	products recent interviews FastScripts archive about ASAP Sports

Our Clients:

Browse by Sport

Find us on

Subscribe to RSS

Click to go to
Asaptext.com

View our
e-Brochure

ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 17, 2010

Ralph Friedgen

COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, we're busy preparing for a very good football team in Florida State. We're going to have our hands full. I'll open it up to questions.

Q. Christian Ponder has had arm issues for most of the season with various injuries. How have you seen that maybe affect him or change his game at all?
COACH FRIEDGEN: I haven't seen it affect his game at all. I think he's playing pretty darn well both in the run and the pass. He's playing as well as he's played since I've seen him at Florida State.

Q. Is there anything you can attribute to your team's turn around from a year ago and now controlling your own destiny in the division?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, last year we played a lot of young kids, 24 freshmen, and they're maturing and growing. We've got experience that we didn't have last year. We're still a young team. We only have 12 seniors on our team. We seem to be growing in confidence and getting better and better each week.

Q. Can you talk a little bit about Danny O'Brien and the year he's had as a freshman quarterback?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, he's had a sensational year. I think he's mature beyond his years, a very poised individual. Learns from every rep that he takes.
I thought he was going to be a good player last year and was close to playing him last year, and I'm glad I didn't because he's got three more years after this one.

Q. I wanted to ask you about the fact that this is such a pivotal game. You have your fate in your hands as far as the division championship and everything. With such a young team, is it any kind of advantage that Florida State's a little older and maybe has been in this position before? For your guys it's the first time most of them have played a game that really means this much.
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, obviously the experience is going to benefit Florida State from being there before. But I think we've been gradually growing in this role. I think playing at Miami and you have a tough loss down there and played Miami very well. I thought they played a very good game against us.
So I think our team, hopefully, is ready to take the next step. And playing in this venue would be a very big step in the development of our young players.

Q. Looking back is there a moment or a game or a play or some point earlier this season where you saw it come together or you saw what this team could do?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, last year we lost a lot of tough games. We lost a very tough game to Florida State last year. I would say the fact that we were in a very tough football game with Navy and found a way to win it on essentially the last play of the game was a breakthrough for us because we were able to beat a very good team and finish a game and make a big play at the end of the game to win the game.

Q. You've had kind of your dual tailbacks with Da'Rel Scott and Davin Meggett, and most teams will have at least a couple of guys they use. But has the running game been where you want it to be this year and can that still improve in the last couple of games?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, we lost two offensive tackles and that really forced us to adjust our offensive line. We moved our center to tackle and moved our guard to center. So that's had an impact on our running game. Plus we've been playing some teams that are pretty good against the run, and we're facing another one that's pretty good against the run in Florida State.
But D.J. Adams came in last week and gave us a lift in the running game. I think he'll continue to see some action.
It is what it is. We've got to work at getting better. We only lose one offensive lineman, and hopefully we get these other guys back in the future, our line will really develop the way we think it's capable of.

Q. How tough is it in your offensive line at this point in the season, to have guys moving to other positions and not just having a back-up come in at that position, but having guys shift around?
COACH FRIEDGEN: Well, it hurts your cohesiveness, no doubt about it. But I think our kids have been doing an unbelievable job of working through it. We actually have done better than I thought we would do. That's a tribute to our players and how hard they fight and compete. We'll have our hands full this weekend. But I know our kids will go out there and give it everything they have.

End of FastScripts

ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297