Opening remarks:
“All of these games, when you get to the month of November, take on significant importance, and certainly the N.C. State game takes on even more importance because of the nature of the rivalry. We’ve tried to pride ourselves all season long in playing one game at a time, and worrying about ourselves, and we certainly recognize after watching film for the last three days that N.C. State is a very good football team and they’ve got a lot of talented players and they’re playing at a pretty high level right now. “They’re getting great performances out of their quarterback, Russell Wilson, who is extraordinarily efficient – over 170 passes without an interception. They’ve got two good running backs, a very aggressive and very talented defense and a good kick return game. The challenge for us this week is to do the things that we’ve tried to do all season long. Be smart with the football, be efficient with the football and play good, sound fundamental football. Tackle well, don’t give up big plays and I think that that mindset has helped us to navigate the entire season, so it’s a big challenge.”
On the quarterback situation:
“The pluses are that now we have two guys that our football team – and most importantly, our offensive football team – believes can win games for us. T.J. has the experience and the exposure of the 12 games from last year. Cam not only has starting experience from the game this year, but also the experience that he gained in 2006. And both have the benefit of spending about 18 months in this offense, so they understand how the offense needs to be run and I think that’s certainly a strength of it…
“We split the reps 50/50 yesterday in practice. One of the questions yesterday after practice was how do I feel about splitting the reps 50/50, and if this was Week 2,3 or 4 of the season and neither of these guys had any previous starting experience, you certainly would be a little more concerned. But with it being this late in the season, and both of them having significant starting experience over the last 18 months, it’s not that big of a concern.”
Do you anticipate a 50/50 split again today?
BD: “Probably not.”
Who will get the most reps today?
“Probably won’t tell you.”
But you would be disappointed if I didn’t ask?
“Oh, clearly.”
When will you name a starter?
“Probably not until Saturday.”
On talking to the players about the rivalry:
“Because of the uniqueness of the rivalry where you have two schools close in proximity, they interact with people from both schools on a daily basis. Every time they go to the mall or to the movies or on campus, people are always talking about it, whether it’s the week of the game or during the summertime. They’re constantly reminded of it. And I think as a coach, regardless of who the opponent is, the preparation is significantly more important. You’ve just got to focus on your job and you need to get yourself mentally, physically and emotionally ready to play the game, and generally, that’s how you’re going to get the confidence to play well on Saturday.”
On recruiting evaluation:
“With all of our recruits, there’s a variety of things that you have to take into account. Certainly, academics are a part of it, as is projecting how important getting a college education is to him and how well he’ll adapt to college life. And even the flexibility and the time management issues – those are issues in and of itself.
“And then you look at the intangible issues of the person. What type of kid is he? What type of leadership qualities does he bring? Was he a leader in high school? How’s he going to fit into the chemistry in the locker room? How much of a football junkie is he? How important is football and how important is winning to him? And then you get into the athletic evaluations… There are a myriad of things that we discuss when we talk about [choosing] recruits.”