ACC Teleconference Week 6 - Oct 3

[OrangeXtreme]

Atlantic Coast Conference Football Media Conference
Wednesday October 3, 2018
Dino Babers
Syracuse

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by Syracuse head coach Dino Babers.

COACH BABERS: We're just disappointed obviously about last Saturday, but we're really excited about an opportunity to go down there and play the Pitt Panthers in Pittsburgh.

Q. I know it's early in the year league-wise, but what do you make of the parity of the league this year? Is it similar to last few years or do you feel it's a little bit better since Syracuse, Boston College and Duke are doing so well?

COACH BABERS: You know, I don't know. Really, we're only two games deep and we've only had an opportunity to play Clemson and Florida State. And we've still got a lot of conference games to go. So I really can't answer that about the parity, because really haven't touched enough teams to really talk about it.

Q. I was wondering about your defense, how it's changed in two years between the last time you were at Heinz Field and this coming Saturday, the two years is a long time in college football terms, isn't it?

COACH BABERS: It is a long time in college football terms. I just feel like we have a lot more confidence. We know exactly what we want to do. That doesn't mean the outcome's going to be any different than the last, than two years ago when we went down there, because this is a good Pitt football team and we're playing at their place.

But I just think that the 11 guys and the coaches, they just have a better feel for what we're trying to get done and they're more on the same page.

Q. Could you explain what the better feel is and what exactly that means?

COACH BABERS: I just think that there's a lot more trust, a lot more faith that the guy next to you is going to get his job done so you don't have to do more than what we're asking you to do for us to have an opportunity to stop the other opponent.

Q. (Indiscernible) on special teams, and it's been interesting to see people try and quantify that. I know there's an advanced statistics metric that puts you guys at the best in the country. I'm curious, do you have any way of quantifying the yardage or the various ways this special teams unit has helped? If not, have you ever had a unit, you know, in your kind of coaching experience that's done this much so quickly?

COACH BABERS: Well, first of all, we have a way of doing it. It's not open access to everybody. And we don't know whether it's the absolute measuring stick on how to do it. But we feel like we do have good special teams, whether it's one of the top special teams in the country, I don't know if that's true or false. But we feel we have a really good team that helps us win football games.

Q. I think you kind of knew what you had coming into the year with Sterling and Andre obviously emerged during camp. When you kind of look at that Clemson game, you decided to put him out there for the 51-yarder, what went into that? Was there consideration of punting? You always say he's passed every test he's given you, I can't imagine anything's come close to that?

COACH BABERS: Well, the last time I think he kicked a 50-yarder before that, and when he kicked the 50-yarder he had it by five yards. So I thought, well, okay, looks like it could be 55. I looked and there wasn't that much wind. This is one yard more and the last time he kicked it it went 55, so I thought he could get it there.

Q. I'm curious, a loss that was as frustrating as this past one, how does your team and in general how have your teams kind of responded to that as opposed to a big win or a blow-out loss, is there a difference in mindset the next week?

COACH BABERS: I don't know about that. And you really won't know how the team responded until the game is over Saturday. But we're trying to take it as one game at a time and we're trying to make sure the team doesn't beat us twice; that we need to come out with the right attitude and the right work ethic to get this bad taste out of our mouth and maybe get an opportunity to get a win in a place we haven't had a win in a very, very long time.

Q. What have you seen early in the week practice-wise with how the team's responded?

COACH BABERS: I think from yesterday's practice, which was our first practice, I thought they handled themselves very well and in a very mature manner.

Q. Obviously it was tough for you guys to move the ball in the second half of the game last week. What's the emphasis in terms of improving upon that for this week?

COACH BABERS: I think that as long as we get back in crossing our Ts and dotting our Is, worrying about what we're doing instead of other people, I think that we may have more success than we had last week.

Q. Meaning what, I guess? What are you focusing on amongst yourselves there in order to kind of improve upon that second half performance?

COACH BABERS: I think mostly just the techniques and the fundamentals. There was obviously mistakes made on our end. And some of the things that happened in the second half were just physical mismatches. They were better than us.

The things that we can correct, we try to correct. And then the other things, maybe we need to make a better decision on who we're going to attack and who we're not going to attack.

Q. Can you talk about Sterling and his punts? They seem to me, I've seen lots of punters at Syracuse, but his punts seem just to be a little bit different. His hang time is, the word is amazing?

COACH BABERS: Sterling is an NFL punter. Had an NFL punter when I first got here. He never got to punt for me. I think he went to the Denver Broncos. He might be at the Giants or somewhere now. But I've had NFL punters at UCLA. I've had NFL punters at other stops. And Sterling is going to be playing in the NFL. That's why it looks different, because they are. It is different.

Q. To look at something that Eric Dungey had brought up this week as well as (indiscernible), the statement that you can't let Clemson beat you twice, just how you've seen this team let that go in practice and leave that behind them, how you've seen the team move forward, if you've seen maturity from them in that respect and the ability to let it go and turn their focus forward?

COACH BABERS: We've only been together twice, once in a meeting and once on the practice field yesterday. But they worry about their business in a very mature manner. It seems like they have moved forward. Of course, the proof is in the pudding and we'll see what the results are on Saturday.

But I think that they put their best foot forward yesterday and they get another opportunity today in a couple of hours here.

Q. The defense the last time you went to Pittsburgh, obviously 76-61 was the score of the game, 137 points, just what you could say about the defensive improvement since that game and obviously this season, what this team has been able to do in year number three for you which I know you stated was a key year to show this maturation process especially on the defensive side?

COACH BABERS: You know, outside of the last drive of the Clemson game I thought our defense has been doing really well. We had some hiccups in the first game versus Western Michigan. I thought that was corrected for game two, game three and game four. And I thought we played a fantastic game for the first three quarters I really did. I don't think that we're in the game without our defense and the way they played against Clemson. And I'm really high on them and hopefully they'll have a performance like 2018 and not a performance like 2016 at Pittsburgh.

Q. Wanted to ask you about Trill Williams really quick. I think last week was the first week we saw him playing nickel. What kind of went into that and how do you think his skill set and body type kind of fits what you're looking to do there?

COACH BABERS: The main thing is, once again, we're just trying to build depth on our football team. Everything that we're doing here is we're just trying to prepare for the month of November. When these injuries really start to pile up. And then you start having guys play positions they've never played before and how big of an effect it's had on our football team in the last previous two years. We're kind of building some depth, giving experiences in some different places and just see if he can swallow that pill, see if he can digest it.

If he can, and we've got it in our back pocket. If we can't, then we just move on.

ACC Football Media Conference

 

[OrangeXtreme]

Atlantic Coast Conference Football Media Conference
Wednesday October 3, 2018
Pat Narduzzi
Pitt

THE MODERATOR: We're now joined by Pitt head coach Pat Narduzzi.

COACH NARDUZZI: Great to be with you here today. We're getting ready for really a great Syracuse football team. I'm not sure if they were in the Top 25 last week or not. But went down to Death Valley and played an incredible game against Clemson. Really, you know, played good in all three phases. I think it's a great football team.

Dino Babers does an incredible job. It's a 4-1 team coming into Pittsburgh, and we know they're going to give us everything we can handle. We've had two good days of practice, another one tomorrow, and we're looking forward to getting back home and getting back to work.

Q. This matchup, last time obviously in Pittsburgh played out more like a basketball game, 76-61. Just what you can say about Syracuse's improvement that you've seen on film since that last trip to Pittsburgh and how you've improved as well? And how this should be more defense, so to speak, in this game than in the past?

COACH NARDUZZI: Yeah, we sure hope so. You never know what game is going to carry for you. I think that was the last game of the season, 2016. I know we were banged up a little bit defensively. Hope it gets more back to a game like it was last year when we went up to Syracuse, it was more of a battle defensively.

But Syracuse is an improved football team. I'm not going to speak for who we are, but I like the football team we've got. We've got to come to play.

We've had a couple of tough losses. Hard to evaluate where we are. Let somebody else do that. But we try to just look at our guys every day and say where are we; it's a daily evaluation.

But I like the football team that we've got right now. I think we're getting better. I think we've gotten beat by, you know, three points to a North Carolina football team. And we've taken two tough losses to two top 12 teams, I guess, in the country. So our schedule is brutal.

And Syracuse is another brutal team coming in here. I think they're really good, like I said, in all three phases. As good a special teams program as you're going to see, and I've got a lot of respect for Dino Babers.

Q. And in terms of this rivalry, this rivalry throughout history has found a way to stay alive and stayed alive in the Big East, and then moved forward to stay alive in the ACC. Just what you can say about rivalry games like this and what these games mean to college football.

COACH NARDUZZI: Rivalry games are huge. And Syracuse is certainly one of those old Big East rival games. And one of the reasons we play them every year is a team that's a little bit more emotion when you play them. They'll be cranked up. The Panthers will be cranked up. And I think those regional rivalries are huge.

Q. If I can take you back to your prep for Georgia Tech, they have home jerseys that are kind of hard to read. I was curious if you remember having some trouble picking out numbers and so forth when you were trying to get ready for him?

COACH NARDUZZI: You know, you're talking the white jerseys with the light gold numbers is what I'm guessing? Yeah, they're tough. They're tough. You just gotta find the guy with the ball, that's the tough part is finding the guy with the ball.

But they are hard. They are hard -- I'm not sure, I think the NCAA has some regulations, and supposedly they checked the jerseys prior to the season. I'm not going to speak on Paul's jerseys.

I just know he's got some good football players and put up 63 last week. And people had troubles finding the jersey with the guy, with the ball in his hand. Is there something further you'd like to know? They are hard to see. Yeah, we watch game tape.

Q. When you're watching the Alcorn State tape, did you have trouble getting ready for (indiscernible)?

COACH NARDUZZI: Yeah, when you watch a TV copy, sometimes maybe you don't get as good a look as we do. We're going to get two views of it -- we're going to see a sideline-wide and sometimes you've got to look tighter to say what jersey number is that guy, because even their formations -- because they usually have their two wings, their basic spread formation, the only guys you don't get a really good look at is the two guys outside.

But as long as you get a look at, one time at the jersey, you can pretty much tell body types who they are. The guy that's got the white socks or the guy that's got the towel.

You start to identify -- you should try watching high school tape and trying to find the jersey number. We're used to looking for jersey numbers trying to find guys.

Q. What's kind of your evaluation of the state of your secondary as you get ready for this passing attack this week?

COACH NARDUZZI: You look at it, and like I tell our guys we had two picks last week that I thought were unbelievable. We had some good coverage last week. They hit us on a couple of play-action passes. Again a fast, athletic, Central Florida team with tempo that we'll see this weekend.

We've got to be prepared -- we worked a lot more motion this week. I like how Dane Jackson is playing right now. And Jason Pinnock had a great game last week. We've got hit on some big plays, and when you look at pass defense I think the biggest play of the day was really a check down where we didn't have great pass rush and they hit the check down route and kind of got one of our outside backers turned around.

Some of our DBs have played awful well on the back end, and some people obviously have struggled to stop them. And it's a two-headed monster with these teams that can spread you out and run it and throw it. I think it's happening across the country, happening in the NFL, more points being scored.

I like some of the things we did. I like Dane Jackson's coverage last week. My big thing is put your guys in position to make plays, and then we gotta make plays.

And Dane did last week and had a holding call that was unfortunate at the same time where he gets a pick. And those are all questionable, as you know. But I've been happy with some of the coverage we've had. Even when you give up a ball it's like -- the other guys are on scholarship, too, so you can only do so much and you've got to make plays.

Q. Just interested in your impressions of Qadree Ollison, what he's contributed to your team throughout this season and the last two years you've been with him?

COACH NARDUZZI: I've been with him actually four seasons now. He came in and I've been with him for a long time. Qadree Ollison is a class act, number one. Let's forget what he's done on the field as a football player and start off where, again, it's even more important, is what type of person he is. He's a team guy. He's an unselfish guy.

Like most of our kids, have grown up with some adversity. He had a tough situation happen to him last year, and he didn't flinch a lick, with the passing of his brother. You just talk about a kid that in the four years I've been around him, every year he matures. And you can see the growth from him.

He's a great student. You see the growth there obviously, and graduating and all that. But he's just a super person. And he's a leader of our football team. He's not a captain, but there's times he steps up, when he talks, people are listening.

On the field as a football player, he's playing fast, he's playing at a high level. We talk to our guys all the time about seniors their playing football. And we have a bunch of seniors right now that are playing their best football. They really are.

Regardless of a win/loss record, Qadree Ollison is playing his tail off and doing things at a high level. I love that kid. He's not only a tailback but he plays a lot of special teams for us. He's our personal protector on punt team. He's very detailed in a lot of things in his work. And we're fortunate to have Qadree Ollison as part of this program and a Pitt grad.

ACC Football Media Conference

 

[TheCusian]

Some of our DBs have played awful well on the back end, and some people obviously have struggled to stop them. And it's a two-headed monster with these teams that can spread you out and run it and throw it. I think it's happening across the country, happening in the NFL, more points being scored.

I like this part. Sounds like a man without a plan