Nov. 2, 2004

Maryland head coach Ralph Friedgen:

Opening Comments:
"We had a very, very significant win this past weekend. But for me, it's kind of behind us, and I'm really concerned with the challenge ahead. This challenge might be bigger than the one we faced last week. We're facing a team that's of the same quality as Florida State, and the fact that we're playing them away makes it an even tougher challenge for our players. I'm trying to get them focused on what they're going to face this weekend. As far as our defense is concerned, I think they're going to face their toughest challenge yet. I think Virginia's offense is excellent, both the balance they have between the run and the pass, their lineman are very large and athletic, they have very good tight ends, excellent backs, their quarterback is much more mobile than the one they had last year and throws probably at a higher percentage, and he'll throw deep as well as short, so a very formidable task that our defense has to face. Offensively, they're playing very well on defense. They're very, very tough against the run. They've got a lot of kids back from last year. So they [the Maryland offense] have a big challenge, and so does our special teams. The sooner we get focused on Virginia, the better off we're going to be."

On using the Florida State win as motivation for the rest of the season:
"I'm hoping that happens. I mentioned after the game, I said this needs to be a start, not a finish. I'm hoping that we'll play now with the confidence and the freedom to go out and make plays without worrying about making mistakes that we did last week. I think if we don't carry that over then we've lost and opportunity that we really want to take advantage of."

On the buzz around campus:
"The campus is very excited, and I think that's great. I think it's good for our players, but they need to know how to handle that, to know that one loss and you're back where you were again. Hopefully they can appreciate being back on top as opposed to being back in the valley. It's a constant struggle in life, and one of those lessons you get to learn in college football. I had a bunch of students come by yesterday who did this tremendous banner that they told me was almost over 400 square feet and they had it on the upper deck. I was pleased to see it, but I was concerned about Florida State seeing it because I didn't want to motivate them. But I was really appreciative of the hard work and the pride that they had in our football team. I got a chance to meet those kids yesterday. I actually read the Diamondback yesterday and saw the pictures in there and saw the excitement that's on campus. I want to say to our fans and our student body that I was really proud of the way they handled themselves after the game. They showed their exuberance, but they didn't do anything that would cause us embarrassment. I think we're learning, between football and basketball, how to handle big wins, and that's different than when we first came here. I think our student body is to be commended on that."

On the coaching staff:
"Like I said after the game, I think our staff was feeling frustrated. I thought we wanted to make things right. We wanted to be as good as we possibly could be for this game. I think there were times where I was looking at myself when I reviewed the FridgeTV stuff, and I was looking at myself at the press conferences and I had bags under my eyes, I looked about 90 years old. I'm not very much to look at anyway, but when I think I look bad, that's not good. Whether it was lack of sleep or working real hard and not experiencing success, I felt that there was a tension within our staff that I really hadn't witnessed since we've been here. I don't think that's all bad. To me, it showed me a commitment by our staff that they wanted to do the best they possibly could and they were arguing some points. I think that's good. I like conflict. If things are going too smooth, I worry about it. I think they came up with a hell of a plan. If that's what it took to get it done, maybe we should do it every week. We all voted today, so we're about an hour behind in our game preparation. An hour behind in our preparation is like three days to most people, so there's a little tension today again. But I think we got it done....I'm blessed that I have a good staff that cares about winning, cares about putting our players in the right position."

On the running game:
"Virginia's pretty good against the run. I think Florida State is No. 1 in the league and Virginia's No. 2. I think Florida State's interior people might be the best I've seen since I've been in college football. But does that mean we were as good as I expected us to be? No. I think we've got some areas to get better....Virginia's pretty stout up front too. If we get to be one-dimensional, I think then we're going to get very predictable....I think we hung in there with our running game [against Florida State] even though it wasn't getting us as much as we wanted. I think maybe Florida State got away from their running game. We didn't do that. We stayed with it, tried to keep some balance in there, and we were able to get it done. But do I think we need to get better at the running game? Yes, I do. To me, going into the year, that was a strength of ours, and we haven't had that as much of late, probably because we've had so many different people playing in there. But I'm hoping, in time, we're going to be better because of that."

On how Maryland's defense stacks up against Virginia's offense:
"The one thing we've done all year is played good against the run. We're going to be tested this week, there's no doubt about it. They're huge up front. The thing I've been impressed with them [Virginia's offensive linemen] is how athletic they are. They pull every member of the front five. We're playing with guys that are tough kids, they work hard, and we have to bring that same component to the game on Saturday....I said last week, the reason I enjoy watching our defense play is we play with such accountability, we play with such discipline. We're where we're supposed to be. Nobody's trying to do anything more than what their job is supposed to be, and I think with Virginia's offense, you better do that. What makes it even tougher is that they have a mobile quarterback who also can throw very well. They've got a lot of good elements within their offense, and they're very well-coached, so it makes it very tough to stop them, but we're going to do the best we can."

On coming together as a team and not giving up:
"About two weeks ago I named permanent captains. C.J. Brooks was voted the permanent captain of the offense, and Domonique Foxworth and D'Qwell Jackson for the defense and special teams. What I think it's done more than anything is the last two weeks our team is tremendously unified. We come over for a T.V. timeout, we pull the team off to the side of the field, we have as many defensive guys in our offensive huddle as we do offensive guys. I think our defense is really encouraging our offense, supporting them and being there for them, and I think the offense wants to go out and be accountable and do their fair share. I think that's happened more than anything else right now. A lot of the defensive guys get very vocal with the offensive guys, encouraging them. I think that's good....We've been very strong as a team the last two weeks. Last week was tough because it was a game we probably should have won and we didn't. I'm very proud of our players, the way they responded and hung in there and kept fighting. They could have quit, they could have hung it up, but they didn't do that. And now we have another opportunity this week, and we're going to find out how much more character we have. If we can pull this one off, it's a sign of what kind of a team we really have a chance to be. Everything's still there, it's just about how bad we want to go out and get it. I think today's practice is a very important practice. We have to settle back down and get our focus on Virginia and start working for that goal right now."

On playing a spoiler role for teams in contention for the ACC title:
"I'm just fighting for our lives right now. I do know this: if we can win out, we'll probably be in a position for a pretty good bowl ourselves. That's more what I'm concerned with than being a spoiler for somebody else."

On the competition in the ACC:
"With the new additions to the league I thought things would be very competitive. You better be ready to play each and every game. I really think any team can beat any team in this league."

On the Maryland-Virginia rivalry:
"I think whether we recruit the same players or not, I think the fact that we're schools in neighboring states that probably compete for student body, position of where you are in polls as far as schools go, we're just competitive in everything we do. I think that's good. I think rivalries are good. This rivalry has probably gotten better because each of us has beaten each other. It's not a rivalry when one team wins all the time. We've had stretches where they've won for a long period of time and we've had stretches where we've won for a long period of time. Now it's a very competitive situation. I really think it's great for the conference. We've had so many rivalries within the conference, and one of the things I think the administrators of the ACC did is to recognize those rivalries and try to maintain them within the division of the league. We play Virginia every year as a crossover game even though they're in the other division because they also have a big rivalry with Virginia Tech....I think if you ask each team they'll tell you it is [an intense rivalry]. West Virginia and Virginia are two very, very big games on our schedule every year because they're bordering states. The fact that Virginia's in our league makes it an even bigger rivalry for us."

On playing a good Virginia team on the road:
"When I was here before we would go down there all the time and it wasn't much of a problem, but with Virginia improving under Coach Welsh and now under Coach Groh and the improvements they've made on their stadium really make it a tough place to play. But I could say the same thing about Florida State, N.C. State, Georgia Tech, Clemson, Virginia Tech, Byrd Stadium. It's life on the road in the ACC. The team that handles the road situation the best is usually the team that wins the conference championship. You've got to be able to win on the road if you want to be in a really good bowl at the end of the year. [Virginia's Scott Stadium] is a tough place to play but I thought we improved playing at Clemson as opposed to where we were at West Virginia. Tomorrow we'll practice with quite a lot of crowd noise for our offense. I want to get the game plan in tact first and then get used to doing that. I thought we handled that better [at Clemson], still not as well as I'd like it to be, but it was a heck of a lot better than the first time we went [on the road]. I think we're growing in that respect. It will be a big challenge down there [at Virginia]. If you look at us in years past, we've had some great wins on the road, at Georgia Tech or at N.C. State, and those are the ones that really stick with you, when you win a game in such a tough environment."

On quarterback Joel Statham:
"Someone asked me how Joel has responded when we've put in Jordan [Steffy]. Some guys sulk, but he's never done that. He's been very even. I don't think he gets too high, I don't think he gets too low. I think it's really been a credit to him and his success. As I said at the time, it's not all Joel. It wasn't all Joel Saturday. We had some guys step up and make some plays. And that makes Joel's life a whole lot easier too. Joel went to the right place with the ball and handled the blitzes well and put us in the right place, but some other people have to stand up and support him....When a wide out can come up and make a big play, his confidence has got to soar when that happens. I think our wide outs were probably the difference in the game, along with the protection of our offensive line. And that doesn't even mention Joel, and Joel's getting all the credit. He did a good job, but there are other people who stepped up and did their jobs to make his job easier. That's what we're going to need to have a good offense. I've been saying that all along. I think too much has been put on his problems as opposed to our problems."

On his emotions after the Florida State win:
"I told you when I got this job, I have three faults: I'm a perfectionist, I'm impatient and I'm emotional. I may jump or I may cry. That's just the way God made me. I was really just happy for our players. You have to understand where this team was at. It's a young team. They came into this season thinking that, `Hey, I'm coming to Maryland, we just win 10 games every year, I don't have to do anything for it.' But all of a sudden they found out life wasn't really like that. And then when they go and play real hard, there's a certain mindset among young people that when they work hard they think success should come immediately just because they worked hard. Well, life isn't like that. So then we go down to Clemson and they feel like they played hard and they prepared hard and they didn't get a win. Well, life is cruel, it's unfair. And yet they were able to hang in there and keep working and come away with a victory like we had the other night. I just wanted them to see the difference, to feel the difference, what you can accomplish. You never know when that's going to come through. Florida State's [Xavier Beitia] kicks a field goal, we lose. But he didn't. I told them on the plane [home from Clemson] that we hit some bad luck. The ball's not bouncing for us like it had in the past. The ball bounced our way Saturday night and we were able to come up with a big win. So you have to hang in there, keep fighting. But you tell kids that and they look at you like you're from Mars sometimes. I got emotional because I wanted them to have that feeling, to know what it's like to lay it on the line and come back a winner. If we had lost that game and we didn't get it done at the end of the game, we would have felt the same way we did at Clemson. Winners don't do that. Winners find a way to win and losers find a way to lose. If we're going to have a good program, we have to learn how to finish things, and that's what we did Saturday night."