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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 11, 2013David CutcliffeCOACH CUTCLIFFE: Yes, we've got a big challenge in front of us. Georgia Tech is a lot of things. Certainly everybody talks about stopping the option offense. But I think what gets lost in that sometimes is they're an extremely well‑coached, extremely talented, a bunch of athletes on both sides of the ball and an experienced football team. Well, your problems are big enough and then added to it is playing an offense that's different than what you see week to week. But I think the first issue there, as I said, they're an extremely well‑coached, talented team, and they're just difficult to beat, difficult to beat for a lot of people. And the last games they've played in, including the championship game, they played extremely well. In November of last year through the bowl game, through a 70‑0 win this year. I think they're performing at as high a level as anybody we've seen on tape. So with that, I'll take your question. Q. With your changing quarterbacks, how does that change your offensive philosophy or offensive approach because now you have a different signal caller as the starter? COACH CUTCLIFFE: It's really not going to change our offense. Both Brandon and Anthony prior to his injury worked in the same offense, practiced the same offense. They've been back‑ups before and assess what's best. I think Kurt Roper has done a good job of that, and he knows Brandon Connette very well. There will be no significant change, hopefully, other than our execution is better than it was last week overall. Q. Yesterday you told us the decision on whether or not to give Parker some time as a backup and burn his red‑shirt might depend on how he played in practice today. Can you follow‑up on that? COACH CUTCLIFFE: Yeah, he practiced well. There are going to be things that he's got to work on. He just hasn't had much experience with it. But I told Kurt this morning early, I said, this is a good test for him, but we're going to reach a point where we're going to have to get his feet wet, and we're still looking at that and what is the best way to do it. Right now, the intention would be to try to find a way to play him, and that's not easy to do. When do you take a guy out or what the circumstances are. But I can tell you this, if something were to happen and Brandon is out for a few plays or whatever, I wouldn't be afraid to play Parker. I think he'd play well. Q. Georgia Tech presents a problem different from most teams that you'll see this year. First, what do you attribute your strides in defense and to this point? Second, what are they going to have to do against the kind of offense that Tech throws out there? COACH CUTCLIFFE: Well, the first thing is just attributing a few of the factors that are involved. First of all, our defensive staff has done a tremendous job of revamping a lot of things.  Things that have helped us. Secondly, our players bought into this way back in spring practice. Ross Cockrell has been an incredible leader, Justin Fox, Kenny Anunike, Sydney Sarmiento. We've got a lot of guys that have played a lot of football that have taken on a leadership role, so we've grown up on defense. Then our young people, where they've had to get back and play in the secondary and get involved with some young people, they've played well. The last thing I'd say is Kelby Brown is a great leader and his impact at linebacker. So there are a lot of factors involved in it. So when you play Georgia Tech, maybe the most important factor is experience. The reason I say that is they're going to move the football and make first downs. I don't see anybody, anybody stopping them. They're going to get their rushing yards, but the game is about points per game. You have to be resilient, keep playing, and play to be opportunistic and optimistic. You can't let it beat you up, and more experienced players are more inclined to handle that. So I think that's what you have to do to play well against Georgia Tech on defense. Q. Does an element of playing well against him having your offense play possession football or cueing up some time off the clock with some good drives and keeping their offense off the field as much as you can? COACH CUTCLIFFE: Well, that's absolutely right. There are different ways to go about that. We play offense, and we're going to play it fast and we're going to play it aggressively. It doesn't mean you can't have 10, 12‑play drives going down the field. We have to convert on third and fourth downs when needed. That is really against any football team. But when you're playing against a ground game like Georgia Tech that shortens it to maybe a ten‑series game, then all of those series knows third and fourth down conversions become even more important than a 15, 16 series game. So it's an interesting opportunity for your team to kind of process all of this. They have to understand the importance of it. But certainly you have to beat them. They make everybody play, kicking game, offense, and defense, by their style of offense. So what it takes to win is to play exceptionally well as a team. Not just any one unit, so it demands a lot from your entire squad. Q. From what you've seen from him so far this year and last year, how ready do you feel he is for this new opportunity and how different is he or not from Anthony? COACH CUTCLIFFE: Brandon Connette's a winner in every aspect of the word. He is in his fourth year here. I know him well. He was an early arrival here, and he's played well every time we've asked him to play. He throws the ball a lot better than people realize because he's played so situationally in the past because Sean Renfree being a three‑year starter and Brandon Connette's had shoulder issues, and yet, shoulder surgery in the spring that was very successful. He's a different player than he was, so I feel very good. You can't feel any better about playing a back‑up quarterback in my opinion than you would be playing Brandon can net. That's how strongly I would say. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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