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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 15, 2017

Bobby Petrino

Greensboro, North Carolina

COACH PETRINO: We're coming off a good win against Virginia. Felt like our defense played very well, particularly our defensive front. We did a great job of pass rushing and putting pressure on their quarterback and ran to the ball and tackled well.

Offensively, I thought we moved the ball well and Lamar had another great game. He's an amazing player. We're also able to get Dae Williams and Malik Williams running the football and our offensive line keeps getting better. We're looking forward to playing at home for two weeks in a row and the challenge that Syracuse presents.

Q. The running game, obviously you look for someone or some people to kind of help out Lamar, and I guess is it one of those things where it's better late than never now that you're getting it, especially at this point where you were really looking for wins?
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, we run the ball well. We're one of the leading rushing teams in the conference. Reggie Bonnafon had some really big games for us. Lamar did a great job running the ball.

The thing that Dae Williams and Malik Williams add to us is the power and physicalness and the ability to run the ball downhill. So I thought that helped our offense. Changed it up a little bit and gave us those backs that ran through some tackles and made guys after contact.

Q. Was it a matter of seeing who was healthy with your backs or seeing who could step up and really fill the role to take some of the burden off of Lamar?
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, we've had a lot of injuries in the backfield. Something I've never been through before. We lost Jeremy Smith before the season started. Malik came off of a dislocated elbow and Dae Williams was out most of the season. It's good to have them both back and they certainly add a lot to our offense.

Q. The last time Lamar Jackson had the famous hurdle over Hudson. What do you remember about that play?
COACH PETRINO: Just saying, "Wow." I remember standing on the sideline watching him do it and just went, "Wow." I think everybody on our sideline said the exact same thing. It was an amazing play and certainly something that you don't see every day.

Q. Do you think you've ever had another player who could pull off something like that?
COACH PETRINO: Well, we had another guy try it and he got stoned. It was our tight end, had to jump over a guy later on in the year, and the guy raised up and hit him pretty good. At least he tried.

Q. Just wondering, it's been an up-and-down year for Russ Yeast. Started a few games for Jaire and returned punts and then last week, Reggie stepping in as punt returner -- what have you seen from him and I guess what is the next step for him to become more consistent in the future?
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, I think he's going to be a great player for us. We got thrown in the fire early, and without Jaire on the field, you know, people went after him a little bit. I thought he did a great job of keeping his poise and keeping working in practice and getting better. Did a good job when we had him back there as a punt returner calming the ball. Didn't have a lot of opportunities to run with it.

And the reason that we took Reggie out of there is because we were down to one running back and we didn't want to get him hurt on punt returns.

So with the return of Dae and Malik, we were able now to put Reggie back returning punts again and he's done a great job with it. I remember back at -- the big return he had against Purdue and what he had last week, and I just wish we would have been able to have him back there all year.

Q. Speaking of punt returner, is Jaire, is he pretty much out of that?
COACH PETRINO: He's back there catching them. So he's been back there working at it, catching them, but we probably won't see him yet.

Q. About your defense, when you look back on the last game and what they were able to do, was it just a matter of just like the bye really just kind of helping refresh them physically and allowing them to really get to the ball, just having that kind of energy? Or what did you change schematically during that week?
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, we didn't do a lot of different schemes. We got some guys healthy. It was great to have Jaire back there because he gives us a lot of energy, and his personality is dynamic and it looks like Lamar is on offense; he makes everyone around him better.

Stacy Thomas is back 100 percent healthy and played fast and extremely well. We were able to give Trevon a little break and get his legs back under him; and I thought him and James Hearns and Jon Greenard really controlled the defensive front and put a lot of pressure on the quarterback, particularly early, and then that changed some of what Danny was able to do against us.

Overall it was probably our best performance with the defense and we played extremely hard.

Q. Talking about Syracuse. Are they a different team last year to this year? I know Dungey is still the quarterback, but he's been a leading rusher and pass rusher for that squad. Is it a different squad from last year?
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, certainly. Last year it was our opening conference game and this year it's our last conference game. We almost feel like it's two years ago that we change played them.

Eric is really a great quarterback. He can get the ball out of his hand extremely quick. He's accurate. He's a good running threat and a great leader for them. They have got two of the best receivers in the conference. So it's a great challenge for us.

Defensively, it's a lot of the same guys that we did play a year ago. They challenge you with the movement that they do with their defensive front, and their linebackers are good players. They can really come after you and pressure the quarterback.

Q. Talk about your seniors. What do you like about your seniors on Senior Day? Just talk about them real quick.
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, I have a lot of love for the senior class. It's a group that was melted together. Some of the guys were here redshirting when I first came in. Some of the guys we recruited and they played as true freshmen and then we added to the class with some of the junior college transfers.

They have done a great job of leading this program and the first group to take us through the ACC Conference, and you know, they have done an unbelievable job for us.

It's always a hard day when they play their last home game.

Q. I know you just discussed Eric Dungey and the receivers, but what can you say to go a little further in what Dino Babers in your opinion has done with this team over the last couple seasons, last season, and obviously into this one?
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, I mean, he's a great coach. He's got a philosophy about going fast, and they stick to it and do it really well. They are going to challenge our conditioning and challenge our ability to get lined up quickly.

You know, he's done a great job with our offense and Eric is a guy that can really execute it. We've been playing against him now for three years and got all the respect in the world for them.

Q. On your side with Lamar Jackson, seeing Wolford's no hurry-up style offense with Wake Forest and what he was able to do, knowing he was able to run as well as pass the ball, when you're seeing that film from the Wake Forest game, you know that Lamar can do those things well. Do you think that there's an advantage to you playing Syracuse's defense, knowing how they struggled the week before?
COACH PETRINO: Yeah, I don't know about that because it seems like all year long that people have come in with a different game plan than they have utilized for Lamar. So we have to be able to recognize it and adjust and see the different things that they are going to try to do.

Lamar has been very good at it. He does a nice job of really understanding the fronts and coverages and who they are trying to pressure with. It's just a situation where we need to be aggressive early and we will have to make some adjustments as the game goes on.

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