DINO BABERS: Wait a minute. Wait a minute. I didn't hear what you said. Say it again.

Q. Talking to New York coaches, they say you may have been a little distant or hard to reach at times, maybe ruffling some feathers. Speak to that, what you might have to say to those coaches?
DINO BABERS: I have no idea who you're talking about. Anybody that wants to come see me at my office can. Anybody that wants to call me can. I'm not going to talk about a rumor. No comment.

Q. I wanted to ask you about your video team. Seems like they've stepped their game up substantially over the last year. Was that something you identified as something that could help your program in terms of engagement, reaching recruits, that sort of thing?
DINO BABERS: I thought when we came, that was one department we could really up our game. I think kudos out to those guys. They have stepped their game up. I think they're championship level. I don't want anybody to come steal them, but I think they're definitely leading the conference, so to speak, in that stuff. I'm really proud of them.

Q. I was watching last week's game on television, and just the effort that Eric Dungey made was amazing to watch. How much does that rub off on the rest of the team? What kind of inspiration does the kind of effort he makes spread to everybody else?
DINO BABERS: When you're in the state of New York, we had that saying about Reggie Jackson, he was the straw that stirs the drink. Well, there's no doubt that Dungey is the straw that stirs our drink. He is our emotional leader on our football team on the offensive side of the ball. I think Zaire and Parris Bennett, Chris Slayton are some of our leaders on the defensive side of the ball. On the offensive side of the ball, it probably starts with Dungey, Ishmael, Erv Philips. There's all types of guys that do things. Dungey is just so unselfish. You can just tell by the way he plays that all he cares about is winning.

Q. Are you ever concerned he's going to run into a brick wall because of the way he plays? Seems as if sometimes he puts himself in a lot of harm's way.
DINO BABERS: I think he is the way he is. We tell him to be smart. You don't want to take the spirit out of a horse, but you do want to put a saddle on him. You want to ride him and have a horse that's special.

I think you got to be careful in how you balance how much you take out of his game, and all of a sudden you don't have the quarterback that everyone is talking about in the country. You just have a guy that's behind center that nobody knows their name.

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