Sept. 29, 2007
– Georgia Tech Head Coach Chan Gailey
What were you able to do defensively that you couldn’t do last year?
“Stop the run. If you stop the run, then you gain a tremendous advantage. And then I thought our pass rush was outstanding, and I thought our corners and safeties didn’t give up the deep ball. I think they caught one, maybe, that was a 35-yarder. They caught a couple of underneath things and ran it, but I thought we stuck their running game.”
“You’d have to talk to them (Clemson) about their game plan. All I know is that our guys were trying to clog up the middle and cut the corners off and not let them get to the edge. I thought Jon Tenuta and his staff and the players executed extremely well. They put together another great game plan and stuffed them.”
On preparing for a running attack like Clemson’s – is it more about scheme or mindset?
“It’s both. It’s not either one. You have to go in there with a mindset to stop the running game. That’s what you have to do. If you can the mindset and the schemes going, then you’ve got a chance.”
Did you think Choice would be capable of carrying the ball 32 times giving his hamstring injury?
“No. I was shocked. But if you stood in that locker room and listen to him talk during pre-game and halftime, it wouldn’t surprise you.”
On using RB Jonathan Dwyer in the game – was that planned?
“Yes. We were trying to not push him when he got tired, to get him out so he didn’t have to push that leg. And the plan was to put him in more, and we just could never get it done. We plan to play him more as time goes on.”
Comment on the special teams’ impact on the game:
“(Assistant coach) Charles Kelly has done as outstanding job with our special teams this year and we’ve got some guys on there that are hungry and fighters and hustlers. I can’t say enough. Obviously we have some great kickers and specialists. But, the coverage guys and knocking the ball loose, things like that, it was outstanding today. I thought the special teams gave us a big winning edge today.”
On D.J. Donley – will his special teams play help him get a look for more playing time at WR?
“It’s not like the other guys are doing bad; he’s going to learn a lot by doing this. He’s got his role to play right now. The great thing about him is you gain confidence if he does have to go play. You gain a great deal of confidence by him going in there.”
On Travis Bell’s success in 2007:
“He had a healthy offseason; a good offseason of work. We’re very solid at snapper and holder and that has been consistent now for two years. I think that’s been a positive. Fourth and three inches is a tough call if your kicker is not consistent, but when you’ve been as strong as he has, to me you go out there and get up by more than one score. He had been hitting it so well.”
On two upcoming road games:
“All we are now is 3-2. We haven’t arrived; there are no statements made. We won a game. We’ve got to get ready to go play next week and play just as hard as we did this week to have a chance to win. That’s all it is.”
On the importance of today’s win:
“When you win, you gain confidence; when you lose, you lose confidence. You’ve got to make sure you don’t get too high with the highs or too low with the lows. You can ruin a season by getting too low and you can ruin a season by getting too high.”
On the performance by Jahi Word-Daniels:
“He really had a good day today. We put him over on #80 (Aaron Kelly) all day and he went out and played extremely well against him. Then he made a couple of big tackles on plays when they bounced outside. It was a team effort on defense. Try to make them run sideways and then pin them on the sideline and make tackles. I thought that was a great plan.”
On Correy Earls (injured last week at Virginia):
“I think he could be back in a few weeks. I’m not going to say two; I’m not going to say four. He tells me, and the medical people tell me, that he will be able to play again this year.”
Running Back Tashard Choice:
How’s your leg?
“It’s alright. Still a little sore.”
Do you get a sense that your defensive teammates took this a little personal after last year?
“After our last two games, the defense felt like they hadn’t played as well as they could. Against Boston College and Virginia, we didn’t play up to our potential on either side of the ball. Our defense did a heck of a job today. Coach Tenuta and those guys played great. Philip Wheeler, all of them, my hats off to them for playing a great game.”
Can you tell us about the sledgehammer that you had with you at the start of the game?
“Our team chaplain, Derrick Moore, gave us the sledgehammer last year when we played against North Carolina when we were playing for the Coastal Division. He brought it out again this year to symbolize that it was necessary. We had to win this game for our season to get ourselves back on track and give us another run at it.”
How does it feel to get back over 100 yards?
“It’s ok. I wasn’t at 100% today. I lied the whole week, but I had to. It was absolutely hurting me to watch my teammates struggling like they’ve been. All the hard work you put into the season, to not be able to be out there fighting with your teammates is hard. This game I was only about 80-85%, but it was good enough to play and stay on the field, so I was glad I could help.”
It’s still only September, but was this game that big? Was it do or die?
“I think so. Coming off two losses you don’t want to get on a skid. We still know it’s a long road, there are a lot of games to be played. We have to win the next one, and that’s what Coach Gailey really focuses on.”
What did you say to the team before the game and at halftime?
“I addressed the team before the game and told them that we work so hard, and there are so many things that we do that people don’t know about. A lot of dedication, and I really wanted them to understand that my life is based around football, and all I have is those guys in the lockerroom and everything that I do out on the field is for them. It’s not all about me. Once they understood that, my teammates really rallied and played for me. At halftime, I really told them that it wasn’t over. I was really upset at halftime because I felt like we left a lot of points on the field, turned the ball over and didn’t convert on situations. It was good that our team was ready to go and the defense came out and kept them from putting points on the board.”
Placekicker Travis Bell:
Is the difference for you this season the fact that you had a healthy offseason?
“Yeah, I think so. Knock on wood, I haven’t had any major injuries keeping me off the field. Being healthy is part of it, but it also means so much to get reps with the same guys. I had three different holders in my first three years, and this year we didn’t have to get used to a new holder or snapper and we got 1,000 reps in together and it’s a big difference.”
Do you feel for their kicker, Mark Buchholz
“Sure. I actually know him from playing soccer against him and from growing up in Atlanta. It’s hard for a kicker. Those weren’t chip shots, three of them were for more than 40 yards. During the game, it’s hard to root for him, but after the game, you feel for him. But, I have confidence in him and he’ll bounce back and do well.”
Linebacker Philip Wheeler:
What do you think you guys showed today?
“I think we showed that we can play football and play great defense. Our backs were against the wall and we had to get a `w’ and do whatever we had to do.”
You seemed a lot more fired up as a defense than you had been the last couple of weeks.
“We were just tired of losing and felt like it was three strikes and your out and if we lost this one, we were going to be in a hole for the rest of the season.”
Last year, more than 300 yards on the ground, this year was 34, what does that say about the job your defense did today?
“It’s was like a redemption. We studied film all week and focused hard and studied them all week and it paid off.”
What were you able to do in the middle to force them to go outside?
“They like to run the ball up the middle, and we knew that. We focused on that and were able to clog up the middle and kept them going outside.
Clemson Head Coach Tommy Bowden
On the offensive line and the pass protection
“We’ve got backs and tight ends involved in pass protection, too, not just the offensive line. I think I need to look Sunday and see where it broke down. They led the ACC in sacks and tackles for loss. We were surely prepared hard this week for pressure, pressure coming from different areas. I need to look and see where we broke down. But the protection was not good.”
How frustrating was the end of the first half. Harper converted five straight third downs, then all of sudden you just crumbled with the penalty and the sack?
“I think we’ve had five touchdowns called back in the last two games. It was frustrating because they just took the lead. We missed a field goal after having a chance to gain some momentum at halftime. We anticipated a 60-minute game and a hard-fought game. We didn’t expect anything less from their team. We played extremely poor offensively. We played pretty good defensively. We had some special teams errors.”
You’ve had five straight game with problems in one area or another on special teams.
“We’ve had two blocked punts and some missed field goals. We’ve got a good field goal kicker. We’re asking a lot of him (placekicker) right now. The last three or four weeks, he’s had a (soccer) game on Friday night, then getting up here late. I’ve got to make sure I’m doing good with his schedule and time management. It’s uncharted waters for me as far as how much we’re asking him to do.”
What about your run-blocking today. You weren’t opening many holes.
“That’s the poorest we’ve played offensively in some time. There was no continuity the whole game. I don’t remember gaining any momentum, first quarter, second quarter, third or fourth. I don’t remember us consistently driving the ball. We had a couple of big plays where we moved it. Obviously we moved it well enough to get in position to miss four field goals. One of them was a turnover by them.
“Our statistics aren’t very impressive running or throwing,. Nothing was very productive from what I saw.”
You had both of them on the field at the same time. Was that as much because of the rush they brought?
“It was their style of defense. You try and accent certain things against certain styles of defense. The things we accented obviously didn’t work. But again, having them on the field at the same time was one of the things we tried to major in.
“We didn’t throw outside consistently, down the middle consistently, run outside or inside. Nothing we did consistently. We dropped a lot of balls today.
Could you imagine you would be held to three points?
“Usually when you have talent like that, somebody makes a play. We had Aaron on a post early in the game and hit him in the hands. We’ve been making those plays. We had Tyler Grisham open on a wheel route and overthrew him. Usually, we hit those plays. There are several things involved. When you do that poorly, pretty much it’s not just one person.”
