University of Richmond Athletics
Richmond Football Press Conference Quotes
Nov. 23, 2005
Richmond Football Press Conference Quotes
November 23 -- Head Coach Dave Clawson
On playing in the playoffs:
"We are thrilled to be in a position and be one of only 16 teams in the country that still has a chance to play for a national championship. We are very excited and having a great week of practice. We are glad to be going to Hampton."
On Hampton:
"They are good. They are a very talented football team. They are the only undefeated I-AA team in the country, they do a really good job of running the football. Two years in a row they have had two backs go for over a thousand yards. They are talented at the wideout positions and they lead the country in scoring defense. They are a very talented team that deserves the number three seed they have."
"There are a number teams (on their schedule) who run similar schemes to us. South Carolina State, Gardner-Webb all do some of the things we do on offense -- none of them successfully. Hampton's defense is great. They have a linebacker (Justin) Durant who is certainly as good as anybody we have faced this year. He is a heckuva player. He was the MEAC defensive player of the year last year as sophomore. He is a very talented linebacker."
"Usually when you play a conference team there is a history there. You have tried to recruit a lot of those same players. You have seen them develop from freshmen to sophomores and in to their junior year. You have played against them before and there is a little bit of history of the things they have tried to do against you on both sides of the football. Now is almost a blank slate. We see what they are doing on film and the personnel they are doing it with, but there is not a history with it."
"They are capable of making big plays on offense. We have to do a great job of tackling their running backs. I think they are a team which has generated big turnovers in a lot of big plays. We can not turn the ball over. I think special teams in a game like this is critical. We need to make their offense go on a long field, and we have to shorten the field for our offense. I think on offense we have to have a mix going. The teams that are one-dimensional, Hampton has no problem defending. We are going to have to be able to run and throw the football against these guys. If we become a one-dimensional team either way, it will turn out to be a long day for us."
On not having distractions during the week due to no classes:
"Normally during the week we have guys who are late for meetings or have to leave practice early -- or because they had a paper due the night before, the didn't get any sleep. It is kind of nice -- for the first time since camp -- there is no other things going on except for getting ready for a playoff football game. That is what is nice about the first round of the playoffs -- you are able to focus in on a time that you need it, because you are playing an opponent you are not very familiar with."
On facing a must-win situation:
"I think it helps to know what to expect. But it is football -- we had to win seven games in a row to be in this spot. After the Vanderbilt game we talked to our team about it being an elimination game. Then after that the Delaware game was an elimination game. That is what the playoffs are -- you are put into a situation where if you lose you go home. In some ways we have been in that position for seven weeks. We have suggested to our players that the playoffs started with the Villanova game. In order for the season to reach the goals we set we had to win every game. I think our mode has been the same for Hampton."
On how playing in the A-10 has helped prepare Richmond for big games:
"This team has been in a lot of battles and a lot of tight games. We have played in some tough places -- at Vanderbilt, at Maine, at JMU -- those are all tough venues to play in. I think that experience will help us and this will be another tough venue."