University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes From Torbush's Weekly Press Conference
October 5, 1999 | Football
Oct. 5, 1999
The following are excerpts from Carl Torbush's weekly press conference:
"I was disappointed with our inability in the second half against Clemson to hold on to the 17-10 lead. I felt like we had momentum in our hands and to give up a big play on a long pass several plays after that really was disappointing. I do think that a lot of the same things that happened against Florida State happened against Clemson. It's like a four or five- minute sequence of events where you get yourself in a hole and you can't dig yourself out. We gave up two big plays on the quarterback run and the big pass play, and that really cut our heart out. We also can't afford to turn the ball over and realistically expect to have a chance to win.
"We've got to play a lot better on both sides of the ball with a more consistent mode than we've been able to do, especially the last two weeks. I don't think we give ourselves the opportunities we need to give ourselves if we're going to win. It's our inability to make some plays when we need to make them.
"Two things offensively that have hurt us have been our inability to make big plays when we've had opportunities and the turnover margin. The turnover ratio is very important and we've just not done a very good job with that.
"Defensively, our inability to tackle and our inconsistency as far as giving up big plays has hurt. Those have been our Achilles heel. If you look back at it over the last several weeks, one thing we feel like we've got to do is to be successful on first and third down situations. And right now we're not picking up enough yardage on first down offensively, and we're giving up too much yardage on first down defensively. Both of those put you in a hole.
"I do feel like we've played four pretty good football teams. I think Clemson will prove that they're going to be a good team. We know how good Florida State is. Indiana is a lot better than a lot of people thought they would be, especially on offense. And Virginia is a solid football team. We knew going into the season that the first five games would determine a great deal about the personality and make-up of this team and what kind of year we could have. That's the reason this game is very important. We've still got a lot of football ahead of us and I think it's really important that we as coaches and our team keep our head up in a very positive manner. We've got a big game this week and we've got a lot of big games during the season. I think we've got a lot of winnable games and the thing we've got to do is maintain a good mental focus as well as stay healthy physically. If we do that I do feel like you'll see a lot of improvement from this point until the end of the season.
"Georgia Tech has a great offensive scheme. Joe Hamilton has a tremendous amount of confidence in his ability and he knows what they're trying to get accomplished on offense. The versatility in their attack is really what makes them dangerous. I've been impressed with Georgia Tech offensively with their foot speed. We always felt like Dez White was an excellent receiver but they've surrounded him with some other receivers who can really run. I've been impressed with their foot speed at the skill positions offensively, and that's not even counting Joe Hamilton who I think is as good as there is in the country. Joe Hamilton has great touch on the ball. It's amazing how many really good deep balls he's thrown in the last two years. He knows where the cavities are on a defense."
