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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 10, 2010

Ralph Friedgen

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Maryland head football coach Ralph Friedgen. We'll ask for a brief opening statement and then go to questions.
Coach.
COACH FRIEDGEN: We're actively preparing for a very big game against the University of Virginia. I think they really are coming on in their season. We know it will be a very hard-fought game.
I'll open it up to questions.

Q. Coach, when you look at the film of Virginia's game last week, they had career highs in passing, second best receiving day in Virginia history. Is that a function of them finding something or maybe the flaws in the defense they were going up against?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, I think they're playing very well right now. I thought they played extremely well against Miami. I thought they played very well against Duke. They had a very disappointing loss, very similar to one we had. Situations were almost parallel.
They have a very good balance between run and pass. Payne and Jones are two very good runners, very good up front. Verica is a senior quarterback who has a very good idea of the passing game with Inman and Burd, their other receiver. They have a very balanced attack.
Whenever you can run it and throw it, I think you got a chance to have a pretty good offense. They're second in the conference, so they're pretty good.

Q. Payne had a pretty good day. A back that size, what kind of problems does he present?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Tough to bring down. I mean, he can move the pile. He's a big, strong kid. Looks like he has very good vision. He runs extremely hard. I've been very impressed with him all year long watching him. He's a force to be reckoned with.

Q. Ralph, what were your early impressions of O'Brien dating back to his recruiting? Was he camp (indiscernible) at all?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I don't know if there is such a thing. We were very impressed with him, not only as a player but as a person. Said this numerous times, he's a very bright individual but also has a tremendous work ethic, exceptional poise for a person his age. I think that's a rare combination to have all of those things and I think he has a bright future.

Q. Was he a bit of a sleeper in recruiting then?
COACH FRIEDGEN: No, actually I think it came down to us and Duke. There were a lot of people recruiting him. I was concerned about losing him to Duke. I think his stepdad went to Duke. We recruited him very hard. We were very happy we got him.

Q. Curious how last Saturday went in general. You lose a tough game, got on the plane. Where and when did you learn that Florida State had lost and what was your reaction to that?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, I had learned about it when I got on the bus after we got back from the plane. I guess a couple of my other staff members knew before then. Wasn't a whole lot of talking going on on the plane. We were very disappointed.
I learned about NC State losing while I was on the plane. So keeps us still in the game. We just got to continue to win.

Q. You have hit 60 twice this year. You're playing a team that just played a game with over 100 points scored. Does that say anything about the explosion of offenses in this day and age, how tough it is to defend?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I tell you what, if you want to go out and start matching scores and stuff, I don't think you can tell. I mean, East Carolina beats NC State. Navy hangs 76 points on them. I mean, you can go up and down the line every Saturday. It's who's ready to play, what the injury situation is, I don't know, what your biorhythms are.

Q. I'm not trying to compare scores. I'm trying to talk about the explosion of scoring in certain games. How do games get to the point where offenses just take over?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, again, with Wake Forest, we got a couple of gifts, a couple of defensive scores. Really kind of got out of hand. Injuries play a part in it. This time of the year, everybody's nicked up some. You lose a key guy or two, it can really affect you on defense. Same thing on offense, it can affect you.
We've had some issues with our offensive line. They're not easily solved. I think it's also tough, what emotional state is your team at, how many Saturdays can they keep a certain level in order to be ready to play.
So all of those things factor in. I don't think it's something that you can make an exact science of.

Q. Ralph, it seems as if these two programs have been pretty evenly matched over the last 20 years or so. Yet it seems as if one or the other school continues to put up winning streaks against the other school. One is always dominating the other. Is that kind of odd, do you think?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, I don't know. They've won the last three. I know two of them were pretty close games. We won a few early in my tenure here. Before we got here, there was a streak the other way.
It's a rivalry game. A lot of that determines how things go in the game. I don't know if you can read a whole lot into that.
THE MODERATOR: Coach, thanks for being with us. Good luck this weekend. We'll talk to you next week.
COACH FRIEDGEN: Thanks.

End of FastScripts

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