Wake Forest Athletics
Post Game Quotes
9/28/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 28, 2002
Recap?|? Final Stats?|? Notes
Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe "I think we're a good team that is competitive, but that we need to get some consistency. We need to be able to play at a high level every snap. Give Virginia credit. We didn't come out in the second have fired up enough. It was a dogfight from the first snap and they just outplayed us. It was two completely different halves of football."
"We just didn't get the big plays in the second half. Defensively we didn't defend the perimeter on long balls well enough."
"They did a nice job defensively. We didn't have as many touches in the second half, so that hurt our chances. I don't know if we played it over again if it would turn out any different. They had some nice throws to some big receivers and our corners are pretty small so for the most part I felt that they were in pretty good position, they were just smaller than the receivers."
"I told the kids to be mad about this and to know that we lost because we didn't make big plays. I told them that you can't win games by hoping and wishing. There's nothing we can do about it now except to get ready for Georgia Tech."
On the last illegal procedure penalty called on Wake Forest that negated Fabian Davis' catch: "We just weren't lined up right. Sometimes you make mistakes ... that one really hurt us."
WFU Defensive Lineman Calvin Pace "We shut down McMullen all game but others players stepped up and made big plays."
"We thought that we could come back in the second half and close it out, but we could not stop them."
"We stop the run, but we had no pressure on the pass plays and we didn't lock the ball down."
WFU Fullback Ovie Mughelli "If our offense runs the ball like it is capable of doing, no one can stop us."
"If we lost by a lot of points it would have been easier to chalk it up, but our players just didn't make big plays to close out the game."
WFU Wide Receiver Fabian Davis "They did the same thing the second half as they did the first, they just played a lot harder."
"Once I turned around I knew the flag was on me for not having enough men on the line."
WFU Quarterback James MacPherson "Their defense made a big play at a crucial point and that was the end of the game."
"They played hard to the last play, which we did not do, so we have to give credit to them for taking this win."
"I wish we could get back the last play we had on offense because I would have been able to get the guy who was open in the back of the end zone."
Virginia Head Coach Al Groh On team chemistry: "The team has a lot to be proud of, they stuck together, there's a lot of trust in the game. Offense had to trust the defense to get a stop. The defense had to trust the offense to get a score. There was a lot of trust between the team and the coaches to make the right decision. Overall there is a lot of trust and fighting with this team."
On the comeback: "Both offensive and defensive coaches did an amazing job. During half time they devised a new plan. They made a good adjustment from the first half and the second. There were amazing jobs by the defense and offense.
On quarterback Matt Schaub: "He developed a nice rhythm during the game. He's not one of those players that allows himself to become impressed with himself.
On each conference game: "They are all important. We want to get above the leader [Florida State]. And shown by the leader's loss the other night, it is possible. Anything can happen in this league."
Virginia Wide Receiver Ottowa Anderson "Thirty minutes is a lot of time. We had to remain focused, go out and put together a good second half. We were confident we still had a chance to win. We still have 8 more games. We cannot ever give up. No game is ever over. We got to play hard, so our results come out good."
"My performance let everyone know that we have more than one good player, and that defensive backs have to guard everyone."
We cannot sleep on any team. We have to go out and have good practices so we can be prepared for [Duke]."
Virginia Linebacker Darryl Blackstock "We have to start out games strong, so that we don't have to count on comebacks in the second half. We want to be in control from beginning to end. At halftime we came together and decided we wanted to put forth the effort to win the game."
Virginia Fullback Brandon Isaiah "The key was that we played good competition early and had our hearts tested. Tonight we had to stay strong as a team and keep fighting. The turning point was we got the ball in the second half and scored and we were able to keep our defense off the field. It felt good to play in front of my hometown fans."
Virginia Linebacker Angelo Crowell "We had two quick losses early, but we weren't frustrated because we knew things would turn around. Tonight was a well-needed win that took everything we had. It was nice playing in my hometown, but its still business. We had to raise our level of play. There was no real turning point, but we just kept fighting in the second half. The key was we had to start playing from the first minute of the game."
