Bowden Quotes From Tuesday Press Conference

Sept. 25, 2001

Georgia Tech Game being a must win “It’s a game we have to win if we want to win the conference. If you want to win the conference championship, you won’t do it with two losses. So in that regard, it’s a must win.”

Injuries “A lot of times when you talk about injuries people say you’re making excuses so I’m just responding to the question. This is the most injuries we’ve had since I’ve been here as far as season ending injuries or after a game. We were kind of thin at some positions anyway so it’s a little more costly.

“We were already thin in the defensive line. With Jovon Bush and Nick Eason out at this point in the week, it makes it a little more thin. It just happens to be the first time since I’ve been a head coach I’ve had this many. Usually we don’t talk this much about injuries. If we don’t get J.J. McKelvey and Matt Bailey back then it could affect our game plan and we’ll go to more three-receiver sets. You plan around it because you have to make decisions about redshirting. We do talk about it and do have a generic plan.”

Expectations for freshmen “Any time you sign high profile guys out of high school everyone expects a lot out of them. Most places it’s difficult for a true freshman to come in and be productive right away. It’s a pretty big jump.”

Georgia Tech defense “I would think the turning point a couple of years ago was when they started a bunch of young guys and they all came back this year and they’re all back this year. They’ve got a lot of experience and a lot of depth. They’ve had pretty good recruiting years back to back to back. Their defensive ends are starting to look Florida State-ish in Gathers and Rogers. You watch film and you see turf come up went they some out of their stance like Corey Moore used to do at Virginia Tech.”

Georgia Tech offense “From the little bit of film that I’ve seen, in the Syracuse game for example, I saw a little bit more I-formation running than I have in the past. Maybe that’s a toughness aspect he wants to get back to. I think they only threw the ball 15 times or so in the Navy game so you might se more of a run emphasis.”

Responding to loss “I lost four games the first year at Tulane and six games my first year here and I’ve been around for years and had to respond either as a coordinator or seen other head coaches respond. It’s not new other than the fact that we’ve had so many injuries. So it’s not so much the environment of losing but the injury problem I’ve never had to overcome.”

Crowd “I thought the crowd was probably the loudest since the Florida State game my first year here. I thought it was a factor there late with helping us swing momentum. My personal feelings about the crowd were exceptional.”