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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 31, 2018

Pat Narduzzi

Greensboro, North Carolina

PAT NARDUZZI: I appreciate it. Obviously coming off a really great team win where our kids gave it everything they had to pull out a win against Daniel Jones and the Duke Blue Devils. It's a good football team, and so we were lucky to come away in a rainy game in Heinz Field with that and now we're fortunate enough to take on another Top-25 team. I don't know how many there's been this season, but there's another one coming.

We've got Virginia Friday night, a 6-2 football team that's going to make you adjust things out in every phase, offensively, defensively and special teams, and on a short week, that's a major challenge. Kids have done a great job and we've put the work in. We travel down tomorrow, so it's a fast week.

Q. In back-to-back weeks, they have held opponents to I think 58 and 66 rushing yards. What do you see from their rush defense that has made them effective?
PAT NARDUZZI: I think No. 1, they do a great job coaching them up. It's a 3-4 defense that they do a lot of different things, and it depends on what you do offensively. I think they do a great job of game planning you.

I think they do a great job of really finding out what makes you tick and then stopping it with all the different adjustments that they can do out of that 3-4 defense. It's very multiple in what they are able to do, and you know, they do a great job coaching them.

I had an opportunity to watch a lot of tape on them and watch what they did to Duke's run game compared to what we did to it. It's going to be a huge challenge for our offense, not only for our offensive line but for our offense to get into the right play at the right time and keep them in the right balance of what they can stop and what they can't stop.

Q. In the past, you've gotten some huge plays in special teams in these games. Part of that was a guy who is not with you any more but what have you seen in terms of that match up, and how important has special teams been in the series?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, I think special teams are important in every game. I remember them taking an opening kickoff last year back to about our 50-yard line to start the game.

So they have had their big plays, as well. It's another phase of the game. It's an important phase. We emphasize it. They do a great job in special teams, and that's going to be another battle to watch. You know, it no less important than our offensive phase or our defensive phase.

Q. You said after the game Saturday, partly in jest, but you're not sure if anyone plays defense anymore. As an old linebacker, defensive coordinator, is it frustrating sometimes to see the track that college football is on and professional football, as well, with so much offense and not as much defense?
PAT NARDUZZI: Yeah, no question it's frustrating. I think some of the things are based on what everybody is able to do, and some of the rules that we've, you know, letting offenses get away with.

You know, when you see offensive linemen down the field ten yards and then backpedalling to get back to three yards, okay, and the umpire, they about run into an umpire and he doesn't do anything about it. There's reasons why I think offenses are ahead of the curve. You know, an official said it to me, which was classic. I've never had an official tell me, yeah, nobody stops anybody anymore. But it was funny. I got a little amusement out of it on the sideline.

Yeah, maybe it's kind of the way college football is turning, and I guess it's the way the NCAA likes to play football now. They want it to be exciting and score a lot of points, I guess. Maybe the NCAA can fix it sometime.

Q. Obviously every year the division is balanced, but curious if you have a sense of what you made of this year in particular?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know what I think there's a lot of great coaches, a lot of great players. You look around the country, and you know, I get a chance to vote with the USA Today Coaches Poll, and it makes it hard every week because I'm like, gosh, 11 teams, ten teams, anybody can beat anybody, and I think that's college football.

I don't think that's just the ACC. You look at the Big -- you look at Kentucky, I mean, teams are getting closer to, you know, to each other I think in all phases. And you know, why is that? Maybe it's a style of offenses and what we enable people to be able to do in the college game, I don't know.

But I just think college football has gotten that way. Is it recruiting? Is it more people just recruiting, being crazier? I have no idea. All this early decision-making, and maybe getting the right guy or the wrong guy. But anybody can beat anybody on any given day, and we've always thought that and I think it's more and true in 2018, 2017 and 2016, and probably in 2020 and moving forward.

Q. Just with the division, it's been awhile since there's a top dog that's clearly established. Is there something you can point at as to why it is so competitive?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, what I see is a very balanced division. I mean, it's a very balanced division and really, now Clemson is really the big dog and even that other side, I mean, Boston College is starting to step up. You look at Syracuse in the Top-25. We had an opportunity to play them earlier in the week. That's a good football team.

I think that division -- again, the combination of really good coaches that are bringing programs back, and like I said, Steve Addazio has done an incredible job, Dino Babers has done an incredible job. Give credit to some of the coaches in this conference and the players they have recruited, and the attitude and motivation they have done to get back where they are.

Clemson is maybe the big dog and really we've got a bunch of puppies out there after Clemson, and they are the team to chase and everybody is chasing hard.

Q. Could you remember your about your junior, Maurice Ffrench. He seems like a big play waiting to happen. Outside of the obvious speed, what makes him such a big play threat?
PAT NARDUZZI: You know, he's a good football player. You look at him in high school, he's played every darned position. I think he played D-tackle at one point. He's a very intelligent football player. Speed is one thing but intelligence is a whole another.

When you have a smart player that you can do a lot of different things with formationally, he's just not -- there's a lot of great athletes out there, but how many of them really love it, love it, love it? This kid, eats, drinks and thinks football all day long, except when he's in class, of course.

But he's a football player. He has fun playing the game, and I think the fun part of it, he's a fun kid to be around. Some coaches have players that love to play the game. Some players have guys that are playing it because maybe they are forced to or feel like they are good at it and they have to, but that's a guy that loves the game and I think that's part of what makes him fun to coach and also such a playmaker.

Q. Speaking of versatile, explosive guys, V'Lique Carter, after recruiting him as a DB, what led you to put him on the scout team as a running back and put him in the game last week?
PAT NARDUZZI: We at times move guys around. There was, you know, we had for four games, we were using Mychale Salahuddin in a similar role. Mychale was a scout tailback for us, so we moved him over to play some running back and play some receiver and do some of those things.

Mychale played some DB, as well as some running back during that period because he's on the same field working with the offense and working with the scout defense. So it was just convenient for him to be involved in it offense, just say, hey, come out for this side of the ball for a second. So he was able to do those things and watch.

When we did that, we moved V'Lique over to tailback, and saw some exciting things out of this guy, and said, shoot, he's next.

Q. In your opinion, why is it so hard to win a conference game in the ACC and why is it even harder to win on the road?
PAT NARDUZZI: Well, I think you know the answer to that question. Because it's good football coaches and good football teams. It's not easy. And again, I think that's really in a lot of conferences throughout the country. When you have good football, there's a lot of parity in college football, especially in the ACC.

It's hard. Why is it? Because there's good football players and good teams and kids get excited to play in front of their home -- you talk about home-field advantage, they get excited to play in front of their house. I think that's probably the reason.

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