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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 7, 2011

Randy Edsall

THE MODERATOR: We now welcome Maryland head coach Randy Edsall.
COACH EDSALL: We had a good win on Monday night on national TV against Miami, and thought our kids -- I thought our kids played hard. I thought we were aggressive and physical for the 60 minutes. You come out of that game and the good thing is, it was a conference game and getting that first win in the conference, you know, gives us a boost.
We got plenty of things to work on this week and plenty of things to improve upon, but it gave myself and my coaches an opportunity to see our kids in this action in those situations, and most important is we got the win and now we will work to correct all of the problems that we had in that game.

Q. Do you like having your bye week so early in the season? Obviously the TV exposure is nice with the Monday night game. Do you like having your bye week right away?
COACH EDSALL: Well, the schedule is set up, and wherever the bye week falls, I like it, because that's the way our schedule is. You know, a lot of times you don't have control over anything, and to me it's fine where it's at, and you live, however the schedule comes out, we'll take it wherever it falls.

Q. What's your feeling about games on odd days that knocks you off your routine for the sake of TV exposure, which I know is good?
COACH EDSALL: I think that when you get the Holiday situations that we had, I think that is good for the exposure. I think the Thursday night was a good night. But other than that.
I'm not a real big fan of it because I think what happens is, is that it also affects the academic part of it for the student athlete whereas before we really didn't have that, but now because of all of the television, people are willing to sacrifice some of the things that you gain from an academic standpoint because of the money that's involved with TV, that you'll play on those nights.
For us in the ACC, we play on some Thursday nights and early on Saturday and we have that spot on Monday night. But that Monday night slot gave us the national spotlight, and all of a sudden there's people that didn't know about the University of Maryland football program but they sure know it now for a lot of different reasons.

Q. One people know the University of Maryland is the uniforms. Have you been a guy over the years whose teams have tried different things uniform-wise and does this suit your personality, or did you have to be talked into it at all?
COACH EDSALL: No, I'm just glad I have the opportunity to be at Maryland and have the relationship that we have with Under Armour. I think having all of these combinations that we have, and then having the right uniform that we unveiled on Monday night which was a one-time thing for us, I think was great.
Making the brand now that we are Maryland and incorporating the state flag and the pride that we want to instill in our fans, but also from a recruit standpoint, as well. I'm all for that.
I mean, in this generation, and this day and age, you know, we are trying to appeal to those 17 to 22, 23, but even those younger people in terms of with what we are wearing, and get people excited about us. I think that came through loud and clear.
But again I thought we wanted to make a special statement about the pride that we have. Our state flag is one of the best in the country and we want to the incorporate that and those are our colors. I am all for it, and I really enjoy it and the feedback that we are getting is the young people -- the young kids, the people in that target area, they really like it.
I'm on the road recruiting now and walked into a high school and somebody said to, this is out of state and somebody said, man, I like those uniforms. I think we hit our mark with it.

Q. How many different combinations do you have?
COACH EDSALL: I know there's at least 32 done. There probably could be even more. But I know we have at least 32.

Q. How did the offensive line grade the other night? What were your thoughts there, any unsung heros that did a lot that caught your eye as far as grades and whatnot?
COACH EDSALL: I thought our offensive line played well. We didn't give up a sack. I think we might have had four pressures during the game. And again, as I said in the spring, and I felt through the fall, I think that we have a bunch there that understands how to work together, how to communicate well together.
You know, we even had Pete White got in the game, Nick Klemm got in the game, Sal Conaboy had to go in when Fulper ended up losing his shoe. So again, we ended up having eight guys play in the game. They went in and did a very good job, and I -- you know, again, when you can rush the balls the way we did and protect the passer the way we did, our offensive line did a real fine job.

Q. Tell me a little bit about Joe Vellano, the way he's played for you, of course he made a big play in the game, and with the fumble recovery for a touchdown, I don't know if he required oxygen after that run or not. Just how he's coming long for you.
COACH EDSALL: I was impressed when I saw Joe on film last year. I think the thing is, being a captain, we expect a lot out of Joe and he's been working to take his game to even a higher level.
Those two plays, the fumble recovery and then the ball he picks up and runs into the end zone, epitomizes what know Joe is and what he's all about, and basically the reason he has those opportunities is because he was hustling and playing until the whistle blue. That's what you're going to get out of Joe. He has a great motor and he plays hard and he's smart and he's picked up the things that we're doing and he's betting better at all of the things that Coach Gattuso is asking him to get done as a defensive linemen.
When you do those things you put yourself in a position to be able to make those plays. The only thing that really made me mad was the fact that, you know, on ESPN they showed the guy from Miami running 20 an hour and they made it how Joe was not running as fast, and then they show me going down the sideline saying I'm slower than Joe. And I told Joe yesterday in a team meeting that I'll run a 40 any day and I'll beat him. That kind of upset me.
But no, Joe is a great kid and he's playing well for us, and we are expecting big things out of him as we continue with the season.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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