University of North Carolina Athletics
North Carolina Postgame Quotes vs. Miami, Nov. 14, 2009
November 14, 2009 | Football
Nov. 14, 2009
Recap |
Final Stats |
Notes |
Photo Gallery 1 
|
Photo Gallery 2
North Carolina Head Coach Butch Davis
"I guess if you coach a lifetime, you see just about everything. It was one of the biggest up-and-down, roller coaster football games I've ever seen. You've got to give Miami an awful lot of credit, they are a very gifted, very talented and very well-coached football team. And they never quit. We kept trying to put it away, put it away, trying to get a lead and they kept battling, getting back in and they proved how explosive and how dangerous they were.
"Clearly, the major story of the entire night had to be the big plays on the interceptions. We've been very fortunate. We've got some kids in the secondary that are very talented athletes. Not only can they play the ball well in the air, but clearly they can catch the football. And tonight, (the interceptions) couldn't have come at a bigger time. Kendric Burney made some just phenomenal plays. Our pressure early in the ballgame was very good.
"One of the things that we had seen them do when the pressure got on them in some of the other games, they started to do an awful lot of max protections. Play-action passes, keep one of the tight ends in, keep one of the backs in, some six, seven-man protections, sometimes even eight, and run two-receiver routes. And they've got two really big, explosive wide receivers like they've got, that still gives them a chance to make some plays down the field.
"I was very proud of our offense. We moved the ball from time to time, not clearly with the efficiency...but we kind of expected how hard it was going to be. They're pretty good on defense. We knew it was going to be a little bit of a tough contest from that standpoint. But at the end of the ball game, to be able to eat up over five minutes of the clock, make them burn up two of their timeouts and put some points on the board. We would have loved to score a touchdown, but three got it to nine and that was good enough."
On the defensive line getting pressure on the QB:
"It's been one of the strengths of our football program. We've got a good defensive line, we've got eight guys who we try to rotate and get in the ballgame. If you don't get pressure on Jacory (Harris), you see how dangerous he is. He throws the ball extremely well. The early pressure that created the turnovers was unbelievably instrumental in the win today.
On Kendric Burney's interception at the end of the second quarter:
"Momentum at halftime, going into the locker room is unbelievably important. You may still be leading, but if they leave the field with a real positive feel...there's always hope for the next half. Stopping them and getting the interception, it certainly helped us...it obviously flipped the momentum back in our favor."
On making adjustments:
"Life teaches you lessons. I think this football team, in the Thursday night game vs. Florida State, learned a really big lesson about trying to finish ballgames. About how important it is to play all 60 minutes, no matter what the score is at halftime
On becoming bowl eligible:
"It's a huge step for this football program. The goal and objective every single year is to get better as the season goes on. No matter what cards are dealt to you, you want to be better, you want to build on the momentum. There's been some unbelievable things happen in this program over the last 30 months. Facility improvements, recruiting improvements, the jam-packed stadium improvement, everything that is going to be done in the future (to the stadium), going to a bowl game last year...that's how you do it. You get momentum, you get a wave of enthusiasm going, and you ride it, and you keep doing it."
On the fumble on the long interception return:
"I didn't think there was any chance it was going to be reversed. (Burney) got tired, pitched it to Melvin (Williams), and Kendric said Melvin's eyes got real big. That's a play that playmakers make. You see it every day in the NFL. (Burney) looked around and I think he actually saw someone he didn't want to pitch it to. That's what made him start to bobble it. Then he pitched it to Melvin and Melvin got tired. They were all mad because they had to go out and cover the kickoff and play defense again. But thank God for the points."
North Carolina Player Quotes
Tydreke Powell:
On UNC's defensive success over the past 3 games:
"Well we've just got to keep doing the same thing. We can't change anything. Our defense is real fast; there are not too many teams that can run away from our defense."
On thoughts about the FSU game creeping into the defense's mind during halftime: "We just knew we had to go out and finish. We just couldn't go out flat. We just had to get back out there and finish the game."
On the defense being so successful in getting the ball away from Miami: "Coach Davis always says that if we win the turnover battle, then we will win 99 percent of the time. So we knew we just had to come out and find the ball."
Kendric Burney
On having so much success against Jacory Harris:
"We new he was a great quarterback. We knew they had speed and a great passing attack that is one of the best in the ACC. We just prepared well and great things worked out for us."
On having a career day:
"First of all, you always got to give God the glory. You know, everything worked out well. In my life I have never had three picks. So it was big. You know, having my family on the sideline and it being senior day, it was just big."
On the interception/fumble to Melvin Williams:
"Getting the chance to give Melvin the ball, him being my roommate, that made me more happy than any of the picks and anything that I did today."
"Yeah, I actually did bobble the ball a little bit. The play before that, the interception where I scored, Melvin was asking me why I didn't pitch him the ball. So it was funny that I pitched it to him there, cause you know, he stood there for like a half of a second."
"But it all worked out well. Our defense played great football. Offense, special teams, in all aspects of the game we played great tonight."
On why the defense has been so successful:
"We brought the fun back into our defense."
T.J. Yates
On having Ryan Houston in the backfield in the fourth quarter:
"Especially late in the game, it is really difficult to tackle someone that big. He runs hard, but he is really shifty as well. He can make somebody miss and still get up the field. Just having that guy back there and going into a situation where we have to move the ball up the field and eat up the clock. It just gives everyone on the team confidence."
Miami Head Coach Randy Shannon
"Basically in a game like this you can't have four turnovers, and you can't have two touchdowns off those turnovers. It was a good game, we fought back and didn't quit, we kept going, but when you have four turnovers and two of those go for touchdowns it's going to be a long day. We had our shots, tried to get stops, tried to get field goals, but that's football. Just like I told those guys, we're all in this together, as a football team. If it's defense, if we had just pushed a little bit harder on those field goals and gotten a block, it would have been a different game. On special teams, if we had stayed on our blocks just a little bit longer, we could have broken one and scored a touchdown. It would have been a different ball game. So, as a football team we're all part of this loss. Just like I told them in the locker room, we're all in it together and we've got to stick together."
On the fumble on UNC's second defensive touchdown:
"I can't even get involved in it. To me it looked like he pitched it forward, but I can't get involved with it. I mean it's a game, one play shouldn't make a difference in a game. It is what it is. I can hype on that one play, but they had something like 63 plays. We could have made something happen on those other plays and it would have made a difference.
"It's a moot point right now. Officials are human, they have to go by what they see and you have to respect that. I think everyone in this conference does their job to the best of their ability. I have to respect him because at least he'll make a call. Some guys won't make a call."
On what he tells Jacory Harris after a game like this:
"We just have to go back to the books. Next week is Duke, and its senior day for the seniors. It's my third year with these seniors and those guys mean a lot to me, this program and this football team."
On coming back after four turnovers and still having a chance to win:
"That shows a lot of character from this football team. I'm disappointed that we lost, but I'm proud that we kept coming back. From when I started in this job until now, the mindset of our players is completely different. Our players, coaching staff, everyone is performing at a high level. There's just a few things we have to execute on offense, defense and special teams."
On preparations for running back Ryan Houston:
"We knew he was a big banger. I thought the first half and the third quarter we did a real good job on him. That one drive he was slamming it up and guys were bouncing off of him a little bit because they were taking a few chances. For the most part I thought the guys did a pretty good job. He's a tough running back, the guy that carries the load for him. That's probably what they'll do the rest of the year knowing Coach (Butch) Davis."
On biggest improvement since beginning of season:
"You can never count this team out. Besides that Virginia Tech game, all of our games have been close. We're always a team that will fight back in games. The more games we play the more we're going to learn."
