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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 5, 2011

Paul Johnson

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson.
COACH JOHNSON: We are excited to be back home and have a chance to play in front of our home crowd again. I think that any time you can go on the road in this league and get a win, you're fortunate. I felt like that we might not have played our best game.
I think you have to give NC State a lot of credit. I thought their guys played hard but we were fortunate to come out of there with a win and now we get ready to play a very talented Maryland team. Certainly their quarterback has got tremendous ability, they have got good skill players and they are creating a lot of turnovers defensively.
So also come in undefeated in the league, so ought to be a pretty good challenge for us this week at home.

Q. I remember you talking back in 2008 about your first spring game that you had at Georgia Tech, and how it had been kind of horrific because of turnovers. I wonder, thinking back to then, how long did it take for your offense really to translate smoothly at Georgia Tech?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think it's still a work-in-progress. There's always things you can do better. We are probably operating at a little higher efficiency right now than we have since I've been here but we have actually only played half of the season, too. It's like anything, it's been hit-and-miss. And there's still a lot of things that we can get better at for sure.

Q. There was a play last weekend, fourth and ten, you lined up on your own 48-yard line and you completed the run for 27 yards. What confidence do you have in your offense to run a play ON your own side of the field and to have that play be successful?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, actually that was a fake punt. So it was something that we had just seen on tape and we felt like we had an opportunity to do if we executed correctly. So it was a little bit of surprise involved in it, too, i imagine.

Q. Can you talk about how successful the triple option has been for you guys this year?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think the best thing for us this year has been really successful, the biggest thing is we have taken better care of the ball, and we've been more efficient in the passing game.
We led the nation in rushing a year ago, and we have always been up there. We have been in the top two or three in the conference every year. But this year, we are scoring a little more and a little more efficient in the throwing game, taking better care of the ball.

Q. Along those lines, you guys have had a lot of long plays, also. I think you've had 40 plays 20 yards or longer. Can you just comment a little bit on that? Does that come from being more efficient? Does it come from the element of surprise or what do you think?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think it's a lot of things. I mean, historically, this offense has a lot of plays 20 yards or more. I think you also have to give credit to our skill guys. Certainly they make the plays. You can draw up whatever you want, but people have to execute it.
And you know, they are doing a good job blocking downfield and we have been efficient in the throwing game and the nature of what we do kind of spreads you out. When you make a mistake or miss a tackle, there's a tendency to have a big play.

Q. The ACC has mostly been a defensive league the last couple of years; do you still see a dominant defense out there in this league?
COACH JOHNSON: I'm sure there will be. Virginia Tech is always really good on defense. We have struggled. There will be somebody that will step forth. I guess the top defense in the league right now is probably Virginia Tech, I would think, stat-wise. But it just varies, I mean, I think from game-to-game and week-to-week. And if you look at the big picture, they have been pretty consistent since I've been in the league.

Q. Does it feel like some of the offenses are -- I wouldn't say taking over, but becoming more prominent. Obviously your team stands out, but Clemson with the moves that they have made in the off-season, too.
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think that certainly when you score points, the offense gets a lot of the headlines, but you know, looking at the last game, they also held the only team to three points. If you're doing that, you're probably getting a lot of kicks at the can, too.
So I think it's give and take, but it can change from week-to-week. Florida State evidently is playing really good defense and we have not played them since -- well, we played them two years ago. But they are clearly a lot better defensively than they were then.

Q. Using a guy like Orwin Smith, how much of that is you guys consciously using the team to make you get the ball in his hands, and how much of it is simply, okay, it looks like with the defense is going to be mullable (ph) to giving the ball to the A-back, and he just happens to be the guy getting the ball at that point.
COACH JOHNSON: It's mostly the latter. I don't think we had any plays that we designed specifically for Orwin; it just happened to be his turn. If we were going the other way, it would be Roddy or Embry or anybody who was in there.
I think the guys have done a good job blocking for one another and he has a pretty high yards-per-carry average, and I think you have to give Roddy and Embry and the guys on the side, the receivers, a lot of credit for that, because clearly they are doing a good job blocking.

Q. I know we will see on Saturday, but how do you evaluate your offense in practice over the last month and maybe compared to the last year? Are you impressed with practice?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, just like anything, there's days that we do better than others. But we practiced with full pads on Tuesday and Wednesday and we go live, full speed. We run an option period every day for 20 minutes as full-go with two huddles and we'll probably get 40 reps a day.
So clearly there's days that are better than other, but I think this group as a general rule has worked pretty hard. Practice last week was not good, and we didn't play particularly well, either. So far this week, it's been better, and hopefully it will transcend into Saturday.

Q. What stands out about Randy Edsall's teams when you've faced him over the years? What can you expect from his teams?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, they are usually very sound. They don't beat themselves. They take care of the ball. Solid kicking game, and fundamentally they don't give you a whole lot. You have to beat them.
I've only played Randy I guess twice, but that would be my recollection of that. They are a little bit different than his teams now. They are completely different offensively than what he was when we played.

Q. What are you looking to improve upon from the last two weeks?
COACH JOHNSON: Oh, gosh, we can improve just about everywhere. I don't think there's anywhere we can't improve. Certainly rushing defense has not been good the last two weeks. Giving up too many points. We had the ball out three or four times Saturday. We were terrible in the passing game efficiency wide wise, missing some wide-open guys. Had an 80-yard touchdown called back for a penalty. Special teams, return game has been a disaster at times. So there's a lot of things that we have got to get better at.

Q. Is your run defense a particular concern this week or is it the pass defense?
COACH JOHNSON: It's a concern every week. You have to stop people from running the ball. If you can play us, with the nature of what we do offensively, then we are going to hold on to the ball and the best way is to be able to run it.

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