Postgame Quotes
10/28/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement:
"That was a good one. I'm really proud of our football team. We've been through those years that maybe get off to a good start and then you lose a couple of tough games. Sometimes those teams get discouraged and stop working as hard. I thought it was really important after last week, where we were kind of in the same position at halftime, and we didn't close the deal. Today we went out there and we closed the deal. I told the offense before the game I don't know what it's going to take. It may take 40, it may take 50. We have to go fast and never take our foot off the gas and I think we did that. The drive obviously, with eight minutes left, that we took six minutes off the clock even though we turned it over on downs was a critical drive. Getting that touchdown late was a really gutsy and great aggressive play call by Warren Ruggiero. He knew they were in double zero and they were ganging up against the run and it was a really gutsy call. The execution by John Wolford and everyone was good. Defensively, for the first half, I thought we played great. Obviously, our defense at the end didn't prevent much but we had a three-score lead so we wanted to keep everything in bounds and everything in front of us. We found a way to win and in this conference, with the caliber competition we have every week, that's what you have to do. You have to find a way. Today we found a way and probably got one of the biggest wins we've gotten in our four years here."
On today's execution:
"I thought our kids were ready to go today. The offensive execution, I don't know how many yards we had, but we never took our foot off the gas. We played with tempo and I think we play best when we play that way. Defensively, Lamar Jackson is a great, great player. You can never relax for a second with him. You blitz him and he runs for 80 yards. You play zone and he makes the ball in there in tight coverage. You get to the goal line and you load up on him and he pulls the ball and runs around everyone for a touchdown. He's a special player. When you play him you can't relax. We didn't always play great. We didn't always execute but part of that is a credit to him and how talented he is." <>On John Wolford:
"We run different offenses and we ask our quarterbacks to do different things. John played flawlessly. That was a complete football game. He represents the very best at Wake Forest. He is a first-class young man. He works extremely hard. He's a great student. I think John exemplifies our whole program. We struggled but we kept working. We kept preserving and we kept getting better. It's so rewarding to see him as a senior have this type of year and have this type of game."
Wake Forest redshirt sophomore wide receiver Scotty Washington
On Thinking ‘foot on the gas' the Entire Game:
"One of our main objectives going into this game was to just keep the tempo, put points on the board, get yards and have explosive plays. We wanted to get several explosive plays in this game. One of our main goals was to play fast and attack the defense and catch them off guard."
On Being Fired Up for Louisville:
"This game definitely has some history to it, going back to last year obviously. We felt that it was personal and we just came out ready to play fired up."
On Coming Out Hot:
"We just wanted to come out and make plays, put points on the board. It was important to keep catching them off guard to keep us going with the tempo."
Wake Forest senior quarterback John Wolford
On locker room morale:
"It's a great feeling anytime you can get a win, and an ACC win especially is a big deal. We're celebrating that, guys are ecstatic. We were finally able to finish a game off right. It's a big step for us. We're gonna celebrate for 24 hours, then we have a tough challenge next week."
On his accuracy:
"The receivers were getting open. We were aggressive. They had trouble getting set, when we were playing up-tempo. That just creates some leverage here and there. When guys go up and make plays, it makes me look good. We got a lot of that, and that translates to a huge game on offense."
On receivers' performance:
"It's great when you can get the ball spread around. We've got a good group of receivers. They've gotten knocked a little bit lately, but they work hard every day. It's awesome to see guys make plays in clutch situations. They keep coming to work every day, and it's starting to pay off."
Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino
Opening Statement:
"It was a bad start for us defensively. We gave up too many big plays. We didn't put any pressure on the quarterback. Offensively, we sputtered at times. We threw an interception in the red zone in the first half and then we don't score on fourth down in the second half. You're not going to win games when you do that. What we did do is we kept fighting. I talked to them at halftime about coming out and competing in the second half. I thought they competed hard and worked at it, but you can't leave those two touchdowns out there early and you can't give them that many big plays early. It's hard to win games when you do that."
On the Defensive Performance:
"We have to keep working. We need to keep working on tackling and fundamentals. We need to understand what's going on out there. We do have some freshmen in the secondary that were out there today. Credit to Wake Forest and its ability to attack them. We have to come back and play with more energy and more fire. I wish we had better understood the tempo they played and been lined up better."
On the game's ending:
"We were just trying to convert. We wanted to stop them and get the ball back and find a way to get it down there. I don't think any of our guys quit playing. I don't think we executed well enough in the first half to give us a chance."
On the team's defensive regression after a promising performance at Florida State last week:
"It's frustrating. I think everybody's frustrated. The coaches, the players. That's the game of football. You have to go out there and stop them and get the ball back and you have to go score points. We weren't consistent enough doing that. We dug ourselves a big hole in the first half."
On the pressure on the offense:
"You feel pressure to score anytime you touch the ball. I think if we would have scored a touchdown at the end of the second quarter, we would have gone into halftime with a manageable deficit. Everything matters. Every opportunity, you must take advantage of."
