University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes
August 31, 2008 | Football
Aug. 31, 2008
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North Carolina Head Coach Butch Davis
A great deal of tonight's credit has to go to McNeese State. They played better than us in a lot of phases. The only place they didn't play as well in was with Brandon Tate. Brandon had a phenomenal game. He played extraordinarily well on offense. He played extremely well on special teams. We talked about it going into the season. He is a special guy. The Chicago Bears have Devin Hester and every time he touches the field, he has a chance to change the complexion of a ballgame. We've talked to our team, when he walks on that field, we need to do everything we can to give him a chance to be as successful as possible.
We've clearly got to play better. We didn't accomplish very much offensively or defensively. We didn't establish anything. We have been slightly hardheaded. In retrospect, some of the big plays we got in the passing game were things that were there and they were there because of the nature of which they were playing defense.
They were playing a lot of eight-man front, trying to give you bad plays in the running game and they succeeded. We kept trying to be hardheaded in establishing the run and get some momentum in the beginning of the season. Certainly it's a coaches responsibility, it's my responsibility as a head coach to make sure we execute and we play better. We were very fortunate.
I told our players a couple of weeks ago it's the media's job, it's the alumni's job, it's the fans job to deal with predictions and expectations. It's the coaches' job and the players' job to deal with reality. You have to look yourself in the face tonight and find out what it's going to take to play much better next week.
On Brandon Tate
Brandon Tate could probably play for every team I've coached for the last 34 years. He is a great kid. You love the way he approaches it. There's a lot of guys who don't like to return kicks and punts. He is electrifying. He makes guys miss. You need guys like that that can change field position and change the complexion of the game.
On the Rain Delay
The toughest thing was not really knowing the first 30-45 minutes how long the delay was going to be. We took it like it was a halftime. We tried to make some adjustments. Then we found out it was going to be extensive and exhaustive so we told them to just go to their locker, sit down, put their iPods back on and pretend like it's pregame. It's no excuse, because both teams had to deal with it. To say that we came out flat after being up 14-0 would be a little bit of a cop out because they had to do the same thing.
On trying to establish the run
We wanted so much to establish the running game. Let's try to be balanced. Let's try not to go out there and throw the ball all the time even if they are in some eight-man fronts. They gave us enough bad plays that it put us behind schedule. They played well. Some of the plays that we did in the second half when we started throwing the ball better and it opened the running game. I think Shaun certainly benefited from the fact that we started completing the ball on the perimeter.
On T.J. Yates
I think he came out of the game totally healthy. He made some big throws down the field. The play that he made to Hakeem that set up the touchdown, that was a gigantic throw. It was probably as good a deep throw as he's had in the two years I've been here. I think he was probably a little nervous today. He made have put a little undue pressure on himself. a
North Carolina Player Quotes
Greg Little
On Brandon Tate
"He stepped up and kept us in the game; and that's the way a senior leader has to play. He just played unbelievable."
On Tate's 397 yards
"That's stepping up to the plate and that's playing big. I mean, that's record numbers. When you come out and play like that, sky's the limit. He can do it anytime when he touches the ball and I felt like he made the most of every opportunity he had."
On the rain delay
"We don't want to use an excuse for the delay. They had the same rain delay that we had and I felt like we just got to come out the same way we left off. We've got to come out in that same emotional way, as excited as we were when we started the game, and we've got to come back out that same way."
Brandon Tate
On getting tackled to short the ACC record
"I just saw the goal line and the dude just made a great tackle, hit my feet, and then my feet collided with the other one. My eyes got real big, but when he hit my feet I just crumbled over; I was mad."
On Coach's reaction after the game
"He gave me the game ball for all the plays I made and he congratulated me in front of the whole team."
On the offense
"We came out kind of flat, but Coach told me that every chance I get to make a play, go out there and make it. On the first punt return I almost ran that one back. So, I told my teammates, you just do your job and I'll run one back; and that's what happened."
T.J. Yates
On his pass to Hakeem Nicks
"It was long. I just dropped back - I had all day back there - and just let Hakeem run back by that safety and he make a great play catching the ball."
On Brandon Tate's performance
"Unbelievable; absolutely unbelievable. He did it all. He ran the ball, kick returned, caught the ball; he did pretty much anything. I don't know what he didn't do. Throw a pass, but he probably could have if we let him do it. He's one of the main reasons why we won this game because we struggled a little bit. He gave special teams a big spark along with our offense. He did a great job."
McNeese State Head Coach Matt Viator
"I'm proud of our kids. I'll tell you what, there are a lot of guys out here who played really hard, extremely hard. I thought the biggest keys to the game were field position, and we got tortured on field position. We never get any field position all night. I thought that, plus their big plays...I mean 87 (Brandon Tate) is, I don't know, it seemed like he made all the plays. Offensively, we just didn't make enough plays. I felt like we had guys who were open and you know, so close. We just didn't make enough plays, but hey, our kids played hard, and we're proud of them. They just played hard. They kept battling, and I'm very proud of them...our kids have a lot of confidence to go get more. I just felt our kids competed hard."
