Postgame Quotes

Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson

Opening Statement:
"We got beat today by a team that played better than us. They did not have any turnovers, and we turned the ball over three times. I would be shocked if we will ever win a game here if we lose the turnover battle three to nothing. We're never going to be that much better than an ACC team that we can lose the turnover battle three to nothing and still win. I don't know what the third down conversion rate was but I can imagine theirs was good and ours was bad. Our kids competed, Sam (Hartman) didn't have a good first half, and in games where he doesn't, he usually doesn't bounce back in the second half. It was encouraging to see he did bounce back in the second half. He stepped up and made some throws and we scored two more touchdowns."

On defensive improvement:
"Defensively, I do feel we are getting better. We didn't give up alignment plays and we didn't give up assignment plays, but we tackled awful. We play well early, but once the snap count gets high, we get worn out and put in subs and we get crushed. We have no depth right now, so we need to get off the field on third down. Until we're more consistent on defense, we have to just outscore everybody and that's how we have to play."

On the offense:
"The last three games, we've been very inconsistent on the offensive line. We did not play well in the first half we gave up a lot of pressure. There were times that we had guys open that Sam didn't have enough time to connect with. I found that when we play with a faster tempo, we protect better. Yardage wise, I think we had more yards today, we just turned the ball over. We've got to get Sam to not turn the ball over. We're putting way too much pressure on Sam right now, if he goes then we go. We're in it together but that's the nature of the quarterback position."

Wake Forest redshirt junior linebacker Justin Strnad

On the defensive problems today:
"Honestly, I think just tackling. I think we had them in a lot of opportunities on third down where they went empty a couple of times and we had a specific call to get the quarterback to escape a certain way and we just had to down the quarterback. I feel like Dungey just escaped. He's a good player and was able to make plays for them when they weren't there and we just have to tackle better honestly."

On the fundamentals:
"I thought in the first half it was one of the best halves of defensive football we have played all year. It really came down to the basics, just tackling, getting off blocks, stuff like that."

On Syracuse's run game today:
"It wasn't too surprising. They were running the ball, we were in a dime look, so you're down a man in the box. Some of those calls, they took advantage on one of those drives and then in the second half, they were running the ball a little bit more than they usually do."

On the injuries particularly in the linebacker position:
:We've just had some bad luck, health-wise, but we are battling. We've got three games and we have to get two for our seniors on this team."

Junior Defensive Back Essang Bassey

On his level of play today:
"I was just playing. I was able to make some plays early, and really needed to. I felt like every time I made a play it was a chance to bring some fire to our defense, which is what we needed throughout the game, even thought we were down."

On what was missing defensively:
"There were times that we didn't get off of the field on third down where we really needed to. The quarterback broke contain a couple times, those two things combined really was where we took shots on defense. We missed a couple tackles here and there but getting off the field on third down when you need to… sometimes we didn't do that."

On the similarities between Eric Dungey and John Wolford:
"He's just a big, strong guy, deceptively able to get out of tackles and stuff like that. He gave us some fits, like John would throughout the years. Anytime you are dealing with a quarterback like that, it's tough to deal with because you have guys in coverage and stuff like that. We could have done that better today, so that's just something to keep working on."

On where the team goes from here:
"We always felt like our back was against the wall, even going back just a few weeks ago. That's just how we have to keep playing. We have a quick turnaround for our game Thursday against NC State, so it's just about getting healthy as fast as we can."

Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers

Opening Statement:
"I'm really excited for the seniors. Getting our seventh win guarantees these guys a winning season, not finishing out .500 or getting a below .500 in a bowl game. I can't say enough about what they have done to change this culture here at Syracuse University, and for giving us an opportunity to do greater things in the future. Regardless of whatever happens, they will be known as the class that got this team turned around and headed back in the right direction."

On his feelings after another win:
"Nothing selfishly for me. I give it all to the man upstairs. I'm really proud of how the seniors performed. This team is really close, and we've had some bad luck on the road. We finally got that monkey off of our back. Not only do they have a winning season, it's a guaranteed winning season. Three wins in a row. This is the most wins they've had in the ACC."

On attacking the Wake Forest defense:
"Coach Clawson is a good coach. Two bowl seasons in a row. I had the opportunity to watch Wake Forest play Texas A&M last year. I watched them dismantle Texas A&M. He is a really good coach. They are banged up right now. When you get to November, you've got to win the surest way, and Wake's defense was banged up and that's the way we needed to attack them."

Wake Forest Athletics

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Essang Bassey

Justin Strnad

John Wolford

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