University of North Carolina Athletics
Postgame Quotes - UNC vs. Georgia Tech
September 18, 2010 | Football
Sept. 18, 2010
North Carolina Head Coach Butch Davis:
“As I told the players in the locker room, I don't think I could be much prouder of the way they continue to compete, to practice, to play. Those kids are going out on that field and they're doing everything humanly possible that they can to help this football team get a win.
“(Georgia Tech) is a tough team to play against, not only from a talent standpoint, but from a schematic standpoint. There's a certain formula that you have to have to try to beat Georgia Tech. You go into the ballgame knowing that you're just going to have a limited number of possessions during the course of the game just because of the scheme and the style that they play, and a couple of things happened our way that we would have liked to have capitalized on. You've got to get some fourth-down stops, because they historically have gone for it on fourth down multiple times over the last three seasons and when you get those, it's almost like a turnover because there's not going to be a field position switch, you're going to be able to take the ball over at that point in time. Certainly one of the biggest was having a 24-17 lead. You get a stop, you get the ball, now if you can go down and make it more than a one-score ballgame it really enhances your opportunity to kind of make them play left-handed a little bit. It takes the ball out of the fullback some of the time, it makes them have to run the ball a little bit more, do some things they don't like to do. As long as they're staying in that comfort zone of a tie ballgame, slightly behind, a little bit of a lead, they can continue to operate business as usual.
“For some of the young kids – we played a couple of freshman defensive linemen today – the schemes that they use, it's learning, it's baptism under fire for those kids, and as the game went along we got a little bit better. You've got to tackle well against Georgia Tech, the ball's going to get pitched on the perimeter. You've got to play cut blocks, you've got to play chop blocks.
“There's nobody in our locker room and nobody in our football program that hates losing any worse than our coaches and our kids. But you've got to look for some of the positive things and some things the guys did. I thought offensively we got off to an outstanding start, we moved the ball, we scored points. We capitalized on some big play opportunities. Given the set of the things that you're dealing with I thought that we did a good job. Certainly would have loved to have won the football game but I can promise you tomorrow we're going to go back to work and we're going to work to try to get victory No. 1.”
UNC PLAYER QUOTES
Quan Sturdivant:
“It is for four quarters, we played good coming out of the second half but four quarters are hard to keep it up. We are improving, so we've just got to get better for next week playing Rutgers.”
“That's the whole thing, got to trust your teammates. Got to do your job, its assignment football so you've just got to do your job.”
“We've just got to go out there and compete and play our game.”
T.J. Yates
“We ran the ball very well, used different things, different formations, different looks. We've just got to keep it up.”
“We know playing a team like this we are going to get two or three less possessions than a normal game. We've got to make every single one count which is why those two turnovers (hurt). Defense did a good job getting us the ball back.”
“We handled it well, ran the ball much better…some of the sacks were coverage sacks because they did a good job covering our routes.”
“Just a couple plays that are going to turn a football game like this, a one score game. We've got to protect the ball.”
On Jhay Boyd:
“They were doing a good job putting two guys over him, really taking him out of the game. They did a good job with that. We have just as dangerous receivers on our offense so we were trying to work them.”
“I thought the first drive of the game we did a good job marching it down the field, changing the tempo, running the ball, had a deep one.”
Matt Merletti:
“One guy on defense slips up, it means a big play. We are just trying to play the best we can.”
Bruce Carter:
“I think Coach Davis does a great job of not letting it be a distraction. We've just got to be focused and tuned in on what we can do, that stuff is out of our hands so we have to move forward.”
“At halftime our coach came in and he just put emphasis on everybody's job, not to worry about everyone's else's.”
On the freshmen:
“I think they're doing a great job, any freshman coming in is going to be difficult to go out there and play. Just gotta keep playing the game. “
“You can get worn down because they don't punt on fourth down, so that's an extra down for them.”
“It's just like two-hours of inside run, that's all it is, very few passes, just straight run, run, run.”
Quinton Coples:
“Just going back to practice, get better and get back focused.”
“It's the same thing year in and year out, not going to see anything different. It's not hard to defend, it's more of a missed assignment thing. We get caught looking at the backfield when we are supposed to be watching our man.”
Georgia Tech Head Coach Paul Johnson:
“Wow, what a game. I thought that both teams played really hard. Hats off to North Carolina. I think their kids came out hard and really battled.
“The first half looked like nobody was going to stop anybody, and then in the second half the dreaded turnovers kind of reared their head and we were fortunate we got some points off of them. It wasn't always pretty, and we made some bad mistakes. I'm proud of our guys for competing. They played hard and they played like they wanted to win.
“Anytime you win I'm happy. It's hard to win. Anybody that takes winning for granted isn't very smart because it's hard to win. I don't think in my three years here we've ever had any easy wins. They're all hard.”
