University of North Carolina Athletics
Torbush Excited To Be 1-0 After Season-Opening Win
September 5, 2000 | Football
Sept. 5, 2000
UNC head coach Carl Torbush met with the media Tuesday afternoon at the Kenan Football Center and had the following to say regarding Saturday's 30-9 win over Tulsa and this weekend's ACC opener with Wake Forest.
Torbush's opening remarks:
"After watching the film, we probably did not play as well as we thought we did the first three quarters, and we did not play as bad as I thought we did the last quarter.
It really balanced out. I do think it was important that we did the things that we were able to do. I thought the organization was good and the substitutions went well for the most part. We had no 25-second problems, which in the first game normally you do. So the organization between players, coaches and the sideline organization was very good. We had a couple of communication mess-ups late, the fake punt being one of them."
On the defense:
"I thought, overall, defensively we played very well. We gave up 19 yards rushing which is the least in a long time. I feel like, if we stay healthy and tackle well, we should be good against the run and hopefully make better plays against the pass. We had probably six opportunities for interceptions and we didn't make them."
"Overall defensively we played very consistent and made play after play. I thought early in the game we were like a boxer trying to get a feel for the opponent and after the first two series we played really well. I'm very proud where our defense started. They understand that we've got a long way to get to where we need to be. We made a lot of mistakes, but I thought we ran around well and that (Defensive Coordinator) Ken Browning did a really nice job of having the team prepared and calling a good game."
On the offense:
"Offensively, I'm excited about where we are at right now. We've got a long way to go, but I think a lot of the anticipation and the being unsure of Ronald Curry was laid to rest. I thought that everyone saw that he's completely well as far as his running ability. There's no question that a lot of his yards are because of his athleticism and being able to get outside the pocket and make some things happen. I thought for the first game, his decision making for three quarters was very, very good. I thought he adjusted well and had us in the right formations and basically did the things we needed him to do."
On the running game:
"They stunted six, seven or eight guys almost the entire game, and because of that it took some of our runs away. What it really did was take the tailback part of the game and make our fullbacks more successful as well as our passing game. Once we got outside the pocket we were able to complete some big plays."
On the kicking game:
"One area that I was really pleased with, even though we had a couple of problems late in the game, was the kicking game. Jeff Reed stepped forward and can be counted on, and he has a very strong leg. He kicked some field goals under some pressure situations."
"We've still got some competition between Lafferty and Ferguson (for punting duties). Lafferty hit two really nice punts, and if it wasn't for the two-yard punt on the fake punt, he probably would have averaged close to 50 yards a kick."
On Wake Forest:
"We're going to play a Wake Forest team that lost a lot of very experienced, key people from last year, but they've got some good athletes coming back. C.J. Leak was one of the highest recruited quarterbacks in the country, and now that he's got a game under his belt I think you'll see a lot of improvement in him this week. I think Coach (Jim) Caldwell and his staff have done a good job recruiting, it's just hard to replace as many seniors as they had. But they will be a lot better this week because of the experience they got last week."
"We know we've got a dangerous opponent because they lost (last week). This game is very important to us, our players understand that. It's our first game of the ACC and what we want to do is give ourselves a chance to compete in the ACC, and to do that we need to win."
