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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 14, 2012Al GoldenAL GOLDEN: We are getting ready for South Florida, a team that we are 1‑1 against in the last two games and both games were decided by 3‑point margins and it's our final home game of the year and so we are going to have a great number of seniors that have meant a lot to our program. We are excited about the opportunity that we have and we know what kind of game we are in for and we are preparing for the next team coming in at 3 o'clock on Saturday. Q. Just wanted to ask you about the big picture of the Coastal Division race, it's been so unpredictable. Why do you think it's been so hard for one of you guys to really separate this year? AL GOLDEN: I can't speak for anybody else but we have sputtered at times on offense this year and certainly we have struggled on defense and when it looked like we were getting ready to turn the corner on defense, we got 41 points put up on us and clearly didn't do a great job on the passing game. I can't speak for anybody else. I just know where we are as a program. We have two very important games left, first in South Florida and then another look back into the Coastal Division playing an excellent Duke team. Not really equipped to speak for the other coaches in the program but know where we are and know what we have to get fixed before Saturday. Q. Just wondering your thoughts on this series and if you would like to see it continue on? AL GOLDEN: I think we are taking a real close look at just overall our scheduling. Moving forward, we have had some lack of continuity at the athletic director position so it's been tough to have a solid philosophy, if you will, with the out of conference schedule and certainly USF will be considered as we look forward. But right now, there's just too many variables in terms of the ACC Conference and what that scheduling is going to look like and of course playing Florida State on the other side and what we need to do in terms of our out of conference schedule, which clearly this year is brutal, I think everybody would agree. Q. And in terms of this game, you're not going to see B.J. Daniels and they have not announced a starter yet. How do you prepare for the unknown at quarterback? AL GOLDEN: No.1, I want to honor B.J.; I think he's had a terrific career at South Florida and just want to say congratulations to him on great career and sorry to see it end prematurely. In terms of Florida, I don't know who we will see. But I think we are ready for either one of them. I think their offensive line is playing really well right now, big play potential in Davis and Mitchell on the perimeter and Murray is running the ball effectively right now. At the tight end, Sean Bryce has been playing more of late. I see that more as an offensive system right now, as opposed to just a quarterback. I don't think that they are going to change very much. Skip is one of the best coaches at teaching fundamentals and getting back to basics in the bye weeks. I think we'll see a couple of new wrinkles but I think they will just get back to who they are in terms of a system and executing. Q. A thought about Michael Rocco, both times you've faced him, he's been in and out of the lineup before playing against the Hurricanes. AL GOLDEN: Well, that's tough. You're making me re‑live it. I think he played really well and clearly we didn't play well enough. So it's hard for me to separate the did he fish sighs of our team in that game. All I'll say out of respect for Michael is, you know, just separating what we didn't do well, just that the young man played brilliantly down the stretch and just he executed really well, made good decisions with the football, found his check downs, made vertical throws and really hung in there. I think we pressured ten of the last 16 plays and he hung in there, really threw the ball well. I could go on and on about the things that we need to do well, but I'm answering your question about Michael. Q. What do you need to fix to prepare for this week? AL GOLDEN: Clearly getting Denzel and Johnson back, that's about 20 tackles a game, maybe more and two big playmakers, I think that's going to help. Doesn't look like Deon Bush is going to make it back. But that also means that Jenkins back there has had another week to mature and obviously got a lot of great experience last week. So I don't think from a system standpoint, we are going to change much, and I just think getting two of our three biggest playmakers back and having some experience with some of the other guys is going to make a difference hopefully. Q. Curious if you know what the timing might be for post‑season? AL GOLDEN: Here is what happened. You know, every time we get in that position, just all the speculation goes crazy and everybody wants to answer all those questions and right now what we need to focus on is playing well and playing better than we played last week, because we had the same questions last week and we didn't take care of the one thing that we needed to take care of, and that was the University of Virginia. With all respect, it's something that we are not discussing or talking about and it's really something that I have no dialogue with or input on right now at all. My job is to get this team ready to play South Florida who is coming off a bye week and will be very fresh. Q. I know that injury reports come out on Thursday, but can you give any insight as to what your receiving core looks like right now? AL GOLDEN: Well, Allen Hurns looks like he'll be okay to play. Phillip Dorsett, Herb Waters, Kendal Thompkins. Of course we like Duke Johnson up there a lot. Dallas Crawford can do that, as well. We'll wait and see on did he have on Johnson and moving forward. Q. Is that a group you're concerned about, or no? AL GOLDEN: No. We played multiple personnel groups and obviously Phillip is having a good year. Herb has been playing much better of late. Allen had probably one of his better games last week, Allen Hurns. So we are going to need some guys to step up for sure, because we lost Scott and Robert lock heart in the last couple weeks but hopefully these guys will step up and answer the call. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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