Tuesday Press Conference Quotes
11/13/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 13, 2007
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On NC State's confidence...
"In his league you have to be pretty good to win four in a row. I think with NC State, it causes them to gain a lot of confidence and I think that's the biggest thing when you've won a few games. We had won six in a row at one time and they've won four in a row right now, and I know that when that happens you're certainly playing pretty well. But the real advantage is that your kids have a lot of confidence."
On NC State's improvements...
"Well they have an awful lot of talent, they've always had a lot of talent but I think the new system was tough on those guys. Early in the year they weren't playing with a lot of confidence I would imagine. As you watch them through the season you see a lot of improvements. I think they've bought into what Tom and his assistant coaches are doing now. They're just playing the system, they're confident in it now and they've found out that they have some pretty good coaches and they're playing very well right now. So I think the biggest thing is just getting used to the system, starting to pick up the schemes on offense and defense, and then the kicking game."
On the difficulty of transitioning in a new system...
"Absolutely, no question, and they've done it in a very short amount of time. Usually it takes longer than that, unfortunately for the Deacs they're playing really well right now. It looks like somewhat of a seamless transition, although you know earlier in the year they struggled but now they look like they know what they're doing and they're doing it full speed."
On reviewing Saturday's film...
"We just ran into a buzz saw. We didn't play really well, and that's not to take anything away from Clemson, because Clemson played very well. I think Clemson might have played their best game of the year, and we certainly didn't play as well as we're capable--too many penalties, we shot ourselves in the foot too many times. We had opportunities to make plays but just didn't come up with them. We were close a few times which would have made it a lot closer than it was, but I think the bottom line is that we played a very good Clemson team and we didn't play well enough to give ourselves a chance."
On Clemson's creative offense...
"They did some very good things, and unfortunately two or three times we just turned guys completely lose, and that's typically not what we do. You might beat us, but typically we are in position to make plays and we were not in very good positions from time to time on Saturday. That is what is discouraging, they are a good enough football team to beat you just with their talent alone, but if you don't play very smart and turn people lose then it makes it 44-10."
On not replicating the first touchdown drive...
"I think we felt that when we did that we had a little formula, we were kind of mixing run and pass pretty well, throwing more on first down, and it felt like we had found a couple things that would work well for us. But I think penalties took us out a little bit and we just weren't being very consistent. We're a football team that can't afford to have bad plays, and we had too many bad plays on Saturday. We had some good ones, but we had too many bad plays that were mixed in with the good ones."
On the health of the offensive line...
"Not very good, we're not very good. We are going to have to ask some guys to play through some bumps and bruises. I don't expect that we'll get Joe Birdsong back, which is hurting us a little bit. What hurts us more than anything is the depth issue. It's not that we can't put five guys out on the field that we can win with but having enough quality depth guys that have been in the fire before that can go in and help you out. It's tough. We're playing against such good defensive football teams right now that lack of depth in the offensive line is a problem."
Zac Selmon, Senior Tight End
On rebounding from Clemson...
"Definitely a humbling experience, it kind of reminds us of the first two games of the season when we came out and fought hard but we came up short. The thing is we just have to bounce back and get back to what we were doing midway during the season. Right now we have to forget about the past, what we've done, and just worry about the next two games and just put all our focus on these two weeks and try to end this season out on the right note. Especially for however many seniors we have these are the last two weeks guaranteed that we have, so all of our focus is preparing more than we've ever prepared this week and kind of forgetting about what has happened and focusing on these next two games."
On Clemson being the best team they have played...
"All teams that we play are good, I think Clemson the thing that they did was capitalize on our mistakes. We made too many mistakes on offensive, and defensively we made tons of mistakes, and special teams it's probably one of the worst games we've had all year. So it's just on that day Clemson flat out beat us and you have to give Clemson a lot of credit but we just have to play better."
On blocking with a hurt offensive line...
"I think all of our tight ends John [Tereshinski], Ben Wooster and I take great pride in blocking, it's something we feel that we've developed and I think we've come a long way since we've been here. We take a lot of pride in that, and the offensive line is banged up so we'll try to step up and carry the load for the younger guys that come in."
On his last home game...
"It seems like time flew by so fast, I remember as a freshman on Senior Day thinking it will be forever until it's my Senior Day, but it flew by and it is a bittersweet moment but I look forward to Saturday and getting back on the field for the last time."
Stanley Arnoux, Junior Middle Linebacker
On recovering from Saturday...
"You have to look past it, you have to learn from it, and just take it in stride."
On Clemson being the best team they have played...
"They are a really well-coached team, and they have some fast players and good athletes, yes they are one of the best teams we have played this year."
On what he has learned...
"When you're playing a team like that you have to just stick to the fundamentals, they had a lot of different formations, a lot of different plays, trick plays, fast guys, C.J. Spiller is a pretty good athlete, and the quarterback played very well. You just have to learn to play fundamental football."
On slowing down NC State's momentum...
"They've won I think five straight games or something of that nature, they're a pretty good team coming in this week. Tom O'Brien has done a really good job with them, you just have to play basic football and stick to assignments."
On defensive improvements...
"As a defense we just have to tackle, we have to play the call that is called and communicate. That's the biggest thing that we have to do this week. Just talk before the play, don't be surprised. They're going to throw things at you that you're not expecting so just talk and get through it."
On what NC State will take from the Clemson game...
"For the last few games what they've been doing is working, running the ball and also throwing the ball well. I think they're going to stick to their game plan. Tom O'Brien has been doing it for a while now and it's actually working with NC State now, so I think they're going to stick to their game plan."
John Russell, Sophomore Defensive Lineman
On recovering from Clemson...
"You just have to get it in your mind that you have to move on, you look at the film, and you look at all the mistakes that we made, and you look at all the plays that could have been and should have been. All that kind of stuff is fine and dandy but we just have to play better and we know that as a team. I think especially after last night we watched the film, talked about it, and really felt like we could do a lot of things better, and we're a much better team than we showed Saturday. A lot of people didn't get to see that and it's our responsibility to go out and prove to them that we deserve to go to a bowl, and we deserve to win this last game for these seniors, and win a second state championship here in North Carolina. So there are a lot of goals for this game Saturday so I think we're going to recover just fine."
On playing a team with momentum...
"It's tough, it's very tough, and especially Coach O'Brien knowing that he has his team playing the best they've played all year. I said earlier that I was really surprised that they started off so slow because I know he's just done a great job wherever he's gone. They're playing great football now, he's got the kids believing and they have some talent. They have those two injured running backs [Toney] Baker and [Andre] Brown but the guy that stepped in from Naples, Florida (Jamelle Eugene) he's done a great job and he's really helped out by his offensive line which is definitely much improved over last year."
On the team morale...
"I actually could sense after the Virginia game that a lot of people were for lack of a better word heartbroken, you look at that kind of game, we had a lot of people playing hard but not playing smart. I think that some people's heads were still in Charlottesville when they should've been down in Clemson. Regardless, that's no excuse for how we played. But I think everyone is recovering really well this week I saw a lot of people bouncing around in shorts yesterday in practice and everyone is really focusing on films. We're getting some extra film work in this week to make sure that everyone is mentally aware and we don't have as many breakdowns as we did down in Clemson."
On NC State's improvements...
"I think a lot of it is confidence, I think it only takes one or two wins against some quality opponents to realize that you have it in you to be great. Looking at the players they have there, and the level of talent, they definitely have great potential and they're just starting to show it which is just going to make it even tougher on Saturday. Regardless of what's happening with the system you're starting to see how good of a coach he is, and he's got those guys believing."
