Sept. 19, 2006

COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Quotes from Head Coach Ralph Friedgen September 19, 2006 Press Conference

On this weekend's game against Florida International: "We have an important game coming up this week; it's a very big game on our schedule. I know they are 0-3, but they have lost three games by only seven points. They have a lot of good athletes; that is a concern of ours and we have to get ourselves ready to play."

On the most important aspect of the game this weekend: "I think a win is important. [FIU] is going to be tough to top; I haven't seen them dominate a game yet, but I think they're pretty good. Right now, we have to win and I'll be happy with that."

On practice this week: "We had a very good practice last night. Obviously the kids were a little bit down but I think they will work their way through that. I was very impressed with the effort and execution they had on Monday night."

On the West Virginia game last week: "We made strides in certain areas last week. [Darrius] Heyward-Bey had a very good game and showed what kind of football player he is going to be. Our running backs continued to run the ball well. Sam Hollenbach kept his poise and did a good job of executing the offense. The area we need to improve on is our turnover ratio; it continues to plague us and unless we get that fixed we are not going to get better."

On watching the tapes from the West Virginia game: "After watching the tapes I actually started feeling better about it. We did have some communication problems that hopefully will get fixed, but it was not as many as I thought. It wasn't a good day, it was like everything that could go wrong, did go wrong; we've all had those days... the only problem is that this was on national TV."

On moving forward after the West Virginia game: "I have a tremendous belief in our players. At half time I told them it would be a gut check and a pride check; they didn't disappoint me. I'm right there with them and I feel like we can get these problems solved. This was one game out of 12; what we can't do is let this get us down any more than it has. We need to move on and keep on improving. I think I need to accentuate the positives and there are a lot of positives."

On Garrick Clig: "Clig came in [last week] and played very well; that's the good news. The bad news is that he pulled his hamstring last night at practice; I don't know how severe that is going to be."

On Andrew Crummey: "Crummey is still limited. I thought he was tentative in practice last night. He says he feels good but I think he's concerned about pulling his hamstring again; I don't want him to do that either but hopefully we'll have him ready for this weekend."

On Drew Weatherly: "He's progressing, but probably another week or two before he plays."

On Joey Haynos: "He was able to come here - he walked on - and he's really developed into a good football player. He's very athletic for a big kid of 6'7". He has very good hands and has really made himself a very good blocker right now. He'll have a challenge this week playing against Antwan Barnes because of his quickness and strength. I'm very pleased with Joey's development and I look forward to him getting better and better."

On the team's biggest lesson from last weekend: "Heart and perseverance. They hung in there when they could have just flat out laid down. They showed me they have heart and that's the first thing you need to be successful. I'm proud of them for that because I've seen that go the other way. I saw kids that looked adversity in the eye and played as hard as they could possibly play; I'm not giving up on those guys, not at all."