Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Football Press Conference Video & Quotes
9/2/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement...
"The first half of Louisiana-Monroe probably played out the way we needed it to. We were playing good defense, and I thought our kicking game was excellent. We were stuck with bad field position most of the first half and even though we didn't generate much on offense, the time of possession was 50-50 I think in the first half. In the second half obviously the roughing the kicker was a critical call, the pick-six, and we just got nothing going on offense and we really put our defense out there way too long. In the second half, the time of possession was I think 21 (minutes) to nine (minutes). Our defense just played too many snaps. On the positive, I thought our guys played with great effort. Up through three quarters we played really good defense, but we got worn down a little bit. I thought the kicking game overall - Alex Kinal had a great night for us and we hit our kicks. Clearly we did not move the ball enough on offense, we didn't make first downs, we didn't keep our defense off the field, we never flipped the field position. I always say that every year the job becomes more defined after Game One. You go through camp and you think you have relative strengths, and then you play a game and you find out what you have and what you need to work on. And we're capable of playing better than that on the o-line. Credit to Louisiana-Monroe, they kept us guessing. It was a very multiple defense, a lot of blitz packages, twists - we didn't handle it well, but obviously we need to play better.
Looking forward to Gardner-Webb, an FCS opponent and they're a good one. They were 7-5 a year ago. They were nationally ranked to start the season. They have 16 starters back. It's a very veteran team, their offensive skills are very experienced. It's a senior quarterback, receiver Kenny Cook is an NFL prospect. They have two senior tailbacks (and a) senior tight end, the slot receiver is a senior. So it's a very experienced group on offense. On defense, they were the No. 5 defense in the country a year ago and they have a lot of starters back. I probably have greater respect for this level of football than most head coaches just because of how long I spent in my career as a head coach at this level. When you're a head coach in the FCS and leading a program like that, these are your exciting games, this is your one chance to step up and knock off a BCS or FBS opponent. Certainly one of the most rewarding wins of my career was in 2006 at Richmond when we went down to Duke and shut them out. It was great to get a paycheck and a win. I'm sure that's Gardner-Webb's goal. They are certainly well coached and they'll be a quality opponent. For us, it's our home opener. We need to get better, and that's the focus this week in practice. We're excited to tee it up again and get it going."
On whether the youth of the offensive line means that you need to simplify things...
"Yeah, well we've got to simplify it, but we were simple. We did not carry a lot of offense into that game. Louisiana-Monroe ran a 3-3 stack, multiple blitz packages. Part of what makes it multiple is how much the defense does. That was not a complicated game plan. We really had two or three base runs and the protections we kept were pretty simple. There wasn't a lot of confusion - we didn't block them. At times we missed, we overstepped stuff. To me there were more fundamental errors than assignment errors.
On whether there will be big changes on offense this week...
"No, I think that's the worst thing you can do. We're a young football team and we have a vision of where we want to go, so if we jump in there Week Two and (change things), what message does that send? We certainly believe in what we do. We've run it through the years. Do we have to tweak things to match our personnel? Yeah. There might be certain things we run more of and other things we run less of, and that's just coaching. I don't think you go in after one game and make wholesale changes. It didn't go well. We didn't play well. That's obvious to anybody that's ever watched a football game. The answer is to get better and make incremental improvement every week.
Senior running back Orville Reynolds
On the positives against ULM...
"We stuck together. We knew that it was going to be a challenge... there were a lot of different formations and coverages and blitzes, especially for a young offensive line when we have different pieces coming together. We stuck together, we knew it was going to be a hard job and we never gave up. We know that we're moving forward and it's going to be a lot better in the future."
On the approach after a loss...
"It's one game at a time. Coach Clawson always reminds us that each game is like a season. We're not worried about going 1-1 or protecting ourselves from going 0-2. We're just worried about going 1-0 this weekend."
On the opportunity to play at home...
"Regardless about what happened last week, this is our week right now. We have to protect our home, so that's all we're worried about. It's really exciting, it's another week to get better and improve."
Sophomore safety Thomas Brown
On the positives from the ULM game...
"We kept fighting throughout the whole game. Even when they had short-yardage situations, we just kept fighting and not letting them get things easily. We limited our mistakes."
On the loss to ULM...
"Any time you lose it's frustrating. The offense did the best they could with the new offense and new quarterback and center. We just played as hard as we could."
On Gardner-Webb...
"They're a really good team. They have a really good receiver on the outside - an NFL prospect. It's going to be a tough game. We've just got to execute the defense and eliminate the mental errors."
Sophomore Offensive Guard Josh Harris
On how the team played in the ULM game...
"We didn't play our best game, especially on the offensive line, but we are using it all as a learning experience and we know when we play our game, we can play with anybody and we are capable of that. So we've just got to be focused on our game, using our techniques, doing what the coaches are telling us to do, and playing within our system and we'll be fine."
On specific mistakes made by the offensive line...
"Bottom line is we have to play a little better than last week. There were some communication errors, nothing that was really a serious issue, but we've just got to play the way we are capable of and we'll be fine."
On what is "the game plan" for the offensive line...
"We all just have to do our job. We each have a specific job to play and we have certain techniques we use, tight hands, small chest and big steps are the main three techniques we use. We just all have to use those techniques and communicate with each other and we'll be completely fine against anybody we play."
On how John Wolford did in his first start...
"I think he did well. He showed a lot of poise in the pocket when he had time and I think he's going to be a great player for use, especially down the road. He's a great quarterback."
