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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCESeptember 5, 2012Al GoldenMIKE FINN: We now welcome Miami head coach Al Golden. We'll ask coach for an opening statement and then take questions. COACH GOLDEN: Clearly we have an incredible challenge in front of us playing at Kansas State. Obviously some of the best fans in the country. Clearly a team coming off 10 wins a year going and ranked in the top 25. We have a great challenge in front of us with our football team. We're preparing right now as we go. Looking forward to the challenge of playing the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday. MIKE FINN: Questions for Coach Golden. Q. Where is the confidence level of the players right now after a good win? COACH GOLDEN: I think it's the same as it was going into the game. Where was our confidence level down 14‑0? That's probably another question. I think hopefully they're learning how to be steady. That's the challenge. It's not a surprise to anybody that opening up at BC, then at Kansas State, is a tough challenge. So it's really important for us to control our emotions, not get too high last week, understand what a challenge this is for our football team going out to Manhattan on Friday. Q. What is the most difficult thing about playing back‑to‑back road games? COACH GOLDEN: Clearly it's not just playing back to back, it's exactly what you said. You have to open up the season for one ACC opponent on the road, now you got to go play a team that's coming off a spectacular year, has 42 returning lettermen, ranked in the top 25. So it's a challenge. We'll see if our kids respond. I think they responded last week. Now it's going to be ratcheted up a notch here in Manhattan. Q. What is your understanding about how this game got scheduled? COACH GOLDEN: I have no clue. I really don't, to be honest with you. It was done before I got here. Not going to change the kickoff time or anything Saturday, I'm pretty certain of that (laughter). Q. Coach, what do you remember most about the goal line stand at the end of last year when you missed out on winning that game? COACH GOLDEN: I think the thing I remember most is as we're going through and trying to improve our team in the off‑season, as we quality control our work, we were 14 to 15 in goal line situations for the whole year. Of course, the one is the one that cost you a game. I remember Kansas State executing better than we did and earning the right to make the play to win the game. We didn't execute, so we didn't earn the right to be the winners down there. Clearly it was disappointing. Hopefully we learned from it and hopefully we've grown as a team. Clearly that smarts when you can't get it in in that situation. Q. Was there anything Kansas State did defensive on that series that surprised you at all? COACH GOLDEN: No. We had an opportunity to catch the first down pass on second down and third down. I want to say on second down we got down to the 1. On third down we actually lost yardage. It actually made it a little bit tougher than it was on third down to score. I think we were fourth‑and‑two. We just did a better job. They beat us up front. We didn't block everybody the way we needed to. Clearly they did a better job. Q. What are your impressions on Collin Klein? You faced him last year. Seen anything different out of him now? COACH GOLDEN: I think he's spectacular. I think it would be hard to find a better quarterback in the country, someone as smart, durable as he is, somebody that has all the attributes, physical attributes, then couple that with his intelligence and leadership. Clearly he's smart, tough, can throw the ball, can run it. It would be hard to find a better quarterback than Collin Klein in the country. Q. Al, the play that Denzel Perryman made right at the end of the first quarter, how would you assess the impact of that play on the game from that point? COACH GOLDEN: I think we were back in the game prior to that. Clearly a quick strike like that really gave us some momentum and just got us back to a level playing field. For all the things that we did wrong in the game, for all the assignments that we got wrong on defense, they scored 14 points in the first 16 minutes, two touchdowns in the first 16 plays I should say, then scored another touchdown. That was a big play in the game just to get us settled down, to give us a chance to regroup. Q. What were the factors that went into moving Perryman from the outside into the middle linebacker spot? COACH GOLDEN: I think anytime you have somebody that's strong, explosive, has the speed to match it, I think you owe it to yourself to see if he can instinctively see it as a middle linebacker. Many young players can't. They're better at playing one side of the ball or the other, Will or Sam. If you can move in there, he's still instinctive, still playing fast, then you have a chance for a special one. Denzel has done a great job with his strength, with his weight, maintaining his speed. Nobody prepares harder for the game than he does. He studies film and seldom gets a mental error. He's earned the right to make those type of plays. Q. You mentioned Klein already. What other big headaches does Kansas State pose for you as you watch them on film? COACH GOLDEN: There's several headaches. Number one, the fullback Braden Wilson. Big, strong, physical guy. Really tries to impose his will in a one‑on‑one battle. Both Hubert and Pease, very elusive, can catch the ball in the backfield. The tight end Tannahill and McDonald, No.18, who played a lot against us last year, didn't play last week, but both of the tight ends are excellent. I know they're high on Lockett, Thompson, and Harper at the wideout is their most experienced returner. Last year their offensive line gave us fits. It's a tough outfit on offense and very experienced. Q. Did your team exceed your expectations last week? COACH GOLDEN: No, no. We dropped seven balls, had way more mental errors than I ever imagined we would, made too many mistakes in the game to exceed our expectations. Our expectations are that we're going to be a smart, disciplined team. Nine penalties doesn't resemble that. But certainly in other areas we played the way that we want to play in terms of our brand. Q. Obviously you expected a lot from Duke Johnson and got it in his debut. Can you talk about what makes him an exceptional runningback. COACH GOLDEN: His toughness, his maturity, his preparation, and his practice habits. I don't think there's any question. There's talented players and talented people all over the place, but from day one you don't have to tell them to finish a rep or how important it is to study, how unselfish he is. He'll line up anywhere we put him. He'll block anybody we tell him to block. I think that's what makes him different. Again, it's one game. We got to keep it in perspective. He's got a long way to go. He came into this program with a lot of those qualities, and we're trying to help him polish those skills up. Q. You also got a touchdown from a true freshman wide receiver. Is this just the tip of the iceberg for that recruiting class? COACH GOLDEN: Correct. Ereck Flowers played 75 plays for us at right tackle and graded out over 90%. We played 14 freshmen, 12 true freshmen in a game. We really believe they're going to continue to grow and continue to impact. MIKE FINN: Thanks, coach. Good luck this week. COACH GOLDEN: Thanks, Mike. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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