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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 26, 2011

Al Golden

AL GOLDEN: We're getting excited for the opportunity to play Virginia tomorrow night. Clearly a team that's really playing good football. Over 400 yards a game in total offense and some big-time players, Burd on the perimeter at wide out, the running backs are playing really well and a big, physical line.
On defense, really strong, rugged is what comes to mind, eight seniors on that defense, eight interceptions already this year, top 20 in total defense, pass defense, red zone defense. So Coach London and his staff have done a great job. They're well coached, they're tough, they're disciplined, and clearly a great challenge for us at Sun Life tomorrow night.

Q. It would appear that your team has done an admirable job of putting aside the distractions of the preseason. Would you have expected that, or were you curious yourself how it would affect your season?
AL GOLDEN: No, just given the way that the team has unified and bought into the program and the mental toughness and resiliency that they developed over the last eight, nine months, I thought they would respond that way. We just didn't obviously have the continuity or the stability in too many spots, and when a couple of the suspensions with the injuries, and that's what was very hard to overcome.
No, I'm proud of the guys, I'm proud of our staff, and clearly this is the most healthy and most complete team that we have to this point in the season right now.

Q. Any significance to having everybody back? Does that bring any kind of closure to, I guess, the situation?
AL GOLDEN: No, I mean, again, I think we're just trying to move forward and have forward thinking, and we're trying to implement our program and our core values, and I think the kids have done a good job responding here.
Again, I don't want to sound like a coach, but I'm going to have to. For us it's about teaching the process because that's the only thing that endures. I think the guys have learned a lesson here throughout all this, and if you just focus on the process and executing every day, the outcome and the product takes care of itself.

Q. I just wanted to ask you about your relationship with Coach London and the fact that y'all were on staff together and knew each other pretty well. How close are you, and is it awkward at all during a game week to have that kind of relationship?
AL GOLDEN: No, I don't think it's awkward. I mean, we're both professionals. But we've both spent a lot of time together. We've both shared a lot together, whether it was our families, our development as coaches, and certainly time together, both at Boston College and Virginia. Mike knows I love him and I have great respect for him and his family, and we both have a job to do Thursday night.
I equally have as much respect for Anthony Poindexter and Jerry Capone and Craig and Margaret Littleton. I can go on and on. Great relationships, I spent eight years there, but certainly a great challenge for us here at the University of Miami moving forward and certainly in this game.

Q. Does the time you guys have shared on the same stage, does it impact the game in terms of you know things about what he wants to do or likes to do and he knows things about what you like to do?
AL GOLDEN: No, because I think we're so far removed now, I think we're six years out from working together, and they're doing different things on defense with -- Coach Reid is doing a great job for them on defense and Coach Lazor on the other side.
I think Coach D'Onofrio has been with me and now Jedd Fisch on the offensive side, so we're doing different things. There's a thing here or now that we all know that we've all done or like, but there's really not much -- not last week with Coach Grobe, just the same defense that he's been running for 15 years. Even though we didn't do a great job against him, at least we knew what was coming.

Q. It looks like you guys are hitting your stride. I know coaches say, hey, one game at a time, they're all the same. But this is Thursday night in front of the nation. Anything different about this one tomorrow night in that regard?
AL GOLDEN: No, there's nothing different. And again, that's what I'm trying to -- that's what I'm trying to teach here. I think you can very simply develop that type of program that goes up and down with the opponent or the time of day or who's covering it on TV, and again, that's a variation in human behavior. That's what we're trying to teach them, that that's part of a culture, and we're trying to be consistent and we're trying to trust the process and honor the process every day week in and week out, regardless of who we're playing, whether it's Florida State or somebody out of conference or in this case the University of Virginia. University of Virginia has done a great job against Miami the last three years and certainly we need to play our best.

Q. Also at times Virginia has shown a hard-nosed running game, and I know that earlier in the season I think you had said that your run defense concerned you a little bit. Are you guys making progress there? Do you anticipate Virginia is going to come in and try to establish the run on you?
AL GOLDEN: Yeah, I think we are making progress, but I do -- I still have a concern there, just because of the number of young people that we're playing and because of lack of continuity we had there, most particularly on the defensive line. So I definitely do. I think Virginia most certainly will run the ball. That's who they are. Whether it's a downhill power-run game with the guard pulling and a full back leading or the scheme runs that get the ball into the perimeter that they've done so well over the last couple weeks. We anticipate that, multiple tight ends, fullback in the game, both running backs touching the ball and a hard-nosed approach. We're going to have to be good. We're going to have to be able to stop that run. We haven't done a great job with it. It's going to be a great challenge for us.

Q. This week the Butkus Award people announced their semifinalists, and of their 12 semifinalists, the ACC had one-third of them, four, one of them was your player Sean Spence. What kind of season and what has he meant to your defense this year?
AL GOLDEN: Well, I think I said the other day, I think there's good seasons and great seasons, and what he's doing right now is having a special season. He's in the top ten in tackles in the country, and because we had an early bye week, he's probably a game behind everybody, and don't forget he missed the opening game. His tackles per game, what he means to our defense, his consistency and his rÃ©sumÃ©, his career, I think, would all point to being that kind of serious contender for that coveted prize.
I think it's well-deserving, and it's a great tribute to Sean and his family.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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