Mark Richt on the ACC Championship, "It's going to be a battle for sure."
"Well, we did get a day after that Friday to get a little rest and regroup a little bit, which was good, but now we're back on our normal schedule, which is a Sunday evening practice with the team. We'll be meeting with them in just a little bit and then of course Monday is a day off for continued planning, and then we'll go right to our normal routine on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Looking forward to representing the University of Miami for the first time in this game. We're very excited about the possibility of being able to do that, and now it's a reality. Just proud of the team for getting here, and now we've got to find a way to win it."
Q. I'm curious coming into this season, one of the big story lines around you guys was what you were going to do at quarterback to replace Brad. How did Malik initially kind of handle the pressure or the challenge there, and how comfortable have you seen him become over the course of the year?
"Right, well, first of all, he did have to win the job in fall camp. I had not made up my mind at all. I allowed two true freshmen to get the same amount of reps as Malik got and Evan Shirreffs got, and up until the second scrimmage, which was pretty deep into camp, it wasn't until then that I was leaning heavily towards Malik. But he earned it through competition, and I thought he really rose to the occasion."
"And then, gosh, he's been through so many situations in so many games where he had to make big plays at the big moments, and he's done it over and over, so I think he's getting used to that type of a game and that type of -- just knowing that he's got to make good decisions, and he's got to make plays when needed, and he's done a great job of that."
Q. On that same topic, obviously every athlete is a little bit different. What was the process for you and your coaching staff kind of tailoring the offense this year to his strong suits?
"Well, we knew, number one, that he has some mobility that we weren't used to having, so we knew there would be some times where there were some quarterback runs, and even the plays that people run all over the country, the zone read plays and things of that nature where the defensive end chases the back a little too hard, an unblocked player chases the back too hard, the ball can be pulled out, and the quarterback can take off running with it. He was probably more effective doing that this season than we anticipated. We thought he would at least be enough of a threat where people had to keep that unblocked player at bay, so to speak, where the back could get as many yards as possible. Malik through the quarterback draw and some of the quarterback runs has done well, and then there's been many times where he would just drop back in the pocket and look for his progression of reads, and if somebody wasn't there, he was able to scramble for 1st downs from time to time or scramble enough to get the ball thrown and not have an eight-yard sack or something like that. There's a lot of hidden yardage offensively all year because of his ability to run, and of course, he's a good decision maker. He threw very few balls up for grabs. That's part of the reason why he won the job. He just managed things extremely well."
Q. We got the release about Chris; just wondering your thoughts on that, and then what's your confidence level like in Michael Irvin?
"Well, first of all, Chris Herndon has been -- oh, gosh, I don't know what to say other than he's a warrior for us. He's been a great player and a great leader on and off the field. He's the kind of person that you love to coach. I know he's going to be a really wonderful NFL career. It's a shame that he can't finish with us because he's very important to us. He's been a mainstay in this offense the last two years, of course, that I've been here, and this year especially he's been getting the lion's share of all the reps when the tight end is in the game. So I just want to thank him first and foremost, and the staff I know wants to thank him, and I'm sure the fanbase wants to thank him for everything he's done for us throughout his career."
"As far as Michael Irvin, Jr., he's a guy that has earned the right to play over this season, and he has gotten better as the season has gone along, quite frankly, and he will play, no doubt. He's a starting tight end right now, and he'll also play some special teams for us, but he's a guy that I think is typical when a guy becomes the starter, their level of play tends to go up. It's just human nature that way, and I think he knows when everybody is relying on him even more than they did in the past, it'll help him play even better."
Q. I know really the off-season is kind of when you take stock of everything, but just entering this game, you talk about wanting your team to get the level where they're able to line up and go toe to toe with anybody, are you there yet? How close do you feel that you are if you're not there yet?
"Well, we'll find out Saturday, that's for sure. Clemson being the great championship-caliber team that they are and have been for a couple years, pretty much dominating our league and obviously winning the National Championship a year ago. It'll be a great measuring stick to see where we're at, quite frankly."
Q. Obviously there's going to be a lot of attention on what this game means for the winner moving forward. Do you want your guys to kind of embrace the potential opportunity that's there? Would you rather have them focused on facing Clemson and what they have to do to compete well against Clemson?
"Well, I don't really care what motivates a guy. If the thought of that motivates them, that's great. Any motivation going into a ballgame is a good thing. So if they're thinking about the possibility of the playoffs or just thinking about being the first team to ever win the ACC Championship at the University of Miami, or just because they want to make their family proud. As far as motivation goes, I'm all for whatever gets a guy excited about preparing to do battle. But his focus obviously has got to be on his job and how it relates to the game plan and how much it means to his teammates for him to take care of business. You know, motivation is not always some coach getting in front of a team and having some kind of speech. Motivation comes from a lot of different places, and whatever gets them excited about preparing, I'm all for that."
Q. I also wanted to ask you, you've obviously competed in several SEC Championship games. You know the environment, the preparation, things like that, to play for a league championship. Is there any way you can help translate that to players and maybe staffers who aren't as accustomed to what's ahead of them this week?
"Well, I think you've just got to be -- you've got to kind of build on what we've done to this point, how we've gotten there on a weekly basis. It is certainly a championship game, but it is still a football game. You're playing an opponent. You're breaking down film. You're trying to make decisions on the best way to attack somebody, offense, defense, special teams. There's not a whole lot of change. I think that we've been preparing to play in a championship game all year long, quite frankly, and so if we can continue to do that, I think it'll give us our best chance for victory."
Q. Because you were able to play on Friday, you get an extra day. Did you take a chance to watch any college football around the country, and did you take the time to watch Clemson and South Carolina last night and just some of your thoughts if you did?
"Well, I definitely watched the game against South Carolina, and also peeked at a few games during the day. I also tried to watch a little bit of tape of our opponent just to get a little bit of a head start. But it's also not a bad time just to catch your breath a little bit, too. My wife and my son -- well, our two oldest boys and my oldest boy's wife Anna and our little granddaughter came by the house and we had our own little Thanksgiving dinner, which was nice, so we took some family time, too. Certainly saw the game. Very dominating performance. That pick six to start the game got everything rolling in Clemson's favor and kind of took the crowd out of it a little bit, then another touchdown, and before you know it, South Carolina was playing behind the 8-ball and it really just couldn't recover. It really wasn't all that exciting of a game quite frankly, and it was certainly a game that Clemson dominated."
Q. Your son played for Dabo and played at Clemson. Does he still have good memories of that time, and do you and Dabo have a good relationship?
"Oh, yeah. Dabo and I have got a really good relationship. My son John was there for a year and decided to transfer out and decided to give himself a better shot at playing. He didn't feel like he was going to get a chance to play a bunch, and quarterback position as we know there's usually just one guy playing. He got a chance to play and become a leader and do the things that he wanted to do, and he said he wanted to coach. But no, John had no ill-will towards Clemson at all. It was just a matter of trying to make a decision to where. He just wanted to play. He said, Dad, I want to play, and I want to coach when I'm done playing, and that's exactly what he's doing, and turned out to be a blessing for him. But he really enjoyed his time."
"I actually got to see Clemson-Alabama play in Atlanta the one year that John was on the team just because I think it was early in the season and I had a moment to get out of there and be a dad for a second, so that was nice."
Q. I was just wondering if you've been in touch with your old coach, Coach Schnellenberger, and as Miami is on the precipice of maybe winning its first ACC Championship, maybe going to the playoff and going from there, what part of all this he can claim?
"Right. Well, I've spoken to Coach Schnellenberger many times since I've been back, and he's been nothing but a great support for me, and I learned a lot from him. I learned a lot of passing game, I learned a lot of football, period, just scheme and how to run routes, and not that I was running the routes but how route concepts were run and protections, and just really learned a lot because he brought the Miami Dolphins' system to college football, and I just was -- I wasn't a starter, obviously, but I got to learn a lot from him, and then I also got a chance to see him believe in something that maybe no one could see but him. He would always say that Miami was on a collision course for a National Championship, and the only variable was time, and a lot of people just thought he was maybe a little bit crazy at the time, but he kept believing in it and he helped a bunch of young guys that didn't know any better believe in it, too. I missed that by a season. The season I left was the year in '83 that Miami won the first championship. He did a great job of helping a bunch of young guys believe that we could be something special."
Q. Question about the offensive line, really going into this week. Clemson has a ton of talent on the defensive line. Anything you're looking at in particular? Any match-ups we should keep an eye on?
"Well, their defensive front has been -- you watch the film, and you're like, oh, boy, we've got our work cut out for us for sure. I think because their defensive front is so strong, they've been able to kind of rely on them to stop the run and put pressure on the quarterback without a lot of blitzing schemes, and Coach Venables is great at scheming people up and bringing great pressures, great blitzes, but I think he's also enjoyed the fact that those guys are so strong up front that 1st and 2nd down is hard to win. It's hard to get those yards rushing the ball, so you end up in a lot of 3rd and medium, 3rd and long, and then coach can either drop into -- drop a bunch of guys into coverage or bring the pressure, but either way the D-line has been very, very outstanding, and our offensive line knows it's going to be a great challenge to move them a little bit in the run game and protect our quarterback."
Q. How have you seen obviously Braxton Berrios has had great year for you guys, how have you seen him change since he first got to campus? Was there any particular moment that things started clicking for him?
"Well, I think the lightbulb moment is when we started getting the ball targeted to him a little bit more than in the past. He was probably ready for that two years ago, three years ago. You know, he's always been -- you can't call him a professional because he wasn't getting paid, but he was very professional about how he would go about his business. He's one of the greatest student-athletes in America, and he's had all A's and one B+, that's it, and I think that was from a group project. He's just done everything on the field, off the field. He's done wonderful things in community service, and then he shows up to these games, and he became a dominating player for us in some very big games. He took over a couple games and was scoring just about every time we hit the field. Just very impressed with him as a route runner, ball catcher, blocker, and a leader. He's been a great punt return man. He's been covering kicks. He's doing whatever the team needs to win and just really blessed to have him on this team, and I'm so thankful for him that he's got a chance to show what he can do."
Q. Is there anything about his reputation as an academic and as a football player aside, is there anything people don't really know about him?
"Well, I mean, he's a tough guy. I mean, he's tough in regard to how he'll play when it comes to blocking and things of that nature, even route running, getting off of routes when guys are trying to grab and snatch and all that. But also everybody has got something that's hurting them. You get banged up when you play as many snaps as he plays, and this deep into the season, and he never complains, he never moans about anything. He might have a bag of ice on a couple body parts when the game is over, but you'd never know during the game anything is bothering him, and I respect that an awful lot, as well."
Q. I know you weren't the coach the last time Miami and Clemson played, but that game set the wheels in motion for you to become the head coach at Miami. Curious if there's any discussion among the players or if that game will come up this week as you prepare for Clemson.
"Well, you know what, it might. I imagine the guys that were here during that time frame haven't forgotten how that felt. I'm sure no one wants to feel that again. But I've not mentioned anything to the team about that."
Q. And one other thing if I could, somebody asked Dabo just now whether he felt the winner of this game should go into the playoff, and I was wondering what your thoughts were on that.
"Oh, I think so. I think whichever team wins the ACC, considering the body of work of both teams, should be a shoe-in to get in in my opinion."
Q. You mentioned earlier that even though it's a championship game, it's still just basically a football game, but you do have game day, you have all this hype, and because of geography, you're likely to be playing in a fairly hostile environment. Just wondering whether you'll address that with the team and what impact you think that might have?
"Right. Well, we were actually fortunate enough to have that type of atmosphere at our Notre Dame game. GameDay came, and it was about as big of a moment as any of our players had been involved in, and I've been in a few of those types of games over my career, but that was about as big as it gets."
"It was good to have that experience, I think, and I think we were underdogs in that one, as well."
"But the hostile environment part, you know, our environment in that particular game was our fans being as big of a factor as you could ever hope for a home crowd to be."
"Now, I think we'll have plenty of Hurricane fans there at this ballgame, and I know they'll be loud and proud, and they'll be holding their own when it comes to crowd noise. I'm certain of that."
Q. With two defenses that stand out in so many ways statistically and lead the nation or are high up in the nation in so many critical categories, what do you see offensively in this game? Do you see a defensive-dominated game?
"Oh, man, I don't know. A lot of times you go into a game like this, and you're like, it's going to be 10-9, and I don't know what it's going to be quite frankly. You know, defenses score points sometimes, and special teams points happen. It's just so hard to say what'll happen in a game like this, but I know it's going to be tough sledding for us offensively against their defense. They do a wonderful job, and it's going to be a battle for sure for us, and hopefully, it'll be a battle for Clemson's offense, as well."
Q. I was wondering if I could jog your memory. Georgia was on a bye the last time Miami played Clemson. Did you catch any of that game?
"No, I can't recall that. It just -- I know I wasn't watching it. It may not have even been on TV. I don't know the situation, to be honest with you. But it obviously wasn't a good moment for our program."
Q. I was wondering after Friday's loss if you saw enough signs that a team that hadn't experienced defeat was handling it in a way that you wanted them to.
"Well, it's hard to say how a team should handle it. Like I don't really expect a certain emotion after the game, whether it's being mad or being sad or being whatever. I mean, everybody has an emotion after a game like that and players and coaches alike. So the initial reaction by the team really won't shock me one way or another. I've seen it all after games like that. I've seen guys cry, I've seen guys slam things on the wall, I've seen guys just be quiet and listen. So I've seen it all."
"But I think what's most important is being able to regroup and understand that at least see what we need to do to make corrections and then what do we got to do moving forward to give ourselves the best chance of success. I think everybody is doing that. I'm going to find out a little bit more tonight because we did give everybody off yesterday, and we're getting back on schedule here, but when we left the locker room, I felt like everybody was in a good place, and I listened to some of the interviews with our players with the media and I thought they did a wonderful job of that, so I think we're in a good place right now."
Q. I wonder if you can just compare the football in the ACC after what you've seen in your first few years in the conference compared to the SEC. I know there aren't quite as many large venues but just the play on the field, how it compares?
"Yeah, the quality of play, well, I've only been here two years in the league. I was there, obviously, years ago at Florida State as an assistant coach, but shoot, last year I would say the ACC was the best conference in America if you just measure all the ways to measure conferences. And this year, I don't see any slack-off in that way. I see a lot of great teams top to bottom that can beat one another, and I think it's a very quality league in regard to the coaching staffs that have been brought in, the head coaches and the people they've brought in. It's super high-quality football and as good as anybody in America."
Q. Talk about your offense, the last couple weeks have been a slow start for you guys. What's been the problem since the Notre Dame game getting a slow start because it seems like you guys have been playing catch-up the last couple weeks.
"Yeah, well, first of all we played a couple pretty good defenses. That was part of it. And the other part is for whatever reason, whether it was not getting our running game on track or not throwing and catching like we should, like for example, last game, if you don't throw and catch good that day, they're going to put everybody in the box and stop the run. I mean, that's just how they play football. If you can throw and catch good enough to back them off a little bit, then you tend to gain some space to run the football. But schematically, their deal is to get a couple extra hats in the box to stop the running game, and if you're not good enough at throwing and catching, then you're going to have a rough day, and that's what happened to us not only the first half but the entire game."
"But the game is a 60-minute game. You want to start out great. Momentum helps a lot. There's no question about it. It helps not only the offense's confidence in what's going on in any particular game, but it helps your defense, as well. And it helps your fan base get excited. If we could get some things going on early, that would be great."
Q. What is one player on that Clemson defense that you're going to work on this week to get ready for, or circle, that you have to see on Saturday, one player on that defense?
"Well, you know, I'm not in position really to say a particular guy because you can't really pick on one guy. I don't know if there's a guy to pick on, quite frankly. If I figure that out, I wouldn't tell anybody, but at this point, we're just trying to look at the film and just from a schematic point of view decide how we're going to attack. We haven't really looked at the personnel and said, hey, this is a guy we're trying to pick on, because I don't think there is one."