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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 5, 2018

Larry Fedora

Greensboro, North Carolina

THE MODERATOR: Coach, if you could make an opening statement, then we'll open it up to questions.

LARRY FEDORA: We're looking forward to putting a complete game together. I thought we played well on defense this past week, solid on our special teams. We've got to get the offense going, doing what we're used to doing. When we do that, hopefully we can put together a complete game this week.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for Coach Fedora.

Q. Obviously not everyone starts their season by traveling across the country to play a Power 5 team. To get a test like that in the opener, what are some of the positives going forward for you to kind of have that experience?
LARRY FEDORA: Well, one, I think we learned a lot about just what we have to do to prepare for all of the travel, the logistics, how to take care of our team, make sure that they're rested, all of those things.

There were some really good plays in the game. Our defense played extremely well. We were very solid on our special teams. Then there was a lot to learn on the other side of it also. We've got to execute much better offensively. We've got to try to create some turnovers somehow in the game. We got to do a much better job of taking care of the football.

Q. We hear often that coaches say teams make their biggest jump from week one to week two. Do you subscribe to that theory? What is your thinking there?
LARRY FEDORA: I think there's a lot of truth in that. I mean, I think in the first game you're playing some guys that have never been on the field before. Sometimes the situation is big for them. They usually settle down.

I think you saw our team settle down more into the second half, play the way we were capable of playing. But it was too little too late. But, yeah, I do. I expect our team to make good progress this week.

Q. What are you asking Nathan and the offense to improve? What have you asked them to do better this week?
LARRY FEDORA: We just want them to be brilliant in the basics, just execute their job, don't make it any bigger than it really is. We're running plays we've been running for quite a while now. So relax and you know what to do, do your job, don't focus on anything else. Don't worry about the results or anything other than just doing my job.

Q. Did you see players on offense last week maybe trying to do too much, not just doing their own jobs?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, there's no doubt. You had guys that were worried about someone else trying to do more than what they really needed to do. I mean, offensively each play it designed for each guy. If each guy does his job, then the play has a chance.

If you start worrying about somebody else's job, you try to do too much, you end up hindering the play. So we had quite a bit of that in the game. We started settling down, just taking care of their jobs in the second half.

Q. Why do you think you saw a lot of that in the first half?
LARRY FEDORA: Probably lack of experience, guys trying to do too much pressing. You go out there and you're three-and-out, you press, you press harder to try to make something happen. Then when it doesn't, you start getting out of the things you're taught, the techniques you use. When you do that, you really have no chance.

Q. Have you seen improvement in that area in practice?
LARRY FEDORA: Yeah, I think our guys understand that. I think they were able to after the game, when we sat down, broke down the film, watched it, they were able to see there were guys that were trying to do too much. If you just do your job, you got a chance.

I thought Tuesday's practice was much better.

Q. You've had a couple pretty ugly losses to ECU recently. Does that give you personally any motivation going into this game?
LARRY FEDORA: I'll be honest with you. I really just focus on the next game at hand. It's the next game. There's nothing more to it than we're going to go on the road and prepare a team to get ready to play a team that's going to be in the state of North Carolina. That's all there is to it. There's no more motivation needed, in my opinion.

Q. Scottie Montgomery said this is the most important game of his career. On a personal level, for your program, how important is this game to you?
LARRY FEDORA: It's extremely important. There's not a game that we don't play that's important in my opinion. This next game is the most important game we have. It's the only game we have. So we're preparing that way.

Our players will be prepared that way. I mean, we always know that. The next game is the most important game we have.

Q. What about your thoughts of going up against a team in ECU that definitely has its back against the wall, using it as a rallying cry this week a little bit?
LARRY FEDORA: I think there's no doubt in my mind that Scottie Montgomery will have his team ready to play. There's no doubt in my mind they will probably play their best game they play this season. Our team has to be prepared for that. We have to put a complete game together. We got to go out there and play the best that we can play.

Q. How has your approach in addressing penalties with the players changed over the years?
LARRY FEDORA: We spent a lot of time talking about penalties. We do. It's a point of emphasis for us. One of the biggest changes probably is we have officials at every practice that we have during the week so that they can also point out things if there's an issue. Our guys are constantly learning and improving.

There's going to be some penalties that happen in the game, it's just the nature of the game. The foolish penalties are the ones that have to get cut out. We have to do a better job of that.

Q. Are you using circle drill for accountability?
LARRY FEDORA: Yes, definitely.

Q. Talk about Coach Montgomery, how he developed that program into a good program in the American Conference.
LARRY FEDORA: Scottie is a heck of a football coach, no doubt about that. I followed his career since he's been coaching. He's always done a tremendous job everywhere he's been. I know he is probably spending a lot of time changing the culture into what he wants the East Carolina football team to be. He will get that thing done.

Q. Talk about playing a team an hour away from you, playing teams in-state.
LARRY FEDORA: Any time you're playing an in-state game, it's a big game. They have an obvious big fan base in the eastern side of the state. We have some fans that live over there that have to experience it every day.

Any time you're playing an in-state team, there's always going to be a little bit more involved just because of the regional rivalry.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, thank you.

LARRY FEDORA: Thank you.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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