Weekly Press Conference Video & Quotes: Oct. 27
10/27/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement...
"Just to wrap up last week's game, last week we got off to a really poor start. Going back and watching the game, it's 28-0 at the end of the first quarter. The yardage was 322 to 20. The first six times the offense got the ball, five times we went three-and-out. We gave up touchdown plays of 57, 58, 59, and 85 yards. From that point forward, it was a 17-7 game. We outscored them and we outgained them. We're just not at a level where we can spot anybody a 28-point lead. The negative is we didn't come ready to play. Once we stepped out there, we played well the last three quarters. I certainly give our players credit for playing hard the last 45 minutes of the game. That's not easy to do when you're down 28-0. Again, it's a shared responsibility. I have to have the team ready, but it's also the players' job to come ready to play. As the season progresses, especially as we get into ACC play, explosive plays become our biggest problem. We're giving up way too many of them on defense, and we're not making enough of them on offense. I've gone back and studied it all year, and we've actually made more plays of 20 yards or more than our opponents this year. In our four ACC losses, we've given up 11 plays of over 40 yards, and nine of those have been for touchdowns. We've only made two. So those really big, explosives that change games, in our four ACC losses, that's a lot of points to give up on nine plays. That can almost account for margin of loss in all of those games. That's something that we've got to work on defense. Again, offensively, we're making way more of those 20 yard plays than we were a year ago. But we're not making those really big explosives. Certainly, the schedule the rest of the way, it's a gauntlet here. We play some good football teams down the stretch, starting with Louisville this weekend. They're a 3-4 football team, but their losses are to an undefeated Clemson, undefeated Houston, one-loss Florida State, and an Auburn team at the beginning of the year. Their defense is one of the best that we'll face all year. I don't know if their numbers are indicative of how good they are, partly due to their schedule. Their defensive line might be, along with Boston College, the best line that we've seen all year. I've never seen this stat line before. Last week at BC, they gave up 79 yards of offense the whole game. In three plays, they gave up 82 yards. So the rest of the game, they gave up a total of -3 yards. This is a really good group. We're excited that the football capital of the world will be in Winston-Salem on Friday night. We're on a national TV game, and our guys are excited to bounce back. We have to have a great week of players. We have to get the players fresh. Again, this will be another great challenge for our football team."
On the quarterback situation...
"We're probably going to play both [John Wolford and Kendall Hinton.] In the first 10 plays we threw the ball last week, John got hit 10 times. Part of that is poor protection, part of that is we didn't get open, and part of it is John couldn't move as well as he should be able to move. That's why I pulled him. I'm not going to say that he lost the starting job over that, but the reality is for John to be an effective quarterback, we've got to protect better and get open better. When we can't do that, Kendall is probably the better option for us. We're going to analyze each game, John will start, but the plan is to play Kendall and see how the game develops. Kendall goes in there and makes plays with his feet, but it's just the nature of being a true freshman quarterback. There's just things sometimes in the pass game that Kendall doesn't see as well as John. John knows the offense better, John is capable of running the offense better. But when we don't protect, when we're not getting open, our quarterback has to run around. Kendall does that way better. So we're giving them equal reps, John will start, but at some point we'll play Kendall."
On Cameron Glenn's return to the lineup...
"He was close to being able to go last week, and was in practice last night. He gives us athleticism at the safety position that we really need right now to prevent some of these long runs. At NC State, we gave up four plays that were touchdowns of 57 yards or more. Three of those plays weren't even designed to be big plays. We missed three tackles that led to 21 points, right at the point of attack. Right now, that's just a gap between us and the better ACC teams that we've played. Every ACC loss, it's those big plays that we had a guy in a position to make the play, and he didn't make it. Does Cameron Glenn solve the whole problem? No, he certainly helps it. He's probably our most athletic safety, our fastest safety. So getting him back certainly helps."
Senior Linebacker Brandon Chubb
On preparing for a Friday night game against Louisville…
"We just played Saturday and we're preparing Sunday in our first practice for Louisville. So it's a quick turnaround, but the guys are excited about it. It's a great opportunity to play with a lot of eyes watching you. We're playing a good team on a Friday night, so we're excited about it."
On how the defense can improve after the loss to NC State…
"We all now we have to get better, and we have to execute at a better level. It's an internal thing. You just have to look in the mirror and say, ‘Hey, you've got to step up.' We've got four games and we've got three more we've got to win. Everybody knows it's the elephant in the room, so you've just got to execute better. We had a great practice yesterday, and we're hoping to have a good one today."
On the biggest challenges presented by Louisville…
"They have a really good quarterback who's very athletic. They've also got good receivers and good running backs, so they have a good offense. I think their quarterback is the best athlete we've faced all season. We've just got to figure out a game plan around him and hopefully take him out of the equation and let some other guys on their offense make the plays, not the quarterback."
Senior Linebacker Hunter Williams
On bouncing back from last week's loss against NC State...
"Obviously you can't get in a hole that early, but I think this week we're focusing on a one-week season and trying to beat Louisville this week. The past is the past and we're really going to try to put that behind us and, this week, do everything we can to prepare for Louisville because they're a good football team."
On taking positives from the second half of last week's loss to NC State...
"I think if you look at the second half, we played pretty well on defense. The first quarter was really bad, but the second half was better and hopefully we can carry that momentum into Louisville because their offense is just as good, if not, better than NC State's. They're really explosive and have guys that can make plays all over the field."
