University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Player Quotes
September 22, 2001 | Football
Sept. 22, 2001
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"We came out and just left it on the field. It's a great feeling. It feels better once you see after the game the way the crowd was chanting and coming onto the field makes it that much more special.
"I like to be out there in times like that (on the field after the game). I want to enjoy it with the fans, the people we play for, the people who wanted this win probably even more than we did. It was just a great atmosphere out there today. Hopefully it can be like that every game.
On 53-yard TD pass to Kory Bailey:
"I just tried to make a play. Kory just broke wide open. I think his guy took his eyes off him to see where the ball was and he just broke wide open. It was a great job by Kory.
I thought we pretty much had the game in control. Once we got to 20 points - to give our defense something to work with. Our defense was tough to score on. I knew they weren't going to give up two scores, maybe one, but I pretty much the game was under control when we got 20 points."
Greatest moment as a UNC athlete?
"Of course. You grow up and you're a Florida State fan. You watch Florida State - that's the most publicized team in the nation. And just to play against them and beat them after losing for three years - getting blown out for three years - and returning the favor my senior year is a great feeling.
"I guess it was one of those days for them. Maybe the break hurt them a little bit. Hopefully this can be something we can build
"They're a great team. They have a lot of speed, just as they did in the past. We just played hard. We had a lot of preparation.
"On defense, we felt like we could dominate their offense from the first play of the game. We had studied them. We had seen their offense on film, and they weren't too complicated. We have the speed and the talent up front and in the secondary to go out and be aggressive and attack their offense the whole game. Everyone was just flying to the ball wanting to make a play.
"It really feels great to be on the other side of the stick this time. We've been there at their first home game and they really wanted to embarrass us and they just wanted to blow us out as bad as possible. We got a chance this time to really use the fan support and use the couple of extra days to our advantage and come out and play hard.
"I think we played great. Our whole emphasis today was to play our best game that we have this year. I think that's what we went out and did today.
On the pressure on the QB:
"If you look at the last three games, we've always been doing that. That's one thing we practice every day is getting back there to the quarterback. So we had to make him think quick."
On the crowd:
"They helped us out a lot. I loved it. I love it when they're ecstatic like that."
"It's great for us. We worked hard for it. A lot of people didn't expect this from it, a lot of people didn't think we were able to pull it off. We believe in ourselves as a team. In the locker room before the game we all thought we were going to win the game. That's what we came out and did. We just stayed behind each other and trusted each other.
"This is one of the biggest wins in the history of the program, if not the biggest. It's great for me to be a part of something like this.
"We've played well on defense the whole season. As a team, I think we finally put it together - offense and defense and special teams all together at one time. Today it all came together for us.a
"They couldn't do the things they usually do against us. It gets frustrating because their not used to being in a close game like that - in the regular-season and in the ACC - so we figured if we could keep it close with them, then maybe they'll start doing things their not used to doing.
"They've got a great team, but we were just the better team today."
