University of North Carolina Athletics
Butch Davis Press Conference Quotes
November 5, 2007 | Football
Nov. 5, 2007
Opening Comments
Obviously it's a big week for our football program, it's certainly a big week in the state. Anytime that you are playing an in-state rival and certainly anybody in your own conference it adds to the drama, it adds to the anticipation of the game. NC State is playing extremely well right now with the three game winning streak. Defensively creating turnovers, had an excellent game against Miami. They forced them into just a horrible day throwing the ball. They got three interceptions and as we started to get into their video and their tapes last night one of the things that they are doing extremely well is the turnover margin. The three games that they've won they've never lost the turnover ratio for that particular game. They are protecting the football and their defense is creating turnovers. The quarterback is playing very, very efficient. I think the biggest difference from the beginning of the season, as with all new coaches staff is finding your identity.
Changing the quarterback with Daniel Evans, they've been much more efficient throwing the ball, getting big plays downfield. They've got a couple of wide receivers who have got a lot of speed. Certainly Blackmon is really dangerous, he may be the of all the opponents that we've faced from the standpoint of kickoff cover and punt cover presents one of the biggest challenges that we've got. Schematically, defensively there is some similarities between what we saw against Maryland. They are a very active defense. Almost rarely do you see them be stag, just line up this is the front this is the coverage. They really forced Miami into some bad situations because of the pressure that they put on them. So we'll have our hands full this week getting ready and getting prepared. I think our guys, the more that we can stay healthy, the more that the same guys can continually play the same positions week in and week out our expectations of them is that we should start playing better. Not having to juggle so much on special teams leaving some guys alone, same thing offensively and defensively. Getting our guys on the field all the time so that there is carry over game day experience. It should be interesting and exciting week.
On the strides the defense has made
I think fortunately for the most part the front seven has stayed, once we settled on guys they've stayed pretty healthy. I'm so thankful that Kentwan Balmer and Hilee (Taylor) and Aleric Mullins most of those guys have been solid, they've been there. There is some carry over learning about fits and schemes and support and gap responsibility and how to fit certain runs and who is responsible for support and who is responsible for turning a play back. And even for Quan (Sturdivant) and Bruce (Carter) there is a learning curve for those guys. They just didn't know, it wasn't that they weren't talented enough they just didn't know what they were supposed to do.
About adjusting to playing on the road
We had two really poor experiences with playing in South Florida and Wake Forest and we had a very positive experience going to play at Virginia Tech. I think that we played reasonably at times against East Carolina. We shot ourselves in the foot with some turnovers and some missed opportunities and stuff. You know you go on the road and you play. I think that we've been in a place that we know will be loud but we'll see about our preparation and we are playing with some confidence.
