University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - North Carolina vs. Maryland, Nov. 3, 2007
November 3, 2007 | Football
Nov. 3, 2007
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North Carolina Head Coach Butch Davis
Opening Comments:
Obviously it's great to win the game. I told the team in the locker room one of the things that I was very proud of was our perseverance, it's been a tough last two or three weeks. When you play a lot of close games and you try to find a lot of ways to win - Virginia Tech, South Carolina ball game then have an open week and then play poorly against Wake Forest - it would have been very easy for this football team to lose their enthusiasm. Maybe start to point fingers, start to doubt. When you go through adversity it shows an awful lot and tells an awful about the character of the team. I'm very appreciative of the effort that they put forth this week because it's not always easy to go out there Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and grind and be enthusiastic about it. Certainly the story of the day had to be defense. This is maybe the best defensive performance certainly that we've had from a standpoint of a lot of guys on defense really contributed. It certainly started with the defensive front four and all the guys that played on the defensive line. Almost every single possession somebody on the defensive line came up with a big play. Kentwan Balmer tackle behind the line of scrimmage, an Aleric Mullins sack, Hilee Taylor pressuring the quarterback, Greg Elleby down on the goal line. That was a big, big play. When the other team's got the ball at your five yard line a four or five yard loss is a huge play because it puts them off track and it puts them in a position where they have to settle for a field goal. I thought our secondary did a good job, Trimane's interception, Deunta Williams had a chance to get an interception. We made some breaks on the ball. There were times when there were some collisions right at the throw and we had a chance to knock some balls down.
It looked like early we had a lot of success running the ball, I think that we had close to 70 yards rushing in the first quarter. We didn't adjust as well as they did. They started blitzing, they started slanting the line, they changed their defensive alignment almost every other play. We didn't do as good of a job as we needed to do picking that stuff up.
We got a little bit of momentum in the second half with Anthony Elzy making some decent runs to try and eat up some clock. Hakeem (Nicks) continues to come up big for our football team, the touchdown catch was obviously huge. Every single catch he makes for this team is big. Special teams played a little bit better, Connor was Mr. Automatic again today on field goals those nine points were certainly huge.
On not kicking a 53-yarder in the second half:
When we kicked in pregame Connor felt like there was probably a five to eight yard going to the open end. We felt like going in that direction it was probably a 51, 52, possibly 53-yarder if you had to have it. Going to the closed end of the stadium it looked like it was probably 46, 47 yards. We didn't get the punt we would have liked, we were truly trying to coffin-corner, try and down it inside the 10-yard line and give them 90 yards to go.
On this week's practice:
Every single week they have gone out there and practiced very well. I thought the Wake Forest week we practiced very well, I thought the Wednesday practice before Wake Forest was one of the five best practices of the year. This week it was efficient, guys were moving around very good it was solid, there was no panic I thought our guys went out there and really focused on executing. Maryland is a good football team, they were one or two points away from winning a lot of ball games. I've got a lot of respect for their running game and their defense. We earned a good victory today.
On Maryland's last play:
We really kind of turned those guys (defensive line) loose and allowed them the freedom to just go ahead and rush. It had more to do with the coverage aspect, we took away a lot of the short, intermediate (passes) because it was fourth and two and we made them hold the ball, hold the ball. He looked to the sidelines, I think he thought maybe he had the receiver right on the boundary but with the pressure he put a little air under the ball and fortunately for us it went over the receiver's head.
North Carolina Player Quotes
Tailback Johnny White
On the loss last week:
"That was a big win for our team to bounce back after that hard loss last week and I think our team came back and responded well; hanging in there the whole game and never getting down. Just keeping our heads up and finishing strong and winning the game and doing what we need to do to win."
On starting this game:
"It was just based on how we practiced this week. Thursday we practiced pretty good so I found out that night."
On the offensive line:
"The offensive line just opened up holes in the middle and played hard-nosed football for us."
Quarterback T.J. Yates
On a slow start:
"We started a little slow, but we kept growing as the game went on. We got the momentum back, but it was cold out there and we had to get warmed up. It took a couple drives to get ready, but we finally got the running game going and started moving the ball down the field."
On getting confidence back from last week:
"You could tell a difference from last week. We just wanted to come out strong and get nice and hype for the game and it just took a little while for us to get started."
On the importance of this win going into the game against N.C. State next week:
"It's huge, we're going to try to run the table, but we got to take it one win at a time."
Defensive Tackle Kentwan Balmer
On getting a win on Homecoming and a tough defeat last week:
"It was a big win, Maryland is a great team, they coach well, they play hard, but we put it all together tonight--defense, offense, special teams. The offense was very efficient; they had the ball for a long time, giving us rest. It was an overall great win and no one deserves it more than we do."
On the last time he played Maryland:
"It was my sophomore year and they were here. It was back-to-back shots and on the second one I missed the tackle, we got bombed and it cost us the game in my opinion. So I came into this game not going to let my teammates down."
Maryland Head Coach Ralph Friedgen
Opening comments:
"Well, I don't know what I can say. It seems like a broken record to me. I think our kids played very courageously tonight, but we made a lot of mistakes, mistakes that kill drives. I've got to look at myself because when that's happening, we're not prepared like we need to be prepared. I didn't see that all week, I thought we practiced well all week. Guys were lining up in the backfield, we had poor communication on plays, calling wrong plays, wrong formations. We had some kids, like Bruce Campbell wasn't even supposed to play today, and he probably played half the game. Scott Burley hurt his other ankle and came back and played, and Henderson hurt his back...and he came back and played. Drew Robinson I think hurt his knee, he's probably got a serious knee injury, I don't know to what extent yet. I knew Carolina plays well at home, I knew this would be a tough game, and that's probably why our kids came back. They hung in there and fought. We just couldn't get the last 2 yards we needed to get a first down."
On the outlook for the rest of the season:
"I told our team that I think we're gonna have to win, if we're lucky, win two out of three to get to a bowl. More likely, we probably have to win 3 out of 3. I guess NC State beat Miami today, so that hurts Miami. A win today would have made a lot of teams at 5 and 4 and anything could have worked out. The best thing to do is not worry about the rest of the season, let's just worry about the next game and do our best to prepare for it and see what happens. We win that game, then we'll do the same thing for the next game and the following game. If we're fortunate enough to win those, then it will all take care of itself. It's difficult because I think the kids and the coaches put a lot into this, and not to see the fruits of your labor, we've had some very difficult losses this year that probably could have changed our season around, and this is another one that hurts quite a bit."
