Wake Forest Athletics
Tuesday Football Press Conference Quotes
9/23/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 23, 2008
Press Conference Video: Coach Grobe | Bailey | Pendergrass | Curry | Vaughn
Head coach Jim Grobe
On Navy...
Obviously, their offense presents a great challenge. It's a triple-option offense, which you would expect from a service academy. You're going to play a football team that's really smart, they won't beat themselves, they play really, really hard and very physical for four quarters. If you're going to beat one of the service academies, you better bring you're `A' game for four quarters.
On how much it helps having played them last season...
"I think it's a help for both teams. I think it helps our defense, but I also think it helps their offense to see how we're going to play them. It'll give them some thoughts on what they can do to hurt us. The experience should help us. Most of our guys are back that played in that game. They know what a battle it was. They've got their starting quarterback back now. They have a lot of talent offensively, so our defense will have to play well. It should help us having played them last year."
On if he's ever had a team force seven turnovers in a game...
"We've never had a game like that. Five interceptions is really unusual. What I thought was good is that we forced most of the turnovers. The defense made plays. On the couple of fumbles, we knocked the ball loose. Against Baylor, a couple of times they just put the ball on the ground themselves. We really had nothing to do with it. This was one of those games where we earned seven turnovers. That's exactly what we needed. We had to have those turnovers."
On the advantage of having a disciplined defense against Navy's offense...
"When we looked back at the film from last year's game, we weren't very disciplined. We played really hard, flew around and chased the football. We made 10 game-saving type tackles in the open field. At times, we didn't take care of our option responsibilities very well. We've got a lot of teaching to do off this film from last year. We'll have to be a lot more disciplined this year if we're going to play well."
On how the defense is playing right now...
"I was really disappointed in the Ole Miss game with the last drive we gave up. I didn't like that. One of the things we wanted to improve on was being a better three-and-out defense. Against Florida State, we couldn't ask for more. We've been a little bit up and down defensively. I like the direction we're going in. There weren't too many things you could be critical of the other night. Overall, I think defensively we're where we would like to be. Hopefully we can get better."
On the running game against Florida State...
"I thought it was a little bit better. I know it doesn't seem like it, but I thought Josh Adams stepped up a little bit. I liked some of the runs that he had. As you probably noticed, we were getting a lot of different things out of Florida State's defense. There were times where I thought we had things blocked really, really well. I thought we were more physical Saturday night up front. They did a nice job of mixing their fronts and coverages up. There were times when we thought we had a pretty well designed football play and they would break somebody free because of the stunt they ran. Going against a defense that physical and that athletic, I thought we held our own in the running game. For the most part, I liked the attitude of our offensive line Saturday night. I think we saw some light at the end of the tunnel."
Junior center Trey Bailey
On being 3-0...
"It's a great feeling. All of our wins have been good wins. Any win is a good win. Just having three wins under your belt is a great feeling."
On not getting an offensive touchdown against FSU...
"It's always frustrating. We had a lot of opportunities to score but getting the win is the main thing. It's a good thing we have Swank as a kicker. We would have liked to get a few more points against Florida State but I'll take a win over those guys any day, even if it's 3-0."
On running the ball better...
"We're working on that now. I put that mainly on the offensive line. We have great backs back there. We had some good runs called back. I know I had a holding call, which I thought was questionable but holding is holding. We need to cut that out. The o-line needs to open up some holes so that we can get the backs out into space."
On the Florida State defense...
"I think FSU brought a blitz on just about every play, just daring Riley to throw the ball. If their doing that, we know he's got an arm back there and the ability to gun them down. So if the want us to throw the ball, then we can do that also."
On perhaps having a different feeling playing a non-conference team in Navy...
"It's the same feeling that we have every week. I'm going to play this like it's my last week. It may be the toughest game we play all year because for Navy, the easiest part of their day is football. They love it. They're training to go to Iraq and Afghanistan so they're going to come in here Saturday and try to knock us off. We have a target on our back now being ranked and they are going to try to take that away from us so we have to prepare like any other game."
On the advantage of playing Navy last season...
"There is a little bit of an advantage. Especially for our defense because their offense does a lot of cut blocking. From an offensive perspective, I think their whole defense is back. I think they all are a little bit better and they look better on film. They have also all got to play a whole year together so we'll have our work cut out for us."
Redshirt freshman running back Brandon Pendergrass
On getting the running game going...
"It's all about work. We have to see the holes better as running backs. The line has been doing a good job of opening them up. We just have to take things when they're there because the opportunities are few. But when they come around, we have to take advantage of them."
On the opposing teams daring them to throw the ball and thus shutting down the run game...
"I think that might be part of the issue. Teams want to make sure we can throw the ball and we've shown we can throw the ball. Now, we really just have to show we can run the ball and I think we will."
On his thoughts after the FSU game...
"We got the win. That was the good thing about the game. It was a big time ACC game and coming out with a victory and seeing all of the things we can improve on, it's really something we can smile upon. To beat a team like that with all of our mistakes, it's really good feeling."
On the respect for playing Navy...
"It's a very big respect factor. Yesterday, coach Mitchell was talking about it. He was telling us how hard they play and I remember from last year how hard they came out and played. So I definitely have the utmost respect for them. I'm ready to face the challenge they bring to us."
On the confidence level of the team right now...
"Our confidence level is high but it's not overly high. We know that week in and week out we can go in anywhere and compete and if we play hard, we can come out with the win. We don't have an arrogance or cockiness on the team. We have a hard work attitude. That's the mindset of coach Grobe."
On what he's seen on Navy from the films...
"I've seen a team that flies around and plays hard. From the looks of it, they're not afraid of anybody. We are 3-0 right now, but they have nothing to fear, nothing to lose and to them, we're just another opponent."
On how he and Josh Adams work together...
"Josh and I work together real well. I know Josh goes in for the first two series and then I go in for the next two. When he comes out, he might ask me what I saw on a certain play. I know every time I come out, I'm asking him what he saw on the last run or what do you think I could have done better or what do you think I should have done? We just work together real well. There are never any problems. We're good friends."
Senior outside linebacker Aaron Curry
On how he feels to be part of a 3-0 team right now...
"I feel good. We're relaxed but we're not losing sight of our goals. We know we have to come out this week and work hard to take care of business against Navy."
On playing Navy on Saturday...
"They play very hard. If you're not disciplined on defense, the option is extremely hard to stop, and you can still be disciplined and they could get you for 400 yards rushing. Navy's just one of those teams where they're playing the game for the love of it. They're playing football because they love playing and they play hard. It's just an amazing game to play in."
On some of the challenges that Navy presents offensively...
"The option is hard to stop and they're really good at executing the option. I learned [from playing them last year] that it happens fast and they know what they're doing no matter what you're doing. They know their reads."
On what Wake Forest's defense can do to further improve...
"We could decrease our amount of mental errors and missed tackles. We're not going to come out every weekend and force seven turnovers. It was a wonderful thing to have happen and we're glad that we did force seven, but it's some of the small things that we still are working on like missed tackles and open-field tackles."
Senior Safety Chip Vaughn
On the defense's discipline and overall mindset...
"It starts with our coaching staff. They tell us that we have to do our job and that it's not about egos or stats on the defense. It's all about the team."
On defending the option...
"We're studying film. One thing we know is that we can't make every play. Everyone has a job and that's our mindset come Saturday. Come and do your job and don't try to do too much. Every time someone tries to do too much against Navy it's going to be a big play, so we're trying to keep it simple."
On the respect factor when you play a service academy...
"These guys go out there and do P.T. (Physical Training) at 5 a.m. and go through all of their rigorous training and football is extra for them. They have a duty to this country and we have the utmost respect for any academy."
On Navy's toughness...
"We know that it's going to be a full four-quarter game. I know that if we get up by a few points in the second quarter, these guys won't quit. These guys are tough. It's going to [be a battle] all four quarters until that clock says 0:00 across the board."
On growing up with a father in the service...
"Growing up with a father in the military, I have a deeper respect for it because I know what goes on. Any time I play a team like this, knowing what they go through outside of football, I have the utmost respect for them."
