Wake Forest Athletics
Football Weekly Press Conference Quotes
10/8/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 8, 2002
Wake Forest Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Oct. 8, 2002
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On the improvement of the kicking game:
??It was a real tough crowd at Georgia Tech, but we were fine. Plackemeier punted the ball pretty well, except for the last punt - he didn??t do real well on that. But other than that we??ve got a kicking game, and we??ve improved because of that.??
??If we play well every week, we have a chance to win. We??ve been inconsistent in the past in our kicking game and also have given up big plays on defense. Even on offense, we??ve stutter at times, so hopefully we can continue to improve throughout the year.??
??As long as we come through on big plays I think we are going to be okay. We have a really big challenge this week. Duke??s doing a really good job of running the football. Hopefully we can eliminate some of the big plays that we??ve been giving up.??
On getting a win at home:
??Obviously it??s very important for us to defend our home turf on Saturday. Winning is very important whether your at home or on the road and I??d like to get to that point where our guys don??t see the difference between playing at home or on the road. We??ve been very close at winning on the home just like we have been on the road. For our fans and our families, I??d like to get to the point where we win consistently at home, especially for the kids. It??s so important to our kids when we win at home.??
On leading the nation in turnover margin:
??We stressed turnovers a lot during August and have emphasized it a lot throughout the season. The defense knows that it??s their job to take the ball away from the offense and our offense realizes that if they turn the ball over then they aren??t going to be playing for us. So it??s real important that we don??t deal on those. We??ve been fortunate. We could have a lot more turnovers than we have right now. Obviously the ball??s bounced our way on offense and defense and I hope it continues that way the last half of the season.??
Junior Linebacker Jamaal Argrow
On the team??s confidence:
??We are pretty confident right now. It was a big win at Georgia Tech. We've been going win-loss-win-loss. We are going to have to work real hard the rest of this season to beat the good teams.??
On the Duke game:
??Well, the past couple of years its been a close game. Duke has always played us well, and we have always had to battle them, there or at home.??
On getting a win at home:
??It would mean a lot right now. We haven??t won a home ACC game yet, and it would be great to get the fans out there to support us. It??s another ACC team and we just want to go out there and get a win. It's going to be a good game for us this weekend. It??s better to be at home. You go away and all of the fans are yelling and screaming, but at home it is the most important. You have to play well at home and bring in a win.??
Senior Running Back Tarence Williams
On returning from injury:
??It feels great to be back. I??m happy I??m back, and the team is happy I??m back. I mean, I??ve been back for awhile, but not at where I want be. I feel like I??m finally 100 percent right now.??
On the win at Georgia Tech:
??We needed that win, and with the close losses we??ve had, it feels great. We played Tech which is a hard, tough team, and it was a tough game. It makes a lot of difference going into the next game 3-3, instead of 2-4. The team has a lot of confidence right now, and we want to win, especially at home more.??
On Duke:
??Duke is a tough team, I??ve played against them for the past three years. It??s going to be a big game. Every time we play against them it??s a hard game, especially since it is within the ACC. We just have got to go out there with a lot of confidence and defend our home turf. We??ve got a lot to play for.??
