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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 30, 2013Al GoldenCOACH GOLDEN: We just finished our Wednesday practice and our preparation, getting ready for a great environment and opportunity for our program. Going to keep preparing, keep our heads down, block everything out, get ready to go up to Tallahassee on Friday. With that I'll open it up for any questions that you have. Q. Al, Stephen, you mentioned he looked better than ever. How do you feel about his chances for Saturday? COACH GOLDEN: I think he looks great. I think he'll be able to close this chapter, go out, have fun, play the game he wants to play. Q. The contrast of the two teams. What Winston gives Florida State, precocious kid, brings an outward joy, really out there, whereas under you, your team kind of seems like they're a little bit more buttoned down. Can you talk about that, the contrast. Do you think it's okay your team does seem buttoned down? COACH GOLDEN: Yeah, I've never heard 'buttoned down' mentioned with our team before. It's really hard for me to comment on that, to be honest with you. I think our guys play with a lot of passion. We've gotten a couple of celebration penalties that I'd like to button them down for those. I don't see how we're a buttoned down team. I think we play with a lot of energy. I think we celebrate each other's big plays on offense and defense. So I don't know how we're buttoned down. I don't know how that makes us buttoned down. Q. You have Rashawn Scott back this week. Can you talk about what he brings to your offense? COACH GOLDEN: He's got to continue to prepare, work really hard here in the next 72 hours to prepare, eliminate any mental aspects of the game. He's got to play fast. I think he's in good condition. He should be ready for this opportunity. He's played a lot of football for us. It's good to get him back. Q. I'm wondering about Stephen Morris. How much does he add to your team in terms of his leadership in a week like this where you need some of the older guys to talk to some of the freshmen, tell them what it's going to be like, keep them in check? How important is that part of his personality? COACH GOLDEN: Stephen can't do it by himself, but certainly he's made a big difference for us in terms of his leadership. We're really going to need a lot of position leaders, Allen Hurns, Brandon Linder, Shayon Green, Anthony Chickillo, Jimmy Gaines. All those guys are going to have to step up and lead. We're going to need that maturity and poise because it's obviously an elite team who's executing really well right now, playing in a tough environment. We're going to have to draw on our leadership and certainly our unity. Q. Even though they've been to big games already, this is up another notch. Is this something you don't know about until you've been through it, that's the best teacher? COACH GOLDEN: I think obviously experience. We gleaned a lot from our experiences a year ago as a younger team. Now we have to draw on that. We're going to need the leaders to certainly help us do that, really just get the guys who haven't been in there, some of the younger guys, just have to get them executing six seconds at a time and not worry about anything from an external standpoint. Q. After Florida State has racked up some impressive wins, what do you have to do to make a game of it Saturday? COACH GOLDEN: We don't have enough time to cover it. We have to defend the deep ball. We have to tackle really well. We can't let them be a three‑headed monster in terms of the perimeter pass game, the tight end, and obviously the run game. We have to find a way to get pressure on them. That's the challenge. There's no question about it. We have to do a lot of things better than we did last Saturday. Hopefully our guys will continue to improve as the week goes on. But no question, that is the challenge here in our building, because we have to stop a lot of different things. Q. They've had a lot of lopsided wins lately. You have had close wins. Does this feel like a clash of the Titans or are you feeling like an underdog? COACH GOLDEN: I don't really worry about any of that. I don't mean to be short with you. I didn't really answer questions about being the favorite last week. I don't really want to talk about being the underdog this week. It's really a function of us preparing our young people for the type of game that we want to play in terms of what our game plan is in terms of what we want to execute, how we prepare, just focus on the process every day. It's certainly been a challenge for the better part of two years. Hopefully we would have learned a lot from adversity that can help us here in this spot and really get us focused on what we have to get focused on. Q. I know you want to approach this as the next game. In terms of how hard you've tried to rebuild, can you speak to what it means to be in this game, the whole nation watching, kind of like it was back in the '90s? COACH GOLDEN: We're excited about moving forward. Last Tuesday was a rebirth, if you will, a renewal. It really gave us the platform to move forward. So we're excited about that part of it. In terms of everything else that you mentioned, our kids really just have to focus on, look, Florida State has so many weapons, they're going to need every ounce of our focus and energy. Hopefully that is where our minds will be here in the next three days. That's where it has to be. Q. What are your memories of Florida State Miami? COACH GOLDEN: It's the passion, the tradition, how much the games meant in terms of the national spotlight or the repercussions in terms of post‑season. It's exciting to have that opportunity. We want to continue to grow the type of team that expects to be in these types of games year in and year out. That's what we're trying to build. Q. I know a couple weeks back when you played North Carolina, Ebron, you struggled against. Can you talk about what you learned from that game, covering the tight end, what you're going to do as far as covering Nick O'Leary? COACH GOLDEN: When Coach D'Onofrio says I spy 85 all week and then we let 85 have 200 yards of rushing, clearly we didn't execute the game plan the way we needed to. We weren't specific enough. We weren't precise enough in the execution. Because of that, the young man had a great game. We did not tackle well. We better tackle O'Leary really well. We better find a way to account for him in the red zone. He's been a touchdown maker for them in the low red. Hopefully we learned a lot. Hopefully we apply that to Campanaro, although he's going to get his catches, we didn't allow him to have as many as he normally does or the sheer number in terms of yards per catch. It wasn't perfect, but it was better. Obviously we have the same challenge here with Nick O'Leary, Reshard Green, Benjamin, whatever the case may be. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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