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Al Groh’s Press Conference
September 27, 2005
You have Maryland coming up. What have you noticed about them that you guys have prepared for the most? What sticks out to you?
For one, they’re the most physically talented team that we’ve play this year, both from what I’ve seen on tape and when I look at the conference statistics. I think these are two significant things: they have the #1 top punter in the league; they’ve got the top field-goal kicker, who’s nine-for-nine, in the league; they’ve got the leading tackler in the league; they’ve got the leading total yardage player in the league; and they’ve got the second leading receiver, in terms of yards-per-game, in the league. So, at the positions where… you know, that cause the ball to move — I mean kickers, quarterback — they make the ball move in a hurry. They’re in top of the league with that personnel, as far as making the ball move in a hurry, and, specially with the two kickers, who can do it in one fell swoop. Those are amongst the things that are very noticeable.
Why do you think you play better at home or on the road? Is it that you can’t do away with the distractions?
I think part of it, perhaps, has to do with maturity. I don’t think it should be that way. We kind of discussed that after the game on Saturday. Each week is its own game and presents its own set of challenges. It really shouldn’t make any difference, either when the series originated, or who’s won more games at home or on the road. If you do a good job preparing for the issues that are at hand and you play better, then you win, home or away. But, perhaps, the, I’m not offering this as an explanation, I’ve got questions too, but perhaps the emotional swings of the players accounts for those types of swings in performance. I don’t really know.
Would it be fair to say that you have not played well in those games at College Park? Is it that you have not played well, or were you beaten by better teams?
The first year that we were up there, I don’t think the teams were, as the season proved, particularly well matched. Since then, I think the teams have probably been a little more equally matched, and that’s made for closer games.
How big a match-up problem is Maryland TE Vernon Davis?
He’s one of those unique players. It’s not only that you don’t see one of those players with his abilities every week, you can go season to season and not see one like Vernon, with the combination of size, speed, and ball skills that he’s got. He’s a tremendous weapon for their team. It’s apparent that the quarterback has got great confidence in getting the ball to him, and for good reason. And, he is, I think… one of the things that makes him very unique at his position is his run after the catch ability. There are a lot of really, really good tight ends who are good receivers, but they don’t necessarily look like wide receivers after they catch the ball. He’s got a tremendous ability to do that.
How much do they move him around to different spots on the field?
Not too much actually.
Does Virginia TE Tom Santi have more run after the catch ability because of his speed?
Tommy does; he demonstrated that a few times last year. Actually, just getting ready for the Duke game last week, I went back and looked at the game from the previous year. And, he had two catches out in the open field, where he was able to really take off and run. That was a good reminder to me at that particular time. We saw that a little bit last week when he was able to get vertical up the seam. He didn’t have to do much running afterwards, but he had to do a lot of running beforehand. His speed certainly was an asset to him there.
I know you’ve said there’s not one Heath Miller, former Virginia TE, on this team. But, overall, are you pleased with what you saw productively from those three tight ends (Santi, Jonathan Stupar, and John Phillips)?
Well, they’ve made good progress. Tom’s season basically, last year, was as a fullback. Once FB Jason Snelling was lost, Tom went back there and did a good job for us. And, Stupar didn’t play, and, of course, John Phillips didn’t. So, all three of them are really three game players, as far as tight end is concerned. So, there’s a long career in front of them. There have been some positives. There’s a lot to be done, though.
There’s no linebacker like Maryland LB D’Qwell Jackson. He’s got 30 more tackles than anyone else in the league. He’s got more than the next two guys combined. Is that unusual for a guy like that?
He’s a terrific player. He’s just a true middle linebacker. So, the point in our system, you have two of them. There’s one here and then there’s one here. So, a lot of the linebacker tackles that occur from tackle to tackle, in this system, are divided between the two. In the 4-3 system, where there’s only one who’s lined up in there, he’s got the opportunity to accumulate more total numbers. But, he’s a terrific player. He gets an awful lot done. He’s got great quickness. He’s got a real explosiveness. He’s got power to take on blockers. He’s got quickness to get over the top of blockers before they can get there. He’s a very aggressive player. If you like to watch linebackers, and you don’t care that they might be hitting your guys in a couple of days, he’s fun to watch.
How much do expect your experience in the Carrier Dome at Syracuse to help your guys in this game this weekend in a huge road game?
I don’t have an expectation on it. We’ll have to see. I got the sense from the players after the game at Syracuse, that they were pretty pleased with themselves, in terms of all the set of circumstances that they had to deal with, and generally played pretty well throughout with those circumstances.
Has there been a little bit of frustration on TB Wali Lundy’s part so far this season? Is he upset that there are things that are holding him back that he didn’t anticipate?
Well, you certainly might expect so. All of us, the coaches, we’ve all been… because of the tremendous off-season that he’s had on top of the really good work he’s done up to this point, we were all really anxious for the type of season that he was going to have. At least we have an alternative. You know, we have two other backs that we can put in there. But, Wali doesn’t have an alternative. It’s this game or it’s nothing for that afternoon. So, I would certainly expect that there’s a level of disappointment with him.
Is it kind of an increasing ability in QB Marques Hagans to spread the ball around really well? He threw 13 completions to eight different receivers. Is that an increasing ability of a quarterback in his second year? Is that something that can grow, the ability to spread the ball around?
Quite frankly, I’ve never understood the “spread the ball around” phraseology. I don’t think I’ve ever been around a quarterback who went out there with the intent to spread the ball around. Quarterbacks go out there with one purpose in mind: they want to complete passes, and they’re going to throw the ball to the guy who’s open to do so. Whether it’s by just the progression of the read, you know, the pattern against the coverage, he’s going to read the coverage and the progression and throw it to whomever that progression tells him, or in man-for-man, the guy who he thinks has got the best match-up is going to be wide open. I mean this in a positive way, but quarterbacks are very selfish. They’re going to throw the ball to the guy who’s open; they’re not going to throw the ball to the guy who’s covered. So, that’s the way they want to spread the ball around. I don’t think they really care if one guy gets 13 catches and the other guy gets two, or five guys get three, as long as they’ve got 15 catches, I think most quarterbacks are happy.
Of your back eight on defense, five of those second string guys are true freshman. Have you ever had a situation like that as a college coach? Do you have to hold your breath every time there’s a play back there?
Yeah, certainly, but maybe a little less each week. There are a couple of spots on the field where experience probably counts the most – obviously quarterback is one of them, offensive line is another, I would say the secondary is another one. And, so, maybe the secondary is more important than the others, because what happens on the back end can usually determine what happens in the game, just like that.
You talked about what OT Brad Butler did last week without having practiced? Can you talk about that?
Yeah, that was a terrific job by Brad. He did not take a snap during the course of practice. But, his spot was on top of his stuff. Quickly he had to go play another position, which during a normal week he gets turns at left tackle every week, but not a great amount because he’s over there at right tackle. So, I would bet that not taking actual reps at right tackle, that when he was in back watching the plays, his concentration was at right tackle not looking over at the other side.
How do interpret the statistic, quarterback pressures and quarterback hurries, particularly as it applies to DE Chris Long, who had eight pressures and no sacks? Would you like him to raise that a little bit, or are the pressures themselves worth while?
The pressures very much are… in fact, there one of the things we look for. Obviously, pass rushers want to get sacks. You know, they like home runs. We certainly would like to get sacks too. Let’s say, like in Chris Long’s case last week, he got to rush the passers 25 or 30 times, which is probably about what he did, and in a lot of games that’s a low number, but let’s say he rushed the passer 25 to 30 times. If he got two sacks, it means he was successful one out of every 15 times if you judge it by sacks. But, on that basis, with two sacks out of every 30 rushes, he’ll lead the country in sacks. That’s only 22 during the course of the season. When a guy can get pressure on the quarterback on almost every play, he can alter the accuracy of the quarterback. Consistent pressure on the pocket, making the pocket get smaller either by pushing it down from the top or narrowing it down from the outside has a great effect on a quarterback’s accuracy.
Do you have take their special teams in to account maybe more so than other opponents?
When they have kickers and can see what they can do. The first two years that we played Maryland, I forget the players name but he was a terrific kid, led the conference in punting. Plays upon this kid is even better. So field position means such a significant element in football and Maryland’s defense has always been very stingy and got a great record on the course not just one year but four plus years of beating much better teams in the country with fewest points allowed. That’s always the classic part of a fielding position, if we get a kicker like this he start you a long ways to go, it’s a stage of defense that date back into the games, very much so. The only thing that I’m -minimize that factor a little bit the third game between the two teams the wind was blowing so hard that it seemed like that every time Maryland was punting the ball it seems like they were punting it in the air, that minimize the numbers more than anything we did to them. If there was one good thing about the wind that night that was the only good thing.
Maryland’s not in your division, but they are called your scheduling partner. Based on the way the schedule is setup -that’s the only team that is a division player. Do you like that or is there a better way to do it?
I think yeah giving the legacy of the conference Doug, I think it was important quality essential to the establishment of two divisions to be able to maintain some of these long standing games. Hard picture when you just couldn’t put together a conference probably that was equable in terms that everybody had equal chance to be in the championship game, you put all the North Carolina schools in one division it is hard to picture the ACC season in which North Carolina and North Carolina State didn’t play.And so obviously the Maryland and Virginia game has been going on for a long time. There is such rivalries I’m certain as the administrators works through all the negotiating details that’s one of the things that was done.