University of North Carolina Athletics
John Bunting Press Conference Quotes
October 5, 2004 | Football
Oct. 5, 2004
John Bunting Press Conference Quotes - October 5, 2004
"I'm really pleased with the way the team responded yesterday evening. I think our team has a tremendous resiliency about it and a lot of anxiousness to get back to work. That might be in part because they worked very hard in that game against Florida State. Our offense in particular really finished the game. I looked at a couple of snaps that I pulled out early in the game that show our offensive line and our fullback blocking extremely well, executing very well, making big plays and runs.
"Then I show a clip of the 70th play of the game when Jason Brown ... is downfield making a block on a screen. Jon Hamlett is outside blocking and kicking his guy out on the screen. The guys really fought, really finished, and I was really proud of their efforts. They played very well for the most part against (FSU's) fourth-ranked defense. It's the most yards North Carolina has ever gotten on Florida State. It's a shame we couldn't have made a couple more plays, put it in the end zone one or two times early on. But they really played hard, they gave tremendous effort and there was a lot of very good execution out there.
"Defensively, it's a game in which (FSU) is very talented, we all know that. Their quarterback (Wyatt Sexton) made a couple of very good throws, one in the red zone and one downfield, but they took a lot of shots at our corners. We had an interception off of one (by Lionell Green), we had three terrific plays by Jacoby Watkins getting the ball out or covering his guy in great position. And we have about nine or 10 plays which we'd love to have played better because they resulted in 200 yards and about 28 points, and 64 others where we played OK and gave up approximately 200 yards and 10 points. So what we have to do on defense is continue to try to get better, and that goes without saying. It's becoming increasingly more narrowed down as to what our problems are and our coaches are working hard with our players to get them corrected and our players are trying very hard. We need to keep that in mind as we go forward.
"I was very pleased (with special teams play), with the exception of the blocked punt, where we just had a total brain freeze on the play and got one blocked. Otherwise we played very well on special teams. We forced them to clip us or hit us from behind on coverages. I'm very proud of the efforts on the teams and really excited about the way Connor Barth kicked the ball. There were a lot of good things in that game, unfortunately not enough good things to win.
"We've got a big game coming up this weekend. It's a game that is round six on our schedule and just happens to be one of the best rivalries in the ACC. It's certainly one of the great rivalries in the state. It's a game I always looked forward to playing, and I look forward to coaching. I'm honored to now be a participant as a coach in this game for bragging rights. There's great pride on both sides of the ball. Their fans, our fans - it's a game that everybody looks forward to for the entire year. I've been waiting a year to play it again. It's something that sticks with you the rest of your life if you are a Tar Heel or a Wolfpacker.
"Beyond that, we're hopeful that we're healthy going into the game. We're waiting to see if Ronnie (McGill) practices today. I list him as questionable right now as to whether he'll practice today. I think he will practice some today and practice more tomorrow. That's our expectation. His status is no better than questionable at this point. So we'll continue to work with our other rotations. The three-back rotation that I've talked about so many different times has been effective for us because those guys (McGill, Jacque Lewis and Chad Scott) do different things. Right now we're missing one of those guys. We'd love to have him but we don't, and there's no certainty that we'll have him this week."
On NC State's top-ranked defense:
"(They are) very, very aggressive ... they are very aggressive with some of the blitzes and the dogs. They've got very fine cover people in the back end, so they are able to take some risks in the coverages, and they are doing a great job. They are very disruptive in the things that they do."
