University of North Carolina Athletics
Al Groh Quotes
October 4, 2003 | Football
Oct. 4, 2003
Virginia Head Coach Al Groh
Oct. 4, 2003
Postgame quotes after 38-13 win over North Carolina
On his overall thoughts on the game
"I was happy for the players and pleased with the way we played. In the ACC road games are important, If you want to do anything in this conference, you have to win on the road. We got one now, we go into a real hard place to play next week, hopefully this will give us a little bit of momentum for that."
On the defense's play
"I think defensively, we felt very challenged. You know that's 36 points a game against three name teams. So we felt very challenged. With the particular way we wanted to play, I think the players got the message very well and executed very well."
On getting pressure on Darian Durant
"We changed our rush plan a little bit at the half. Some of the things we did in the first half, we changed the rush plan. This guy is a terrific quarterback. You know if it was anybody other than Darian, we probably would have had a lot more than we had, but he's got great escape ability, he's got a great competitive mentality. He was hard to pin up, but I thought our guys really did a good job."
On Matt Schaub and the offense's performance
"He obviously means so much to our team. This is a nice way to be able to play, to go 19 for 22 with that kind of efficiency and still be able to run the ball. In the last few weeks we have had to play every game differently and its nice to be able to play both ways if that is required.
On stopping the Tar Heels on the first drive of the second half
"We thought that's one of the critical things, to win on the road, that you half to do. When it is a closely contested game at the half on the road, you need to come out in the third quarter and try and establish yourself. Otherwise it just becomes a seesaw game, back and forth, and who knows what happens with those things. The advantages in that case it is often with the home team. That was a big challenge for us."
On Wali Lundy's play
"Wali is a grinder. He is a good kind of guy that you can feed it to a lot throughout the game. I've been impressed here, just in recent games, especially now that he has his legs back underneath him, I can see what he is capable of in terms of total carries in a game. He is a back that you can ride for the whole fourth quarter if that is the way the game goes."
