Wake Forest Athletics
Post Game Quotes
9/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 18, 2004
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Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe
On the game:
"It's good to have an opportunity to see some younger players get a chance to play. I thought going into the game we were in for a battle, and I think we were, I think when their quarterback got hurt that changed the face of the game. I thought that when we were up by 14, they got a couple of first downs and thrown some good passes on their sprint game, they were moving the football, I don't know how many people touched the ball on the interception but we got the tipped ball. When the kid got his shoulder knocked down on that series, I think they were scrambling and had to go to an inexperienced at quarterback and I thought he did well under the circumstances but that changed the face of the game."
On Micah Andrews:
"We wanted to get Micah some snaps. We think Micah's got a chance to be special for us. I think we have got three pretty good tailbacks right now. He had a great spring and a really great August. We didn't know if he could do it against live bullets, so it was nice to see Micah have a good game against some guys out to knock him around."
On playing Micah Andrews and Chris Barclay at the same time:
"We've done that before, not out of the I-formation, but we did that last year when we tried to run inside options, but this year we've used two tailbacks but with the split-back formation. We think Micah may get in the I-formation a little bit and run it inside. It helps us get two good runners in at the same time."
Wake Forest running back Micah Andrews
On the game:
"The line did a great job of moving the defense and I just ran. When I found out Cornelius Birgs wasn't going to play, I didn't change anything. I pride myself in going full speed all the time; I know that anyone could go down at anytime. I didn't have any change in my game plan. I just knew that I had a job to do."
On playing after a redshirt year:
"It helps a lot after being redshirted a year and not playing much. I hope this is a stepping stone. It was tough not to be able to travel and be there, but it's been real hard working back and I'm glad to be back. It was a lot of fun to go out and play."
Wake Forest defensive back Marcus McGruder
On the game tonight:
"Tonight was very fun. It's a lot more different feeling than losing. We were glad to come back and play at home and get us a win. We didn't know what to expect from A&T. Scoring a lot of points was not an issue for us. We wanted to go out and play our game and get a win."
On finding improvements:
"We will go back this week and re-evaluate the film. We still make mistakes. We always make some mistakes. We will look at the tape and fix what we can this week."
On his first ever college touchdown interception return:
"That was my first ever college touchdown. It felt really, really good. It was a long time coming."
Wake Forest defensive end Jyles Tucker
On opening the game with a good drive:
"We had to have a good drive in order to set a tone for the game. We let them know that we're out here to play too. We weren't going to take them very lightly, because we practiced real hard this week, like every week. There was no slouching in our game plan this week. Everybody practiced really hard and we were ready."
On his interception:
"I saw the ball bouncing in the air. I thought it was going to be incomplete. But then Zach Stukes, number 95, came down the line and hit the wide receiver and all of a sudden the ball just flew in the air and the ball came right up to me and I stuck my hand out and it stuck to my hand."
On the practice this past week:
"This was our best week of practice in the last few weeks. On the weeks before, we've come out sluggish. On the past Thursdays we've come out and gone through the motions. We had a good Thursday this week, and good Tuesday and Wednesday. This week we need to have another good week, and come out and be prepared against a very good Boston College team."
"The injury to QB definitely threw a different complexity on the game; it was not in the plans. But I'm proud of our kids for hanging in there. We're going to try and make some things happen and we're going to build from this. Still developing some guys on that side of the football. Discouraged? No, nor disappointed. We just still feel like we have some work to do."
"Our defense didn't step up to certain changes in the game. It showed the inexperience of our defense right now."
Q: Now that the game is over, do you have more respect for Wake Forest than before?
GS: "I still respect WFU, but still not intimidated. They have good football team and I guarantee that they will go a long way in the ACC this season."
Q: Is falling behind the worst thing at the start of the game?
GS: "Wake Forest were using my game plan, score a bunch of points early and control the offense. Any time you go on the road you want to get on the board quick and that just didn't happen."
"I think the kids fought well against a worthy opponent. As far as the level of play of WFU and being at this level of a D1-A team, this will carry over for us the rest of the season. We should be able to hold our own for the rest of the season."
"What did I think about Micah Andrews? I didn't really know that much about him before today, other than a solid football player, but he definitely made that obvious throughout the game."
"We're eager to play another Division I-A opponent... not this year but certainly next year. We've got some things to work on, but we're not that far away. Right now we do not have the necessary man power to play a D1 every week, but maybe in another year or so."
North Carolina A&T Players
Marshall Glenn, QB
Q: What happened with your injury?
MG: "It popped out but popped right back in, I thought I was the last one back so I thought I needed to make the tackle, but my arm just went with it. It's just stiff right now but after some ice it will be better."
Q: On the WFU defense?
MG: "I thought we were prepared for them, but we just couldn't execute. Not everyone was on the same page and we made a lot of mental mistakes."
Q: On the loss?
MG: "It's still early in the season. All losses hurt but we'll use this as a learning experience. It's a non-conference game that we obviously wanted to win but we'll learn from it."
Brian Moye, QB
Q: On how you played?
BM: "All of the quarterbacks were prepared for the game. There were a few butterflies when I came in, but I wasn't too nervous. Considering the circumstances, I think I played fairly well. I need to be a little more patient."
Rickie Lewis, DL
Q: On WFU running game?
RL: "They didn't look any different than they did on film, but they just out-executed us."
Q: On WFU success?
RL: "Again, they executed very well. We came to win, but it just didn't work out. They are a good team; we made a lot of mistakes. We gave them some gifts, but I take my hat off to them."
Q: On WFU overall game?
RL: "First, it was great playing in front of a crowd of this size. We'll use it as a learning experience and we'll be ready for Elon next week."
