Wake Forest Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Wake Forest 28, North Carolina 27
9/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Football
Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe
On the final drive...
"I think we were probably trying to have Tanner sit in the pocket too long, and I think when we got away from that and started getting off some quicker throws I think that helped him. We just had a bunch of guys step up and make plays in that drive. I couldn't be more proud of them. "
On the defense...
"Our defense had to keep going back out and back out. I was really worried that our defense was going to gas out. The best thing we did defensively in the second half - we held them 2 field goals. That was huge."
On the teams depth...
"We tried to play as many as we could but we're just not very deep. We don't have a lot of depth. When we lost KJ out in the corner, which presented a lot of problems for us. Then loosing Nikita, we had to play Tylor Harris, the true freshman, at nose guard the rest of the game, and I thought he fought hard and played pretty good football."
On the flow of the game...
"I think throughout the course of the game you get good breaks and bad breaks. I felt like throughout the game it was like a boxing match, it was punch and counter punch and it all balanced out in the end. I am disappointed that we had as many penalties as we did. I was concerned at the beginning of the game - there was a lot of hitting and pushing and I think the officials did a nice job of handling that."
On Sherman Ragland III...
"Sherman showed us a lot of toughness because he had a compound dislocation in his finger last week. He broke the skin and had to get 12 stiches in his finger. He showed a lot of toughness because a lot of kids would have gone ahead and taken this week off but he came back and made a couple of plays for us. I think he did some good things blocking. I thought he went out there and showed that he was a pretty good guy."
On Michael Campanaro...
"The guy is amazing. He's got a knack for getting in the creases and getting open. The thing that Tanner did tonight was try to distribute the ball a little bit. I think Brandon Terry came up big tonight. Terence Davis made a couple of really nice plays and we even got it to Harris. I thought overall, Tanner distributed the ball well. If you looked at Camps' height, weight, and all of those tangible things, you wouldn't know that he's that kind of player. It's pretty special, and he was huge for us tonight."
North Carolina Head Coach Larry Fedora
On the loss to Wake Forest...
"(It was a) hard-fought game. Got to give a lot of credit to Jim Grobe and his football team for the way they played tonight. It was a typical game for them in terms of playing hard, playing with minimal mistakes and capitalizing on the mistakes of the visiting team - too many mistakes on our part."
On the Wake Forest passing game...
"I didn't see too much pressure on the quarterback the whole night. I didn't see anybody close to any receivers. It will be interesting to see on film."
On quarterback Brynn Renner's return after a hard hit...
"We put the ball on the ground on that series. That's one I've got to go look at myself and I made the call at the end to put him back out there. He felt like he was ready to go. The medical staff felt like he was ready to go. By all indications he was (ready to go). The ball came out on that series, so I'm going to question myself on that deal."
On running the ball in the second half...
"When we went in at halftime, we felt like they hadn't stopped us running the football. We needed to go ahead and establish the run and continue running the game. There was no reason to get out of the gameplan at that point. We felt like we were very effective running the football and in fact we were for a lot of the game."
On Wake Forest's Michael Campanaro...
"Tonight we made him look like an All-American. He might be."
On high expectations heading into the game with Wake Forest...
"A lot of people were ready to crown us champs after beating Elon 62-0. We've still got a long way to go. We'll be a better football team because of it. This is the first form of adversity that we've had as a football team now in 2012. We get to find out a little bit about how the Tar Heels are going to be."
Sophomore Cornerback Merrill Noel
On the sideline atmosphere despite all of the injuries...
"We praised each other throughout the whole game just staying positive by knowing that we're going to face adversity and staying as fighters at the end. Coach [Grobe] is always telling us to be tough and keep your poise, and that's what we did. We stuck together, and we won."
On re-tooling the offense...
"We knew that if we couldn't stop them, that was the game, so we had to get the ball back to the offense and let Tanner handle his business on that side of the ball. We kept preaching to each other that it's on us right now. We wanted the pressure on us because we've worked so hard to prove ourselves and it showed today."
On when Nikita Whitlock went out...
"Oh man, that was a big downfall for us, but we still motivated each other and our coach reminded us that if one person goes down someone has to fill that spot and make it seem like they never went down."
On whether Merill was enjoying the moment or looking toward Florida State...
"We're definitely enjoying the moment right now. We're just taking it one game at a time and going with what our coaches have planned for us. We're going to make plays when we have to and execute them the best we know how to."
On knocking down the final Chapel Hill pass...
"I was just ready for the game to be over. I wasn't thinking about what would look good on the stat sheet. I just wanted the game to be over so that I could celebrate with my teammates."
Junior Flanker Michael Campanaro
On the 97-yard drive...
"Tanner looked at us and we believe in him as our quarterback and he told us that he was going to drive us down there 90-something yards, John Elway-esque a little. Guys just made plays, Sherman stepped up on that last drive and we were just happy to put it in the end zone."
On confidence level heading into Florida State...
"It's big for us. For next week when we're playing a power house team, a top-10 team in the country so we're just going down there playing with house money. We play well against those guys and they're going to be up for us after we got them last year. We have a lot of guys on this team from Florida, so we're going to be ready to go."
On making a statement after the Liberty game...
"We talked about this all week being a statement week. Getting Bud [Merrill Noel] back brought a huge spark to the defense and they fed off of him. I've been playing with these guys for a few years now, and I knew that they were going to rise up to the challenge."
On making offensive improvements for the Florida State game...
"We have to execute better and cut down on penalties. We had some holding penalties and a few drive killers. We had a personnel problem, so we need to cut down on penalties and get back to playing Wake Forest football."
Junior Quarterback Tanner Price
On the feeling of winning the game...
"I can't really describe it, it's an unreal feeling. It's so great to get a win like that against a rival team at home, especially after a week like we had like last week where people were questioning our team. It was a great win."
On how the team felt coming into this game...
"The whole team had a great feeling going into this game. We weren't going to let the Liberty game faze us at all. We've known all along that we have great talent and that we can play with anybody. And tonight we went out there and we did that."
On Wake's last 93-yard drive...
"That's a great drive. The defense stepped up for us. We stalled out the whole third quarter and a little bit of the fourth. They kept keeping the ball and the play alive and being able to drive it down and help our defense out was a great feeling."
Freshman Wide Receiver Sherman Ragland III
On his two big catches during the last drive...
"I think all the plays we have are designed for each receiver to get open - run them hard, crisp routes, and execute them. I'm pretty sure Michael Campanero was double teamed, tripled team, quadrupled team and whatever - put the whole team on his back if you have to. His contributions definitely helped in my catches."
On whether it was his time...
"I don't know if it was my time but I was just out there to make a play. Our coaches harp on us, when it is your time to make a play, make the play. Don't let it pass you by."
On the energy before Wake's 93-yard drive...
"As a freshman I was definitely pumped. I didn't know what to expect or what the defense was going to throw at us. Our coaches teach us go out there and fight your hardest no matter what it and it was just a little nerve wracking."
