Wake Forest Athletics
Football Weekly Press Conference Quotes
9/17/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 17, 2002
Wake Forest Football
Weekly Press Conference
Tuesday, Sept. 17, 2002
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On the team??s mentality:
??I think our guys understand that it??s a long season and that we??re playing good people every week. You??ve got to do things that winners do in order to win football games, and if you don??t, its not going to be a very good result. We don??t have anybody on our schedule that we can take for granted. I think that??s what our kids learned last year, and I think they understand that this year. I just think we lost to a very good football team.??
On bouncing back after loss:
??We came back together last (Monday) night, and you couldn??t tell that the kids were real concerned about having lost. You could tell that they were not very happy, but they were motivated to play another football game. That??s generally what winners do, they don??t dwell too long on the past and get ready for the next game. I think that??s our kids are doing that right now, hopefully that??s a lesson we learned from last season.??
On quarterback situation:
??James [MacPherson] is our quarterback. We felt like we needed to get Cory [Randolph] some snaps. Early in the game, we hoped that he could get us in the end zone, but later in the game it was a matter of getting him enough snaps to get him some experience. I think he certainly has some ability, but I think right now, James is our guy.??
On Montique Sharpe and Jason Anderson (injuries):
??We hope to get Montique [Sharpe] closer to full speed for the Purdue game. Certainly right now, he??s not a full speed guy, or at least at NC State he wasn??t, hopefully he??ll be closer to that when we go to Purdue. I think with Jason [Anderson], he??s going to be week-to-week, but I would say very doubtful for this week.??
On turnovers:
??Its very important. The other night, certainly the one turnover that we had when James got hit, we were running the boot [leg], and he didn??t even see the defensive end until the ball was on the ground. That was big, not only in terms of winning and losing, but the momentum swing there was huge. You just have to take care of the football, if you don??t do that you??re in trouble. One thing that our defense has to do is step up and force more turnovers. We had the ball in our hands three or four times the other night, and didn??t take advantage of it. I think that??s going to be real important for us, not only to take care of it but to take it away.??
What concerns him about Purdue:
??Their size. They are physical football team. They do a nice job of running and throwing the ball to keep you off balance on offense and defense. They??ve always done a nice job with the kicking game. They are a talented team.??
On Big Ten vs. ACC:
??Big Ten plays great football, they??re known for their football. We know going up there is going to be a challenge, we have our work cut out for us. It would be great for us to beat them if its for the ACC or us.??
Senior Offensive Tackle Tim Bennett
Coming off a loss- what??s the team mentality against Purdue?
??We all know that we need to go out and work hard. Everybody just needs to execute a little more, play together a little more. We are ready to go. We just need to have a good week at practice and get ready to go.??
On team preparation:
??Definitely, each and every week we go out there and we are ready to win. Actually, we could have been working a little harder, the attitude is great, the team is very close. There is a high confidence level right now. Each and every week, I??m impressed that we come back and work harder and get ready to go the following Saturday.??
On Purdue:
??Purdue is a good team, pretty tough, pretty physical. Their defense does some tricky things, moves around a lot, so we are going to have to play a good game Saturday.??
Junior Linebacker Dion Williams
On going out of conference:
??It could be a little boost for us because when you lose a conference game it is very tough. We will be going out of conference and playing the Big Ten, and it will give us that needed push for our next conference game.??
On improvments:
??Defense has to execute better, pressure the quarterback and play good tight coverage. If we do that, we should come away with a victory. They can??t win if they don??t score, so defense just has to play better. Coaches just want us to play hard and execute the plays that are called, and if you do that everything will fall into place. We do what we are supposed to do, and hopefully it will fall into place.??
On Purdue:
??I don??t know too much at all except for what I??ve seen on film. I??ve never really watched Purdue, but that??s a great thing about playing non-conference schools is the excitement of playing a team that you really don??t know too much about. So all you can do is study them on film and try to learn as much as possible and expect the best from your players.??
