University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
October 13, 2007 | Football
Oct. 13, 2007
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North Carolina Head Coach Butch Davis Quotes
You hate to lose any game, particularly a game like this. The thing I told
the players in the locker room, one of things we have gone through so many
games, I'm extraordinarily proud of our team's effort. These kids play. They lay it on the line every single game and there's not one single kid that
walks back in that locker room that they don't leave everything they¹ve got
on the field. The game was a kind of tale of two cities. The first half we
struggled slowing them down, we were kind of out of sync and out of rhythm
defensively. Offensively we were behind the count all the time. For us to
play well against South Carolina we needed to stay ahead against the count,
against their defense. They're so good on pressuring you and you can¹t have
the penalties and the things where you are second down and 15, second down
and 20, first and 15. It's too hard to overcome as talented as their defense
is. I thought our coaches did a great job as the first half was starting to
wind down and through the halftime, making a few adjustments and trying to
find some things to give us a chance from a protection standpoint to give T.J.
the opportunity to stand in there and make some throws, but certainly to get
a little bit of the running game going.
The defense with Chuck Pagano. They may have had, clearly without question, their finest performance of the season. For you to win a game like that, a lot of times people think you win it offensively and you really probably don¹t. You win those kinds of games when you are down 21-3 like we were at halftime, you win those games with your defense. It just doesn't allow them to ever score again. That's the only way you are ever going to get a chance because you can't match score for score. Our defense just went out there and played extraordinarily well in the second half. But you can't miss opportunities and we missed so many opportunities in the course of the game. To beat a good football team you have to hit on some of those opportunities. You can't miss an extra point, you can't miss a field goal, you can't unfortunately have a drop in the end zone that would have been a touchdown. We had an opportunity earlier in the first halfŠWe missed on an opportunity for a big play to Brandon (Tate). It's a game of inches. Brandon laid out, he did everything he could to try to make that, but to win games like this you have to hit on some of those kids of plays.
The last play of the game was just an opportunity to have a jump ball in the end zone and hoping that either you catch the ball and come down in the end zone or if you can't the ball is tipped up and there are guys around the ball who can get the tip and score that way.
Greg Little, the catch that he scored on, he is just really some kind of excellent football player. His ability to run after the catch - he runs as determined and as physical as any receiver I think I have ever seen.
On the direct snaps:
We were looking for things hat maybe would give us an opportunity. When you
devise a game plan against South Carolina¹s defense you have to look long
and hard.
On close losses:
For this football team I hope they take it as encouragement. These kids are
fighting. They are giving great effort. I have been extraordinarily proud of
the way they have prepared every single week to play well. You can't go out
against the schedule and the teams that we have played over the last five
games and expect to do well if you don't prepare and play well. That's going
to hold true for the remainder of the season. For us to play well and win
games we've got to keep doing the same things.
North Carolina Player Quotes
Senior defensive lineman Hilee Taylor
On coming out flat in the first half:
"You know we came out in the second half all fired up, but we need to start that from the first play to the last play."
On the progression of the Tar Heels:
"No doubt, I have been here for a while. This team, you know, never gives up. From the last second we have the fans still here because we don't know the outcome of the game. I commend them and South Carolina is a great team, but we have a lot of pluses coming out of this game. This bye week is a great time to just look at ourselves and turn the second half of the season around."
Redshirt Freshman defensive back Kendric Burney
On the adjustments in the second half:
"In the first half we were just missing a couple of assignments and that came back to bite us in the butt. The second half we just all started doing are assignments and running out there and throwing the first punch in the second half. The defense stepped up and played well in the second half."
On letting the game get away and missed opportunities:
"A loss is never good for us, we are not just playing for that almost...we want that win. A couple missed assignments in the first half came back to beat us, but you know we never gave up and that's all you can expect in a football team."
Freshman wide receiver Greg Little
On playing tough teams in the last two home games:
"We just prepared to play well in practice, we practiced hard and watched tape. We prepared for the game well and we can see that we can run with the best. We can contend with any team in the nation."
On strong finishes to the last two games:
"Basically we know where we stand and where we should be. It lets us know how well of team we do have. I see that we are a young team and we just have to close out the games. Once we all pull it together the sky is the limit for us."
Red shirt Freshman quarterback T.J. Yates
On the absence of Brandon Tate in the second half:
"You know you can't replace a guy like Brandon or Hakeem. I thought Kenton and Greg Little did a great job of stepping in for Brandon Tate. Hakeem came back and his ankle was hurting him, but he fought through his pain and came back having an amazing second half."
On another close loss this season:
"Sometimes things go one way or the other, we just have to minimize the mistakes and turnovers. We have to come out and play fast; we sort of played catch-sup after they got out to a three-touchdown lead. We just have to come out strong and minimize all the mistakes."
South Carolina Head Coach Steve Spurrier Quotes
We held them to a couple of touchdowns there, and they missed an extra
point, so it ended up 21-16. They almost got the onside kick, and then
fortunately it bounced out of bounds, but it was a sad second half for South
Carolina, and I'm responsible for that putrid offense, so hopefully we can
somebody to block a little bit better and play a little bit better. We got
to where we were ahead 21-3 and our defense was playing well, so I'm calling
that conservative run, run crap, but even when we tried to throw we couldn't
hit anything either, and then their kid made a nice play on the pick. They
did a good job defensively in the second half, and fortunately I guess we
got 21 somehow in the first half, and that was the difference.
On a frustrating second half:
Yeah, but we won the game, we won the game. Our defense was playing well,
and you know we couldn't get a lot of passes off. Somehow our guards still
don't block worth a dang. It's hard calling plays. It's hard going back
there when the quarterback gets intentional grounding, it opens the gate on
him, and it's frustrating. We'll have a new guard somewhere in there. I
don't want to mention names, but, anyway, we did get three touchdowns, and
as it turned out, that was pretty good. 1 out of 12 third downs. We
couldn't make a 3rd and 1 to save our lives. They stopped us up front. We
can't budge people right now. Punted eight times, and won the game.
Frankly, if I was coaching at Duke and we had gone 1 for 12 on third downs
and punted 8 times, that wouldn't have worked. But, it is what it is, and
we won the game, and we're happy, and I'm happy. I didn't want to lose up
here, and I'm happy for the Dukies and for the South Carolina people, we're
all happy. I felt like I was coaching for both up them today... We won
somehow, we held on. North Carolina didn't play very well in the first half,
obviously. They had a lot of stumble-bumble plays around that gave us a
chance to get a good lead, but they pretty much kicked us in the second
half. Touchdowns instead of field goals I guess proved to be the difference
for us. North Carolina has got some big strong guys, and they got a chance to do really well.
