Postgame Quotes
10/20/2019 12:01:00 AM | Football
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
On the win over Florida State:
"What a great college football game. I think both teams played well, and it came down to the last minute. Once again, this week we found a way to win and I'm proud of our guys. I'm proud of the defense, they bounced back from last week. I'm proud of our offense and Sam Hartman. His performance wasn't always clean but made the throws when we needed them. Nick Sciba had five field goal attempts tonight and he made all five of them. This was a gritty win, our team didn't give up and we found a way to win."
On preparation for bad weather:
"Yesterday at practice we were anticipating the weather. We had buckets of water and dunked all the balls in water and didn't dry them off. Every throw and every snap was with a wet ball. There was more of a psychological reason behind this than a physical one because we wanted our guys to be used to the wet balls when the rain came. We went over yesterday with our guys that the game was going to get rainy and the footballs are going to be wet, and we were going to be fine."
On offensive Adjustments:
"Florida State played a lot of four down linemen against us. They are really talented on the defensive line. During the game, we were getting positive runs, but none that broke off. At the start of the second half, I thought our offensive staff did a great job of making adjustments. We spread the ball out more along the perimeter and ran some different packages than we normally do that opened things up for us."
On special teams Improvement:
"Last week, we met with the special teams and made it clear that we were embarrassed. We made some personnel changes in the special teams unit, and also changed the way we covered punts. At times, we told Dom (Maggio) to punt the ball out of bounds. I thought our special teams were huge today."
On the defense's bounce back after last week:
"I think the defense took last week personally. [This week] we wanted to let the kids play fast. If we were going to get beat, let it be because their players were better than ours, not because there was confusion or we weren't playing fast."
Wake Forest Redshirt Senior Offensive Lineman Justin Herron
On pass protection:
"We went into it thinking we just got to keep doing what we were doing. I thought the first five games we played, we were playing phenomenal, I thought we were doing great. It doesn't change at all whether its Jamie [Newman], [Michael] Kern, or Sam [Hartman]."
On kicking field goals in the red zone:
"You always want to score--but we have a great kicker in [Nick] Sciba. Some points are better than no points."
Wake Forest Redshirt Junior Defensive Lineman Carlos Basham, Jr.
On the win:
"It was definitely a statement. Coach preached about moving on from last week, and we took him to heart. This week's practice was way better than it was, and guys were focused--both on the sideline and on the field."
On Justin Strnad going out:
"Justin is a big loss, but I felt like the next guy really stepped up. He prepared like starter, Coach always tells him to prepare like a starter, and he definitely did his job tonight."
Wake Forest Sophomore Quarterback Sam Hartman
On the historical significance of Wake beating Florida State:
"It puts a smile on my face, and I'm excited for us--really the seniors, because they've been here."
On Nick Sciba:
"That's my guy up there. We are buddies, we go fishing together. We came in together mid-year and went through everything together. So I was pissed coming off the field when we couldn't get a TD, but I didn't flinch, I knew Sciba wouldn't miss any of them."
Wake Forest Redshirt Sophomore Wide Receiver Sage Surratt
On the feeling in the lockerroom:
"That was a great team win for us. It wasn't pretty, but we got it done. We played with a lot of fight and a lot of heart out there. Guys were just excited. It's a great win for us, especially against a program like that. They have a very talented team. It was a good win for us and very exciting."
On the adjustments in the red zone:
"It just comes down to execution. Whatever the play is, it comes down to executing."
Wake Forest Sophomore Kicker Nick Sciba
On the conditions impacting his final field goal attempt:
"That's just a credit to my holder, Dom Maggio, and my snapper, Dayton Diemel. Without them, none of those kicks are possible. They are the best snapper and holder in the ACC. It was different, but every kick is the same kick, so I got to go out there with the same mentality that I've got to do my job and make the kick."
On kicking field goals after the offense didn't score in the red zone:
"It feels great. It stinks that our offense wasn't able to get into the end zone, but I'm glad that I was able to do my part and do my job in order to help us get a great team win, which I think is a pivotal win for us. We have a lot of momentum going into the bye week."
Florida State Head Coach Willie Taggart
Opening statement:
"Well, this one hurts. I thought our football team played better in certain areas but again, turnovers and penalties hurt us, especially in critical situations and we didn't find a way to win this ballgame. Like I said, I thought our guys did some good things throughout the game, but when you talk about winning plays, those penalties and turnovers, it's just hard to win ballgames when you do those things, especially turning the ball over in the red zone and you can't get any points. I would say that one hurt big time."
On deciding whether to go for it on fourth down before the potential winning field goal attempt:
"Yeah, we were thinking about going for it. Ricky had a good week of practice. He was 100 percent all week in practice. He had a strong enough leg to make it so we tried to go for it."
On the timeout as the play clock was running down before the potential winning field goal attempt:
"Yeah, the play clock was running down."
On the players' emotion in the locker room after the game:
"They're disappointed. They're upset. The guys want to win. Having a close game like that and you don't win, they're disappointed. We want to win just as bad as everyone else. We got to find a way to win a ballgame and get back into the win column. They were disappointed."
On the win over Florida State:
"What a great college football game. I think both teams played well, and it came down to the last minute. Once again, this week we found a way to win and I'm proud of our guys. I'm proud of the defense, they bounced back from last week. I'm proud of our offense and Sam Hartman. His performance wasn't always clean but made the throws when we needed them. Nick Sciba had five field goal attempts tonight and he made all five of them. This was a gritty win, our team didn't give up and we found a way to win."
On preparation for bad weather:
"Yesterday at practice we were anticipating the weather. We had buckets of water and dunked all the balls in water and didn't dry them off. Every throw and every snap was with a wet ball. There was more of a psychological reason behind this than a physical one because we wanted our guys to be used to the wet balls when the rain came. We went over yesterday with our guys that the game was going to get rainy and the footballs are going to be wet, and we were going to be fine."
On offensive Adjustments:
"Florida State played a lot of four down linemen against us. They are really talented on the defensive line. During the game, we were getting positive runs, but none that broke off. At the start of the second half, I thought our offensive staff did a great job of making adjustments. We spread the ball out more along the perimeter and ran some different packages than we normally do that opened things up for us."
On special teams Improvement:
"Last week, we met with the special teams and made it clear that we were embarrassed. We made some personnel changes in the special teams unit, and also changed the way we covered punts. At times, we told Dom (Maggio) to punt the ball out of bounds. I thought our special teams were huge today."
On the defense's bounce back after last week:
"I think the defense took last week personally. [This week] we wanted to let the kids play fast. If we were going to get beat, let it be because their players were better than ours, not because there was confusion or we weren't playing fast."
Wake Forest Redshirt Senior Offensive Lineman Justin Herron
On pass protection:
"We went into it thinking we just got to keep doing what we were doing. I thought the first five games we played, we were playing phenomenal, I thought we were doing great. It doesn't change at all whether its Jamie [Newman], [Michael] Kern, or Sam [Hartman]."
On kicking field goals in the red zone:
"You always want to score--but we have a great kicker in [Nick] Sciba. Some points are better than no points."
Wake Forest Redshirt Junior Defensive Lineman Carlos Basham, Jr.
On the win:
"It was definitely a statement. Coach preached about moving on from last week, and we took him to heart. This week's practice was way better than it was, and guys were focused--both on the sideline and on the field."
On Justin Strnad going out:
"Justin is a big loss, but I felt like the next guy really stepped up. He prepared like starter, Coach always tells him to prepare like a starter, and he definitely did his job tonight."
Wake Forest Sophomore Quarterback Sam Hartman
On the historical significance of Wake beating Florida State:
"It puts a smile on my face, and I'm excited for us--really the seniors, because they've been here."
On Nick Sciba:
"That's my guy up there. We are buddies, we go fishing together. We came in together mid-year and went through everything together. So I was pissed coming off the field when we couldn't get a TD, but I didn't flinch, I knew Sciba wouldn't miss any of them."
Wake Forest Redshirt Sophomore Wide Receiver Sage Surratt
On the feeling in the lockerroom:
"That was a great team win for us. It wasn't pretty, but we got it done. We played with a lot of fight and a lot of heart out there. Guys were just excited. It's a great win for us, especially against a program like that. They have a very talented team. It was a good win for us and very exciting."
On the adjustments in the red zone:
"It just comes down to execution. Whatever the play is, it comes down to executing."
Wake Forest Sophomore Kicker Nick Sciba
On the conditions impacting his final field goal attempt:
"That's just a credit to my holder, Dom Maggio, and my snapper, Dayton Diemel. Without them, none of those kicks are possible. They are the best snapper and holder in the ACC. It was different, but every kick is the same kick, so I got to go out there with the same mentality that I've got to do my job and make the kick."
On kicking field goals after the offense didn't score in the red zone:
"It feels great. It stinks that our offense wasn't able to get into the end zone, but I'm glad that I was able to do my part and do my job in order to help us get a great team win, which I think is a pivotal win for us. We have a lot of momentum going into the bye week."
Florida State Head Coach Willie Taggart
Opening statement:
"Well, this one hurts. I thought our football team played better in certain areas but again, turnovers and penalties hurt us, especially in critical situations and we didn't find a way to win this ballgame. Like I said, I thought our guys did some good things throughout the game, but when you talk about winning plays, those penalties and turnovers, it's just hard to win ballgames when you do those things, especially turning the ball over in the red zone and you can't get any points. I would say that one hurt big time."
On deciding whether to go for it on fourth down before the potential winning field goal attempt:
"Yeah, we were thinking about going for it. Ricky had a good week of practice. He was 100 percent all week in practice. He had a strong enough leg to make it so we tried to go for it."
On the timeout as the play clock was running down before the potential winning field goal attempt:
"Yeah, the play clock was running down."
On the players' emotion in the locker room after the game:
"They're disappointed. They're upset. The guys want to win. Having a close game like that and you don't win, they're disappointed. We want to win just as bad as everyone else. We got to find a way to win a ballgame and get back into the win column. They were disappointed."
Players Mentioned
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