Post Game Quotes
9/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 27, 2008
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
Wake Forest Head Coach Jim GrobeOn the struggles of the offense...
"I think offensively, we had some short yardage situations where they got into our backfield and we just didn't have much success running the football. Of course when you hang your hat on throwing the ball, you have a chance to turn the ball over as many times as we did."
On not being able to run the ball against the Navy defense...
"I think Navy plays the run pretty well. They go against it every day in practice and I know from being at the Air Force Academy we were usually pretty good against the run. We weren't surprised that they were tough against the run. I think the ability to not throw the football without turning the ball over was what hurt us today. We weren't getting enough push up front and we're just not running the football very well right now."
On Navy fullback Eric Kettani...
"From coaching 11 years at the Air Force and we were an option team, we beat some teams that were favored to beat us. Running the triple option offense, it's a fullback oriented system. That's where it all starts. They caught us a couple of times when we were trying to pressure them when they were in some tough yardage situations, they caught us with the trap up the middle. He ran for over 100-yards against Rutgers last week so we knew he was a good player."
On the injury to Navy starting quarterback Kaipo-Noa...
"Well you got a guy in him who is your seasoned guy. He also throws the ball really well. So what we felt like that did for us was let us hone in on trying to stop the run game but I thought Jarod Bryant did some nice things tonight. It really allowed us to settle in and try to stop the run when he was out there."
Wake Forest Player Quotes
Wide Receiver Chip Brinkman
On turnovers as the story of the game the past two weeks... "Absolutely. It's funny. That's football. One week you get seven, and this week we had six. I just feel that the turnovers are just not our offense. T.C.B. - Take Care of the Ball - and we just didn't do that today."
On Navy's toughness and how they struck quickly...
"We just came out flat. They wanted it more than us. You could just see it on the first series we had on offense, and then they marched right down on our defense. We just didn't play our game today."
On learning from this game and moving forward...
"I think we need to go back on Monday and watch some film and really learn from this game and take away all the mistakes and make sure we don't do them when we play Clemson. That's a huge ACC game for us and we need to be really prepared."
Nose Guard Boo Robinson
On his impression of Navy...
"They're a very good, disciplined football team. They just came out and played a better game than we did today."
On preparation for the game...
"All week long we practiced on trying to get them down in third-and-long situations. Today when we got them down in third-and-long, they found a way to make the big play, and we didn't."
On defense being on the field a lot...
"It kind of gassed us a little bit. Any time you play against a team like Navy you have to be very disciplined. The offense had a few turnovers and we failed to turn them over enough times so we had a bad outcome."
On looking forward...
"Any time you lose, it's pretty frustrating. Any time you lose, you're going to be down on yourself. One thing about football is you've always got next week."
Cornerback Alphonso Smith
On defending Navy's offense...
"We tried our best to simulate their offense but there is no way to go as fast they went out there today. As you probably know, the first two drives, we had to try to get in the groove and the pace of the game. We played them last year but that was a year ago. I thought once we got back in a groove, I think we played a lot better defensively."
On how the pace of the Navy running game is different from other teams...
"I don't think it's too much different. Florida State and Ole Miss were fast but it's the execution that was different. Every guy made that offense execute well. I was glad to see when Kaipo-Noa went out but Bryant came in and he didn't miss a beat. Their execution forces you to stay discipline and makes you be mentally tough for four quarters."
On whether the defense wasn't mentally tough all game...
"After a while we started to play like we were capable of playing. But you could tell the plays we struggled with were their big plays, like the fullback run up the middle."
Quarterback Riley Skinner
On his play today...
"It was very below average. You can't turn the ball over like that and expect to win the ballgame. We've known that and it has been our goal all season and that's exactly what we didn't do today and that's all on me. I missed some throws, over throwing people and I tried to force some throws. I just really hurt our team tonight which I feel bad about because our defense played well in the second half. They gave us chances to score and we didn't come away with the points we needed."
On whether Navy did something different defensively that Wake wasn't expecting...
"Not really. They did a lot of drop eight and they had a lot of players back. That's when you have to be patient with that and at times I wasn't patient enough. I should have checked the ball down or tucked it under and ran. There went many open holes to throw the ball and that was on me. I should have seen that. I should have taken what they gave me. It was just was one of those games that we got out of our offense and gave them the ball way too many times."
On whether some of his interceptions came as a result of not being able to run the ball...
"Well a couple of them came on third down when we needed to move the ball. We knew with playing Navy last year that we needed to score every time that we had the ball. It's harder for them when they get behind but when your not scoring, their in control. I should have checked the ball and taken what they gave us we still could have gotten some more yards and more first downs and kept our defense off the field. This is definitely an eye opener for us, especially for me. We know we have a lot of tough games coming up and this will really test our character to see how we respond."
On not scoring from the 1-yard line...
"When we were on the 1-yard line and didn't score a touchdown, that was tough. That would have put us down three. I think the next drive we were on the 30 and we decided to punt instead of kicking the field goal. If we would have scored the touchdown, that field goal would have tied the game. That's a lot of ifs though. The bottom line was we didn't get in from the 1-yard line and that is pretty disappointing for an offense."
Navy Quotes
Head Coach Ken Niumatalolo
On the Navy 24-17 victory over Wake Forest...
"I've got to take my hat off to our kids. I mean it was a phenomenal job of our kids fighting, scratching and crawling. Our defense played phenomenal today. Every situation that we put them in, our defense just stepped up. Everything that was put in front of them, they overcame it and I couldn't be more proud of Coach (Buddy) Green, the defensive staff and all of our defensive players. I thought they did a great job. Offensively, we didn't play that well in the second half. When we lost Kaipo (Kaipo-Noa Kaheaku-Enhada), we lost a little bit of our chemistry, but we made plays when we needed to. It was a big drive at the end to seal the game. It was an unbelievable win for our program."
On 39-yard run by Bobby Doyle in the fourth quarter...
"It was huge. If not, we were going to be backed up, and we'd been backed up all second half. We just couldn't make plays and get the ball out of there and at least give our defense a chance. Our defense played with the short field the whole second half and they did an unbelievable job of stopping them. Unbelievable."
On Eric Kettani's run at the end of the game...
"It was huge at the end. We needed that touchdown at the end, obviously, to give us some breathing room. I mean that's a good team we just beat. That's the No. 15 team in the country. That's a big win for our team."
On beating a ranked opponent for the first time since 1985...
"We're just happy to win. We know they're a great team and I know Coach Grobe is a great coach and they have a great program. I would love to emulate what Coach Grobe has done with this program. I think he's won, he's won with class, and he's won with good kids. I'd love to try to follow him in what he does. I think he does a great job so I couldn't be happier for our kids."
