Wake Forest Athletics
Football Weekly Press Conference Quotes
10/15/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 15, 2002
Wake Forest Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2002
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On beating Duke:
??It feels good, especially to get a win at home. Our players needed that, especially in the ACC. We did not do a good job last year at home. So far, we're a little bit better. We have a chance to be 3-0, but we're not but playing a little better at home.??
On playing at Clemson:
??It??ll be fun. Our guys have played pretty well on the road. I was very disappointed in the way we played against NC State. I thought we let NC State's crowd take us out of the game. We played well at Purdue, played well at Georgia Tech, and hopefully we can go down to Death Valley, and play well. I got a feeling they don't call it Death Valley for nothing.??
On comparison of Clemson with NC State:
??I think talent wise there is no question. I don??t think you'll find a more talented team than Clemson. Of course, every team we look at in the Atlantic Coast Conference, I thought Georgia Tech was very talented and I thought NC State was a very talented. There are a bunch of teams at the top of the league that are very, very talented. You don??t find very many weaknesses. [Clemson is] leading the ACC in total defense, their offense has as many good skill kids as anybody in the league, and they have great special teams, with great return guys that can really hurt you. They are really a football team that you can??t find any weaknesses.??
On Clemson:
??The thing that has hurt us all year long, not so much in the last couple of games, is big plays. They really have some big play guys. They have running backs that can go the distance, they have receivers that can go the distance, and they have quarterbacks that put the ball where it needs to be. There??s no question defensively we've got our work cut out for us?KThey have a huge advantage [with the receivers]. Not only are they tall but they??re really fast. They have the ability to outrun you, and in a jump ball situation they have a good advantage. It's going to be a problem for our guys. Our guys have to play really good technique football. We have to cut them off at the pass, so we don??t get in a foot race with those guys.??
On improvements in the team:
??I think we??re playing better. Kicking game wise, our kickers are kicking better, and that??s a big part. I haven??t been real pleased with our cover teams, although this past week against Duke, we did that pretty well, we covered kicks pretty well. And our punter and kicker are now becoming more consistent. I??m pleased with that. Offensively and defensively, we??re continuing to take the ball away, defensively, and offensively we??re continuing to take care of the ball. I think we??re doing the things that good teams do, I think we just need to do them a little more consistently to be a good team.??
On James MacPherson:
??He needs to be good this week, no question. Really in the last couple of games, we??ve had some balls that could have been intercepted, but their guys just didn??t catch them. I think James needs to be smart where he puts the football. He needs to realize luck will run out if you keep throwing it to the wrong colored jersey, but he??s done a pretty good job making smart decisions. He needs to continue to do that, and hopefully, complete passes at a high percentage rate. It really hurts our running game, if we??re not able to complete a high percentage of our passes, so hopefully the two will complement each other at Clemson.??
On the defense scoring:
??It??s not anything you ever count on. You're hoping that you can force turnovers, and you hope that you can do some things that will cause the other teams to make mistakes, but you never count on turning into points by the defense. You think if they turn it over on their side of the 50, then maybe our offense can get us in the end zone. To have back-to-back scores by the defense was huge against Duke, and its really the one thing that kept us in the game in the first half.??
On playing in a loud environment:
??We have some experience in doing that. NC State has been the toughest environment we??ve been in, but I thought that Purdue and Georgia Tech were both pretty tough environments to be in. Everybody tells me that Clemson??s the toughest, maybe other than Florida State, but it??s one of the toughest places to play. I think we have a little experience in doing that. I don??t think that??s going to be the problem. I think the problem is, are we going to be able to play well enough to beat a good Clemson team?KI??ve been there as a player, never been to Death Valley as a coach. I??ve played there twice when I was at the University of Virginia, it wasn??t an easy place to play back then, and I??ve heard it??s gotten tougher.??
Junior Free Safety Quintin Williams
??I think we are where we want to be right now. It feels good to have four wins, it is a good start, especially since we are working towards a bowl game, we definitely need to keep winning three or four in a row and have a good season.??
About the first ACC home win:
??We think about it a lot. It makes a big difference and it is what hurt us last year. We won on the road but weren??t able to come here and defend our home turf. I think it was our goal this year to come out and try to protect our home a little bit better. Getting that first ACC win at home was just a positive step.??
On Death Valley:
??Its definitely a hard place to play. I started my first game my freshman year there and I couldn??t believe it. The fans were so loud, but I think its good now because we feed off of the crowd. We play better in those loud places and I think it is only going to help us. That place is loud and their fans are great, we can expect a big crowd around 80,000. It is just a good place to play college football.??
Senior Fullback Ovie Mughelli
On winning two in a row:
??It??s about time! We finally got two in a row. We??ve been going up and down, up and down for quite some time now. It??s good to finally have a streak going on with the home ACC win against Duke. We??ve been talking about it for awhile now, about defending our own turf. After last year when our home record was not that good, we wanted to come out to Groves Stadium and protect it, and we made progress with that with the ACC win against Duke.??
On playing at Clemson:
??Clemson is loud, it is very loud. I went my freshman year when we beat them and I was there two years ago. It??s always a fun place to play down there because I??m playing in front of my home crowd and I plan on doing the best I can and in order to do that I??ll feed off of the crowd. Just hearing all the fans out there gets us pumped up. They may be cheering for the other team, but we thrive off of that. We just need to go down there and be successful and show them what Deacon ball is all about.??
