Wake Forest Athletics
Postgame Quotes
11/24/2018 4:54:00 PM | Football
HEAD COACH DAVE CLAWSON
Opening statement:
"I thank God every day that I get to coach at a place like [Wake Forest] and lead young men like the way we have them. Every time our back was against the wall this year, we responded. We went to Louisville and had to get that one and N.C. State as well. It just seems like, every time we are in that position, we knew what was at stake. We made it like a playoff game. We had to get this one to continue our season and we probably played our best game of the year. I couldn't be prouder. The turnovers were huge. Jamie (Newman) played well, as did Cade (Carney) and the offensive line. The defense had their best game of the year. Our kids rose up and did what they had to do when they had to do it. It is a very satisfying win for us."
On this being the most complete performance in his tenure:
"This year for sure. I'd like to think we played some other decent games here. Certainly, it was the most complete game this year. Duke is a good football team. They were 7-4. They've beaten some good football teams. They are a very good team with an excellent quarterback, a good defense and a lot of offensive skill. I thought if we could get this game to the fourth quarter with a chance to win it, that was the goal. I never expected this."
On the second touchdown of the game:
"Every time you get a turnover and get in the red zone, you want to capitalize. There were so many big plays today; the pick-six by Nasir (Greer), some of the sacks we got on defense were encouraging. The third down in the second half where we had Greg Dortch on the wheel route, that was a huge play. My stomach in these games never gets settled. Once we got to the fourth quarter, I'm thinking, 'fifteen minutes, that is nine-hundred seconds,' and it just [moved slowly]. I enjoyed it at the end. It was neat to get Kendall (Hinton) in there and let him score in his hometown. Again, I'm just really proud of our guys. We stepped up and probably played our best game of the year."
On the importance of pressuring Duke's quarterback:
"It was really two things: when [Duke] gets into their empty package, they get rid of the football really quickly and you really can't sack them. What we were doing is doing a lot of 'drop eight,' and hoping that we could force them to hold the ball. Now you are rushing with a three-man rush. [Carlos Basham Jr.] won some, Willie (Yarbary) won some pass rush moves. We really didn't blitz at all. (Daniel) Jones is so good at seeing the team blitzes and getting rid of the football quickly. We wanted to keep things in front of us and then try to get them off schedule. I think their quarterback is hurt a little bit. When he is one-hundred percent and is at full speed and can run, they are a much different offense. I think he got hurt last week and then aggravated his ankle again. When we saw him come out there all taped up, we knew we were going to be defending a different offense.That really took the quarterback run out of it, which is a really big part of what they do."
On having the most wins (27) of any Wake Forest coach in the first five seasons:
"I'm proud of our team and our program. It's good company there with [Coach Peahead Walker] and [Coach Jim Grobe]. It is a good group and now it's like any other coach. We want to get to twenty-eight."
On the difficulty of play in the ACC:
"Every game, if you don't show up, you don't have a shot. I went through our losses this year and five of the six losses were to teams that were, at one point, nationally ranked and the sixth one was at Florida State. We have played the number two team in the country, the number three team in the country, we have played the Coastal Division champions. We lost to a 9-3 Syracuse team and a nationally-ranked [Boston College] team. This league is a grind and if we ever don't show up with more energy than our opponent, we don't have a shot. Today, I thought our energy level was great. Our kids played today like we really wanted to be here. The big reward is being able to spend another month together."
Opening statement:
"I thank God every day that I get to coach at a place like [Wake Forest] and lead young men like the way we have them. Every time our back was against the wall this year, we responded. We went to Louisville and had to get that one and N.C. State as well. It just seems like, every time we are in that position, we knew what was at stake. We made it like a playoff game. We had to get this one to continue our season and we probably played our best game of the year. I couldn't be prouder. The turnovers were huge. Jamie (Newman) played well, as did Cade (Carney) and the offensive line. The defense had their best game of the year. Our kids rose up and did what they had to do when they had to do it. It is a very satisfying win for us."
On this being the most complete performance in his tenure:
"This year for sure. I'd like to think we played some other decent games here. Certainly, it was the most complete game this year. Duke is a good football team. They were 7-4. They've beaten some good football teams. They are a very good team with an excellent quarterback, a good defense and a lot of offensive skill. I thought if we could get this game to the fourth quarter with a chance to win it, that was the goal. I never expected this."
On the second touchdown of the game:
"Every time you get a turnover and get in the red zone, you want to capitalize. There were so many big plays today; the pick-six by Nasir (Greer), some of the sacks we got on defense were encouraging. The third down in the second half where we had Greg Dortch on the wheel route, that was a huge play. My stomach in these games never gets settled. Once we got to the fourth quarter, I'm thinking, 'fifteen minutes, that is nine-hundred seconds,' and it just [moved slowly]. I enjoyed it at the end. It was neat to get Kendall (Hinton) in there and let him score in his hometown. Again, I'm just really proud of our guys. We stepped up and probably played our best game of the year."
On the importance of pressuring Duke's quarterback:
"It was really two things: when [Duke] gets into their empty package, they get rid of the football really quickly and you really can't sack them. What we were doing is doing a lot of 'drop eight,' and hoping that we could force them to hold the ball. Now you are rushing with a three-man rush. [Carlos Basham Jr.] won some, Willie (Yarbary) won some pass rush moves. We really didn't blitz at all. (Daniel) Jones is so good at seeing the team blitzes and getting rid of the football quickly. We wanted to keep things in front of us and then try to get them off schedule. I think their quarterback is hurt a little bit. When he is one-hundred percent and is at full speed and can run, they are a much different offense. I think he got hurt last week and then aggravated his ankle again. When we saw him come out there all taped up, we knew we were going to be defending a different offense.That really took the quarterback run out of it, which is a really big part of what they do."
On having the most wins (27) of any Wake Forest coach in the first five seasons:
"I'm proud of our team and our program. It's good company there with [Coach Peahead Walker] and [Coach Jim Grobe]. It is a good group and now it's like any other coach. We want to get to twenty-eight."
On the difficulty of play in the ACC:
"Every game, if you don't show up, you don't have a shot. I went through our losses this year and five of the six losses were to teams that were, at one point, nationally ranked and the sixth one was at Florida State. We have played the number two team in the country, the number three team in the country, we have played the Coastal Division champions. We lost to a 9-3 Syracuse team and a nationally-ranked [Boston College] team. This league is a grind and if we ever don't show up with more energy than our opponent, we don't have a shot. Today, I thought our energy level was great. Our kids played today like we really wanted to be here. The big reward is being able to spend another month together."
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