Wake Forest Athletics
Caldwell Discusses State Of The Deacons
11/9/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
On Ovie Mughelli's injury
"I think moreso than anything else, we've faced a couple of teams that we haven't been able to control completely on the line of scrimmage I think as much as anything. We have not been as effective as we are capable of being. We certainly miss him. He's a very fine player. But we had a group of guys that stepped in on Saturday and did a nice job."
On how teams defend the Deacons
"Teams have been playing us about the same since we played Rutgers. I think initially, they were kind of wait-and-see. They didn't probably think we were big and strong enough to handle them up front, and some of those kinds of things so a lot of people did not pack as many people around the football. Since Rutgers, we've seen a pretty steady diet of that."
On looking ahead
"They don't give you anything free these days. Just by talking about things, you don't get them. You've got to earn it. You could certainly ask a lot of questions about 'what ifs.' Those are the things that I'm trying not to concern myself with until we actually have accomplished something. We haven't done anything yet. This game is big. It's a very, very important ballgame for us."
On Duke
"They're a good team. They've got a lot of weapons and have been playing really good, strong football. They've probably had more close games than anybody in our conference - three overtimes, they played Tech (Georgia Tech) 38-31. Ever since the Florida State game, and even before that playing close, tight ball games. We've got a lot of work to do. It makes a really big difference when your offense is radically different from their offense. To duplicate what they do is very tough for us. We simply don't throw the ball nearly as much, therefore you have to lean upon your service teams a little bit more. When you have to do that, you certainly don't get the best look or as good a look as you'd like trying to emulate their speed and quickness and effectiveness within their passing system. It puts a lot of stress on you because they spread you out and do a lot of different things. They're very multiple. The biggest illusion they give to you is that they spread you out and you think that they won't run the ball at you. But they will. They'll run the ball at you as well. They have some backs that can run, and all it takes is a couple of real long runs that they can really give you some problems. They're a team that can score points."
On the running game
"I think overall when you look at our rushing totals, there is quite an improvement. That was one of the things we set out to do this year was to certainly run the ball with some effectiveness and I think we have been able to do thus so far. Obviously, this game is even more crucial to be able to accomplish that. Morgan (Kane) has had a good, steady year. He certainly has run the ball well and I think you're going to see him get back into stride again here shortly. There have been lot of teams that have been doing some things to him to take him away from us. They've been keying on him and particularly the last ballgame. They certainly were not going to let him carry the football, particularly on any sort of an outside play with the option. But yet Ben (Sankey) was able to get a substantial amount of yards. I just think moreso than anything else, we all feel good about what we've been able to do from a defensive standpoint and stopping the run. I think that running game helped our defense, too, and from an offensive standpoint running the ball, with time of possession and field position and those kinds of things. Those two things are the things we felt that if we concentrated on, it would able put us in position to be in every ballgame. As we look back and reflect upon, we have to look and see if we accomplished what we wanted to accomplish with this new change in philosophy. That's the real key. Our running game is a very, very important part of it."
