Weekly Press Conference Video & Quotes: Nov. 17
11/17/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Head coach Dave Clawson, quarterback John Wolford and linebacker Hunter Williams met with the media as part of the weekly press conference on Tuesday. Video and quotes are below.
Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement...
"I think we are at a point in the season where we just have to keep blinders on and move forward. Certainly, the Notre Dame game was an example of how far we've come physically. We held them more than 200 yards under their season average. We outgained them and had the ball for 12 minutes longer. But the reason we wound up short on the scoreboard are the things that have plagued us all year. We made a lot of unforced errors. Notre Dame is certainly a great football team and deserving of their ranking. When you look back at that game, some of the things we did have nothing to do with the opponent we played. Those are what I call unforced errors. Those are things that we control. We have to continue to bring it physically, but also just mentally. Just limiting those mistakes where we beat ourselves. At this point in the year, there's been 10 games, we've actually outgained our opponents this year. That shouldn't translate to a 3-7 record, but when you go back and look at it I think it's very simple. When you lose the turnover margin as bad as we have, and when you allow as many explosive plays as we have, that is the difference in us being a 3-7 team or a 5-5 or 6-4 team. The statistical battle for the year, in a lot of ways, is even. We've just got to keep working and keep developing guys.
"It's Week 11. Eliminate those mistakes, and we go out of the frying pan and into the fire. We go from playing No. 4 to No. 1. Sometimes you play good football teams, and sometimes you play very good football programs. I think that Clemson is an excellent program. On offense, you go from a Taj Boyd to a Deshaun Watson, who is arguably the best college football player in the country right now. He is playing at such a high level right now. He has become a very, very accomplished passer. He can also beat you with his feet. Their offensive skill is excellent. Their running back is probably as physical and as violent a running back as we've seen this year. He punishes people. His yards after contact is really impressive. Their last six games, they've had over 500 yards. So when you replace as many players as they have and you still have that kind of production, it tells you what great shape they're in. Coach Swinney and his staff have done a great job of recruiting and developing players, and they run schemes on both sides of the ball that fits their personnel. They have eight new starters on defense, and they're still one of the best defenses in the country. This is just an excellent, talented, well-coached football team and it's a great challenge, but our guys our looking forward to it. We certainly didn't back down a week ago. I'll be a broken record, but this is obviously the level we aspire to get to, and this will be a great challenge to go down to Death Valley and play the number one team in the country."
On the offensive performance from last week looking forward...
"Number one, it gives our guys confidence that when we execute, we can move the ball against good people. I think it also exaggerates the point that the lack of explosive plays and the inability to score touchdowns in the red zone takes a 350+ yard offensive performance and it equates to seven points. We ran the ball well. Tyler Bell had his best day as a running back. The offensive line opened holes. We still didn't make explosive plays and we got the ball in the red zone four times and got one touchdown. Those are the things we need to continue to work on. So we want that snap-in, snap-out consistency we had, but we also want to find ways to get explosive touchdowns."
On the impact of this year's graduate transfers...
"I would say graduate transfer-wise, if you look at our receivers, it's all freshmen except for KJ Brent. KJ has brought a maturity to that room. He's really become the leader in that room, a guy that plays at a high level and prepares at a high level. He's just a great human being, he really is. He's been awesome. Zach Dancel has done a lot for us. He's started for us all year at safety. At times we've struggled at that position, but he's had some really good games for us and made some good plays. Again, he's a guy that takes football really seriously. Devin [Gaulden] started how many games for us, and he gave us maturity and depth at a position where we badly needed it. If I had to do it again, I would take all three players. They've also allowed us to redshirt players. Not only have those guys helped us this year, but I think we'll be a better team and a better program in two or three years because of these guys."
Sophomore Quarterback John Wolford
On the lapses against Notre Dame…
"Obviously it comes with practice. We've got to focus more on that — hand-offs, turning the ball over — you've got to work on it. Obviously that's going to be a huge emphasis anytime you're playing these top-notch teams. You can't give away points, you can't give away free plays, and you've got to take advantage of every play. We've got to find ways to do that, and this upcoming week we can't afford those mistakes."
On the loss to Notre Dame…
"I think we showed we can move the ball, and we got the ball on the one-yard line twice, and we only had one touchdown to show for it. Obviously it's more disappointing because you're moving the ball, you're doing all the things right, but you just can't finish at the end. So we've got to find ways to get in the red zone, to punch in touchdowns, and to get points on the board for us to be successful."
On takeaways from the Notre Dame game…
"I think we realized that we're a more talented team and that we can play with anyone in the country. It's just a matter of execution, knowing your assignment, just not making stupid plays. Right now we're still young, so for us to be in these games we have to be smart, we have to execute, and coming down to the end of games we have to try and find a way to win."
On the Clemson defense…
"They're very sound...They give you a lot of different looks. They're a really good unit. They lost eight starters last year, but that's the way Clemson is: they recruit well, they retool, and they have a really, really good defense this year. They present a tremendous challenge, and they're a really good team, and they can find ways to win games. That's why they're the No. 1 team in the country."
On preparing to play the No. 1 team in the country…
"I think we have a tremendous opportunity, and really you've got to treat every week like that. We have an opportunity to go out and play a great game, a game we all love. Obviously we get more attention on this, more media around it, so obviously that kind of heightens the sense of the game. But we've got to treat it like any other game and find ways to go out and execute and win."
Senior Linebacker Hunter Williams
On building off some of the positives from last week's game at Notre Dame...
"I think it's good that you can look at the Notre Dame game and there's probably six or seven plays that if we execute better, maybe the game goes a different way. I think that's something, with the young team that we have, that we can build on this week. Clemson is a great team, so hopefully we can build on some of those things and carry them over to Clemson because they're going to be just as good or probably better--they're No. 1."
On the team's feeling going into a game against the top-ranked team in the country...
"We're jacked up. Nobody in the country is expecting us to do anything against this team. I was watching something the other day that said we have a 1-percent chance of winning, so for us, (this game) is something we take huge pride in. We're going to be really jacked up for this game, especially us seniors--these are the last two weeks that we're going to play knowing that we're not going to a bowl. I'm excited--in preparation this week, it's going to be like our senior national championship. We're going to put it all on the line and try to go out and do something special."
