Tommy Bowden Press Conference Quotes

Oct. 3, 2007

On placekicker Mark Buchholz:“We are going to adjust his schedule a little bit. I met with Trevor Adair (soccer coach) this morning and met with Mark and his dad (via phone) on Monday.

“We usually let him kick early in practice and then let him go (to soccer practice). I’m going to keep him longer now and kind of simulate a game-type experience. We’ll kick him early in practice, in the middle of practice, and kick him late. We’ll have him run on the field and kick quickly. That’s the closest I can get to a game-type of environment during practice. That’s more like a game. I’ve never done that, and it is a new scenario. He’s a tough guy mentally.”

On special teams against Georgia Tech:“Last week, we fumbled a punt and we had a punt blocked. We had a roughing the kicker penalty on a punt. Our technique on the blocked punt was not good. We missed four field goals. You always worry about your kicker because kicking is so mental. His (Buchholz’s) kicks were all long enough, they were just a little wide.”

On offensive gameplan against Georgia Tech:“When you look at the game, we dropped two touchdown passes. We overthrew a touchdown pass and we dropped nine total. We dropped 13 total last year in 13 games, and we dropped nine in one game this year. So, if we correct that there is not a problem. If we don’t get the punt blocked, they don’t get their seven (points). If we don’t fumble the punt, they don’t get there three (points). So, I’m more concerned about correcting those problems.”

On Clemson:“I hope my team responds like they did last year. We lost to Boston College last year and went on to win six games after our first loss. So I’m hoping they will do the same this year after the first loss but this is a different team with different chemistry and leadership.

“I have used other teams as examples to my team. Maryland was down 24-3 at Wake Forest and lost the game in overtime. Then last week they beat a top 10 Rutgers team on the road. That was impressive.”

On Virginia Tech quarterback Tyrod Taylor:“We’ve got to be careful because we’re a zone team and our linebackers drop back in zone and you’re trying to get a pass rush to get in his face, and then all of sudden he gets free. He’s a runner, a Woody Dantzler type guy and that creates problems. It’s going to be tough to cover him. (Defensive Coordinator) Vic (Koenning) will have a plan.”

On playing Virginia Tech:“Ever since they joined the conference, I would say they are a tad ahead of us in overall depth. We’re closing the gap. We’re a lot closer than we were when we went up there in 1999 and Michael Vick and his team beat us.”

On offensive line:“They did not play as well as they did against N.C. State. If there are going to be any changes, we will address them Thursday or Friday, but we did not play well in any position on offense last week. We did not play up to our capabilities. There were some mental mistakes, but we also missed assignments.”

On playing running backs James Davis:“A lot of how much we play the two depends on the defense. I don’t know how many snaps they were on the field at the same time last Saturday. All I know is right now I’m looking at who touches the ball. I want to see #80 (James Davis) touch the ball. I think if you watch us, those guys touch the ball a lot.”