Wake Forest Athletics
VIDEO: Tuesday Press Conference
9/16/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement...
"Wrapping up Utah State, (it was a) very mistake-prone first half with both teams, but you go back and look at those three turnovers that led to 21 points. We put ourselves in such a deep hole. I thought overall the defense played well in the first half; we gave up the one big play on the reverse pass and then we just would have liked to make a statement once we got to 29-21, it's a one-score game, we have momentum, and then that five-play 75-yard drive really was the back-breaker. Offensively we struggled in the first half. In the third quarter and second half, we came to life. It was probably the best quarter and half of football that we've played on offense. Obviously we're still really struggling to run the football. We've got to find a way to run the football and take some pressure off the passing game, and we'll continue to work on that this week. In the kicking game overall I thought we played well. I thought our punt game was excellent, Alex Kinal continues to kick the ball well, our coverage was good.
I'm certainly disappointed with the loss. In some aspects we made improvement, and now we have to look forward to Army who I think is a very improved football team. They have a new head football coach (Jeff) Monken. I've known Coach Monken 20-plus years. We worked together at Buffalo back in 1992 - I was the quarterback and running back coach and he was the wide receiver coach. I certainly followed his career, he spent a lot of time with Paul Johnson at Hawaii and then Georgia Southern, then Navy and then Georgia Tech. He went on to have success as the head coach at Georgia Southern. He knows that offense inside-out. It is an absolute pain in the neck to defend. It's not just triple option, he gets in so many different formations. There are so many different ways they probe you and find out how do you handle motion, how do you handle unbalanced. They'll just run it, run it, run it, lull you to sleep and then the play action game is really effective. Again, he knows what he's doing with that offense. So it's a great challenge on defense to just get a line, much less play assignment football against all of the option that we're going to see. Defensively they're another 30-team that likes to zone blitz. Their defensive coordinator worked for me at Richmond during my time there and did a great job at Elon and a great job at Ball State. Again, it's a package that he knows. They're playing fast, like you would expect from any Army team, they're tough, they're physical, they're very disciplined and they certainly present a challenge to our football team this week.
On the offense in the second half against Utah State...
"I thought the second half we finally hit a little run with Isaiah (Robinson), we had a nice little play action game going. We got the turnover in the second half, scored, we got a three-and-out, got the ball back and we went on a 75-yard drive, which is probably the best drive we've had all year against a good defensive football team. We mixed in a few runs, we threw the ball well, we had a nice little play action shot down the middle, that's the way we've got to play. I've said it from the beginning this year, we are not a football team that has a very big margin of error. We're not making big plays. Right now we're struggling on the offensive line, but with all that being said, if you don't turn it over three times and give up 21 points you maybe win that football game. We've got a young quarterback, and I think he's the reason we're in games, and I think he's as disappointed as anybody that we turned the ball over the way
Redshirt sophomore wide receiver Jared Crump
On what the team learned from the loss at Utah State...
"It didn't turn out the way we expected. We just have to look forward to next week, use it as a stepping stone, as a learning experience, and use that to prepare us for the next week coming up against Army...The third quarter was probably one of the best that we've played this year so far, so we've just got to keep on moving forward. We're getting more push up front, trying to move the ball down the field, getting better possessions, trying to score in the redzone."
On the upcoming game against Army...
"We just started watching film on them, and we saw we can really do great things against this team. They're also a great team too, don't get me wrong, but we've just got to take each day [one] at a time, have a good practice, and just really prepare us for this game."
On quarterback John Wolford...
"I think he's gained a little bit of confidence since he got that first game under his belt. Especially being a true freshman, that's a big experience to start as a freshman. But I think each game he's progressing a little bit more, getting a little bit more confident."
Redshirt Freshman Tight End Cam Serigne
On reflection on the game against Utah State...
"I think it was a tough loss for us. In the first half we really beat ourselves a lot of the time and Utah State was a great team, who we knew going into the game that we couldn't beat ourselves to win that game. I think we made some early mistakes all over the board assignment wise, paying attention to little things, and it really came to bite us at the end of the game. But I think in the second half, we came back to rally and showed some fight, and as a team like Wake Forest we don't roll over for anybody."
On team chemistry that showed fight...
"I think we established that in the offseason. We worked hard all year preparing for this season and we didn't want to put all that hard work in just to give up if things went the wrong way. We wanted to be a team that would fight back no matter what and I think we showed that to an extent in the Utah State game."
On where the offense has improved since week one...
"Each week we started to pay attention to little details during the game, like route depth assignment wise, really paying attention to not overlooking things that coaches tell us each and every day, your technique, and we've really started to have completely bought in. Each week we progress forward and if we keep that progression we'll be set for the next couple of weeks."
On John Wolford's progress...
"He's a natural quarterback. He came in everyone knew right away he was going to be a dude. He has every aspect that you could want in a quarterback and each and every week he progresses just the same. He makes the throws you expect him to make and ones that you don't expect him to make, so he's really just a great QB and we have all of our faith in him."
