Postgame Quotes
9/16/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
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Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement:
"It was a good win. I thought it was pretty solid in all three phases. I just thought that we came out ready to play. We got off to a great start, defensively with the turnovers and offensively with the two explosive plays early. I thought we played well up front on both sides of the football. They never really got their run game established. We could spread out a little bit with their spread formations and when you can do that against a spread team and hold up in the run game, you know it's going to allow you to have success. We did a good job defensively on third downs. Offensively we converted third downs. And again, we did not turn the ball over which is always huge. Again, proud of our guys-- three weeks in a row they showed up ready to play and we had a good week of practice and it translated to Saturday. We just have to continue to do that"
On the defense stopping their running-game:
"I just thought that we played very well up front. There's a lot of very good defensive lines in this conference and I think we're one of them. When you put that group out there of (Duke) Ejiofor, (Zeek) Rodney, (Willie) Yarbery and (Wendell) Dunn, that's a good starting four and at all those positions we can go eight deep. When we sub, we don't drop off a lot. It's the same with a lot of positions-- these kids are older, they've been young but they're stronger, they know how to play, they've played a lot of football and they just continue to get better."
On the improvement since the last time Wake played Utah State in 2014:
"We're better. Since we went to Utah State a few years ago, we certainly feel like we've made progress. Three years ago, we were in Utah and they totally dominated the line on both sides of the ball and they had more explosive plays than us. We've gotten better, but we don't feel like we've ‘arrived' by any means. We're not satisfied. I have to make sure that we still have a hungry football team because we've got challenges ahead and it starts next week going to App (State). They're a really good football team."
Wake Forest senior quarterback John Wolford
On the offense playing well:
"It's a lot of hard work. I think we were hitting on all cylinders today. We ran the football great and we were throwing it around. We had explosive plays and that's what happens when you execute a game plan. We had a great week of practice going in and we're playing confident right now. It's great to see, but what we got to do now is we can't be satisfied. We got to find ways to get better. We talk about it as captains that sometimes we hit these lulls in game four and game five. How can we get better? That's our focus now."
On the offensive balance:
"I think it's great. It takes hits off me. When you have that balance it's hard for a defense to attack you in different ways. If they're going to load the box, we'll throw it. If they're going to play two high safeties, we're going to run it. So when you can do both, it makes you multiple and it makes you hard to defend. I will say, the offensive line played unbelievable today. I don't think I got touched, unless it was my fault. When you're doing that, it's great to be a quarterback."
On confidence:
"We have older guys, guys that have played a lot. We're trying to stay even as you can't get too high and you can't get too low. I think we're doing a good job of that. I think on offense, where we are three games in last year versus three games this year is different. The defense is playing lights out as well this year."
Wake Forest redshirt freshman running back Arkeem Byrd
On playing this season after redshirting last year:
"It feels real good. I've been patient and waited for this moment. It feels good to just do what happened on the field today."
On his first career touchdown:
"I broke it. I just pressed the man, broke the linebacker in, and once I broke the hole, I'm gone. After I got through the line, and I saw nobody, no safety, no nothing, I knew I'm gone."
On being third on the running back depth chart:
"I just trust the system. Coach Clawson always preaches about acting at practice like you are preparing as a starter, so I try my best to practice as a starter."
Utah State Head Coach Matt Wells
On Wake Forest's improvement:
"I think Wake's biggest improvement I've seen is in the trenches and on the defensive line. They look experienced and look strong and did a nice job of getting behind our offensive line."
On Utah State's performance:
"From the start, the pick-six and miscommunication in the backfield had an impact. We just didn't react well. From that point on Wake won the battles in the trenches, on the O-line and the D-line. We just couldn't move the ball very well."
