Wake Forest Athletics
Tuesday Football Press Conference Quotes
10/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 9, 2007
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. - Head Coach Jim Grobe
On balancing the excitement of this week with still being productive...
"That's the problem. On a short week, you worry about the mental mistakes that you might make. And I think when there's a lot of emotion involved, there's a great chance you'll make more mental mistakes. You want the guys to be excited. It's one of those games we don't have to say too many things about. But at the same time, we have to keep our feet on the ground and realize that a big part of having a chance to win will be executing assignments and not making too many mental mistakes."
On the short week of practice...
"We've called a lot of our friends to see how they handled the short week. You can't be as physical as you normally are. You just gotta really try and do as many things as you can mentally to get ready to play. It's tough on the players...without an off day, having to go right back in and work on Sunday. Typically, Sunday's our day off, but we had to go to work after a tough Duke game. It's tough on the players. It's tough on the coaches. The coaches were in at six o'clock in the morning on Sunday trying to get a game plan ready. So there's no real science to it, it's just a grind really to get ready for Thursday night."
On Florida State...
"I think they're much better [than last year.] They're not turning the ball over on offense, and I think that's the key for them. They're taking care of the football. Their defense has recovered from a lot of injuries they had last year. They're playing like the old Florida State defenses. And their kicking game is really good. So they're a top-25 team. I've thought that they were one of the better teams in the country. They had a tough loss to Clemson to open the season, but going to Clemson is no picnic. They're a really good football team. They're better than last year."
On the FSU defense...
"They're real aggressive. They're an attacking front. Some fronts like to read the offensive players; this is a defensive football team that's basically on the attack every snap. They're not reading and reacting; they're coming after you and reacting on the run. That always makes it tough to run the football. They're goal up front is to knock the offensive linemen back into the running backs, and they do a pretty good job of that."
On Matt Robinson...
"The ankle may be back at full speed and his knee's ok, but just the read and reaction things that he's gotta do are just not at full speed right now. And that's expected, he's missed an awful lot of time. We'd like to think that he can give us some quality snaps on Thursday night, but that's kind of up to Matt. We'll put him in the game and watch him and see how he plays. And if he's back, we'll certainly let him play a lot. But I have a feeling that he'll need some more game experience before he really feels like himself. Matt wanted to get in at the end of the Duke game. But we really hadn't seen the performance that we needed. I think he knew that. I think he was a little weary of being out there in crunch time because he wasn't really up to the standards that he sets for himself and that we set for our players. I think a big part is just to get him in early, watch him run around a little bit. If he's playing really, really well, he'll play a little bit more. But usually we use game-by-game performance to put kids on the field. With Matt Robinson, it'll probably be series-by-series."
On playing Thursday night...
"You want to play well. Certainly, it can be embarrassing if you go out and don't play up to your capabilities. In our first five games, we really haven't put it together. Offense, defense, and kicking game. We've played real hard. We've played with a lot of heart. But for us, playing good mentally is real important, especially in this game. Thursday night, I hope we go out and play as hard as we've been playing, but a big part of that is playing with our mind. Being able to think on our feet and go full speed and not make too many mental mistakes. We've been making too many mental mistakes to be a good football team."
On last year's game...
"I think it's big motivation. Every week, we're the defending champions. I tell some people, `we've got cobwebs on those trophies.' This is a new year. We have to play well to be a good football team. And not only are they using the ACC Champions as motivation, but going into their place and winning seemingly convincingly; 30-0 seems like a convincing win; it didn't feel like that going through the game. I'm sure their players are out for a little revenge, and their talking it up as a game that they need to get back at Wake Forest."
On the FSU quarterback situation...
"Athletically, we'll never face a better quarterback [than Xavier Lee]. He runs really well. He's got a real strong arm. He's a big kid. He's a powerful runner. He breaks tackles well. He's a guy that, sometimes the work thing you can do is to flush him out of the pocket and get him out in the open spaces where he's running with the football. So he presents a lot of problems for us. And that's the guy we're focusing on. We've seen film on Drew Weatherford. We had a chance to face both of them last year, but I think both of them are more mature and doing a better job than last year."
On FSU Head Coach Bobby Bowden...
"I love Coach Bowden. He's one of my favorite guys. He does some folksy kind of stuff from time-to-time. But he's a brilliant football guy. People don't realize. And he's still got resolve. You look at Coach Bowden and you kind of see a grandfatherly-type guy, but that's an old school football coach. He's a guy that's got a little twinkle in his eye, and you know the fire's still there. You don't win the number of games he's won without being pretty special. He's one of the great coaches today. Not just of all-time, but today. He's been doing the same things that have made him great in the past. They had some injury problems last year. They've had some unsettled things at quarterback. But this is a football coach who knows how to win."
On coaching into his late 70s like Coach Bowden...
"I'm trying to make it to 56 right now. What's really fun about coach Bowden is that he's still got the love of the game in his heart. He's still got that spirit that you need to be in coaching. I think Coach (Joe) Paterno's the same way. They love what they're doing. They love kids. They love coaching. They like competition. They're still able to go compete. That's the whole deal. Your age doesn't matter if in your heart you love what you're doing and you still got that competitive spirit."
On what last year's win meant to legitimize the program...
"I hope Wake Forest is here to stay. We've got to prove that we're here to stay. When you're playing a program like Florida State that's been great for a really long time, there's no comparison over what they've done over the past 20-30 years and what we've accomplished. We're just kind of on the cutting edge of being a good football program, and we hope we can continue to be a good football program. But we have to prove that. That's not anything that we've done. I think last year gave us a lot of confidence and made us feel really good about ourselves. But we still have to play every Saturday to prove to people we're a good football team."
On defending the FSU offense...
"I think you got to pick your spots. The problem you have with their wide receivers is that there's no difference between zone coverage and man coverage. No matter how you slice it, you're going to be one-on-one with your cornerbacks on those wide receivers. So you've got to bring some pressure. At times if you bring pressure and you flush Xavier Lee, then you're in more trouble than you were when he was in the pocket. But I think if you let him sit and have a lot of time, you have problems too. The key is to try to mix up your coverages, try to mix up your pressures, try to keep them off-balance and never forget that they have a running back back there who can really hurt you if you don't pay attention to the running game. A mobile quarterback gives everyone problems and we're no different."
On defensive strategy...
"I think it'll be situations. If we get them in the situation where we think they have to throw the football, maybe we need to have more defensive backs on the field. They do a nice job with draws and screens, things that make you be careful about being too aggressive. Even in your nickel packages, when you might bring more pressure and play more man coverage, they've got some man-beaters in their offensive scheme. This is a team that's got a lot of things in their offensive plan. What we have to do is try to pick our spots when we're in base defenses and when we're in nickel coverages."
Senior wide receiver Kenneth Moore
On this week...
"It's pretty big for us. We started out 0-2. Nobody wants to start that way after having a season like last year. We wanted to turn it around. Three in a row so far. I'm not really trying to think about going 8-0. So I'm going four in a row right now. If we come ready to play, we should be alright."
On the short week...
"Yeah, short turnaround. It's different. First time ever practicing on Sunday. I'm kind of mixed up right now. It's alright. It's different. I think the coaches did a great job with it. We're practicing well and getting ready for Thursday."
On the atmosphere...
"I'm excited. I know it's going to be one of the greatest atmospheres ever at Groves Stadium. It's Thursday night, sold out, national TV. We got a big team coming in. Number 21 in the country. It doesn't get better than that. Hopefully the weather's nice, and it'll be a great atmosphere."
On being the "only game in town"...
"Everybody's going to be watching. All eyes are on you. You really want to go out there and make a big statement and show that we're a great team."
On whether FSU will be looking for payback...
"Of course. Anytime a team beats you like that, especially by a team like Wake Forest. They'll come ready to play. They're 4-1 and a great team. They'll just try to come in and beat up on us."
On the FSU defense...
"The defense is real good. Explosive. Fast. A lot of speed. The front four is real aggressive. We execute and do what we need to do we should be alright."
Senior defensive end Matt Robinson
On playing again...
"I got in a few snaps last week. Knocked the rust off a little bit. I feel a lot better this week. I feel like I'm at full speed now. I'm real excited about Thursday night."
On the most exciting thing about being back...
"You just can't simulate what it's like being in the game...the game speed, the intensity. The main thing I wanted to do was just get some reps in there and get used to being out there again. I think I did that. It was a little rough at first. But toward the end I got back used to it, and now I feel really comfortable going into this week."
On applying for the medical hardship...
"I applied for the medical. Supposedly, everything is in now. They said they're working on letting me know before the season's over whether I'll get that or not."
On how he's feeling...
"As far as this year, I came out Monday and really felt great. I haven't had any pain. I feel like I'm full speed now. So hopefully everything will go as planned."
On what he's picked up while injured on the sidelines...
"I picked up that it's not very fun watching. I tried to go watch film even when I knew I wasn't going to play. I'd try to pick up things on guys we were going against and let Jeremy Thompson, Anthony Davis, Aaron Curry know, just as far as tendencies that they have, their weaknesses. But that's about the extent of what I'd do when I wasn't playing. It just feels good again that I'm actually going to be able to apply that now that I can play and go out there and do it myself."
On the atmosphere...
I'm expecting a very good atmosphere. I don't know if we've had a game like this since I've been here. Thursday night. ESPN. National audience. Florida State coming in. And a very good Florida State team coming in. I think it's important that our crowd is very loud, and I know they will be. I'm not really worried about that. I'm just excited to come out of the gates again with the team behind the motorcycle."
On playing on Thursday night on national television...
"It's great exposure for the university. It's just another step for us to build our program to where we want it to be. We're still trying to build that persona where we're an elite program. And to do that you have to beat elite programs in front of a national audience. When it's crunch time, you have to show up. We have a really good Florida State team coming in. They have really improved. I've been watching film on them. They're really tough. We got our hands full. We just have to worry about ourselves this week in practice, get better and be ready Thursday night to get their A game."
On FSU quarterback Xavier Lee...
"He's a threat. We definitely have to get after him. Don't let him sit there in the pocket. And the thing is when you do get pressure, he'll take off on you. He's very versatile and it's going to be a tough test for us. Their line is very, very improved. They're tough and playing a lot tougher. We've got our hands full coming in here with these guys."
Senior running back Micah Andrews
On the quick turnaround this week...
"It's weird getting up Sunday night and going to practice and moving around a little bit. But I wasn't too sore. Some guys are a little bit banged up and behind, but they'll catch up as the week goes along."
On being the only game in the country...
"You can't ask for much more. Somebody asked me, `Is it special to play on Thursday night?' I said, `only if you win.' It could be the worst night of your life if you go out there and get destroyed on national TV."
On the running game...
"Ever-progressing. Josh and I are getting better every game. We're just lucky that we do have Kenny Moore to pick up some of the slack on some of the reverses. I think we've yet to tap as well as we're going to be. I don't think talent is any different than it's been the past couple of years."
On the FSU defense...
"Florida State, since I've been here, has been very consistent. Always great linebackers. They always close to the ball very fast. They got a great pass rush. Their blitz is amazing."
On how the FSU defense is better than last year...
"I believe they are better. Looking at them on film and looking at the stats, the most they've given up on the ground is 132 yards, and that was against Clemson. And I believe one of those runs was a reverse for about 30 yards. So you take that away and the rest of their opponents have gotten 100 or a little bit less."
On last year's win over FSU...
"It finally set the tone that there's no going back to being the dark ages of Wake Forest. It kind of solidified that we don't ever want to be like that again. We finally beat these guys after being real close the last couple of years. After making them fight deep into the fourth quarter. We finally feel that we've evened the playing field a little bit. I think that there's no going back."
On the FSU program...
"I don't think that there's anytime in America, especially not in the south, that you'll ever go up against Florida State and think that you're going to blow them out. Florida State is the entity in the south that is Florida State. They will always be the entity that is Florida State. You always have your work cut out for you when you see that you've got Florida State coming up next week. They still have great players. They will always have great players."
On FSU Head Coach Bobby Bowden...
"Bobby Bowden, around Tallahassee, is God. He's the President. He's the Mayor. Senator. Public Official. In Tallahassee, that's Bobby Bowden."
