Wake Forest Athletics
Tuesday Football Press Conference Quotes
11/18/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Nov. 18, 2008
Press Conference Video: Grobe | Belton | Skinner | Smith
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On Boston College...
"They're a tough football team. We've had some great battles against team. Both of us have won games in the fourth quarter so we expect a real challenge."
On being alive in the ACC Atlantic Division race...
"You're at the end of the year so you can't help but think about it. I wish we hadn't dropped the game at NC State. We had a great chance there. They are a good football team. We don't play any bad football teams. We have one of the tougher schedules in the country. Certainly, there are still possibilities. It's been a crazy year in college football so you don't know."
On how people should view the ACC...
"There's so many good teams in the Atlantic Coast Conference. We do get hammered a bit nationally because we don't have one marquee team. Top to bottom, this is a brutal league. If you look at strength of schedule, most of the teams in our league are playing demanding schedules."
On both Wake Forest and Boston College having good defenses...
"I think a couple of things will be very important. It will be important to take advantage of opportunities to put points on the board and take care of the football. That's always a key when you have two good defensive teams playing. It's imperative that the offense takes care of the football."
On if it's hard to believe that this is the last ACC game of the regular season...
"Early in the year, it was really slow. We had the early open dates and those were a nightmare. We were just killing time early in the season. The last part of the season has gone by really fast. The problem is you can't catch your breath. Every week it's the same thing. It's another really good football team. My players get tired of hearing me talk to them about it. Every time we get together on Monday night to talk about the next opponent there's nothing but good things to say about them. The season has gone by pretty quick toward the end, but we have a lot of work left to do in the last two games."
On the mobility of Boston College quarterback Chris Crane...
"For a bigger player, he's very agile and a very good athlete. It is unusual to see a guy of his size have the agility that he has and have the ability to make people miss tackles like he does. He's a strong guy. He powers through people. He has a little bit of a knack for slipping tackles and making you miss, but he's also hard to bring down."
Senior fullback Rich Belton
On coming into your last ACC game...
"It seems like everything just started yesterday. A lot of guys were talking in the locker room just saying it's been a long road, we remember back to our freshman year when we were just moving into our dorms and now it is our last ACC home game. It just seems like time flew by since we got through our redshirt year."
On the different things you have been asked to as a fullback...
"I just try to do what I am asked to the best of my ability. I feel like our fullbacks are just the typical downhill fullbacks, I think we are athletic enough to do the things that the coaches ask us to do. At times it may seem like we are out of place but we are just trying to do everything to the best of our ability."
On how it feels to try different things...
"It has been fun to show our versatility. I think we've done a good job and that's why we continue to be a part of the offense week in and week out."
On still being alive in the division competition...
"It's a good feeling. You definitely can't count yourself in but you can't count yourself out right now either. There are nine teams right now with a five hundred or better record and you don't see that a lot in too many conferences. Six wins rights now won't get you in. It's a good feeling to know that we are still in it and all we have to do is take care of us."
Junior Quarterback Riley Skinner
On upcoming opponent Boston College...
"This is a big game for us, especially for the seniors. It's our last ACC game. We'd really like to send them out on a good note, but it's a really good team we're playing. They're No. 1 in the nation in interceptions right now. They have a really stingy defense and they've really been playing well lately. It's still open in the conference so it's a game that's going to mean a lot. We know we have to be ready to go. We have to bounce back and respond after the tough loss last week. I think we have a good gameplan started up right now, and we're going to have a lot of seniors who obviously are going to want to leave here with a win in the last ACC game at home."
On knowing that one specific play can affect the game's outcome...
"It puts a lot of pressure on you. You have to be on your toes all game. Like you said, one play can change the whole game. I think it makes it a lot of fun, too. It makes it a lot of fun for people to watch and it makes it a lot of fun to play in. You have to be prepared no matter who you're playing, no matter what the score is. No lead is ever big enough and no deficit is ever too much. It makes it fun because you have to play four hard quarters."
On still having a shot to win the conference title after losing to N.C. State...
"It would be really easy for everybody to kind of hang their heads after last week and be down about it. But to know that we still have a shot - it's kind of out of our control - we just have to take care of what we can handle and that's playing Boston College this week and getting a win. This is where we were last year at this time, 6-4, and we ended up 9-4 last year and that would be a great way to end this year as well. Right now, it's just focus on Boston College and it's going to be a tough test. They're playing really well right now, but we'll be ready to go on Saturday."
On teams' records in the ACC...
"I may be biased but I think it just shows the competition of our conference. Just from top to bottom, there's really no pushover team. I think it makes it exciting, it makes it fun. But it also makes it really tough in this conference because if you're not playing your best on Saturday, any team can beat you."
Senior cornerback Alphonso Smith
On the last ACC game of the season...
"I don't even want to think about it. It's going to be emotional. We definitely need to win it. To win your last ACC game should be fun."
On how much you think about still having a chance in the division...
"We think about it a lot. Going into the season our goal was to be the ACC champions so every week we try to calculate how we are going to make it to Tampa. It's unfortunate that we have put ourselves in a position where we need to rely on other teams to help us out. It all comes down to us taking care of us and beating Boston College on Saturday."
On the experience of playing in the ACC...
"It's crazy. It supplies a lot of unwanted pressure on our team. Any play can determine the game and you don't want to be that guy that causes the team to lose."
On your own personal career and how fast it has gone...
"It's gone by fast. Last year as a junior I wasn't thinking about it as much as this year. Now that I am a senior I am kind of trying to slow down the season. It seemed like yesterday I was a redshirt freshman."
