"to have a successful year you've got to win the close games."

Excerpts from Bobby Bowden conference with media. Not sure how to read Bowden's comments regarding Greg Carr:

Q: The schedule you have coming up - with road games to Boston College, Virginia Tech and Florida - you've got a chance to end the season on a high note, don't you?

A: You're dealing with the upper crust now. First thing I thought of is that used to be us. People used to have to deal with us. We were there. Every Saturday, every Saturday. Aiming at Florida State. Aiming at Florida State. Now here it is the other way around. We're aiming at them. It will be a great challenge. I don't know how we came out on injuries last night. I saw [Richard] Goodman on crutches. I didn't get to see Antone after the game. He came limping off the field. I hope it's nothing.

Q: How much is the lack of touchdowns in the red zone a case of when you get down there, you're just trying to come away with something so you play it safe?

A: There's two ways of looking at it. I think Jimbo [Fisher] looks at it one way, and I look at it the same way he does. When I get down there, I don't want to come away with nothing. That is a morale factor for the defense of the other team if you go down there and can't get in. So in the back of your mind, you're thinking, "Don't do anything stupid. Don't do anything stupid." Then you're a little bit more cautious than normal. The other way is, "We're going to go after a touchdown, and we don't care what happens." Well, they might get more touchdowns, but they might lose the ball more too. So there's a couple ways of looking at it. At least we came out of it with points each time except once.

Q: The next three teams you have to play - Boston College, Virginia Tech and Maryland -- none of them have had a lot of success offensively against good defenses. Can you talk about how precious those points will be in these next three games?

A: There's no doubt about it. And it goes back to, to have a successful year you've got to win the close games. That is the key. But you need to come out of there with seven instead of three, or else it won't become a close game.

Q: What's the status of Greg Carr. He didn't play with that sprained wrist.

A: Carr could have played, and I think he wanted to play. He's a hard kid to read. But he didn't practice much this past week, which made us mad. So we held him out. But if something urgent had come up, we'd have put him in. But I really don't know how effective he would have been. I don't know how effective he'll be this week. It's just according to how tough he is with that hand. He had it in a cast all week. They took it off about Thursday and put a soft cast on there. He didn't seem to respond to it too well.

Q: Boston College is coming off of that big win against Virginia Tech. Their quarterback is pretty good, isn't he?

A: Boy, he is tough. You know to me, they've passed every test there is. What worse place could you put Boston College in than to be in Blacksburg, Va., the crowd's all for them, a rainy night - a good passer doesn't like to see rain all that much - that's as adverse a situation as you could put a team that plays like they do. And they still won the game. They're passing all the tests. It seems like every year there's some team where it seems to be their year. And Boston College has met every challenge this year that they've faced.

Q: What makes you say Matt Ryan is the best passer in college football? What jumps out at you?

A: Accuracy. And awareness in the pocket. He doesn't like to run, but when he does run, it's usually effective because he's intelligent. He makes great decisions with the ball. And can put that ball right on the button.

Q: Was last night kind of a perfect example of why you went back to Drew?

A: Yeah, I guess. To me, it's like pushing a button on a machine - you push a six and you get a six. What kills you is you push a six and you get a seven. This dog-gone thing's broke. There's something wrong here. With Drew, I feel like if you push a six, you might get six. He executes [the offense] better.