Postgame Quotes
11/2/2019 4:19:00 PM | Football
Postgame Quotes
Wake Forest 44, NC State 10 – November 2, 2019
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement:
"I thought it was a good overall team win. We came out ready to play. We kind of jumped on them early, went up 24-0, and then kind of softened up on defense a little bit. What was really critical was the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. We had the long drive, we kicked the field goal with 23 seconds left, so we got three. Then we started with the ball in the second half, and that 10-point swing really changed the rest of the game. Instead of it being a 24-point game or something that could have become a 17-point game, it became a 31-point game. I'm really proud of our guys, I thought our defense played really well. We got a second-half shutout. [North Carolina State] is a good team, they're really banged up right now. I thought our guys played well, so credit to us. I thought we showed up ready to go, played hard and played to our level. Now we've put ourselves in a position that we want to be in in November. There are a lot of tough games ahead of us, but we'll certainly enjoy this one."
On the play of Amari Henderson:
"Amari played really well. He played confident. He felt confident to sit on routes. Sometimes when a corner's not confident, they'll get out of their pedal quickly, flip their hips quickly. To me, Amari played confident. He felt like he could run with them and he sat on some routes. He made some great plays and almost had another one or two more. I'm proud of the whole defense, I thought our third down defense was good."
On the strong performance overall:
"We were much better in the red zone with the offense in terms of the touchdowns, and Sciba is money, so it's good to always get points when we come out of there. It's nice to have a game that doesn't go down to the last play of the game or the last 30 seconds, against what I think is a good football team and a team we have a lot of respect for."
On the special teams play:
"We were so disappointed in our special teams play in the Louisville game. We've really challenged our guys. The Louisville game – it was a team failure, the coaches, offense, defense, special teams across the board. Certainly, the special teams in that game didn't help us. We really challenged the kickoff unit and for those guys to get that big hit to cause a fumble and get us the ball on the 3-yard line, that was really big. I thought our punt coverage was good. After the Louisville game, you don't think anyone's going to fair catch against you. The last two weeks, we've covered really well. Against Florida State we covered well, and we covered well today. I think it's a little bit of a sign of respect to get teams to fair catch again. We're working a lot harder and taking a lot more pride in that unit."
Wake Forest Redshirt Sophomore Wide Receiver Sage Surratt
On Jack Freudenthal in the red zone:
"I guess so he was three [catches] for four [yards] with three touchdowns. Jack has been a reliable player for us with sure hands that's what he does. Let's not sleep on Jack in the red zone."
On having a game that wasn't decided in the final minutes:
"I think that was weird. We had a comfortable lead. It felt good not having to be on edge the all time. It was definitely a great win for the team."
Wake Forest Redshirt Senior Wide Receiver Kendall Hinton
On a win over an in-state opponent:
"It's a big win because it's an in-state rivalry that goes back a long way, but at the same time it's another week and another win. We're looking forward to getting prepared for next week."
On his catch across the middle in traffic:
"The ball isn't always going to be perfect, so it's just going up and making the play when you get the opportunity."
Wake Forest Redshirt Junior Quarterback Jamie Newman
On coming back after not playing in three weeks:
"It honestly didn't feel different because I am always mentally prepared to help even when you're not there physically. Like the Florida State game, I still felt prepared like I was going to play that Saturday. So staying mentally prepared always help getting ready to get back out there."
On being 7-1 this season:
"We take everything as 1-0 every week. We get our confidence from the work we put in throughout the week in practice."
NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren
On the turnover on the kickoff return early in the game:
"That was a bad situation for us to be in on defense, obviously. The whole first quarter didn't go our way. We didn't get off the field on third down. Field position was pretty critical in this football game on the road and we didn't have any. We had 99 yards, 97 yards and 98. Their punter did a tremendous job pinning us deep. It was critical in a game like that."
On Devin Leary:
"He made some good throws. He was in a difficult situation being down 21-0 and they were able to defend the coverages at that point. You get up on somebody by three scores, you don't have to defend the run the way you would in a tight game. He was facing Cover-2 a lot on first and second down, which isn't normal for Wake Forest. Did some bad things too and it's going to be a great game for him to learn from. Tough way to learn but Devin just keeps fighting. A lot of fight in this game. I thought our guys didn't quit. I like the way they responded in the second quarter and didn't do enough obviously to get back in it. There were some good things in there."
On handling the loss and trying to bounce back:
"We just got to get better. I can't even look at the score right now. We got 10 penalties and three turnovers. There's a lot to fix. I think for us is that the guys we can play with, we had some more get injured today. What can we do to help them be in the best place mentally and physically and put together a plan that they can go out and execute. It doesn't matter who we play, it's just us getting better and if you do that, the young football team we have, who knows what could happen. We just need some good things to happen and a lot of guys were dropping passes and that didn't help ourselves a little bit."
Wake Forest 44, NC State 10 – November 2, 2019
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement:
"I thought it was a good overall team win. We came out ready to play. We kind of jumped on them early, went up 24-0, and then kind of softened up on defense a little bit. What was really critical was the last four minutes of the first half and the first four minutes of the second half. We had the long drive, we kicked the field goal with 23 seconds left, so we got three. Then we started with the ball in the second half, and that 10-point swing really changed the rest of the game. Instead of it being a 24-point game or something that could have become a 17-point game, it became a 31-point game. I'm really proud of our guys, I thought our defense played really well. We got a second-half shutout. [North Carolina State] is a good team, they're really banged up right now. I thought our guys played well, so credit to us. I thought we showed up ready to go, played hard and played to our level. Now we've put ourselves in a position that we want to be in in November. There are a lot of tough games ahead of us, but we'll certainly enjoy this one."
On the play of Amari Henderson:
"Amari played really well. He played confident. He felt confident to sit on routes. Sometimes when a corner's not confident, they'll get out of their pedal quickly, flip their hips quickly. To me, Amari played confident. He felt like he could run with them and he sat on some routes. He made some great plays and almost had another one or two more. I'm proud of the whole defense, I thought our third down defense was good."
On the strong performance overall:
"We were much better in the red zone with the offense in terms of the touchdowns, and Sciba is money, so it's good to always get points when we come out of there. It's nice to have a game that doesn't go down to the last play of the game or the last 30 seconds, against what I think is a good football team and a team we have a lot of respect for."
On the special teams play:
"We were so disappointed in our special teams play in the Louisville game. We've really challenged our guys. The Louisville game – it was a team failure, the coaches, offense, defense, special teams across the board. Certainly, the special teams in that game didn't help us. We really challenged the kickoff unit and for those guys to get that big hit to cause a fumble and get us the ball on the 3-yard line, that was really big. I thought our punt coverage was good. After the Louisville game, you don't think anyone's going to fair catch against you. The last two weeks, we've covered really well. Against Florida State we covered well, and we covered well today. I think it's a little bit of a sign of respect to get teams to fair catch again. We're working a lot harder and taking a lot more pride in that unit."
Wake Forest Redshirt Sophomore Wide Receiver Sage Surratt
On Jack Freudenthal in the red zone:
"I guess so he was three [catches] for four [yards] with three touchdowns. Jack has been a reliable player for us with sure hands that's what he does. Let's not sleep on Jack in the red zone."
On having a game that wasn't decided in the final minutes:
"I think that was weird. We had a comfortable lead. It felt good not having to be on edge the all time. It was definitely a great win for the team."
Wake Forest Redshirt Senior Wide Receiver Kendall Hinton
On a win over an in-state opponent:
"It's a big win because it's an in-state rivalry that goes back a long way, but at the same time it's another week and another win. We're looking forward to getting prepared for next week."
On his catch across the middle in traffic:
"The ball isn't always going to be perfect, so it's just going up and making the play when you get the opportunity."
Wake Forest Redshirt Junior Quarterback Jamie Newman
On coming back after not playing in three weeks:
"It honestly didn't feel different because I am always mentally prepared to help even when you're not there physically. Like the Florida State game, I still felt prepared like I was going to play that Saturday. So staying mentally prepared always help getting ready to get back out there."
On being 7-1 this season:
"We take everything as 1-0 every week. We get our confidence from the work we put in throughout the week in practice."
NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren
On the turnover on the kickoff return early in the game:
"That was a bad situation for us to be in on defense, obviously. The whole first quarter didn't go our way. We didn't get off the field on third down. Field position was pretty critical in this football game on the road and we didn't have any. We had 99 yards, 97 yards and 98. Their punter did a tremendous job pinning us deep. It was critical in a game like that."
On Devin Leary:
"He made some good throws. He was in a difficult situation being down 21-0 and they were able to defend the coverages at that point. You get up on somebody by three scores, you don't have to defend the run the way you would in a tight game. He was facing Cover-2 a lot on first and second down, which isn't normal for Wake Forest. Did some bad things too and it's going to be a great game for him to learn from. Tough way to learn but Devin just keeps fighting. A lot of fight in this game. I thought our guys didn't quit. I like the way they responded in the second quarter and didn't do enough obviously to get back in it. There were some good things in there."
On handling the loss and trying to bounce back:
"We just got to get better. I can't even look at the score right now. We got 10 penalties and three turnovers. There's a lot to fix. I think for us is that the guys we can play with, we had some more get injured today. What can we do to help them be in the best place mentally and physically and put together a plan that they can go out and execute. It doesn't matter who we play, it's just us getting better and if you do that, the young football team we have, who knows what could happen. We just need some good things to happen and a lot of guys were dropping passes and that didn't help ourselves a little bit."
Players Mentioned
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