Postgame Quotes - Wake Forest vs. NC State
10/3/2009 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 3, 2009
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Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe
On Riley Skinner... "It was really a tough day for him because we didn't run the ball very well at times and we had to hang it on him to some extent. And we didn't protect him very well at times. The way he hung in there, especially around the stretch and made some key throws for us. We know he's a pretty accurate guy but he got knocked around pretty good today. But he was able to hang in there for four quarters and give us a chance to win. It was a pretty special performance."
Thoughts on the defense... "At halftime I was really impressed. I thought our defense played lights out in the first half. If we didn't turn the ball over in the first series then we could have really felt good about what we did defensively. In the second half I was most disappointed when we'd gone up by 10 and kicked off to them and had a good return and about 30 seconds later they were in the end zone. But overall the defense played really, really well.[Wilson] hadn't been picked off in forever. To make a play like Kenny Okoro made at the end of the game, to win the game, was pretty cool."
On Chris Givens... "I thought Chris Givens grew up today. He had some really nice blocks on the perimeter. I thought he made a couple of really key catches. A couple of times he caught those balls and worked to get the first down. Overall I thought he played really well today."
On having to take the field goal instead of getting the touchdown in the fourth quarter... "I was dying. I was absolutely dying. You've got the ball on the one, and you've got Mike Rinfrette back there and you think you are just going to punch it in. We don't get the first one in, but really we were close. The second time we weren't even in the ballpark. Then the procedure penalty that took as back. The problem is you want to be aggressive and go after the touchdown pretty hard. But the last thing we told Riley was to take care of the football. So he made the safe throw, didn't get it in and we had to take the field goal."
On Josh Adams' performance... "What a great run by Josh Adams at the end of the game. That's probably as a good of an individual effort as I've seen. We challenged our offense - we really needed a first down. [NC State] had defended it really well on the third down play. And Josh had a great, great effort. He broke two or three tackles right there. It was a great effort.
Redshirt Freshman WR Chris Givens
On being there to make the plays that count...
"I just take it one play at a time and I know I'm going to get my chances because we have a great quarterback."
On the win...
"Offensively, we still made a lot of mistakes but we're showing that we can reach our potential. We need to continue to do what we have to do."
On keeping up with the ACC competition...
"Just practice and focus. We lose focus ometimes, so we just need to stay focused, and we take it one game at a time, because like you said, we're all close so we just need to continue to stay close in the division."
On shaking off the loss to BC...
"It just shows the maturity of our team, and our coaches, they do a great job making sure that we do the right things. We really can't take credit for it, we go out there and play but the coaches do a great job of putting us in the right spot, so I really can't take credit for it, I got to give to the coaches."
NC State Head Coach Tom O'Brien
On today's loss...
"I mean we've just got to make a tackle there at the end of the game. Take a timeout, you get the ball back and take four more shots at it every time and see what happens. We didn't make the tackle. That kid [Josh Adams] wanted it more than we did."
On if there were any surprises...
"No. It's just that we continue to self-destruct. We have to do that on the practice field, we have to do that with coaching, and then some guys have to grow up too. Some of it is youth. That's no excuse but they better grow up fast or we'll have a long season."
On Wake Forest's field position throughout the game...
"They had a lot of short fields. We had a lot of long fields. That comes down a lot to the kicking game. The kickoffs change field position almost every time in the game."
On NC State's pressure...
"We worked hard on getting there and we worked hard on keeping [Riley Skinner] in the pocket. He steps up and he makes plays, and that's when he made plays. We tried to keep him in front of us and I think we did a good job in coverage - that's why the ball was being dropped down... He's a heady, smart guy. He figures out how to do it but I think we got him down quite a few times though."
On NC State's quarterback's efforts...
"Russell [Wilson] competes all the way to the end and he's always going to keep competing. As long as he's got the ball in his hands I think we've got a chance to win. We'll take any effort Russell gives us all the time."
On if Wake Forest's defensive tackles were too much for NC State's running game...
"No, it's just the way the game had to be played. It's the way we played it. We knew 51 [John Russell] was good. He's a good player. Still, you get enough plays, you get enough chances to win, we just didn't do it."
