Wake Forest Athletics
Tuesday Football Press Conference Quotes
10/18/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 18, 2005
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On the team:
"We're playing better. I like the way we've played the last three weeks. The problem is we're playing pretty good football teams. When you play pretty good football teams, no lead is ever big enough and you try to keep stressing that to the guys. Sometimes they have to learn it the hard way. I like the way our team's playing right now, and hopefully over the next four weeks, we'll be a better team each week."
On last two drives against Boston College:
"We were set to have our best defensive day in a long, long time. We had only given up, until about three minutes to go, about 250 yards, forced five turnovers and scored twice on defense for all intents and purposes - (Gattis') interception and Abbate's to the one, and had blocked a punt. That's a pretty good defensive day. Then we gave up a ton of yards and a couple scores late in the game, which kind of ruined a good defensive day. Offensively in first half, we had about 220 yards of total offense, which is a great half against a good defense. We didn't play very well in the entire second half, not just at the end of the game. I think both of the sides of the ball, we probably had a little bit of the feeling that we had won with 3:36 to go, and at the end not taking care of responsibilities like we should have."
On the team following the loss to Boston College:
"This is a football team that I've really grown to like and I don't get too upset with these guys. In our locker room after the game, if you could be in there and see our guys, everybody's upset, not just the coaches. The players were so upset; you don't need to say anything for them. I didn't hear a peep out of our football team from the time we got back to the locker room to the time we got back to campus. Everybody takes the loss hard on this football team."
On practice Monday night:
"There are always guys that bring us back up. Our practice last night was sharp and crisp. They made the coaches feel better. Usually the coaches have to pick the kids up, but this is a different group of guys. These guys came out last night with a lot of intensity and had a great first practice. This is a good football team. This is a team that is playing a really tough schedule right now, and we have a group of guys that like to play the game. It's fun for the coaches to have a group of players that you don't have to say much to to get going."
On Cory Randolph being injured:
"The first night, Ben (Mauk) took a majority of the reps. (Allan) Holland took some reps. They put you in that boot now, if you have any kind of foot or ankle injury you get the boot. It's pretty cool, looks like a ski boot and all the guys think it's pretty cool when you're walking around in a boot. We'll just see. Young guys heal in different paces. You never know how things are going to go. Cory played the entire second half with a sprained ankle and we'll see how it turns out."
On close losses:
"It piles up after a while. Every game that you lose close, there's a bounce here or a bounce there, and sometimes it's more luck than just playing good or playing bad. The thing that I think our guys need to understand is that we're a good football team. We're playing really, really good teams right now. If we're in a lot of other leagues, we would have a good record right now."
On late game situations:
"I think primarily we're not good enough. You hate to say that, but good teams play good down the stretch. Teams that win generally win close games late. You never know whether you played really tough for three and a half quarters and the good team just decided, hey it's time to win, we're the better team. I think we're a pretty good football team but we're playing really good teams. Anytime you get late in the fourth quarter, that's what we've always wanted, a chance to win. That's not enough, because we're there all the time; we're just not winning our share. I think it's a matter of maturing and, honestly, becoming a better football team."
On NC State:
"It doesn't take two seconds to realize they're a very talented football team. This is just one of those leagues that everybody is pretty good. There isn't anybody with no talent in this league. There are no gimmies. You have to play every Saturday; it's a really talented, well-coached football team that's coming to town this weekend. Like us, they've played a really tough schedule."
On playing close games with NC State and the rivalry:
"We seem to be doing that with a lot of people. State is one of them. A lot of the kids that play for them, our guys either competed against them in high school or played with them on the same team. Our kids know their kids and that always makes for a good rivalry."
On this week's game:
"For us, we just need to win. Bottom line. No talk about any pie in the sky or any great things down the road. Our football team is a team that works pretty hard and plays pretty hard on Saturday, and we're close to being a real good football team. I think we're a pretty good football team that's playing a really tough schedule. Hopefully before the end of the season, we're going to get our share of wins and feel like we've improved every week since we've been playing this season."
Senior quarterback Cory Randolph
On the team's season:
"We had a good win at Clemson, but we're still 2-5, we have another chance this weekend to restart our season against NC State."
On his ankle injury:
"I have a high ankle sprain which occurred in the last minutes of the third quarter. We're doing a lot of treatment right now, and I should be able to go by Saturday."
On how the injury affects his play:
"I can still run, and I can still do my normal drop back and my normal throws. The only thing it (the high ankle sprain) has affected is my cuts."
On NC State:
"(NC State's) front seven is physical and fast. Their secondary has a lot of speed. We're going to go right at them and try to not let that speed affect us."
Junior free safety Josh Gattis
On the season:
"This team is going through a struggling time of the season right now. We have got to come together right now, in all aspects of the game."
On playing NC State:
"This game means a lot. I have a passion to play NC State. We always have a big rivalry versus State. They're a competitive team, and they bring a lot to the table every week. It is going to be a dog fight. We're two teams who have both struggled, but we are two teams with bowl hopes for the future."
On the Boston College game:
"We played a great game Saturday until the last three minutes of the game. Once we got up by nine, everybody seemed to sit back on their heels. We had a lot of quarterback pressure and were getting our hands on the ball until the last three minutes. We need to learn from that. We have to play the whole game."
On how to do that:
"We need to continue to mature each week and not make the same mistakes each week. Once we mature, I think that will help answer the problems we have late in the games and with close games."
Sophomore defensive end Matt Robinson
On this week facing NC State:
"It's kind of a desperate situation for both of us. Both teams have their backs up against the wall. Both teams have got to have this win to save their seasons. It's going to be a dogfight out there. I think the game is close to being sold out. It's going to be loud and there's going to be a lot of passion. We can't get too emotional or we'll lose our head. We have to limit our mental mistakes. We had some mental mistakes during the Boston College game especially during the end on defense and some players out of positions and things that we've done all season the right way. The thing this week is that we can't get so emotional that we lose our head and are not in position and I think if we do that and we play our position and have a lot of passion that we'll be really successful."
On midterm week:
"We've all have been through this before, this is my third year and it's midterm week and it's tough. You just have to take it one step at a time and balance it. You can't put football over school and you can't put school over football. You get in, you study and you watch film. It's long hours everyday and it's something you get used to. That's something you come to expect when you play college football."
On the Boston College game:
"Well, I really think that was a whole team loss. The defense played great and we turned them over until the last three and a half minutes and we really let it down. The offense they played great. They controlled the ball. We had some turnovers that we kicked field goals. So both sides of the ball did things well and both sides of the ball did things bad. It was a whole team loss. That's how we take it every week. We don't point fingers, nobody on the team calls people out. I think everyone has to take it personally to getting better this week in practice and worry about how they can get better themselves and I think that will make us better as a team."
On the close games hinging on critical plays:
"It seems like it's the same story every year, and it's just so close. When it comes to winning, it just comes down to making plays. We had opportunities in (the Boston College game). We really had a chance to get a good win and we didn't do it. We got to be in the right positions, everyone on the field, and when we get that chance we really got to capitalize. And it a tough lesson that we're learning right now. And eventually things are going to start turning our way, but we're running out of time real fast. So we got to make it happen this week."
Freshman placekicker Sam Swank
On the season and how it's lived up to expectations:
"In my first year playing collegiate football, the environment is what I expected - the big stadiums, and definitely the players are a lot bigger. Other than that it has been pretty good."
On making a pressure kick at Boston College:
"I knew it was going to come down to that. So I tried to relax on the sideline, and once I stepped on the field I felt really good. Plackemeier said, 'alright Swank, we're going to make this and we're going to win this game.' I trusted him and I knew he was going to give me the snap down and I just went through it and it split the uprights. Unfortunately, it didn't give us what we needed in the end."
On Ryan Plackemeier and if kickers are really separate from the rest of the team:
"We kind of are. We have no one else to hang out with during practice. But I really got to know Ryan this year. He's a great guy, a great punter, as you all know. He's really dependable on field goal and holding. I really trust him."
On realizing the importance of the kicker in close games:
"I was trying to prepare mentally during the summer. Last year, we had a huge number of close games, and I knew that was going to be a factor during this season. So I just tried to prepare mentally and physically as well as I could. Right now I'm just trying to do what I can for this team."
