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BOSTON COLLEGE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCEAugust 31, 2019Steve AddazioBoston, Massachusetts STEVE ADDAZIO: Okay, guys. Appreciate you being up here. Great statement win today for the program. We played a heck of a football team in Virginia Tech. Really, really good program, coaching staff. Justin Fuente is a heck of a coach, and Bud Foster, I seen him at the end of the game. He may be the very best defensive coordinator in college football year in and year out. It's a good football team we had the opportunity to beat here at home. It was a battle, as you all saw. Really proud of our defense, man. Five turnovers. We held them to under 100 yards rushing, played a bunch of new faces out there. Played with great energy. Played with great passion, made some key plays. Tanner Karafa had one of the biggest, most key plays in the game, and came up with that interception. I think we just were resilient and really kept after it. Really, really proud of the effort and the intensity of our defense. Offensively, we came out as strong as you could come out in the first half, ran 47-some-odd plays. I thought our throw game was -- I mean, against that defense, it's very, very difficult to run the football, but we really worked on our throw game, and I thought that Anthony showed tremendous leadership today and threw the ball really well. So we went after them in the air and gave a chance for those tough yards to start the -- you know, little by little, open up for A.J. and for David. I thought we ran really hard with nine-man boxes in there. So I thought both sides of the ball and special teams did a phenomenal job. We played like a team. We played like a team that had great energy and great passion and played for each other, which is really at Boston College what we're most proud of. You see a team on the field, and you talk about being a BC man, which is great faith, great toughness, great character, and great passion, and I think you saw that on the field. I'm very proud of our guys. You see a lot of football games out there already, and I think you saw a football game with two teams really, but speaking of our team, that you could be proud of. They played the game and respected the game the way you're supposed to play and respect the football game, and that means a lot to you. It means a lot to me. I thought the coordinators today did a phenomenal job. I thought Mike Bajakian was fantastic, just did a great job calling the game and navigating through the pressure packages we're seeing. Bill Sheridan was unflappable in his call of that game. I thought Ricky did a great job, Ricky Brown in special teams. So I thought our staff as a whole did a great job. But for those two new coordinators came in here, what a great transition that has been. I'm proud of the program. This is only a beginning. It's not an end. I don't want to overtalk it. I think it was a great win for us to get. Now the key is we have to get better, we have to develop, and that's what's critical here over the next one, two, three weeks, how much better can we grow as a football team? And that's where this is at. I think the operative word after this win for our team is humility and realize that, okay, we won a college football game. It was a great win. We're excited about having that win, but it's one win, and we've got to get ready next week to improve and become a stronger, better football team. So any questions, I'm happy to answer. Q. Just about the offense having enough to counter that defense. (No microphone)? Just talk about different dynamics. STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, you're speaking about balance and being able to stretch the field vertically. We've worked a long time with the development here of the quarterback and the skill tight end/receiver positions and A.J. catching out of the backfield as well in critical moments. It's a big part of the game for us. People are going to come in and say we've got two big backs. We've got to stop those backs. But what we have to establish is we're going to go down the field with some guys that can flat run and go up in the air and make plays. I thought it was very evident today. So that's been real important for our offense. Q. (No microphone)? STEVE ADDAZIO: He's a talented guy. I think everybody that has been to our practice or is at a practice, it wasn't a great mystery that this guy has got some explosive capability. He's a young guy. He's a work in progress, but I'm glad he's on our side. Q. Complementary football is always something a head coach talks about. You guys had 356 yards of offense in the first half, none in the third quarter, but still managed to come back in the fourth quarter and put on that touchdown. What was going through your mind, your coaching staff, when they held the ball for, I think, 11 minutes, 12 minutes, in that third quarter? STEVE ADDAZIO: Well, just honestly, I was flipping back and forth on the headsets with the defense. I'm flipping back and trying to make sure we have a good plan. Steadying the boat really. In my mind, steadying the boat here. And make them earn it, and you'll have a good plan. We'll get the ball back, to be able to work the clock. We put a lot of time into our time management this year, situational football, be it two minute, be it four minute. We've got an awful lot of time this whole camp. It was a major point of emphasis. Our kids were extremely comfortable in those scenarios. So honestly, I just felt like I really wasn't really wigged out at that point. I just felt like we'd be okay. Just hang in with this. We're going to be all right. I thought the leadership on the team was excellent. The look in our guys' eyes was excellent. The energy was excellent. We would just overcome it. It really felt that way. Q. What about the pick before halftime? How big was that in terms of context? STEVE ADDAZIO: It was huge. It was a big momentum turn. When we went in at halftime, I told the guys, when we come back out here, expect more momentum turns, positively and negatively. That's going to be the nature of this kind of football game. This is two good football teams that are slugging it out here, and we've got to be able to just keep weathering the storm and have great belief in each other. That's a great point for our staff, that we can't get flustered when they hold the ball in the third quarter. We've got to just hang in there and keep encouraging, and we'll come out the other end of it. Q. Anthony obviously threw the ball well and moved his feet great. What were some other examples of the way you liked the way he led the football team? STEVE ADDAZIO: In the huddle, on the sidelines, he's driving the football team, and that's what we've been just dying to see that come out of him. Just really making corrections, driving the team, total command, unfazed, not riding the roller coaster of the ups and downs of the games. At halftime, he was strong, real strong, and I loved it. It's what a veteran quarterback should bring to the table, and he brought it. If you said to me like -- you know, I said I'm most proud of our team for the way they handled themselves. I'm proud of the young defense that rallied and made a bunch of plays, and I'm proud of our quarterback, the way we led. I'm proud of that because that's that intangible that you have to have. Q. Coach, talk a little bit about the performance of your offensive line today. Obviously, you have several new starters along that offensive line. Talk about what you thought about their performance today. STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, I'm very -- as I said before, I'm very confident in our offensive line. We have a very good offensive line. We've got really good depth. I thought they weathered today a barrage. I mean, whether you can see it from up there or not, those were blitzes coming on every down. There's guys coming everywhere. They were packing the box everywhere. That's a defense they felt very strong about their defense, a bunch of guys they had coming back. And I thought we did a really good job. That's rough sledding in there. I thought they protected outstanding. I thought we had great time in the pocket. So I'm very, very pleased with what I saw from the sideline of the play up front. Obviously, I want to look at the tape, but I can tell you, I was watching, and we're trying to make sure -- I mean, they're coming from everywhere now. There's field pressures, boundary pressures, internal pressures, zero hole coverages where it's essentially man with no centerfield player. There's a lot of that going on. If you can run the ball like that against that and complementary throw it like that -- that's why some of those throws were wide open. Q. You always start your trilogy with win the opener, but is this probably the most important opener you've ever had? You said statement game. I kind of agree with you there. STEVE ADDAZIO: I think where I'm coming from with this is winning the opener is extremely important. It validates your off-season work, and it gives you positive momentum. But winning your opener against a highly quality football team, I think you get better from that. You know, you win an opener against a team that maybe you're stronger than, I don't know that sometimes that really helps you because two weeks in, three weeks in, you can get shocked at the speed of the game. Starters play a half. They come out, they're feeling good about themselves, and then you get stung. We got stung today. I mean, that was like it was real football out there. We're playing hard hat football at a high, high speed. So to me, it's a statement game because, A, we're 1-0. B, we got a conference win. And, C, we got battle tested out here against a really quality football team and a really, really quality defensive football team. So that's what I'm excited about, you know. Q. Steve, you obviously talked a lot about how A.J. was going to be essential to the defense. But when they cut it to seven, how important was a kid like David Bailey, what he did? STEVE ADDAZIO: Yeah, David is a really good player. We have a stable of backs. I mean, Travis wasn't engaged really, I don't think, in the backfield today. I can't remember if he got a couple of snaps. He got cramped up a little bit. But Travis, Benny Glines, and we're just kind of loaded back there. So David came in, and he's a load, man. He's a very physical, punishing runner with great hands. So you're going to see more -- those guys, when they run -- I told this to somebody else -- it's exhausting because they're running and driving piles. Sometimes you see A.J., and he's gassed, and then David goes in, and he gets gassed. But when you have that constant flow of that, you know, I think the one thing in that game, that third quarter where we had a series of three and outs, I felt like, if we could get a couple of first downs right there, those big backs would have really started wearing on that defense right there. And that's something I want to go back and take a look at where our issues came into play because you've got to be able to -- the style that we play, the offense that we play, that big back offense and tempo, when you get a couple of first downs, you're wearing that defense down. Q. A lot of the talk in the off-season was how inexperienced the defense was. How rewarding is it as a coach to see them play the way they did? STEVE ADDAZIO: Very. They rose to the occasion. The staff, the players rose to the occasion today and played relentlessly, and a lot of them played. These are guys, a couple of guys have played a lot of football, but a majority have not. The take aways are something that they've worked very, very hard on, and they created them today. I think they needed -- this is a confidence builder for the defense without a doubt. I mean, a lot of people had a lot of questions about where that would be with the youth. They're athletic. They're talented, and today they got a little confidence. They got a little better. We've got a long way to go. We've got to keep maturing. We've got to keep growing. I think the one thing that stuck out to me that we'll pay a lot of attention tomorrow is we've got to get a little better pass rush and four-man rush. Quarterback had a little too much time, especially down at the end there. There's too much stress on the coverage. So we can't -- we blitzed a fair amount today, but we've got to be able to get home with that four-man rush, and we have the ability to do that. So we've got to go back and just make sure that we're working hard to improve. Q. There were a couple of series when you sat A.J. Was it like intentional just to rest, or is that something you were thinking about early on, just trying to manage how he feels? STEVE ADDAZIO: Stay ahead of it. Trying to stay ahead of it. I want to stay fresh. We're kind of bound and determined to do that and utilize David. Look, the strategy worked, and sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn't. But what worked was at the end you saw A.J. was stronger at the end than he was in the beginning, and that's really what we're trying to do is make sure that we don't just grind him down in the beginning, to try to balance that a little bit. It's a fine mix right there. Brian White does an unbelievable job of watching it and rotating it at the right times. I thought he was masterful at the way, that last drive, touchdown drive, the way he managed that rotation. I watched that really closely. He did a great job. We got the best out of those guys on that drive. Q. Can you share what you said, if anything, to Bud? STEVE ADDAZIO: I just told him how much respect I have for him and that he's had a fabulous career. I really wished him nothing but great success down the homestretch of the season. I've been involved with bud Foster since my early days in 1995 at Syracuse. I've always just marveled at what he does. He is a really masterful defensive coordinator, the way that he game plans you, and he makes it really tough on offensive coaches. It's very, very difficult to run the ball against that style of defense. He's had a remarkable career, and I respect that. So I just wanted to make sure I saw him and told him that personally. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports   |
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