|
|||
|
|||
|
 |
|
|
ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE CHAMPIONSHIP GAMEDecember 3, 2010Frank BeamerCHARLOTTE, NORTH CAROLINA COACH BEAMER: It's great to be here in Charlotte. It's great to play for the ACC Championship game. We're just proud to be a part of the ACC. I think they're playing well. They've got a good football team. I think he's got an excellent coaching staff. They're a real challenge for us, playing what I think is a really good Florida State team. It's a team, they lost two right there in the middle, they missed a field goal that their guy was very capable of hitting against North Carolina, and then the running back runs into the quarterback on a play action against NC State. You know, I think he's going to have a touchdown pass if that doesn't happen. They could very easily have won those two ballgames. So this is a really, really good football team. Q. When you were kind of getting your feet wet in Blacksburg in the late '80s and early '90, Florida State was the preeminent college football team. As you were getting your feet wet, did you want to emulate what Florida State was doing? COACH BEAMER: Yeah, I think anytime you could do what they did there for a number of years, you wanted to do that. They just dominated. They were yearly in the top five, playing for the National Championship or bouncing around there close. There's no question. I mean, that was between Miami and the Big East and Florida State and the ACC. They were the teams everyone was chasing, that's for sure. Q. You referenced Coach Fisher's staff. How different is Florida State now defensively with Coach Stoops as opposed to what Coach Andrews was doing, and having not played them during the regular season did that kind of hurt your preparations at all? COACH BEAMER: Well, their coverages are a little bit different and how they do things, but I think both of them -- I mean, they were good defenses back then and it's a good defense right now, and it all starts with having good players. And I don't think they've ever -- you know, they dropped a little bit last year, but I never -- I never played Florida State when they didn't have a good defense. I mean, just every time we walked out there, you'd better tie your hat on. I mean, to me it's all the same. Different schemes a little bit, but to me it's all -- when I think of Florida State, I think of great defenses. Q. With all of the ten-win seasons that you guys have had and the ACC titles, do you feel like your program is getting the national respect that it deserves, and is that something that you even care about? COACH BEAMER: Oh, I care about it, yeah. I think it's a gradual process, and over -- you know what, right now we're the only team. After Texas dropped out we're the only team that's won ten games for seven great years, and I think if you just keep on doing that, it all comes. I think having a quarterback like Michael Vick there helps you, and I think that having a quarterback like Tyrod Taylor there helps you. So I think just overall, I think your reputation continues to grow, and being in this league helps us. So I think it's gradually getting there. Q. You talked about the excellence Florida State sustained. You guys have done that better than anybody in the ACC since '03, '04. What does it take to do that in this conference? COACH BEAMER: Well, number one, you've got to be able to have good players, and we've been fortunate in that. I think having a consistency in your coaching staff is critical. I think when you start changing staff members you usually have an adjustment period there, and so I've been fortunate to keep really the foundation of my coaches and most of my coaches there with us. So I think that's part of it. I think having a fan base that really takes great pride in helping us win. Someone was talking about last week it was cold, we already had the Coastal Championship wrapped up, but yet our fans were there at 12:00 noon when we kicked off to a full house ready to roll. And I think that helps. I think when you come to a game in Blacksburg, it's a happening. It's excitement. And so I think all those things kind of go together to keep you there. Q. Two questions: One was do you think it's good for the league to have Florida State back in this type of position? And then also, Christian Ponder, Jimbo has talked a lot about Ponder making good decisions. Have you seen anything on film where anybody has done anything to rattle him or get him confused at all? COACH BEAMER: No, I think he's just like our quarterback, very much in control. I mean, no -- there's nothing better than experience, and he's got it, and our guy has got it, and both of them are smart kids, and both of them are heady kids, and I think you see that in how they play. I think they're very similar in that regard. And having -- you know, I think this league is just very balanced. You know, a lot of good coaches, a lot of -- everyone seems to be getting better. You know, certainly having Florida State back, that name rings a bell when you hear Florida State. When you think of the past and so forth, Florida State is a very prominent program. So yeah, I think it's good for the ACC, but I think you're going to see a lot of teams battling to be in this game and be in this game as the years go by. Q. You've got Rashad listed as probable on the injury report yesterday, but could you please talk a little bit about the job that Kyle Fuller did against Miami and Virginia filling in, especially for a true freshman at a position such as corner? COACH BEAMER: Yeah, he looks like he ought to be about a senior in high school. He's got that young look to him. But I'll tell you, he plays beyond his years there a little bit. I mean, he's a heady guy. I said this week, I really think Vinny, his brother who plays for Tennessee, I think he's probably helped him. I think he's given him some help along the ways. But he's just kind of got it. He understands. The game makes sense to him. We've got him on a couple special teams, and I think you have to have good football sense to play special teams, and he understands the game. You know, right now he just needs to get stronger and bigger as you would think for a freshman, but he's really got a knack to play football and be a good defensive back. Q. Can you talk a little bit about -- you talked about the atmosphere and how you like that here in Charlotte and just the idea that Charlotte is hosting this game obviously for the first time, and you've been an advocate of that. And do you have a sense that this game itself will not be quite a home game for your guys but you would expect I would think to have more fans here than Florida State? COACH BEAMER: Yeah, I think when we finished up two weeks -- had one more game to go and knew we were coming, that helped our fans get an early start. But I just think the location of Charlotte and what you have here and -- it's the perfect place. The only thing that is iffy is the weather. You know, cold doesn't affect a game anymore. Rain affects a game a little bit, wind I think affects a game a little bit, but hopefully the weather is going to be okay, and if not, both teams got to play in it. But I do think this is -- where it's located is the right place for our Conference Championship. And I think how it's supported -- and I know in Jacksonville and Tampa, I know those people worked hard to support it, too, but I really feel like there's a great support going in and trying to make this thing work here in Charlotte. Q. Considering the way this season started, would this championship mean a little bit more? COACH BEAMER: Yeah, you know, I said the other day that those two losses made these ten wins seem even better. And I told our players, it's been a special year. It's a fun group to be around. They're good people, they work hard, and the leadership is good. But I know back in '95 when we went to the Sugar Bowl and won that and won the Big East, you know, that -- you know, right now I'm proud of where we've come to this point, but I think we've got work to do to see how we really -- how this football team is talked about in years to come. You know, if we can pull off this one tomorrow and pull off a Bowl game, I'm going to do a lot of talking at those Hokie club meetings about this team right now I can tell you and will probably be doing it next year and the year after that. It's a special group, it really is. Q. Following up on that just a little bit, the start you got off to with so much emphasis on the BCS title game, at 0 and 2 you were out of that picture. Did the coaches try to pick up the players and convince them that there was still a lot to play for? Did the players do that themselves, or how did that work? COACH BEAMER: Yeah, in reality we didn't quite have the team that could contend for a National Championship. You know, we had the quarterback, and there's only so many times I think you enter a season with a quarterback with experience, and we had some people around him that was there. But defensively I think we had to replace too many people. We replaced both kickers, and you always worry about that in a big ballgame, and we missed a field goal in that game and haven't missed one since I don't believe. But offensively we replaced two offensive linemen, and that's where you can get out of -- that gets you quicker than anything. So generally speaking I don't know that we had a team -- and then you start out the year playing a Boise State team that's got everyone back, and you're replacing these guys. So just didn't quite set up. You know, I try to deal in reality. We had a tough loss, then we came back and played James Madison, and I give James Madison credit, they played great, but everything was set up that day for them to win. It went perfectly for them to win. But we still had a good football team, and we still could win the ACC, and we still could come back, and if we could win ten in a row, what a great statement that would be about people and coming back. And then fortunately we had great kids that -- the seniors, they wanted to be successful. So all those things kind of went together for us to come back and get things rolling. And we still had the quarterback and we still had good running backs, and we've just got to get better defensively, and that was kind of our thought process at that time. Q. Do you feel like the start your team got off to defensively made Bud possibly change some of the ways and get out of his comfort zone, because he went a lot more nickel on different downs and working Antoine in there and Jeron Gouveia-Winslow, rotating them and putting them in positions to succeed? COACH BEAMER: Yeah, I thought we worked hard to find answers and worked hard to find different ways of doing things, and last year you had a Cody Grimm that could play that way in position and he was good in pass coverage, he was good in run, but now you have -- you've got different kids that you try to play to their strengths a little bit. So I thought they did a good job myself of working around and just trying to come up with answers to be a more efficient defense because you know, we just -- we were going to go through some growing pains, and I think that's what we did. Q. I'm sure you've answered this 100 times, but I haven't heard you say it. Can you compare Taylor and Vick and what they both do and did? COACH BEAMER: Well, the thing I'll say is I feel the same way over on the sideline, when Michael Vick was out there, Tyrod Taylor is out there, that this next play might be something real good. And both of them give you a chance to win. Each and every week you can be in the ballgame because you've got those guys on your sideline. Now, individually their talent level and all, I just think they're both very talented, very gifted and very competitive, good people. Michael made some tough, bad decisions, but he's getting it right now, and Tyrod has just been a great, great leader for us and great fellow for us to lead our football program. Q. A lot of connections have been made between this year's team and the '95 team because of the start and now the finish. One of the guys on that team I believe was Cornell Brown. He's the ACC legend this year. What do you remember about him and how much of an impact did he have on the Hokie football program? COACH BEAMER: Cornell is kind of the guy that I think got it all turned around because when we first got to Tech, we were having a hard time winning games. You know, I thought we were doing things right, and thank goodness I had administration that could see that we were doing things right, and let's give this guy enough times to play enough games to maybe get enough wins. But Cornell was the first truly, I think, big recruit to come to Virginia Tech. He could have gone anywhere in the country, anywhere. But he came to Virginia Tech, and it kind of made a statement there that, hey, these guys are doing things right. I think him coming there, and then we started having success, and I think certainly -- I think that Cornell kind of got the thing snowballing a little bit. I'm very appreciative to him, and what a winner he is. He came by our practice yesterday late and got to talking about he's got a Super Bowl ring, a Canadian ring, he's got about ten different rings there. That's pretty impressive. He's very deserving to be our representative in the legends this year. And a great guy. Q. If you could help describe Jimbo's offense and the way he attacks defenses. COACH BEAMER: Oh, I think very sound. I think we kind of play offense similar to be honest with you. What we try to do, try to be balanced, be able to throw it, be able to run it. You know, there's no question about his qualifications as far as offensively. I think running the right play at the right time, they're good at that, and being knowledgeable certainly helps that. And then having good players helps that, and having a quarterback that can get it done. To me that's the key thing on an offense, having that quarterback, and they've got that. Q. Are you surprised at all that Jimbo has done this in his first year? You talked about the difficulty of this league. Do you attribute it to the fact that he had been on the staff for years and just having that consistency? COACH BEAMER: Well, he's done a good job, there's no question. And how close they are to -- when did they play Oklahoma, the second game, so how close they are to running the table from there on out, because the two losses they got after that were last-play deals. They're close there. And then having their quarterback banged up for a couple weeks, too. No, I give them credit. Jimbo has done a good job, and I think he's got a good coaching staff, and they're recruiting well. They coach them up, good players, and that usually gets you to winning. Q. Can you address Florida State's big-play ability? I'm looking at 35 plays of 25 yards or more and kind of what they bring to the table. COACH BEAMER: Yeah, that Reed kid, he's hard to catch. He's their wide receiver. And then they've got a 6'6" guy, Smith, he's hard to defend. They've got 82 there, Haulstead, he's about 6'3", he's hard to defend. They've got some players. And then you look at all their tailbacks. They've got a couple hurt, but they've got two or three more that just can get it. I mean, they can go. I think we've got some good play makers, they've got some good play makers. We've got some great play makers and they've got some great play makers. I think there's some play makers on both sides, but certainly they have their share of them. Q. You mentioned Florida State getting Ponder nicked up a few weeks ago. E.J. Manuel came in against Clemson for them and did a nice job. How familiar are you with him from when he was at Bayside and how heavily did you all recruit him? COACH BEAMER: Yeah, we tried to recruit him. He's a good player. He did a good job for them last year when he came in, and he's got quite a bit of experience here in the last couple years, really. I thought he played well against Clemson. He threw the ball well, ran the ball well. They get him out there running maybe a little bit more when he's in there. But yeah, I'd say their future is good with that guy, too. End of FastScripts |
|
||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
About ASAP Sports •
FastScripts Archive •
Recent Interviews •
Captioning •
Upcoming Events •
Contact Us
FastScripts | Events Covered | Our Clients | Other Services | ASAP in the News | Site Map | Job Opportunities | Links |
|
ASAP Sports, Inc. | T: 1.212 385 0297
|