Wake Forest Athletics
Postgame Quotes
9/22/2018 4:28:00 PM | Football
Postgame Quotes
Postgame Quotes
Notre Dame 56, Wake Forest 27 – September 22, 2018
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement:
"I want to thank our fans, our students; we had a beautiful day today and a great crowd. We had a unique opportunity to do something special, unfortunately we didn't play well. A lot of the problems we talked about a week ago came back to get us again. As the head coach, I got to do a better job. We've got a lot of football left to play, but Notre Dame outplayed us. We're only a third of the way through the season, we've got eight games left. I think we have a good football team, I think we've got good players, we've got to find a way to get more from them, and that starts with me and the coaching staff, and we're going to look at everything going forward."
On simplifying the defense:
"It's the alignments, the communications and the checks that we're struggling with. Even in a week that you think you simplify things and you put some things in to stop certain things, they still get those things that you put the defense in. Our kids are giving us great effort, they're playing hard, they're working hard, they're watching film. I just don't think we're putting them in the best position right now."
On talent:
"I think we're a better team than we've been playing. I don't think it's good giving up 56 points to a team that has yet to score 24 all year, they've been struggling on offense but we gave them some gimmes. We have better talent than to give up big plays like that."
On Sam Hartman:
"Well, Notre Dame has a good defensive line, they blitz a lot and they play a lot of man coverage. They won the battle upfront today. We've got a good o-line, but they got after us today. Sam (Hartman) got rattled and he got hit last two weeks in a row, and when you're a freshman quarterback, that's tough. He just got cramped up today, so it's nothing long term and he should back next week. It was good to get Jamie (Newman) an opportunity to get out there for a quarter and a half and he did some good things. It was good to get Kendall (Hinton) back, I thought he did some good things as a quarterback, a receiver and even a returner."
Wake Forest junior running back Cade Carney
On the similarities in the red zone between this week and last week:
"I wish I knew (the way to fix it) and I would have suggested it. It's something that we have to fix. We feel so good about moving the ball and that's why it's heartbreaking right now. We get inside the red zone and then we stall it out. At best case it is three points out of the red zone when we should be scoring six. I wish I knew."
On what occurs during the week in red zone efficiency versus in the game:
"That's so hard because it changes week to week. It's something we practice every week, a lot. We were really well versed in it and we should be comfortable down there, we just need to get over whatever hump it is. We will look at it and fix it."
On how tough of a game this was for Sam Hartman:
"He got sacked three times and that's on us, our blockers protecting him. Sam's tough though, he's mentally tough and he's ready. He knows that there will be hard days, he's already dealt with that, so we're not worried about him moving forward or anything but we did not do a good job protecting him today."
On the collapse of the pocket and how it's impacting Hartman:
"I'll have to check it out, but (the offensive line) does a good job of getting off the ball and a good job of when defenses tire, capitalizing on the run game so far, but we have to be able to translate it. We need to be consistent."
On moving on from this loss:
"We have 24 hours. We will be sad about it, mad about it, because there's a lot to be mad about. We aren't going to feel bad for ourselves, and the captains and the leaders will have to step up and rally the guys because there's no time to be feeling bad for ourselves. We will need to have a good week of practice and tomorrow night we will need to have a new mindset and be able to come out and play a good game next Saturday."
Wake Forest redshirt junior quarterback/wide receiver Kendall Hinton
On his first game back from suspension:
"It felt amazing, for the most part, the best part was just being with the team again. Just the atmosphere, being out there with the guys, the locker room… that's really what I missed the most. It felt good getting back in the end zone."
On taking his first snap to the end zone:
"Coach (Ruggiero) saw the defense they were giving us, called a great play, we blocked it up, and it worked out for the best. All I had to do was run straight."
On what his weeks of suspension have been like:
"It's been rough. Each week gave me time to think about what happened and learn from it. It gave me the urge to get back here and work."
On what happened with the first pass thrown to him:
"We just didn't connect, probably could have caught it. I'll look back at it but it just didn't connect. If I had gotten in the right position I probably could have taken it all the way."
On his new role on the team:
"Right now, I've been practicing at the slot primarily. I'm still working with the quarterbacks just so I can stay in the system in case of worst-case scenario to hop in that spot. As for now, I'm a slot receiver."
Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly
Opening statement…
"I am pleased with a number of things- obviously, the win, that's why we play the game. I'm pleased with the conditioning of our football team. You get challenged on the road against Power-5 football teams, but you don't expect it to be over 100 degrees on the field against an up tempo team. That challenge, in terms of conditioning and your football's team ability to handle that, that to me is very satisfying because you know that you have prepared your football team. When they kick it off a lot of my work is done, the kids have to go play, so I was really pleased with the preparation during the week and how we prepared the team leading up to this game. We made a big decision to go with Ian Book in the game and so I didn't sleep great last night because that's a big decision to make when you are 3-0 and your quarterback who was leading your team was 13-3 as a starter, but I had a lot of confidence in Ian and I thought our offense played to the level it was capable of. That showed itself today. Those are my thoughts- the preparations, the conditioning, first road game and making a big decision on the quarterback."
On defensive performance:
"We made some tactical decisions to take some things away. Three (Greg Dortch) is a game- wrecker and we doubled him the whole game, inside and outside. The quarterback run caused us some problems, but we were willing to give some things up and take some things away. I thought we were relentless up front, we were physical. Every time they threw the ball, there was pressure on the quarterback. It's a difficult offense to defend entirely, but we were smart as to what we gave them and what we took away."
On this year's game compared to last year's game:
"We felt like last year we did some things that we didn't want to do again, so we had a different plan to attack that. It is a very deliberate offense, much more deliberate than most relative to how they play that. We had a plan for what we thought would work against it. They are going to run for more, but we didn't want the seam-passes and big plays. They were going to grind it if they were going to score."
Notre Dame 56, Wake Forest 27 – September 22, 2018
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening Statement:
"I want to thank our fans, our students; we had a beautiful day today and a great crowd. We had a unique opportunity to do something special, unfortunately we didn't play well. A lot of the problems we talked about a week ago came back to get us again. As the head coach, I got to do a better job. We've got a lot of football left to play, but Notre Dame outplayed us. We're only a third of the way through the season, we've got eight games left. I think we have a good football team, I think we've got good players, we've got to find a way to get more from them, and that starts with me and the coaching staff, and we're going to look at everything going forward."
On simplifying the defense:
"It's the alignments, the communications and the checks that we're struggling with. Even in a week that you think you simplify things and you put some things in to stop certain things, they still get those things that you put the defense in. Our kids are giving us great effort, they're playing hard, they're working hard, they're watching film. I just don't think we're putting them in the best position right now."
On talent:
"I think we're a better team than we've been playing. I don't think it's good giving up 56 points to a team that has yet to score 24 all year, they've been struggling on offense but we gave them some gimmes. We have better talent than to give up big plays like that."
On Sam Hartman:
"Well, Notre Dame has a good defensive line, they blitz a lot and they play a lot of man coverage. They won the battle upfront today. We've got a good o-line, but they got after us today. Sam (Hartman) got rattled and he got hit last two weeks in a row, and when you're a freshman quarterback, that's tough. He just got cramped up today, so it's nothing long term and he should back next week. It was good to get Jamie (Newman) an opportunity to get out there for a quarter and a half and he did some good things. It was good to get Kendall (Hinton) back, I thought he did some good things as a quarterback, a receiver and even a returner."
Wake Forest junior running back Cade Carney
On the similarities in the red zone between this week and last week:
"I wish I knew (the way to fix it) and I would have suggested it. It's something that we have to fix. We feel so good about moving the ball and that's why it's heartbreaking right now. We get inside the red zone and then we stall it out. At best case it is three points out of the red zone when we should be scoring six. I wish I knew."
On what occurs during the week in red zone efficiency versus in the game:
"That's so hard because it changes week to week. It's something we practice every week, a lot. We were really well versed in it and we should be comfortable down there, we just need to get over whatever hump it is. We will look at it and fix it."
On how tough of a game this was for Sam Hartman:
"He got sacked three times and that's on us, our blockers protecting him. Sam's tough though, he's mentally tough and he's ready. He knows that there will be hard days, he's already dealt with that, so we're not worried about him moving forward or anything but we did not do a good job protecting him today."
On the collapse of the pocket and how it's impacting Hartman:
"I'll have to check it out, but (the offensive line) does a good job of getting off the ball and a good job of when defenses tire, capitalizing on the run game so far, but we have to be able to translate it. We need to be consistent."
On moving on from this loss:
"We have 24 hours. We will be sad about it, mad about it, because there's a lot to be mad about. We aren't going to feel bad for ourselves, and the captains and the leaders will have to step up and rally the guys because there's no time to be feeling bad for ourselves. We will need to have a good week of practice and tomorrow night we will need to have a new mindset and be able to come out and play a good game next Saturday."
Wake Forest redshirt junior quarterback/wide receiver Kendall Hinton
On his first game back from suspension:
"It felt amazing, for the most part, the best part was just being with the team again. Just the atmosphere, being out there with the guys, the locker room… that's really what I missed the most. It felt good getting back in the end zone."
On taking his first snap to the end zone:
"Coach (Ruggiero) saw the defense they were giving us, called a great play, we blocked it up, and it worked out for the best. All I had to do was run straight."
On what his weeks of suspension have been like:
"It's been rough. Each week gave me time to think about what happened and learn from it. It gave me the urge to get back here and work."
On what happened with the first pass thrown to him:
"We just didn't connect, probably could have caught it. I'll look back at it but it just didn't connect. If I had gotten in the right position I probably could have taken it all the way."
On his new role on the team:
"Right now, I've been practicing at the slot primarily. I'm still working with the quarterbacks just so I can stay in the system in case of worst-case scenario to hop in that spot. As for now, I'm a slot receiver."
Notre Dame Head Coach Brian Kelly
Opening statement…
"I am pleased with a number of things- obviously, the win, that's why we play the game. I'm pleased with the conditioning of our football team. You get challenged on the road against Power-5 football teams, but you don't expect it to be over 100 degrees on the field against an up tempo team. That challenge, in terms of conditioning and your football's team ability to handle that, that to me is very satisfying because you know that you have prepared your football team. When they kick it off a lot of my work is done, the kids have to go play, so I was really pleased with the preparation during the week and how we prepared the team leading up to this game. We made a big decision to go with Ian Book in the game and so I didn't sleep great last night because that's a big decision to make when you are 3-0 and your quarterback who was leading your team was 13-3 as a starter, but I had a lot of confidence in Ian and I thought our offense played to the level it was capable of. That showed itself today. Those are my thoughts- the preparations, the conditioning, first road game and making a big decision on the quarterback."
On defensive performance:
"We made some tactical decisions to take some things away. Three (Greg Dortch) is a game- wrecker and we doubled him the whole game, inside and outside. The quarterback run caused us some problems, but we were willing to give some things up and take some things away. I thought we were relentless up front, we were physical. Every time they threw the ball, there was pressure on the quarterback. It's a difficult offense to defend entirely, but we were smart as to what we gave them and what we took away."
On this year's game compared to last year's game:
"We felt like last year we did some things that we didn't want to do again, so we had a different plan to attack that. It is a very deliberate offense, much more deliberate than most relative to how they play that. We had a plan for what we thought would work against it. They are going to run for more, but we didn't want the seam-passes and big plays. They were going to grind it if they were going to score."
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