Wake Forest Athletics
Caldwell Looks Ahead To Ranked Opponent
9/21/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 21, 1999
On Virginia:
"They're good. Year in, year out. (Playing them) gives you a real good
barometer of where you are and I think (it's the same) with NC State.
They're a good football team, they're consistent. We've got to win those
games."
On NC State:
"When you look at them from an offensive standpoint they're probably one of
the most difficult teams to prepare for because they do so many different
things and they do them so well. They're very tough to be able to zero in
on. They're a talented group, too, good running backs. The quarterback is
just a heck of a player. He just makes that offense go. The problems that
they give you in every facet make them a very tough team to prepare for.
Defensively they move around a lot. They do a lot of stunning and blitzing.
They're prone to creating problems for you offensively as well. Their
strength is probably the secondary. They have some real fine players back
there."
"If you blitz (Barnette) too much he makes plays. He's probably as effective when he moves and scrambles as he is standing in the pocket. That's where he's really dangerous... a great leader."
On the team's progress this year:
"Right now there isn't any phase (of our game) that we would consider that
we're doing well in at this point and time. We've got a lot of work to
do. We're a different football team than we've been in previous years.
Sometimes you have a little shift in terms of personnel so you have to be
able to adapt accordingly. We're not strictly a drop back team anymore like
we used to be. Number one, our talent lends us to more of a run-oriented
attack, but then also we just felt that throwing the ball as much as we
did, as often as we did, created more opportunity for turnovers, tipped
balls.. which caused interceptions. Errant throws and things like that that
kept us out of the endzone. If you run the ball you don't have that many
problems in those areas."
"We want to make certain that we have a strong running game. In the long run I think it's going to help us. I think we'll get better at it every week. We emphasize it because of the fact that we know unless we emphasize it strongly you're certainly not going to make the kind of headway you need to against the people we play."
"Mix it up - that's what we've got to do. What we've got to be able to do is just simply not be so one-dimensional. Early on here we've got to focus and make it go. We don't ever want it to be 71% pass and 29% run (again). They'll eat you alive. You'll never able to take control of the game. We had to move away from some of the things we had done previously. We're fighting for a run-oriented attitude. Once you can run the ball it makes a lot of things work for you."
On playing 5 of the next 6 games at home:
"We're happy to play at home. We're looking forward to it. We haven't
played in our stadium in such a long time. Anytime you can have a stretch
like that when you're playing at home it's a real plus for you."
