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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 1, 2010

Butch Davis

THE MODERATOR: Now joined by North Carolina head football Coach Butch Davis. We'll bring on coach and ask for a brief opening statement and then go to questions.
COACH DAVIS: Thank you, Mike.
As has been said many times, there's probably people out there that maybe have not been present at press conferences and practices. Obviously, the unfortunate thing is there's probably questions that people would like to ask that I just don't have the ability to be able to answer questions other than things that directly relate to the LSU game. Be happy to talk about our team and the game. So I'm ready for questions.
THE MODERATOR: We'll open it for questions.

Q. Is there any chance that we may learn something or that you will make any decisions or the university will in the next 24 hours or so about some of that?
COACH DAVIS: I wish I could answer that question. Obviously, that kind of falls into this entire review thing. I think we're all in the holding mode as far as that's concerned. Right now we're just preparing for the game.

Q. You mentioned the other day about the tentative depth chart, how fluid with that. Are you still operating with a bunch of different contingencies?
COACH DAVIS: That's pretty accurate. We're trying to prepare for all scenarios.

Q. Does LSU remind you of Miami or Florida State in terms of the talent they have and their rÃ©sumÃ©?
COACH DAVIS: I would say that I think it's indicative of teams in the South, to be honest with you. I think there's such a dramatic difference between teams in the ACC, the SEC, and probably even in the southern half of what used to be the Big 12, where there's a lot of skilled athletes, there's an awful lot of speed. You can make the same argument about Georgia, Clemson, any of the teams in the SEC. They're a fast team, got a lot of good athletes.
They play a different style schematically both offensively and defensively than let's say the traditional Big Ten teams, maybe the northern half of the Big 12 and stuff.

Q. Anything about this particular LSU team that they seem to be almost like you guys, defense heavy, a lot of NFL talent on defense, want to win games that way.
COACH DAVIS: Well, I mean, I think obviously teams run in cycles. If you look back at LSU a couple years ago when they have JaMarcus Russells, Brandon Lavelles (phonetic), he would probably categorize them as an offensive football team.
The particular cycle right now, this he have an awful lot of returning depth, a lot of talent on the defensive side of the ball. Offensively they do have some really talented kids. Jordan Jefferson, the quarterback, is a kid that's not too different than some of the guys we see in the ACC. He's a good passer. He's a very athletic kid that can extend plays. Russell Shepard at wide-out along with Rueben Randle, those are two guys, they can take a ball and go the length of the field and make big plays.
I think offensively one of the things that's been a little bit difficult is the fact that teams always are in transition, they're always looking for ways to prepare. In first games a lot of times teams haven't developed a personality, they haven't had two, three, four games under their belt that you can say, Okay, this is who they are, this is what they're trying to accomplish. Because last year they were in a traditional I formation, conventional power running game at times, then they ran the spread.
It's something that challenging your defense to be prepared with both aspects of it.

Q. A couple of questions on Patrick Peterson from LSU. I'm interested in your general impressions on his ability as a cornerback. They're moving him to kicking punt return. What do you think of that move, the idea they depend on him so heavily? Probably a risk/reward factor. I wanted your take on that.
COACH DAVIS: He's one of the premiere cornerbacks in the entire country. I think not only is he a gifted athlete that's got a lot of speed, got good hips. He's got that shutdown corner mentality that he challenges everybody. He loves to go against the other team's best receiver.
I think the other aspect that makes him a little bit unique over a lot of corners that you see, he has the size. How many truly NFL corners do you see that are 210, 212 pounds? That's kind of unique in and of itself even in Deion Sanders' heyday, he was probably in the high 190s. Patrick has a body a little bit like NFL safeties and stuff, but yet he's got great skills.
The choice to put him as a returner, you know, that's kind of the challenge that every coach has: how much do you expose your premiere players to special teams and the opportunities to touch the ball, to make a difference in field position and changing the game. I think that's probably a wise and smart move.

Q. With so much fluidity on the depth chart and preparing for all these contingencies at this point of a game week, how are the players handling all this? Do some of them feel a little overwhelmed with having to do this? Is morale affected in any way that you can tell?
COACH DAVIS: I would have to tell you that we had our first practice yesterday for the week. You know, obviously you could tell that there was definitely a difference that it was game week. I think, unlike the NFL where you get a pre-season game, you get a chance to go out and play, I mean, there comes a point in time with every football team where you're kind of tired practicing against yourselves.
Training camp is exciting, there's challenges, a lot of competition. For the first two weeks, there's a lot of enthusiasm and stuff. Then you kind of hit the dog days of August. It's like, When can we hurry up and play a game?
I think this football is certainly in that situation, you know, that it's time to go and play, be able to kind of put some of the distractions behind us and focus legitimately on an opponent. Practice reps have more significant meaning than they did two, three weeks ago, not only because of who is taking them, but because now an opponent actually has a face.

Q. In terms of how you prepare for this game, is it one game plan, if I have these guys available, or I'm going to be able to do this if I have certain guys available?
COACH DAVIS: Not really. In college football, you barely have time to get one game plan prepared. We've made preparations to play against LSU. Whatever players we're able to use in that particular ballgame, they're going to have to execute the game plan because LSU's not going to change. They're going to have multifaceted offense. They're going to do a lot of different things. We're going to see traditional I formations. We might even see multiple tight ends at times. They'll run the gamut of three- and four-wide receivers and go empty formation. You have to be prepared for all of that. Defensively they've got multi-schemes so your offense has to be prepared.
I guess the short answer is that, you know, you've got to put just one game plan together and try to get your team the best prepared that you possibly can.

Q. You may not know by Saturday what the final decisions are from the higher ups there that are doing the investigation. Do you hold out anybody who still is a question mark or do you say if I don't know the guy is not a problem, then I'm going to play him? How do you handle that kind of thing?
COACH DAVIS: We've had to be somewhat prudent in the number of practice repetitions that certain guys get. It's just something that we have to almost kind of play by ear. Anybody that you think might have to play that maybe has a limited amount of experience, maybe you give them slightly more practice, you know, opportunities than you would somebody that has played a lot more.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for being with us. Good luck this weekend. Look forward to talking to you next week.
COACH DAVIS: Sounds good. Thanks, Mike.

End of FastScripts

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