The battle for the ACC picks up this week around the league.  In this edition of What We Heard we take a look around the ACC coaches press conferences from earlier this week.

Georgia Tech

Q. On if effort was an issue along with missed assignments:

COACH JOHNSON: No, effort was not an issue. It was the first time on the road for a lot of guys in a pretty hostile environment and I think some of them thought ‘Oh man, I am playing at Notre Dame.’ And it does not take much because they have got a good football team now. I mean, you are playing a top-10 team on the road and all you have to do is go the wrong way a couple of times, turn the wrong way, and next thing you know you get to punt seven times.

And, we are just so accustomed to it not being that way. I just watched the Duke/Northwestern game and one team punted 10 times and the other one 12. But, we are so accustomed to almost if we do not score 35 plus, then the roof fell in. And that’s a good way to be. That is certainly the standard you want to have. We have to get better. We have to play better. If we do not, we will not win anymore games.”

Louisville

Q. On if he has seen any improvements from the offensive line in the past few games:

COACH PETRINO: Yeah I thought in the Houston game we made some real strides in protection and some of the things we did in the run game. This Clemson team, they are very good upfront. They are very sturdy, they attack gaps, they don’t give you a lot of space, they challenge you. One of the things that helps the offensive line is when you are a little worried about the receivers going deep and making big plays throwing the ball down the field. A lot of times they committed eight or nine guys to the run, to stop the run and force you to throw the ball. One thing I thought we did in the second half, we had an opportunity there on the first drive where we mixed it up on some of the quick passing game, some of the play-action game, put in a nice drive together and scored. Another drive in the fourth quarter, we took the ball and ran some place action, hit some good throws to Traveon (Samuel) and got the ball down to scoring position again but it wasn’t enough to win the game.

NC State

Q. On schedule:

COACH DOEREN: I think our guys have handled what has come at them really well. We have played a lot of freshmen – more than anyone in the nation. We have done the right thing. You can look across the country at the teams that scheduled a different way that are 1-2 or 0-3. Walk in their locker room right now and look at how positive they feel. I think we doing the right things for our team. I’m not going to apologize for being 3-0. I think we are in the right place. We have played a ton of players and we are playing a good team this week. They played a bowl game and took 12 players from a bowl team. They are pretty good and their offense line is a lot better than what I have seen in the league. We have a good challenge this week.

Syracuse

Q. On Lanard Fournette & the LSU offense:

COACH SHAFER: I think in my 26 years as a coach, this kid is the most-talented tailback I have gone against. I think he is special. He is 6’1, 230 lbs, but he moves like he is 5-9 and he moves like Brisly Estime with that power behind him. They have two unbelievable backs with two solid tight ends so they are very good at that.

Offensively, they do a lot of unique things and a lot of things that really force your preparation throughout the course of the week. We all know that they can load up and just run it right at you, but they also have a ton of weapons around Fournette, starting with Brandon Harris and then looking at their wide receivers. Long-athletic kids. The [Malachi] Dupri kid can really fly. I mean they all can.

John Diarse is very good with the ball in his hands. Travin Dural is real athletic with quick, long, athletic feet. They can all go up and get the ball. Their tight ends, I thought there was a misprint, they have a 6’5, 305 lb tight end who I think might have a little bit of an injury, but Dillon Gordon is a man child playing tight end. There are weapons all over the field for them to take advantage of utilizing. We want to try and contain their best player and be aware of all the others on the offensive side.

They are going to come downhill and really challenge who you are up front. It’s going to be quite a bit different than Central Michigan. Central was doing some unique things against us where there compressed all the formations and created some different looks. I thought they did a good job with that. I thought we did a good job in stopping the run game, we just didn’t do a good job playing on point with their passing game. It’s going to be a really different look from a scheme point of view when you compare Central to LSU.

Virginia Tech

Q. On East Carolina:

COACH BEAMER: Anytime you get ready to play East Carolina, you better get ready to play. The last three games have been real tight. They came here last year and it didn’t turn out so well. I have a lot of respect for the program. They’re a tough team to beat. We want to make sure our football team understands that, and they do. The ones who’ve played against them, you don’t have to convince them. They have a good program. They do a good job. They’ll play us well.