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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCE

November 2, 2011

Randy Edsall

THE MODERATOR: We are back with Maryland head coach Randy Edsall.
COACH EDSALL: Well, it looks like we are finally going to have a sunny day to play in this week on Saturday, so that's a good thing.
And then looking forward to playing Virginia on Saturday and know that it's a rival game and it's one of those games where the team that usually rushes for the most yards usually ends up winning.
So we hope to hold up our end of the deal and look forward to playing them on Saturday.

Q. Wondering if you can look at the big picture, I'm sure you had a lot higher expectations for the season coming into it. Is there anything that you can pinpoint aside from injuries on defense as to why you guys have struggled so much this year?
COACH EDSALL: Well, you know, again, yeah, we would like to have more wins no doubt.
But I just -- when you are installing a new system, and trying to get the right guys to play in the scheme that you want to play, then when you get the injuries on top of that, I think there's things that were compounded that has not allowed us to be as good as we want to be.
You know, the kids are playing hard and we are getting a lot of experience from a lot of young men. But I think those factors that I just mentioned are reasons why we just haven't been able to be as successful as we need to be defensively.

Q. And I also just wanted to ask you about -- I know coaches are big on self-evaluation. Have you had any regrets about the way you've done anything or just how you assess the job that you've done so far?
COACH EDSALL: Well, I think you assess everything from week-to-week and then at the end of the season, you assess things.
I'm just constantly trying to do a better job each and every week to help our young men go out there and perform to the best of their abilities. And again, you know, I think I can do something good every week regardless of what the outcome is.
I've always got to look to myself first and foremost to find ways to make this team better, to help the coaches coach better and even if we were 8-0 at the same time, I would still be doing the same thing.
I think just sometimes what happens is, if you don't win, things get magnified. But my job is going to be the same regardless if we are winning every game or if we are 2-6, and that's to do things to help this team and help the coaches, the players, and the program to succeed at the highest level we can.

Q. Is Kevin Dorsey, now with another practice under your belt, is he progressing and doing the things you had hoped as he comes back from the hamstring injury? And do you think Coxson will factor this week at receiver, as well?
COACH EDSALL: Well, Kevin is a starter and Adrian is behind him. So I liked what I saw out of Kevin yesterday and we just hope that he will continue to progress the way he's been progressing on Sunday and then Tuesday, and you know, Adrian will get some work, as well.
So that's the plan. Hopefully it remains the plan, and you know, with no complications due to any kind of injuries or anything as the week progresses.

Q. Anything new on the quarterback situation yet? Any decision yet?
COACH EDSALL: No. Just guys are working hard and doing a good job out there competing and as I said, we are fortunate that we have two guys and we could get in a situation where we play them both, play one. But again, we are going to see how the week continues, progress, and then we'll work from there.

Q. Curious how much your offense changes with two different quarterbacks -- I won't say how, because I know you won't get into specifics, but is it a dramatic change when you have one in the game as opposed to the other?
COACH EDSALL: No, we don't have a playbook for C.J. and then we don't have a playbook for Danny. That's the one good thing; we feel like the both of them can do the things that we want to do. One might be a little bit better than the other in some aspect, but they are both really good at all of the things that they can do.
So that's the good thing. Things really don't change that much. It's just one might have a little bit different skill set than the other.

Q. Unrelated question, I know you referred to the Maryland/Virginia rivalry as a border war earlier in the week; how much have you run into that in recruiting, and is there that much competition there?
COACH EDSALL: Well, I'm hoping to run into them quite a bit. I think they have ten to 12 guys on their roster from the State of Maryland; so they come up here and recruit. We have kids from Virginia so we are down there we are recruiting on our roster.
So what we want to do is try to make sure we are doing a good job of keeping them out of this area, and then going into Virginia and getting some kids that we feel can help our program.
So we are going to run into them in recruiting, there's no question about that. These are games that can aid you in recruiting.

Q. Can you talk about Virginia's offensive line? Seems like they have been the dominant factor in a couple of games recently. Certainly Georgia Tech could not get the ball away from them; the problems they present.
COACH EDSALL: When you take look across the front: 6-6, 310; 6-7, 305; 6-4, 285; 6-6, 295; 6-6, 335. That's pretty impressive. And you know, they have, they have been running the ball well.
And then when they go to their two tight end and three tight end sets, and they have got basically more linemen in the game, as well. So they have been a team that's run the ball extremely well. I was very impressed with what they did against -- did against Miami.
So to me it's a very good line that works well together, and is very productive and they do a good job. And then when you have Perry Jones and Kevin Parks at tailback, that offensive line helps them to open up those holes that they need to run through.

Q. Is stopping their run -- that's obviously a key thing every game. But I mean, even more so because they have not been quite as efficient in the passing game over the course of the season?
COACH EDSALL: If you take a look at us, I would think that people are going to come in here and try to run the ball against us, so what we have to be able to do is stop the run first and foremost. If we can't stop the run and make them throw the football, then we are going to have a tough afternoon. And that's something that we have not done a good job about but that's something that we are working and practicing to try to correct and hopefully we'll be better at that this week.

Q. To follow up on that, can you pinpoint, why have you had trouble stopping the run or why are you concerned about that? Do you feel perhaps your defensive line isn't a good match up against UVA's own line?
COACH EDSALL: When you look at their size, we are not a big defensive line. So we just aren't. We just are not a big defensive line.
When we have got to do is do things to help our guys because we are not as big at the end, 233, 240-type going against 6-6, 310; and 6-6, 335. We have to do some things to try to help them and get some extra people in there so we can stop the run.
And again, we just have to -- we have had some injuries where we have had to play different combinations, but we think we have got some guys back and we hope to be a little bit better at that -- stopping the run this week.

Q. And from the outside looking in, we don't get to break the tape down like you guys, but it looks like Virginia is really clicking, the defense has played well, they are running the ball well. And now the quarterback situation, Michael Rocco turned in a very fine performance at Miami. Your thoughts on Rocco and do you think you're getting Virginia playing its best football?
COACH EDSALL: Based on watching the Miami game and some games just before that, yeah, they are playing very well. And I think Michael Rocco is doing a very good job for them. He's managing the game. He's throwing the ball where it needs to be thrown. He's getting the ball to the right people. He's taking charge and yeah, we are catching them at a time when they are playing well.

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