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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE FOOTBALL MEDIA CONFERENCE

October 31, 2018

Bobby Petrino

Greensboro, North Carolina

BOBBY PETRINO: We're looking forward to traveling to Clemson and playing in front of that atmosphere. You know, it's one of the toughest atmospheres there is in the country, and the crowd and the noise and everything that you have to deal with, so we've been working hard at that. They're a really good football team. They've got a great defense. Their defensive front, their coverage guys, their linebackers can all run and are very, very active, so we know that's a great challenge.

And then offensively, you know, you have to be able to stop or try to stop the two things that they can do really well, and that's run the ball and throw it. You know, their quarterback has really improved, got a great arm, so we've got to come in and try to stop the run and force them to get in 3rd and long situations.

Q. We heard so much about their defensive front coming into the year, and obviously they've lived up to some of that. What do you see when you look at that group?
BOBBY PETRINO: Well, we know them real well because we've been going against them every year. But they have the combination of size, physicalness, speed. They all move really well and change directions. And then they know the game. You know, they're very well-coached, and they understand the game, so they make it hard on your blocking schemes.

Q. And they got some attention there running some of those defensive tackles at fullback. In that kind of an offense, we know you guys did that with Mekhi, but what does it say about linemen and guys that size when they're able to take on roles like that?
BOBBY PETRINO: Yeah, you know, the first thing it does is it makes it fun in practice and the attitude changes a little bit, so it's good for your team. But guys just keep getting more agile and bigger, and they can help in different parts of the game besides just playing on the defensive front or the offensive front.

Q. I know you had a number of recruits in town on Saturday, and obviously you do for every home game. With things going the way they are this season with the losses, what has been your recruiting pitch to guys, and what would you want them to know?
BOBBY PETRINO: You know, you just keep recruiting. That's what you always do, and our ability to get them here and get them to our new facility and see all the positive things that we've got going on, the commitment that the administration has made, they all understand that we have a very young team, so they're excited.

Q. As far as your own team is concerned, when you're going over game film with them, what do you point to when you say, if we want to be in a closer game this week, if we want to be more competitive this week, if we want to hang with Clemson, give them a game, here's what we have to do better than we did against Wake Forest?
BOBBY PETRINO: Yeah, you know, definitely the ability to stop the run and play our gap responsibilities, get off blocks and tackle better defensively is something that is a must in this game. They've got great running backs, a lot of speed and can make big plays. We have to get in good positions, and we have to get our safeties where they belong and correlate that with the linebackers.

You know, offensively I think the thing that you have to do is move the ball and get 1st downs so that they're not three-and-out and getting their offense back on the field. The longer you can keep them on the field, the better chance you have to move the ball and be successful.

Q. As an offensive guy, what makes Brent Venables so tough to scheme against?
BOBBY PETRINO: Well, you know, he's unique in the fact that they really hold their defense and get the calls in real late. A lot of times they understand whether you're running the ball or passing the ball, and they just do a good job of moving their front and taking away what you do best. He's had a lot of success in being able to stop the run and defend the pass and hit the quarterback. So that combination of what they do is hard on you.

Q. I don't know if they talked about Lawrence in the beginning. What type of quarterback is he, and how do you prepare for a quarterback who's very tall and he can literally gun-sling it?
BOBBY PETRINO: Yeah, he can really spin the ball. He's got a quick release and can really snap his wrist. He's young, and I guess that's the one thing that you try to do is give him different looks and give him different types of pressures. It's a lot of newness in the game of football. But when he can set his feet and knows what's going on out there and snap his wrist, he can throw it as well as anybody.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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