Wake Forest Athletics
Weekly Press Conference Video & Quotes: Nov. 1
11/1/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Wake Forest Athletic Communications (@WakeFB)
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -Leading up to Saturday's ACC contest against Virginia, head coach Dave Clawson and redshirt senior Ryan Janvion met with the media.
Head coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement...
"Like I said a week ago before Army, if we didn't bring our ‘A' game, we would be in trouble. That certainly played out. We didn't play as well as we need to against Army and credit to them and their staff. I think it was all three phases. We had some costly misses in the special teams game from the kickoff return touchdown that was called back to the punt return we gave up. Offensively, we had yardage, but not points. Our struggles in the red zone continue to haunt us. We had the ball down there four times and had one touchdown and made two-of-three field goals. There were so many opportunities in that game to make it a two-score game and didn't do it. On defense, in the second half and especially the fourth quarter, it was the inability to get off the field. They had the offense running well, got into a lot of third-and-shorts and converted them. At halftime, I felt good because the time of possession was almost even. In the second half, they had the ball 10 minutes more than us. That is how they play and credit to them. It is disappointing, but we need to move on.
"We have an improving Virginia team coming to town this week. They have new head coach in Bronco Mendenhall, who did a great job at BYU. They have incorporated new schemes on both sides of the football. On offense, they are a veteran group up front. They have a transfer quarterback from East Carolina who is really playing well. They have two dynamic tailbacks. They have big receivers who can go up and get it. They throw the ball over 264 yards per game. Defensively, they are younger with a lot of freshmen and redshirt freshmen in their two-deep. They also have a difference maker at every level of their defense. Andrew Brown, the defensive end, was the Gatorade player of the year coming out of high school and he is starting to play up to his billing. The linebacker, Kiser, is one of the top tacklers in the ACC. The safety, Blanding, was another high recruit who is one of the best safeties in the league. They started out slow, but if you look at last week's game against Louisville, they had that game won twice. Louisville had to convert a 4th-and-3 and didn't take the lead until 13 seconds left. It was a very tough loss for Virginia, but they played their hearts out against one of the best teams in the country."
On Virginia's improvement this season…
"I haven't watched all their games, but watched their last two games and their Duke game. Their Duke stat line is almost the same as our Duke stat line. Whenever things are new, there are going to be some inconsistencies. They have a new offensive staff and a new quarterback and it takes a little time. They are getting progressively better. They have two games, against Richmond and UConn, that I am sure they would like to have back. They won at Duke and they beat Central Michigan after Central Michigan beat Oklahoma State. They took Louisville down to the wire. They are playing much better. They have good coaches and Virginia has always recruited well, so they have good players."
On comparing this year's offense to last year's offense…
"I think the yardage is almost identical, but how we are getting the yardage is different. Whenever you throw the ball more, your yardage totals are going to be higher. There are games when you are behind and you are getting cheap yards by throwing the ball at the end, but I think this year's yardage has been more meaningful yardage. We are running the ball for 50 or 60 more yards per game than last year. We are scoring more points. We are turning the ball over less. Those were the points of emphasis after last year. The disappointment continues to be the lack of explosive plays in the passing game. It is evident we are running the ball better. For two years I was asked why we can't block anybody. Has anyone asked me that this year? No. We are blocking people and not giving up yardage. We are giving up less sacks. Why we haven't made that jump is we haven't made explosive plays in the passing game. Last week, we rushed the ball OK, but we took 11 deep shots and completed one ball. That was against an Army team that had given up some deep throws. We are not where I want us to be. I thought with what we had coming back and from what we saw in the spring, that that part of the offense would be farther along than it is."
Redshirt senior safety Ryan Janvion
On the confidence of the team following last week's loss…
"It was definitely a humbling experience in the sense that we kind of needed it just to get back to what we did at the beginning. Coming in day-in and day-out and putting in the work and getting ready for each and every game. So this loss definitely humbled us and kind of put us in our place. We know that we're not there yet. We need to keep working. Some guys thought that we had arrived because we won so many games but we have to keep going. We can't just start off strong and fizzle out. So we are right where we need to be. Today we had a great practice, we're refocused and we are ready to go and win on Saturday and get back on the winning track."
On the sense of urgency to win knowing the tough schedule down the stretch…
"We're just taking it game by game. We're not concerned with who we play in two weeks, three weeks. We have a chance to beat anyone on our schedule. It's not about who we play, it's about how we play and what we do. It's not about the other team, it's not about what they do. So we're focused on Virginia, and we're not thinking about anything else but beating Virginia this week. This is the most important game right now because it's the only game. Just beating Virginia, taking care of Virginia and then moving on from there."
