Quotes From Saturday's Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl Press Conference
12/28/2002 7:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 28, 2002
ATLANTA - Head coach Ralph Friedgen along with senior All-Americans E.J. Henderson and Todd Wike met with members of the media to preview the 2002 Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, which will be played Tuesday night, Dec. 31 at 7:30 p.m. and televised live on ESPN. Here's a sampling of the comments from the coach and players.
Coach Friedgen on playing Tennessee :We are so excited about the opportunity to play such a fine team as the University of Tennessee. They are a traditional power in college football. They are very, very well coached. They have quite a number of fine athletes playing for their team. This year's Tennessee team, because of some injuries, has relied heavily on the run. They have a very fine offensive line. They have three good tailbacks. All are big, strong and fast. With [QB Casey] Clausen, the passing game is a factor. They could have everything working for them on New Year's Eve and that makes our job a lot tougher.
On the defensive side of the ball, I think they are the eighth-ranked defense in the country. You see tremendous speed on defense and they are a very physical football team and run very well to the ball. I feel they have a lot of quality players. They have a lot of secondary players that play the dime, and they also play press-man coverage, which has really caused us problems, so those are some of the things we have to deal with and hopefully be successful in.
Tennessee has a tradition for playing great special teams, and this year is no different. I think that's an area where we have a good special teams unit also and it's going to be interesting to see how they compare on Tuesday night.
We have played Florida, Notre Dame and Florida State recently; we keep coming up with these opportunities. I made the analogy with our basketball team, which had been to eight or nine NCAA Tournaments and now in the last year two years went to the Final Four and finally won the national championship last year. I think we are on a different level, but it is equivalent. We have another opportunity in front of a national television audience to play a top team in the country. I think if we're fortunate enough to win, it would not only help our athletes, but our program overall and the way we are viewed. It would take us to the next level.
Friedgen on Tennessee Coach Philip Fulmer: I mentioned to Coach Fulmer that I was very impressed with all of his players. Then he told me that all of his injured players were coming back - I was pretty impressed with his second-teamers. He has a lot of players. He said they are young in the defensive line, but they look pretty good to me. I know two of his players were first-round draft picks last year, so he has had a lot of good players. They are established, this is his 11th year and he runs a top-notch program and it will be a real challenge for us.
Wike on playing in this year's bowl game after missing the Orange Bowl last season due to injury: That was a real disappointing time for me (last season), I feel I let my teammates down. All that I had worked for since I got to Maryland was to play in a bowl game and there we were playing in the Orange Bowl - it was supposed to be highlight of my football career - and it was really tough to watch. I'm real excited to play in this game. Hopefully everything will turn good for us and it will be a great last game for me.
Wike on Tennessee's defense and which defense they compare to: Tennessee is very big up front, as big as we have seen this year. They are real physical and they come off the ball low and hard. We have to play our best game up front to play with these guys. Their linebackers are the same -- they are physical and fast. They flow to the ball real well. We have to come out and play physical and be really good with our assignments and do the little things to get it done.
I think they attack a like ours as well as NC State and Florida State. They play the same type of attacking defensive line. They are definitely one of the best, if not the best, defenses we have seen all year.
Henderson on Tennessee's offense and which team they compare that Maryland has faced: Probably the only team would be Florida State because of the speed they have on the edges. Also Florida from last season. Tennessee is an SEC team that is very fast and has a good passing game. I don't think the speed of Tennessee will be as surprising because we faced it last year in Florida. (On playing against Tennessee on artificial turf), you just have to realize they are going to be faster. Maybe you can try and be more physical and have our defensive backs knock them off course. We just have to realize we are playing against a fast team.
Henderson on the 2002 season: Playing here just kind of caps it off. It's one of my favorite seasons, we were off to a long season and we had a shaky start, but then we came together at the end and cap it off by playing in this bowl. It has been very fulfilling for me and my teammates.
Friedgen on Matt Crawford's injury status: Matt will probably be the same today - he injured his shoulder in the last game of the year - and it has been bothering him throughout practice and he hurt it again Monday. He's probably still questionable. Knowing Matt he will play, it's just a matter of how long he will play.
Friedgen on playing in back-to-back bowls: I think our players are excited about this challenge. I know I am. It's time for us to win a bowl game and understand what it takes. I want us to expect to go to a bowl every year just like Tennessee does. I think we are excited about it. When I came to Maryland, we were just excited to go to a bowl, any bowl. With the fact that we went to the Orange Bowl and now the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl really speaks well of players and our staff. The expectation levels are now higher than what they were when we came here.
Wike on the Maryland offensive line: I think we are getting a reputation for being a good offensive line. I think everybody that is in our unit works hard. We are a close group, we are all good friends. I think that's important for when we take that onto the field. We try to make ourselves as physical as we can on game day, hopefully we are getting the reputation that we are looking for.
Wike on his success as a center after moving from left guard: I think I was surprised (by my success). I was kind of disappointed when I found out I was switching to center, I had high expectations of myself to have a real good year at guard. I was a little unsure of what was going to happen I knew it would take some time to adjust to center. But, I think I picked it up a couple games into the year. I feel real comfortable with it now. I'm just real glad it worked out for me and for the team.
Friedgen on Wike: I just wanted to add, I though for the last three games of the year, Todd play exceptional at center. This was a very difficult thing because it's not an easy position to play. It's one thing to have to block without the ball in your hand, but then you put the ball in your hand when you snap it. We really didn't want to make this move but to get our five best players on the field, we had to do it, and Todd was our best center. It has really worked out well. It has given us a lot of flexibility. If Matt Crawford can't play in the game, Todd may end up back at guard and start Kyle Schmitt at center. Or we can go the other way play Stephon Heyer and keep C.J. Brooks at left guard with Wike at center. Without Todd's contribution we wouldn't be able to do that, and that's how important he has been to the success of the team this year. It will also help him when it comes to his pro career. When people see he has the flexibility to play both guard and center and has the intelligence to do both it will help. I know when I was in pro football, the more you know, the more valuable you were, the more valuable you are, the higher they pay you - it's a simple evolution.
Friedgen's thoughts on the year Maryland has had and how fan support has been: I think it has been an unbelievable year for Maryland. January 2, we played in the Orange Bowl, we took 25,000 fans - that's what we had, but I'm sure there was more than that. Then our basketball team plays in Atlanta for the Final Four after playing regionals and we traveled well for that. Then in August, we played in the Kickoff Classic and brought 20,000 or more fans to that in New Jersey. Now, December 31 - we are still in 2002 - we are bringing 15,000 or more fans, and I think it will be more, to the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl. I'm proud of fans. I think we are growing as a fan base. I would encourage as many of our people who can to come down here. I think part of the winning tradition is built when you win (a bowl). You always have skeptics out there, but it's going to happen one of these years and they are going to want to be there and hopefully it's New Year's Eve.
Friedgen's thoughts on the game's outcome and being a one-point favorite: I'm not a prognosticator, I'm just a football coach. I will play every play and see how it ends up. I hope (making us a favorite) that's right. It will speak for the program if we are one-point favorite after the game.
