University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - UNC 42, ECU 17
October 2, 2010 | Football
Oct. 2, 2010
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North Carolina Coach Butch Davis
Opening Statement:
“Immediate reflections after the game, talking to players in the locker room, some of that is making a transition and trying to get a scope of what the other team is trying to do. You can't underestimate what East Carolina did because they got off to a hot start.
"One thing that you never get through film is the tempo, how fast they substitute, how fast they are at the line of scrimmage. They had us on our heels early but we were able to make some adjustments and our kids were able to have some success.
“The story of the game was our ability to run the football and not turn the ball over offensively. Certainly Da'Norris Searcy's interception came at a big time in the ball game. It really helped kind of spur on our defense. East Carolina really plays hard and Coach McNeill is a class man and a really good coach.
“I'm really proud of our kids and how hard they play, and each week it's a new challenge.”
On the offensive line:
“We really had to kind of ride on their back to be honest with you. We missed a few plays in the passing game but T.J. [Yates] had a really good passing day. At one point I think he was 12-of-14 so he got off to a really good start, but we missed some throws that could have been some really big plays. We never really got into any rhythm in the first half so what we talked about at halftime was that we wanted to get our offensive line and running backs some opportunities.”
On the defense:
“Whenever you have so many young guys on the field at important positions there is some growing up to do. They have to learn what to do and the good news is that our coaches are helping them at halftime and they are getting better every game.”
On Da'Norris Searcy returning:
“He is our number one returner on both punts and kickoffs. It was good to get Da'Norris back. He is confident, poised and he has been in some big games. We hope that role will continue to grow.”
North Carolina Player Quotes
Running Back Shaun Draughn
On success running the football:
"We have a couple of great running backs. [Butch Davis] has given us a good rotation. And the O-line, we started off kind of slow, but we got it going in the second half."
On wearing ECU's defense down:
"Over the summer, we just talked about winning in the fourth quarter. And I feel like Coach [Jeff] Connors said their conditioning was the same and they were going to try to out-run us, but we stuck in there and I think they wore down."
On UNC handing the ball to him on all eight plays of the final scoring drive:
"Oh yeah, you have to love that."
Quarterback T.J. Yates
On the offensive line wearing down ECU's defense in second half:
"Absolutely. At halftime we said we were going to stick to the game plan, and our game plan was to come in here and run the ball on them a whole lot. We just knew that could be a big strength for us coming into this game."
On the feeling among the team after bouncing back from an 0-2 start:
"We're pretty happy right now. We are getting guys back game-by-game. These guys are excited and energetic and ready for the next game."
On improvement overall in the past two games:
"We knew, in the first two games, if a couple plays go the other way, we would be talking a whole different story now. So we knew we weren't that far away and it gave our guys a lot of confidence."
Safety/Kick Returner Da'Norris Searcy
On getting to play for the first time in the 2010 season:
"[I had] tears of joy the whole pre-game. I was just out there crying and jumping around. I was just so glad to be back out there."
On the feeling of singing the alma mater with teammates after the game
"Just so excited. Like I said, I told everybody I cried all last night at the hotel, just because I'm so happy to be back with everybody."
East Carolina Coach Ruffin McNeill
Opening Statement:
"Just a quick synopsis of the game: Penalties hurt us. That's probably the only statement. We corrected it, thought we corrected it. We've just got to keep progressing on that. It put us in some tough situations and it was hard to climb out of that. We were minus three in the area of turnovers and two of the three turnovers were tipped balls, so some of those things can be adjusted as well. The third thing I would like to address is teaching the team to play the next play. We have a team that is young and very talented and they will make some mistakes in the journey and in the progress we have got going on. Learning to play the next play will be the next part of the journey and the area we will continue to improve. We will watch film and make corrections. We have a 24-hour rule, so we will watch film and prepare tomorrow night to get ready for Southern Miss next week in Hattiesburg."
On improvements needed to remedy second-half offensive struggles:
"The penalty situation. The same thing happened at Virginia Tech and we had some big penalties - and I've already told these kids, but we evaluate in the off weeks - but on the third-and-sevens and third-and-eights, our percentage of conversions is very high. But anything past that, which a couple of times came from the holding penalties, they are tough to make. I call them third and extras. They are very tough. So the penalties would be the first thing.
"The next thing is to keep developing. Those young guys need to believe in themselves. They want to win very badly. That part I'm not worried about. Playing the next play part. This is a team that has faced much adversity. I'm really remiss in not mentioning Butch and his staff right now, with the things he's got going on right now and the things he has had. The things he has done to hold the team together like he has and get them to play, my hat has to go off to him. I told him that after the football game. "
On rushing performance of UNC:
"I attribute it first to [Johnny White's] effort, and also the tackling. We've got to get better at it as a group and the defense. We gave up a touchdown on the interception and one of the tipped-ball turnovers gave UNC good field position and put them in a tough situation. That's 14 points."
Players Mentioned
