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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

September 14, 2011

Al Golden

MIKE FINN: We now welcome Miami head football coach Al Golden. We'll bring on coach, ask for a brief opening statement, then go to questions.
Coach.
COACH GOLDEN: Well, as you know, we're coming off a bye week. We just finished our third practice this week for Ohio State, who is coming in here for a big game with obviously a great environment.
We're excited. We've been working hard. We've established our depth based on some of the distractions we had prior to the first game, got that settled, so we're excited to play against Ohio State on Saturday night.
MIKE FINN: We'll take questions for coach.

Q. Coach, I know you're focused on your own team right now. With y'all playing Ohio State, Clemson playing Auburn, Florida State playing Oklahoma, what could this week mean for the ACC and its reputation?
COACH GOLDEN: Again, I think it's great. Clemson, Florida State and Miami playing those kind of matchups out of conference, big intersectional games. I think it's great for college football. Certainly we're going to continue to do that in the future. Hopefully a lot more teams, not just in our conference, but nationally playing meaningful games.
Clearly it's a great test for our conference. It's a great test for all three programs individually. So I know we're excited about the challenge. I can't really speak for the other two teams, but in terms of the University of Miami, our fans, it's an exciting opportunity for us Saturday night.

Q. Coach, I know you've only coached under Joe Paterno one year, but you played for him. What did you learn from him in terms of building and running a program? I was wondering if you still talk to him.
COACH GOLDEN: Certainly I do talk to him at times. We see each other at the events, national football foundation, national coaches convention, that type of thing.
If I had to identify one thing that I've taken from him, that's the process. He never really called it 'the process,' but we've kind of defined it as that. That is just stick to your plan and execute on a daily basis, pay attention to the little things, the details, and the product will take care of itself.
I think if I had to say if there's anything we could attribute to him, it would be just to adhere to the process, that it's really hard to compartmentalize your life. You can't be one guy in the community, another one in the classroom, and yet another guy on the field. Obviously we're looking for winning behavior and winners in all three realms.

Q. What is the most significant area in which you've had to rebuild or implement your beliefs on the program in the time you've been there?
COACH GOLDEN: Well, I think certainly we want to be a well-conditioned team. I think we spent a lot of time - again, nothing to do with what was done prior, it's what we're looking for, the type of culture we want. We really want to be in elite condition. I think we're in better condition. Obviously each game will be the ultimate test. But we definitely want to be in better condition. We want to maintain our strength and conditioning throughout the season, so we put a great emphasis on that.
Clearly we want to be a tougher team. As you look at Ohio State, they're the ultimate test in terms of toughness. I think they're a rugged team. They're excellent in hand-to-hand combat. They turn it into one-on-one battles. Obviously, they've been at the fore of that in college football for quite some time.

Q. Brandon Washington, is he now playing at left tackle? Will he start Saturday at left tackle?
COACH GOLDEN: As we always do, we work all different kinds of combinations through the week. We've had Brandon at left, just like we did before the last game. We've had Brandon at right. We've had figure at left and figure at right. We've had Feliciano at right guard and right tackle. There's one other combination. We had bunch at right tackle and left tackle.
We've worked a number of combinations. We'll continue to do that. As the coaches choose the starting lineups here tomorrow, then we go from there.
But Brandon has continued and will continue to work at both left and right.

Q. Was he working primarily there today?
COACH GOLDEN: He was working there today, yes.

Q. Al, can you talk a little bit about what you've seen on Feliciano, how ready you feel he might be to start a game? What happened to Jermaine Johnson?
COACH GOLDEN: First, Feliciano is playing good football right now. If he's not in the top five, he's probably number six or seven. Clearly he's put himself in the top five or six offensive linemen on the team. Of course, any time a player does that, then we'll retool to make sure we get the best five on the field.
He's made a lot of progress in the off week, had a great approach. He's been making a lot of progress. I know I've said that several times during training camp. So certainly he's garnered more time.
We'll decide who is going to start where and how much they're going to play as we get into tomorrow as a staff. But the biggest thing is that we continue to build depth there, that we have multiple guys that can play both guard and tackle for us.
In terms of Jermaine, just a little bit behind the other guys that are playing tackle right now. Again, it's nothing to be embarrassed about. It's just something that he'll continue to work and improve. He's done that. He's had a good attitude. Again, he's young. He just has to continue to make progress there.

Q. With Ohio State coming off against that game against Toledo, easier job preparing for these guys?
COACH GOLDEN: An easier job?

Q. They struggled against Toledo. The thinking is Miami should probably win this game.
COACH GOLDEN: That's why I don't listen to the average fan. Anybody in our profession knows when a team plays that kind of game it's a wake-up call, it's really the best of all worlds for the coach. You got their attention. Look, if we're not focused, this is what happens.
Again, let's make sure we understand how good a team Toledo is and how many wins they've had against opponents just like that over the past six, seven years. Toledo is a good football team. They played exceptionally well. Played well on special teams. They moved the ball on offense, got to the ball to the perimeter, made some plays on defense.
So, again, I think that got their attention. We expect to get the best Ohio State Buckeye team we could possibly get down here, and that's what we're preparing for.

Q. With the problems of both schools, does it still have a big-game feel to you?
COACH GOLDEN: Yes. For our kids, we're really not involved in the media. As I said a million times, our staff wasn't here when some mis-steps apparently took place, and 90% of our team.
Our campus is excited for the opportunity. We're expecting a huge crowd at Sun Life. Clearly I think Coach Fickell and their staff feel the same way about the opportunity they have.

Q. Coach, obviously both teams have gone through some real tough times. What has been your strategy in getting through it for your guys?
COACH GOLDEN: What has been our strategy? Just focus on what we can control. Again, I keep saying it. No one on our staff was involved with anything that occurred here, and 90% of our team wasn't. What looked like was going to be major, major suspensions, really multiple games for the season, what was being reported initially, didn't occur. What we ended up with was five guys that were reinstated and five that had one game.
There are some distractions there. There are a lot of things. I'm sure Coach Fickell has the same issues in terms of every move that you make requires a double move basically. So when a guy is suspended but you know he's coming back, you tend to move other guys in those positions and many times it's often for the short-term.
You got to be a little bit more careful tactically with how you're moving guys around. For us, we've just been focusing on what we can control at this stage.

Q. In terms of the guys that are coming back now, how has that adjustment been? Do you treat them like they were hurt the first game?
COACH GOLDEN: Like they were hurt? Yeah, I think that's a good way to look at it. I think for those guys, we kind of put them right back where they were before the openers. So if we were competing for a starting job, that's the kind of position we put them in. If they were a starter, whoever played in their absence didn't outplay them, then they would return to their starting lineup.
Again, I think the biggest difference for us with those young people, Sean Spence, Forston and Jacory, are the leadership, the experience, the amount of games those guys have played is a big difference for us going into the second game.

Q. Al, in some past games, the obvious ones are when Ohio State has played SEC teams, there's been a lot made of how speed makes a difference. I know you're not an SEC team, but do you think Miami has as much speed or more speed than anyone else in the country?
COACH GOLDEN: I think if you were to classify us, you'd classify us as a fast team. I think Ohio State, I never really bought into that, just because of the amount of national award winners Ohio State had, the amount of first-rounders, the amount of representation they have in the NFL. Clearly they've always been a team in the Big Tens that has had both. You don't win the Big Ten six times in a row if you don't have power, speed and athleticism.
I think they have a lot of speed. I know they're playing some young guys, getting some other guys back, which is going to make their team faster. I hope we're a fast team, a team that can run, and hopefully we'll play that way Saturday night.
MIKE FINN: Coach, thanks for being with us and good luck this weekend.
COACH GOLDEN: Appreciate it.
MIKE FINN: This concludes today's ACC football coaches teleconference.

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