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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 4, 2013Mike LondonMIKE FINN: We're joined by Virginia head coach Mike London. Coach, I believe you would just rather go straight to questions today. COACH LONDON: Correct. Any questions, please. Q. Mike, I think I read where you said you really liked the idea of starting out the season against opponents like BYU and Oregon. Can you expand on what your thinking is on that. COACH LONDON: Obviously, in the process of building a program, you want to highlight things that are important. I think the staff this year was significant for us. The indoor facility, the commitment to that, is something that is probably one of the best indoor facilities. The scheduling has also had an opportunity to catch the eye of a lot of 2014 and '15 recruits. That's all part of the process. Plus the ACC, with the addition of the teams that are coming in, the opportunity to play Notre Dame, just continue to increase the brand. That's kind of where we are. I think, again, with the ACC, where the conference is moving, going to, that things can become more positive for a lot of schools that are in this league. Q. Mike, I heard something on your radio show the other night concerning the possibility of Coach Fairchild being on the field. Is that something you've been toying with for a while? Is there any real possibility you could have him come down out of the box? COACH LONDON: It's a possibility through communication with Steve, myself, Coach O'Brien. We're going to do what's necessary for the team and David to be successful. If it's for both of them to be up in the box, that's what it is. If not, if David needs a voice in his ear right when he comes off the field for instant feedback, those are the kinds of things we're looking to do to improve everyone's game, particularly the guy that touches the ball all the time. It wouldn't be a surprise if coach is on the field or if he's in the box. It's something we're going to look at as we go through practice here and present the game plan to David and make the decision on where Coach Fairchild will be. Q. Was that something that was a reaction to anything that happened Saturday? COACH LONDON: No, guys may have been used to being in the box, on the field. You also have to match the temperament of some of the players you're dealing with, particularly when it comes to your quarterback, whether he needs another eye up there to see the field, he needs another opinion, another voice for instant feedback there. Steve said he's done it in his career as a coordinator both ways. He's trying to find out the best match for him and David. I think that's the main focus. Q. I wanted to ask you about the Oregon offense. I understand very little has changed with replacing Kelly. What particular problem is the biggest problem they present? Is it tempo important schematically things they do differently? They've had a tremendous amount of success the last few years with that. COACH LONDON: I'd say all of the above (laughter). Perennially they're a great offensive team that can score at will. The past game, they scored four touchdowns and a field goal seven minutes. Last several years they've scored 54 points. Coach Kelly called the plays last year. Scott Frost is now calling the plays. It's a scheme and system they've been running for so long, they've perfected it. That's probably the biggest thing, is they do stuff because of the athletes they have. They do it fast. They do it at such a high level, you try to make defenses react, trying to out‑hustle you. They do a great job of doing that. Q. I heard a former coach saying he sees them run formations he's never seen before. Are they that unusual, or is it just their execution? COACH LONDON: Well, I don't know about formations that they've never seen. Obviously there's certain guys you can have on the line, certain guys you can have as receivers. I think the thing they do with the hurry‑up tempo with the formations, you can see double of everything. I think they know what they're doing, they utilize the formation where the ball is placed in the middle of the field on the hash. The things they do, they try to create those mismatches particularly as the quarterback can read coverages pre‑snap and post‑snap. They've perfected what they do, they've done it well, they have athletes that can carry it out. If you don't have this guy, you can go to this guy. If this guy is not being productive, you can go to another guy. They are as good as advertised. The thing for us is to make sure we are sound, we have gap integrity and we're going to have to tackle in the open field. Q. You're breaking in a guy that hasn't played in a year. Can you talk about David, what you saw in the first game, what you liked and didn't like. COACH LONDON: His first college game after a couple years. There were some good things. There were some good decisions. I think David showed a tremendous amount of poise in playing. Wasn't anything he did that was hurried or looking like he was frantic out there. Obviously there's some things he can do better in terms of distributing the ball to the most efficient receiver. Also the placement of the ball, so guys can catch and run with it. Those are some of the things we've talked about with David. Also spoke to where Steve Fairchild would be on the field getting that type of input. We want to make sure he has what he needs to be successful. BYU was a game you remember. They were one of the best defensive teams in the country last year. There's a lot of quarterbacks that had the days that David had. Now we're going against a really good team, a tall, athletic, defensive team. It's important that David does the things we need him to do to help us be successful. MIKE FINN: Coach, thanks for being with us today. Good luck this weekend. COACH LONDON: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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