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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 27, 2010

Ralph Friedgen

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Maryland head Coach Ralph Friedgen. We'll go to coach, ask for a brief opening statement, go to questions.
Coach.
COACH FRIEDGEN: We're preparing for a team that is very, very dangerous. They have discovered a new runningback who played extremely well against Virginia Tech. I always have a tremendous amount of respect for Jim Grobe and what he does. We need to be ready to play this week.
Open it up for questions.

Q. How do you assess the play of Danny O'Brien up to this point?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I think he's played extremely well. For a redshirt freshman, he plays with tremendous poise. He's bright, understands the game, has a tremendous work ethic and I think he has a bright future.

Q. With Torrey Smith having another good year for you in the return game, what is it about him that has made him such a weapon?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Actually, he hasn't returned the ball this year. Hasn't gotten the opportunity. Been a little nicked up. We haven't done a good job of executing our kickoff returns as we have last year. One of the areas we have to get better. Torrey has done such a good job as a receiver. He's made a lot of big plays in almost every game we played.
He has a tremendous work ethic, he has tremendous ability. Big, strong, fast, he can catch. He's a wonderful kid. Comes out every day in practice and works extremely hard. We couldn't be happier that he's a Terp.

Q. What do you attribute most of your team's turnaround from last season?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I think there's a couple things. I think, first of all, even though we're still a young team, we have a lot of kids that have experience now. We played 24 freshmen last year, now they're sophomores. They're not in awe of everything as they were then. Plus I think we're better. I think we're faster on defense than what we've been. I think we've got a lot of big-play potential on offense. We've been doing a better job of executing in our kicking game. Played very well, and we haven't turned the ball over like we did last year.

Q. Having more of a veteran team this year, is your team more focused against Wake Forest, trying not to look ahead against Miami next weekend?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I'm hoping that's the case. We've been taking one game at a time all year. That's one of the goals the kids came up with. They need to do that.
I think Wake Forest is a very dangerous team. To me, they have a lot of talent. In some ways they remind me a little bit of us last year. They have some youth on their defense. Obviously they have youth at quarterback. They have some experienced guys in their offensive line and their receivers. Josh Harris has given them a whole new dimension at runningback. We need to be ready to play, otherwise we're going to regret it.

Q. Ralph, I wonder what were the things you saw about Josh Harris that concerned you? You mentioned he does add a dimension to their offense. What is that?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I wonder, Jim picked him up on waivers because I don't see him in the press guide or anything like that. He came in the Navy game and made some good runs. But then in the Virginia Tech game, he was explosive. He's a big, strong back. He's probably 5'10", 205, 210 pounds, but has really great acceleration and great speed.
If a team had 240 yards rushing against Virginia Tech, that would be a great day, let alone one back. That got our attention real fast. I don't see him in games before Navy or Virginia Tech. He kind of has come out and really been very impressed with him.

Q. How do you feel about your run defense going into the game?
COACH FRIEDGEN: We've been playing pretty good. I think we're one of the leaders in the ACC in run defense. We're going to really get tested this week and we're going to have to be at the top of our game.

Q. Ralph, do you think the ACC should do what the PAC-10 is going to do and let the team with the best record host the championship game to increase the crowds a little bit?
COACH FRIEDGEN: You know, I haven't really given that a whole lot of thought. That's not something I sit around and ponder. My opinion probably wouldn't mean a whole lot anyway.
I don't read the papers so I don't really know what's going on outside of who I'm playing this week. I couldn't really answer that.

Q. The ACC has some challenges with their attendance at their championship games.
COACH FRIEDGEN: I'm anxious to see how it is this year in Charlotte. I think for that game to be successful, I think you have to get good support from the nearby community. I think you're not going to sell it out with each crowd because whoever is playing in that game is going to go to other game. It's either going to be the Orange Bowl or another very good Bowl. With the finances the way they are, the economy the way it is, hard for people to go two places at once.
If the local community can support that Bowl, then I think it will be very successful, that championship will be very successful.

Q. Would you get a sellout crowd at College Park?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I think we would. If we were playing in it, I think we definitely would.

Q. Ralph, I was watching some teams in the SEC. A lot of them have picked up on the Nevada offense with this pistol formation. What is the next thing in offensive football? Everybody is doing this pistol, half of a shotgun.
COACH FRIEDGEN: We played Nevada two years ago in the Humanitarian Bowl. After the game, I went up to the coach and told him I'd like to sit down and visit with him. I think he was upset. I don't know. He looked at me like I was crazy.
Basically he was running the triple option from the pistol formation. One of the things, kind of involves the triple option, the spread zone option all in one. What's different with the pistol formation is that you can't get a key on where the back is. You can go either direction. But he did a great job. He motioned people, got on balanced situations, always seemed to get an extra man on you, raising havoc again this year.
A lot of people are not running his offense but they're running the zone play and running some things with the back and the 'I' formation behind the quarterback and the gun. It doesn't allow for the defense to have a key on which way they could go.
I think it's very inventive. I think it will be around for a while.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for being with us. Good luck this weekend. We'll talk to you Wednesday.
COACH FRIEDGEN: Thank you.

End of FastScripts

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