University of North Carolina Athletics
Quotes: North Carolina 23, NC State 9
November 18, 2006 | Football
Nov. 18, 2006
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NORTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH John Bunting
JB: Well, I'm really excited about the way we played today for our fans, for our players and for our coaching staff, who has suffered a lot. I told them it would still be a lot of fun and as you can guess and as you have seen, it was.
I'm really happy for them.
(on the Gatorade bath)
Cold...very, very cold and shocking at first. And it's always a little too
early for me. I'm a guy who wants to go down to 0:00.
It means a lot to beat State, to win the last home game, to beat State three years in a row. I showed our team earlier in the week that despite the fact the season might be going bad, it's still great to beat our big rival.
I showed them this morning how it's been the last couple of years before we came over on the busses. Chris Allen did a terrific job of putting together about six or seven minutes of clips of how happy it was (to beat State). It closed with last year, how excited they were about beating them. I knew it would be the same. I wanted our kids to have that taste of success again. They earned it today and this resilient group was deserving of feeling good about themselves for a few hours tonight, staff included.
(on not participating in the Old Well Walk today with his team)
I wanted the focus to be on the players. I decided not to participate in
that. I wanted it to be just on the players and the seniors in particular.
(on postgame handshake)
I wished him luck and he wished me luck. And he said he really meant it. I
said that I appreciated that. Chuck was one of the guys that gave me a call
after the announcement. Of course I wrote him back a note thanking him for
that.
(defense not giving up a touchdown)
That's great to go through a game without giving up a touchdown. Give Marvin
and the rest of the staff a lot of credit and the players kept playing. This
football team (NC State) ran for a lot of yards last week. Baker in
particular was hammering Clemson and we get after him pretty good today. I
was really pleased with the way we got after the running back, particularly
in the first half...Overall, what you love the most as a coach is the effort
they continue to give, never got down, kept playing and made some plays.
That was really helpful to us to get off to that great start. It gave our kids a lot of confidence and it was able to carry on to the entire game.
I give everybody credit. I give Joe Dailey credit for managing that team. Some seniors played their last game at home. I won't forget some of the locker room experiences that I just went through with guys like Jesse Holley, Melik Brown, Brian Rackley, Larry Edwards, those guys. It was an emotional locker room in there.
(Barth's kick)
That was great to see him smack that one through. He's had a tremendous year
all year. That thing came off his foot hard and high.
I got a great staff. There are some great coaches in that locker room of mine. Our players rallied. They wanted to keep playing. They like playing this great game of football. So I am going to give them all the credit. They deserve it. The circumstances are unfortunate, I hate it. But to the credit of the players and the coaches, they kept working.
(on getting carried off the field)
I wasn't very comfortable with doing that (laughs)...They tried to do it again
and I went into a fetal position on the field. It was like protestors
(laughs). They are great, great kids and I am just so happy for them.
UNC PLAYER QUOTES
Q: After the first quarter your offense only had about 150 yards, but you were able to give them something even when the offense didn't do a whole lot.
Barth: We played a complete game today. We haven't had a complete game all year. We've done well on offense and defense, but we haven't put it all together. We finally did today and it was awesome.
Q: That 54-yarder could have been longer than 54, could you talk about that kick?
Barth: As soon as it left my foot, I was like wow, that felt good. I looked and it was good by like 10 yards. It was a great kick and a career long for me. I'm just trying to help out the team as much as I could and it's just awesome.
Q: Someone said it was a high snap, was it high?
Barth: Yeah, it might have been a little inside. I had to wait a little bit, but I just uncorked it with my hips, and let it go. And when you have confidence, you usually make it every time.
Q: What's been the difference in your consistency from last year to this year?
Barth: Just knowing that every time I step onto the field, I know I can kick a field goal anytime I want and I can make it. Confidence-wise, just having that confidence that you will make it every time.
Q: How much have you been hearing from fans this week that you need to beat NC State?
Barth: You know it's the biggest game of the year; you always have bragging rights for a year. We've beat them every time I've been here. It's the greatest feeling in the world to come out there and just put everything together for the seniors and for Coach Bunting and the coaching staff.
Q: Could you talk about the rivalry with NC State?
Holley: This rivalry goes back a long time and it's real easy: they don't like us and we don't like them. You just don't lose to those guys in rivalries. That's basically what it is and you can take it for what it's worth. But you can throw everything aside when you go out there and play State. I don't care what the records are, what the weather is, you can throw it all to the side. You go out there and play to the last whistle.
Q: When Coach Bunting was on the guys shoulders at the end, can you tell me your thoughts and your emotions?
Holley: I had a bunch of mixed emotions you know. Carolina has been so good to me and I'm trying to hold my tears back, but Carolina has just been extremely good to me. They gave me a chance to do something I love and I just wish my grandmother could be here to see this game. I'm just happy for everybody, just really happy for everybody at this point in time.
Q: Are those tears of happiness?
Holley: It's everything man. You just take your time and look back to July '03 when I walked on this campus. And you never understand that until it happens that this enjoyment you get every Saturday will be over soon. I've had the opportunity to do a lot of things that most people couldn't do and when you look back on it now and you say this is the last time I'll be able to do this on this type of stage, it leaves you emotional. I'm just happy for everything that Carolina has done for me and I hope I've left my mark you know here at Carolina.
Q: Going into this game you only had two interceptions, today the team had three, can you explain the difference in this game?
Taylor: They had good pressure on the quarterback, we had great coverage, and we just forced them to throw bad throws and that's what they did. When he threw a bad throw, we just came up with the ball.
Q: Can you describe the locker room after the game?
Taylor: You know guys excited. We've just been waiting for that all year. We know we can play; we can play with anybody. We just had to come out and show everybody we can play.
Q: How much does it mean to get a win for your coach?
Taylor: It was good. We wanted this win, plus it was State, so you know how it goes, bragging rights. We just went out there and played our normal game.
Q: What was his reaction, what was he like after the game talking to you guys?
Taylor: You know he was having fun, he was a Carolina graduate and is an alumni. I mean he hates State, the State rivalry, and he just wanted this game.
Q: What were your thoughts on that last interception?
Taylor: You know I had a little streak here. I've been starting here a couple years and never had an interception for a touchdown. But once I got it, I told the boys if I ever get an interception and I'm on my feet, I'm going to try and take it to the house. I said we'd have a party out there. The guys were throwing great blocks, but I got tired, I'm not going to lie to you. I couldn't keep my feet.
NC STATE HEAD COACH CHUCK AMATO
Opening Statement: Well, there was the first quarter. Then there was the second quarter, which gave us a lot of life only down 10-0 the way North Carolina just got after us in their running game. I think the next three quarters they only had about 20 yards rushing. But you've got to score touchdowns; you've got to score touchdowns. You can't kick field goals all day long. We've got to score touchdowns. We had a 97-yard drive that got us three points to make it 10-3, and I think the next one went close to 90 yards and we go into half time 10-6 and we had the ball. The biggest emphasis was protect the football and don't have any foolish penalties. Then we run a double reverse and get big yards, and we get another on one and we had a opportunity and it came down to third down conversions and they weren't real good for the Wolfpack.
On why there were so many foolish penalties:
Why, you know what? I don't know. I don't know why. Because you know what? Nobody works on it more than we do. I don't know why especially at that point of the game when the game is right there, right there - I mean it's a 10-6 football game. It's a game that, I don't care how it looked, the score is 10-6."
On if he considered punting the ball on the late fourth down call:
Yes we did. We sure did. And all I could think about was two years ago over here and what difference does it make? Let's be aggressive and go after it. Obviously, a breakdown in protection. We had what - three turnovers in the fourth quarter, in the last eight minutes of the game possibly. But we felt like, "Let's take a shot and we can maybe get it going."
On knowing that this game means more to the fan base than any other: I said that on Monday. You're exactly right the way you worded that question.
On if this team can't win anymore: Not like it can't win - we haven't won a game since the Florida State. If you can't put the ball in the end zone, it's tough. It's tough.
On how you get the players back after a tough loss like this: We'll get our kids back. We'll get our kids back. We've got good kids. We'll get our kids back. We'll get our kids back.... We'll get `em back. We'll get `em back. Because you know what? They want to come back. That's the most important thing. They want to come back. They want to come back. You think they like what's going on? It crushes them.
