University of North Carolina Athletics
John Bunting Press Conference Quotes
September 13, 2005 | Football
Sept. 13, 2005
Coach John Bunting Quotes, Sept. 13, 2005
"I'm really pleased with what our kids did relative to getting together right away, with Jesse Holley being the leader of that group, to raise money (for Hurricane Katrina victims). They come up with 3,500 dollars and that is absolutely terrific. It really shows what kind of kids we have in our program. I'm really excited we will be doing something in addition to that this weekend at the game. I'm hopeful that all of our fans will participate in a very big way. I'm really pleased here with what we have done with our football program and what the University is doing here this weekend.
"We've talked an awful lot about the game and there's not much more to say about Georgia Tech. Obviously it's one I want to put behind us and go on and learn from, which is something I told [the team] prior to the game. We have got to learn from this game and I'm hopeful that we did because there were so many opportunities to win and that is the next step for this football team. We're good enough to win. We've got to learn how to win again in situations like that. As I said after the game, you've got one, two situations like that, where you could win, you need to win them to be successful, to have a successful season. If you don't, you won't.
"But we are playing a team not in our conference that we have to be absolutely, totally, fully prepared for and then go out and play the way that we can play. Then we can compete with them and be in the game and possibly win if we play good football. (Wisconsin), as you know, has scored a thousand points here in the first two games. They have run for a thousand yards. (Wisconsin) is powerful up front. I can't think of a running back that we have played in my four years and one game here that is as good as (Wisconsin tailback Brian Calhoun). He's outstanding. Last year they were ranked fourth in the country. If you don't know this, they've beaten Ohio State four of the last six years. So they are pretty good.
"I don't want to scare anybody. I don't want to scare our players. But they're good and we are going to have to be at the top of our game. We have a game under our belt now and we should learn from what we did wrong and we should play better. That is my expectation - we should be near the top of our game when we play this outstanding football team when they come in here. We're going to need to do it and we're going to need all of our fans to get out there. That is going to become an advantage for us. We want to have a rabid crowd here on Saturday evening at 7:00. I want them at the Old Well Walk and I want them in the seats. I want us ready to go when we kickoff because I think that well be to our advantage."
On the release of the non-conference schedule through 2012:
"We are looking forward it. I can't tell you how happy I am about the scheduling. I think it's outstanding. I have been waiting for weeks to talk about it. I can't thank Dick Baddour and Larry Gallo (enough), and the Carolina following can be happier with what we've got. We've got a schedule that makes sense and we have marquee teams on the schedule. I think it is one that is very workable and that our players and fans will enjoy. With the way the ACC is, it just makes more sense."
On the scheduling philosophy:
"One, get it done and in place so we can tell recruits we're going to play in this unbelievable ACC and in addition we're going to go New Brunswick with a trip maybe into New York. We're going to go to South Florida with maybe a chance to play in Tampa Bay's Stadium. We're going to have a home and away with Colorado and Tennessee. These marquee games are important to sell recruits. So it's great for recruiting and makes sense for us to have a winning opportunity. That's how it was put together; that was our philosophy. Putting together a sensible schedule allows us to compete in the ACC and have opportunities to win in the non-conference games but at the same time challenge our program and go to places that have had great football traditions."
On the importance of having a night game after last year's big night game wins over Georgia Tech and Miami:
"I already mentioned that last Saturday down at Georgia Tech in the post-game with my players. This is when we like to play. This is our first home game, this is important to us. Yes, it's not the end of the season, it's only our second game, but it's an opportunity to play at home which is big to us. And it is at a time that we have had success with in the past. I already enjoyed putting together this week's itinerary and what we will be doing each minute of the day. I love already having that done and having that in my mind because we have already had success doing those same things. We are going to try and repeat everything we did last year. "
On what was different in those night games last year:
"It started with the fans, the atmosphere. Then it came to making some plays. Making some plays in that first half on special teams to get the game going. Coming up with some turnovers, some plays. Then it grew at halftime. We had success to start the second half. That is the world of college football. You need to be able to handle adversity in football and we seemed to be able to handle them better in those night games last year. If you look at the NC State game last year back and forth, ebb, flow, ebb, flow. Miami, that was a tight ballgame all the way, but our kids never tightened up. Our kids enjoyed that atmosphere."
On the performance Wisconsin has had in the first two weeks:
"I told the team last night when we left, Georgia Tech is over. We're done. Just like when we beat Miami last year, it was over Monday night. When we lost to Virginia Tech, a tough game, it was over Monday night. Now we have this incredible challenge with Wisconsin. I said, you haven't seen much tape on them because you haven't had the chance, but make sure you get in there and watch it."
