University of North Carolina Athletics
UNC Postgame Quotes
November 9, 2002 | Football
Nov. 9, 2002
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North Carolina Head Coach John Bunting
There's not much to say, except there are a few ballgames left. Today was a game I really thought we would win, but I say that all the time anyway.
We didn't make enough plays to get it done. We had a chance with a couple of big plays in the first half.
There were some better things that happened this week than have happened the previous two weeks, and that's a very, very small silver lining. That's what I'm going to grasp onto and hold onto. When I took this football program over, I knew it wouldn't be easy. I also didn't know it was going to be this hard, but at the same time, I have met challenges before in my life. I said this was going to be a real big one this year, and right now it's very frustrating to me, and I'm sure it's very frustrating to all the folks who support Carolina. I'm asking them to try to be patient and help me help this football program and this football team. And I thank them all for their support.
I think that the coaches, when we look at the videotape, are going to see a whole bunch of things we did well today. And there's a whole bunch of things we don't do well, we fail to do to win a football game like this.
On the final series of the first half:
We don't move the ball then. I thought we were in a two-minute drill. We work that two-minute drill every week, and I thought we would move it and we would go down and score. I felt good about that. And of course they complete a jump ball down there and it's a reversal of fortunes. We need to go out there and start the second half with a great defensive stand, and we kind of just give it to them - penalties and big plays now we're down. And now it's a tough ball game, a real tough ball game. What was a close ball game has turned into a real tough ballgame, and we've got to really make some big plays now.
You can talk about the young defense, (but) you've got some players out there on the offensive line playing too. Those guys are now under duress.
On Clemson QB Charlie Whitehurst:
He is a tremendous athlete. He's fast, he's quick, he made a lot of plays running the football against Duke last week. Do I think he's elusive? He's good enough to make plays running on the perimeter. We did not do a very good job on about two or three occasions getting him pulled up outside. We had pressure coming on the inside and he escapes to the outside. It's something that should not ever happen. If you pressure inside, the people that are responsible for guaranteeing containment don't get their job done, he's outside and it's a big play. That was a discipline error, on that one particular play. He is a talented guy, believe me.
On not winning a game at home:
It's about as tough as it gets - real, real bad. Real bad feeling. I don't know how to describe it any worse than that. I don't know how to come up with any words other than the worst that's ever been, than I've ever felt.
On Clemson big plays:
I'd say most of their big plays in the first half were just mistakes that we made as a team. The big plays they made in the second half I think were mostly contributed to by some penalties, they ran the ball obviously a lot more effectively in the second half, which is something we've seen happen before.
"Every time I get the ball I want to make a play. Part of the game plan was to get me the ball so I can make plays. It was our last home game, was a great choice, but the outcome was the opposite.
"I was too anxious to make the play on that third down drop. I picked my head up to see where the defenders were and dropped the ball."
"We were trying to be a little bit more physical and we ended up doing something stupid in committing penalties."
On the first quarter safety:
"It definitely got us off to a good start. We were motivated on defense to
go out there and stop them, stop the run number one. We ended up getting
beat and beat with passes, but we pretty much stopped the run at that
point."
"It's very frustrating, being a competitor and loving this game as much as I do. It's just the will to come back and do it all over again, realizing that we got another opportunity next week to play a great football team. And I think the opportunity next week is a very big one, because I think that if we can get through some of these mistakes that we have and win, I think it will erase some of the downfall we feel after this game.
"Disappointment, more than anything. The seniors especially. We haven't won a home game all year, not just for the team, but I feel like a lot of the guys feel disappointed for the fans, because we let them down. Basically our parents, the people who care about us most."
"Part of being a good team is learning how to overcome that and play well not only when things are going well, but when things are not going well. That's a step we need to take as a team.
"Just as before we were almost there. We put together some good drives and don't get it on third and an inch and fourth and an inch. Get some plays called back and we just continuously seem to be putting ourselves in a situation that is difficult to overcome.
"It would be tough to pick any one play and say that it was big, because unfortunately we have the habit of doing the same thing in numerous drives and that is defeating ourselves. Clemson is a good team and that's the thing, we don't get the luxury of having off weeks and playing bad teams. We play good teams every single week and we have a lot of respect for the teams we play.
"The biggest problems we have are stopping ourselves. We continuously, just one way or another, do it. I mean it's never the same person. We all seem to take turns making mistakes here and there and that causes us to just shut down when we should be moving forward."
"He (Sam Aiken) showed that his work ethics are amazing. His lifting, his running, he came a long way. They offered him a scholarship and named him captain. He has accomplished a lot here at NC and I'm proud of him.
"It's a sour taste. My whole senior year we don't win a game at home, that's frustrating for me. It's hard to deal with it, but I have to deal with it."
Clemson Head Coach Tommy Bowden
On getting the win:
It was the first time with five minutes to go that I could actually take the headset off and enjoy an afternoon. Some people get to do it and we have done it here before, but we haven't done it in about a year and a half.
On the team's mental preparation for the game:
I think we did a really good job of getting the team prepared mentally. You try to think of ways to motivate and prepare them to peak on Saturday. I saw our team prepared themselves well, I am really proud of our senior leadership and our players really responded. We played a conference team on the road and got a good win.
On the improvisation of Charlie Whitehurst:
We have a guy who can make plays. Sometimes he scrambled and made a play. A lot times plays break down. Eighty-85 plays in a game and not all of them will go like they are drawn up on the board. If they move when the ball is snapped and then have a guy scramble out and make plays its like having a great tailback take a four-yard run for 60 or 70 yards or having a wideout taking a five-yard hitch 60 or 70 yards.
On what the win means:
It means a lot to the team. They work extremely hard and to get a sixth win with two games to left against two real good opponents. The team wanted to win the game real bad. They practiced hard this week and came to the game prepared really well mentally.
On the balanced effort:
I thought our special teams played solid, I thought our defense played solid and offense solid too. It was our most balanced performance.
On getting two, 100-yard rushers in one game:
You have to credit our offensive line, tight ends included and full backs in that I-formation. Tommy Sharpe looked like he did a pretty productive job along with Gary Byrd, Greg Walker, William Henry, Cedric Johnson and all those guys.
