Opening remarks on Maryland
"We were obviously pleased with the Maryland win. It's been a great rivalry for us. We had a great atmosphere. They guys came out and played really well early. I'm not really pleased with the way we played at times in the second half, but none the less, it was a nice win for us... and now our focus is on East Carolina, which gave us a lot of problems last year in a close win at home. Our guys... after a weekend off... are hopefully focused and ready to go for the Pirates."

What's up with the penalties?
"There's a couple of penalties... even though you don't want any penalties... there are a couple that are aggressive penalties that maybe you grabbed a guy when you shouldn't have grabbed him, or you kept blocking him past the whistle a little bit, which you shouldn't do. But then there's a couple that are really, really stupid. Lining up offsides defensively three times. A couple of the personal fouls... things like that are totally unnecessary. I was really upset with that. I mentioned it to the team after the game and I mentioned it to them in our Friday meeting. And we'll mention it to them again today. The message is going to get across, because if they continue to do that they simple won't play."

New Big East better than the new ACC?
"I don't know... to compare it with different conferences... but I do believe the Big East is better now than it's been in a couple of years and it will continue to keep getting better. So the Big East bashing should subside, if it hasn't subsided already. As I said earlier in the year, let's look at all the non-conference games that involve Big East teams this year... and later in the season look at the bowl games... and see the results. I think already we're seeing in the non-conference games the Big East is performing very, very well. If you ask the coaches in the league, we knew it was coming that way... now the nation gets to see it."

Previous discussions of revoking BCS bid... last laugh on the ACC?
"Well, I don't know about the last laugh. I just want to compare it to how we're doing ourselves. I think there's still a lot of games left. I've said before the Big East is better top to bottom than what people think. We're just not a big league. We only have eight teams in football. We don't have eleven, twelve teams like a lot of the leagues have. None the less, I think people are seeing throughout the country from top to bottom the Big East is a lot stronger than what people think. You've got to look at the results in the last several weeks, and you cannot say that the Big East is not worthy of the BCS... just based on the last 3 weeks, I think we've proven that."

On how coaches cope with big injuries...
"I think every coach will tell you that injuries are a part of the game. We want to have luck and avoid them, but none the less, that's what makes football so great... it's such a team game. It involves so many moving parts that come together at the right time in order to have success. If you stress the 'team' aspect of it, as all coaches will do, if you lose one or two key players... if you've got enough quality depth, you can still keep on rolling. And you see that a lot of the top programs in the country do that. They lose a key guy here and there, but they have enough depth and enough quality that they still can keep winning."

WVU 2006 more focused for ECU than WVU 2005?
"I hope it's that, but I really don't know for sure. This is our first road test. We still have a lot of new guys that are playing for the first time defensively. We still have some things we gotta clean up. Are we a better football team than last year? We've played like it at times this year, but this is our first road test. We're going to be in a tough environment. We've been down there before. Their crowd gets into it. This is going to be their biggest game, and we've got to be prepared for that."

Personal mission for BE to gain respect?
"Well, I didn't lay awake at night thinking about it. But, we'd get tired of it. Just speaking for ourselves, and my staff... we got tired of hearing about it in recruiting. Your competitors recruiting from other leagues kept talking about the Big East not being this and being that. That got a little bit old. I think finally now... at least in the recruiting circles... you can't say a whole lot about our league. I think it's proven to be pretty strong."

A lot of logo jumping in football?
"I don't know how much you've seen it. We haven't seen it in our games. I know other people do that. I don't know how much motivation... obviously there's a certain level of respect that every team wants to have from their opponents. Whether it's somebody stomping on your logo or running through your drills in warmups, or something like that... it may motivate early in the game. Most coaches... and I think the majority of players... will tell you there's no room for that kind of thing. That doesn't prove anything or show anything by a team doing that. You want to give everybody their respect and their space on the field."

Any injuries?
"No. Actually we're pretty healthy coming out of the game. We're waiting to see if Ridwan Malik and Doug Slavonic, who have been out, if they're going to be able to go this week. We'll look at them today and a little bit more tomorrow after we put the pads on."

Slaton finally getting to showcase versus big opponent...
"Marshall was a big opponent for us too. He's played a couple of big opponents last year. I think he was excited for this game for obvious reasons against Maryland, because he was recruited by them... and all that. We didn't try to put too much pressure on Steve because of that recruiting situation... we just wanted him to play and keep getting better. I think he's doing that. He made a few mistakes in the game, but he played with great passion as he always does. I think he's going to keep getting better and better. He understands his roles in our offense, and our guys understand as well. When he makes big plays like he did in the last ballgame, and like in several ballgames, he certainly gives a boost to all the guys on our team."

What the Maryland game Steve's personal statement?
"I don't know. You may have to talk to him about that. I would like to think our guys try to make a personal statement in every game. One of the attributes of Steve that I've always said is that he runs hungry a lot of the time. He runs like he tries to score on every play."

On the road for 4 of the next 5...
"Sometimes on the road it's easier to focus because you get away from certain distractions. What you worry about is young guys. How do they handle it? Do they handle it like a business trip like the veterans do? We have enough veterans, I think, that can explain to the guys... and the coaches will... about how they will do it. But, four out of the next five is a lot of road games. Our guys have got to understand how to take care of business and how to go out... and how it's going to be now... as long as we're ranked... that it's going to be a big crowd wherever we go. We're not going to be very popular with the folks where we go, so we've got to learn how to handle that."

Same time next week.