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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 2, 2011

Paul Johnson

THE MODERATOR: We welcome Georgia Tech head coach Paul Johnson.
COACH JOHNSON: Good morning. I was really proud of our team last week and our game against Clemson. I thought we came out and played extremely hard against a very talented and I think a very good football team that Clemson has.
We are desperately -- I think the bye week fell at a great time. I think we are pretty beat up, both physically and mentally, if you count the four weeks of count, we have probably been going at it for probably 13 straight weeks now. So we had a chance to take a little downtime and reassess kind of where we are and what we are doing.
And then it will be on to get ready for what's always a really good Virginia Tech team. Frank and the guys up there do a great job up there, consistent, and always right at the top of our league every year.

Q. Everyone kind of talks about what can be gained facing you guys having a bye week to prepare for your offense. I wondered, how in terms of preparation a bye week helps you guys going into this Virginia Tech game.
COACH JOHNSON: Well, I think it's probably pretty much the same. I'm not sure that those stats, if somebody actually looked at them. Matter of fact, our SID broke it down, and since we ever been here, overall, I think we have won more games than we have lost when people have had extra time. Of the nine losses, counting three Bowl games, six were road games, and I think seven of them were to ranked teams.
So I think basically what it says, if you're a pretty good team, you've got a good chance to win if there's an extra week if you're ranked and we are on the road.
I'm not sure that there's as much -- as long as both teams have the same amount of time, I don't know that it makes a whole lot of difference.

Q. Specifically about foster's defense this year, what sort of trouble does Bud Foster give your offense over the year to you, what's your biggest concern, or is it the type of thing where if your offense is running on full cylinders, doesn't matter what defense you are facing type of thing, wonder what you think about that.
COACH JOHNSON: I think that clearly Bud does a great job defensively. He's one of the top defensive coordinators in the country and he always has a good plan, and me does something it's a move, counter move type thing. We have had some great games back and forth.
We expect the same type of game here a week from Thursday night. I'm sure he'll have them ready to play and we'll work hard to prepare our guys for whatever he might throw against us.

Q. Would you aggressive your running game? Your offense was so efficient last week and two weeks previously it sputtered a little bit. Is it a function of your execution or just the defenses you've faced?
COACH JOHNSON: I think it's always a combination of both. It's also a function -- the Virginia game was a clear function of not having the ball.
I think we had eight or nine possessions in the game. So we were not efficient when we had them.
The Miami game, they played well defensively and we didn't execute very well. You could say that about any offense. I think that it's always a combination of both.

Q. Does it go in cycles that you feel like your offense really clicks for a while?
COACH JOHNSON: I don't think our offense is any different than any other offense. I mean, do Clemson go in cycles and all of a sudden they have a bad game on offense against us and score 17 points?
I mean, it's football. You know, you're not going to score 50 points every game generally unless you're just way, way better than everybody you play. And there's varying factors when it happens. Sometimes the other side just kind of has a better plan and they beat you.
Sometimes you have a good plan and you don't execute. It's a very -- it's a whole lot of things that can happen.

Q. These games against Georgia Tech, it's probably the fourth time in five or six years that the could heal division has been kind of up for grabs. Do you sense a rivalry that's been building because you guys are in the same divisions and have been kind of consistently competing for the coastal division -- did you sense early in the season that this type of game was everything you circled on the calendar, one that's really going to decide your season type of thing? How do you guys view this game against Virginia Tech just in terms of how much is on the line, it seems like every year.
COACH JOHNSON: Well, we don't particularly talk about this game early in the year. It just seems like that most of the time when it comes around, because we are in the same division that it has a lot riding on it.
This year it's a chance for us to stay alive in the division race. We still have games after this one, but clearly, if we lose this game and they will have the tie breaker, the odds of us having a chance to win the division are not very good.
So it's always a big game that way. I think that -- I don't know about them. I know that we have a healthy respect for their team, and you know, since I've been the head coach here, this is my fourth year, we tied for the division our first year. They beat us. They had the tiebreaker the second year we got them.
Last year they won the division again and now it looks like it's going to come down to -- at least for us, to stay alive. We still have to play another game if we are fortunate enough to win this one and have some other things happen. But to stay alive, we need to win this game.
That's kind of the way it's been. So we always had a healthy respect for them since I've been here. They always do a good job and have a good team.

Q. Last year this game was kind of Tevin's debut almost. How has he changed? Seems like he's gotten a lot better, but how has he changed coming in from last year to how he's playing now? How do you view his development?
COACH JOHNSON: Well, he's got a lot more experience clearly. He's played a lot of football games between then and now. I think he has a much better comfort level with the offense and what he's doing. So that would be the biggest thing. It's like anything, the more you do something, the more comfortable you are at doing it.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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