UNC-Rutgers Quotes
September 2, 2006 | Football
Sept. 2, 2006
Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery
UNC Head Coach John Bunting
"Real excited about how the way our crowd was. Best Old Well Walk we've ever
had. Six, seven thousand people there and I'm really disappointed that we
disappointed them. It just hurts. I can't tell you how bad it hurts. Give
Rutgers an awful lot of credit. I was giving them credit before they came
down here, but I tell you what, this (UNC's) defense did not play well, but
give Rutgers credit. They ran the ball right down our throats. Right where
we ended the season last year against Virginia Tech and it disgusts me. I
told the defense, I told the team, I told our defensive captain Larry
Edwards just that. It will be a long, long season if we don't play better
run defense that that. Enough said about that. I'll talk to you briefly
about how well I thought our quarterback played, how well I thought some of
our young receivers played. If there are any doubts the young guys and how
they can do things, they should for the most part be answered at this point.
"I've been talking about not waiting to make things happen and change the culture, it starts with you and a lot of guys went out there and busted their humps and made plays. The quarterbacks, receivers, offensive line did a good job. At times we ran the ball very effectively ourselves.
"When you get into a game where you struggle stopping the run, when you occasionally get that third and long situation, you need to make a play. And we failed for the most part. Jumping short routes in the flat, giving up a corner route for a first down on third and 10 is a disgrace. I'm really disappointed in the way we played and disappointed in the way we coached. I'm hopeful. We need to go back to work and get this thing fixed. That is not the way to get started.
"The team that steam rolled in the second half last year (Virginia Tech) is coming to town. So we're going to see what the defense is all about. Offensively, I hope we continue to get better because I saw good things out there today. It's nice to be in the game, playing to win, like we were, considering the amount of yards that had been churned out by their running back, gaining over 200 yards. It's amazing we were even in the game. That's a credit to a lot of people working real hard and I am proud of that.
"It's easy. We were physically out-played and mentally we probably made a number of bad fits. We made adjustments at halftime to stop the bunch running attack. They can run it out, flip the ball outside and they can run the power or the lead draw back inside and we didn't do a good enough job even after we made the adjustment. I think sometimes what happens is, up front, people start trying to make the plays themselves, then you really start getting it taken to you. You start popping gaps or trying to over play something and not fitting the plays. It's real simple about run defense. It's hitting somebody in the lips and getting off the ball and controlling the gaps and letting the linebackers make plays as well as the safeties and we didn't do it.
"I did not get an explanation on that and I was getting ready to challenge on forward progress. They (the officials) said they were challenging it, so I don't have an explanation. All I know is what they said which is the play on the field stands. That's all I know.
"Never got a chance to play Cam [Sexton]. Our plan was to get him in the game but we had to get the right opportunity. Joe Dailey did a hell of a job.
"Real excited about how the way our crowd was. Best Old Well Walk we've ever had. Six, seven thousand people there and I'm really disappointed that we disappointed them. It just hurts. I can't tell you how bad it hurts. Give Rutgers an awful lot of credit.Never had the ball... they controlled the ball. We didn't make enough plays on defense. Didn't give him (Dailey) enough possession.
"Real excited about how the way our crowd was. Best Old Well Walk we've ever had. Six, seven thousand people there and I'm really disappointed that we disappointed them. It just hurts. I can't tell you how bad it hurts. Give Rutgers an awful lot of credit.I thought we did a terrific job scoring a touchdown under duress, trying to get a touchdown being down 21-10 with about eight minutes to go. Did a terrific job moving the ball. I'm proud of that offense doing what it did. Proud of us getting the three points late in the half.
"Real excited about how the way our crowd was. Best Old Well Walk we've ever had. Six, seven thousand people there and I'm really disappointed that we disappointed them. It just hurts. I can't tell you how bad it hurts. Give Rutgers an awful lot of credit.The glass is half-empty with the defense, but it is very, very half full with what I saw (on offense).
(on that last play)
Joe (Dailey) told me he just made a bad throw. He was man enough to admit
that on that play. We just have to make a better throw.
Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano
On getting a win to start off the season:
"I think it's good. There was excitement during the whole offseason- even though we had lost the last game. To come out in the open with a win- that buys you another week of excitement. That's really what it boils down to. It's tough, it feels good, but we'll get back to New Jersey and it's time to go to work- get ready for Illinois."
On Ray Rice's performance:
"Really good- I thought he did a great job. I think without a doubt North Carolina dedicated resources to take Brian Leonard out of the game. That was clear by what they were doing defensively and that's ok, when you have more than one weapon like we do- with Ray and I thought Mike [Teel] did well and our receivers did well. It's an attribute to our offensive line- they blocked their tails off. That's what good teams do. If we can keep doing that, then we'll be a good team."
On his defense:
"I felt the entire day we never got into a groove. I thought they played their guts out. I really thought they played hard, they played smart. We didn't tackle well and we just were a teeny bit off. We'll evaluate the tape and figure out. When you play as hard as they did- and I don't know how many turnovers, I think we got three of four turnovers- so, that's what you got to do. If people are going to move the ball on you as they did today at times, then you better come up with some turnovers and they did. Look- that was a tough out for them and they're a good football team so we had our hands full. You say we missed tackles but we say their running backs ran hard. We're going to face a bunch of good running backs all season long so we need to improve our tackling for sure."
On if Ray Rice is better than last year:
"Well I hope- he's seven months more mature, physically, emotionally. He's worked incredibly hard. You got to remember Ray comes in as a freshman, has success, but that first offseason is really where you cut your teeth. Those things we do in the offseason is tough stuff. I think it makes our guys tougher players as sophomores and freshmen and hopefully that's a glimpse of what we're going to see from Ray all year."
On Manny Collins:
"Doing a great job- he's a nickelback in our under coverage. Those guys are so valuable to you. He's a back up corner, but when he goes in there in nickel, he has such good feel for that undercoverage in the third down passing game, the two minute passing game- just little subtle things because he studies it and he really is a student of it. Those two interceptions, he just packed back inside when he felt the vertical clear and boom,-he picks it off. A freshman doesn't do that."
North Carolina Player Quotes vs. Rutgers, September 2, 2006
Jesse Holley on the first game loss
"They came down prepared and ready to play. This is game one, and we got to put it behind us and move on... We're pretty down right now, but in football, you got to have a short memory. The majority of guys will probably sit on this until the end of the day, maybe even on into Sunday, but once Monday comes, it's about V-Tech now. You got to put this game behind us. There's no rewind button."
Brooks Foster on first-game jitters
"I wanted to just come out and prove myself. I feel like I had a whole lot to prove, so that's what I wanted to do...They went away probably the second play I was in, after the catch, I knew I had confidence in myself, I knew I just wanted to get the ball."
Joe Dailey on the interception to end the final UNC drive
"It was a wide open route, it was a wide open route, as wide open as it could be, it was just an awful throw...Very frustrating. Guys pay a lot of money for me to be here, my scholarship costs just as much as everyone else's, and I feel like I have a duty to fulfill and to earn that scholarship, and I feel like I let down the state of Carolina as well as the program, and I'm going to do everything that I can to fix those problems."
Joe Dailey
"We're fully capable of executing, and I'm looking forward to that."
