Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Football Press Conference Video & Quotes
9/10/2013 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 10, 2013
Head Coach Jim Grobe
On what his team learned from the Boston College game...
"I think the number one thing we learned is that you have to play better on the road. We turned the ball over too many times. If you lose the turnover battle 3-1 on the road, you're not going to win. That's just the bottom line. We had more penalties than they had. We had more turnovers than they had. We gave up a couple of big plays defensively. I think we just lost to a good team on the road and we have to play better.
On what he told his team yesterday at practice...
"I think we realized we let one go on the road. I don't want to take anything away from BC because I thought they played really well but a lot of the things we did Friday night were self-inflicted. The thing we challenged our players with is practice with more focus. Practice like you want to play the game. Don't wait to game time to figure out what you're doing. Let's do it in practice and then it carries over into Saturday."
On the offense...
"The thing that has to happen is that we have to execute better. I think our kids were really sick when they watched the video from the game and saw how many opportunities we had whether it was a missed block, a dropped pass, a poor pass, a bad pitch or a bad decision on where to run with the football. All of those type of things added up. Most of the time that we weren't successful either offensively or defensively or in the kicking game, we typically had about 10 guys doing it right and one guy not doing it right. So there are a lot of little things we can take away from the game but I think our guys realized that we need to practice with more focus."
On the option game...
"We had two bad pitches the other night that resulted in turnovers. There are going to be times when the defense plays well but the thing that was disappointing to me was not so much that the option game didn't go but I was disappointed in the two turnovers. We have an offense where we should be able to throw the ball well enough to counter-balance it. If a team decides they are going to stack up and play the run, we ought to be able to throw the ball better and we didn't do that the other night. We had a turnover throw game, we missed some throws and our protection was not very good. So overall, I'm not happy with the way we're running the football, and I think that's going to get better. But what's got to be good is our throw game and that's what we've done for a long, long time. When we get in a game where everyone is stacked-up inside to stop the running game, we've got to be able to thrown the football more effectively."
Senior Quarterback Tanner Price
On last week's loss and what he learned...
"It was a disappointing loss last Friday. Obviously the offense didn't play very well. We had a number of key turnovers that really hurt our defense and put them in some bad positions. After watching the film, we've learned from those and learned how we can be a better team and improve this week. We're working really hard to get those things corrected and move forward."
On being surprised about the mistakes after preparing so hard for the game...
"It's always disappointing when you work that hard and you don't execute at times. I would say it was more disappointing than anything."
On having a home game to bounce back with...
"It's always nice when you get to play at home. The game last Friday is something we need to put behind us and put in the past. Now we need to put all of our focus on this upcoming Saturday and preparing to win come Saturday."
On the ULM defense...
"They do a lot defensively. It's a little bit different defensive scheme than we've seen before, so it will require us to be sound and execute our plays. I think we have a pretty good game plan right now and we'll be ready for it."
On preparations for this Saturday's game...
"The biggest thing we've focused on is just executing our plays and being really sound. Going into Saturday and then throughout this week, we've just been working really hard on that and making sure we're mentally focused and as prepared as possible going into the game."
Senior Offensive Guard Frank Souza
On bouncing back from last week's loss at Boston College...
"Of course we're obviously down. We should have played a lot better than we did. I feel like we bounced back at practice. Yesterday was pretty intense. We kind of came back forgetting about the loss."
"We came out in practice firing a little faster than normal, trying to practice more up-tempo stuff so when we get into the game there's not little slip-ups here and there. We're just trying to go a little faster than normal, and I think that will help come game time. Everything will kind of fall into place and be a little easier."
On things for the offense to improve upon...
"Everyone just needs to play better all-around. We were kind of slow--missing blocks, missing catches and throws. Everyone kind of had their own problems last week. I think if we all just come together and do what we're supposed to, we'll be alright."
Graduate Assistant Coach Ryan McManus
On his father and former Wake Forest quarterback Jerry McManus who is now the tight ends coach at ULM...
"Once that game got announced, he just got to Monroe when they just started spring ball. He didn't want to give away any secrets that they're doing offensively and they have a multiple set offense with a lot of exciting things going in their pass game. He couldn't tell me too much about what they're doing and then when we went into spring ball, we tried to revamp our offense a little bit and do a lot of new things, so I couldn't tell him what I was doing. So our conversations went from X's and O's to just like, "Is everybody doing well, staying healthy?" We haven't been able to talk specific football for the past six months once this game got announced. It will be nice once this game is over, we can kind of get into in-depth football and schemes and things like that."
On following his father's footsteps in coaching...
"It's part of the reason I'm a grad assistant. I want to get my foot in the door and follow in his footsteps. He's been such a great example to me of how to handle the coaching profession and seeing how the impact that he's had on some of his players' lives. That's what I want to do and be around the game of football. I think college football is the best sport out there. So to have a career of coaching young men and making them better football players and better people, that's what I want to do. He's been a great example for me has definitely pushed me in that direction of following in his footsteps."
On coaching against each other...
"There will be some fun jabs at Christmas time when we're all together with the family. I might make him buy me dinner if we win."
On his father's influence...
"When I finished playing here and I talked to Coach Grobe about possibly getting into the coaching profession, it's amazing how many guys are like, "Wow, you're an idiot. Go do something else, use your Wake Forest degree." But my dad was one of the only guys that was really like, "If you want to do it, I will help you in whatever way you can and I strongly encourage you to do it." I've had a great role model in how things are done the right way and in a way that you focus 100% of your time on your job and doing a good job at that; but you're still never neglecting your family. I was blessed to have him be able to come home to dinner a lot of times growing up. He made a ton of my football and baseball games in high school. So, I've seen the balance of working your tail off when you're at work but when you're at home you're being a good father."
