Postgame Quotes
9/13/2019 10:31:00 PM | Football
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
On the win:
"What a great college football game. I think that this game should be played every year. Just look at the crowd and the environment, the passion, how hard both teams played. Our hats are off to Carolina, they played their butts off. All year, they've made comebacks. Giving credit to our guys, that last drive was huge. The first downs, conversions, field goal, and timeouts ensured we won. The crowd was into the game, they were active, and it made a big difference in the game. I'm proud of our players, we never do it the easy way, but to our credit, we played hard, battled for four quarters and found a way to win."
On the Wake Offense:
"We made some explosive plays in the first half. We just misfired in the second half. We had some good deep balls to Sage (Surratt). In the second half, we threw the ball out of bounds, and the one interception Newman threw was probably as bad a throw we've made all year. Carolina forced us to throw, and we didn't make contested catches. When we had a three-score lead in the fourth quarter, we purposely slowed it down. We got the ball with 6:30 left in the game and marched right down the field. We also made them use their timeouts."
On Wake Defense:
"They were 2-16 on third down. We have a good third-down defense. We have a plan and these are things we've worked on in the spring and in camp. We've practiced third down. We've worked hard to fix that, and we're seeing results from the adjustments."
Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman
On the final drive:
"One of the things was we stayed calm on the sidelines we didn't panic. We have been in those situations before. Coach Clawson does a great job of coaching us in moments like that. We did a great job of finishing and doing our jobs and executing.
Wake Forest wide receiver Sage Surratt
On performing well in the brother-vs-brother matchup:
"I just try to do my job and execute the plays that we run. We had a great performance by the O-line and that opened up for Jamie to throw some really good balls. He was throwing some really good deep balls to me and I was just trying to make a play on them."
North Carolina Head Coach Mack Brown
Opening Statement:
"First, credit to Dave Clawson and Wake Forest. They were ready to play. They outplayed us so much in the first half. We got in a huge hole and that's credit to them. I didn't think we were as ready to go as we needed to. Then at halftime, the guys had to make a decision. We got to pick it up and play and come back out and give yourselves a chance to win in the second half like you have in the other games. I said the South Carolina game it was 20-9 at halftime. You either had to make that decision to do that or keep playing and lose. I'm very proud of them that we kept playing. Wake Forest got the win but when Coach Royal used to tell me that when some team plays that hard in the second half you don't really lose, you run out of time so it's something we can build on. We got a lot of injuries and we got to go back and get some backups ready to play against Appalachian because a lot of guys went down tonight. I'm disappointed in the loss but I'm really proud of the second half effort. Defensively, I thought we played really well at times in the first half. We had a third down and short stop. We had a fourth down stop at the goal-line or we're out of the game. So defensively, they held us enough in the game that offensively we really didn't get going until the fourth quarter and then Sam started playing well, we woke up and played much better in the fourth quarter. Hopefully that will help us against a really good Appalachian State team next week."
On their second half defensive effort against Wake's RPO:
"I thought we played better. Without Strowbridge we got some young guys that really have to step up and penetrate. We weren't penetrating the run very early at all, so we weren't getting any pressure on the passer at all. But in the second half we were able to do both."
On what he learned about his team after the game:
"What I learned is that they really want to be good. I learned that they weren't mature enough and our coaches and that I didn't do a good enough job of getting them through the first two games and getting them over the Miami game in preparing well for this one emotionally. I didn't think we played well emotionally in the first quarter and parts of the first half. We talked about it and we knew it was an issue. We weren't used to this position to be in. We knew Wake Forest would play really hard and we still didn't come out and play like we did the first two games so that's my fault."
On the win:
"What a great college football game. I think that this game should be played every year. Just look at the crowd and the environment, the passion, how hard both teams played. Our hats are off to Carolina, they played their butts off. All year, they've made comebacks. Giving credit to our guys, that last drive was huge. The first downs, conversions, field goal, and timeouts ensured we won. The crowd was into the game, they were active, and it made a big difference in the game. I'm proud of our players, we never do it the easy way, but to our credit, we played hard, battled for four quarters and found a way to win."
On the Wake Offense:
"We made some explosive plays in the first half. We just misfired in the second half. We had some good deep balls to Sage (Surratt). In the second half, we threw the ball out of bounds, and the one interception Newman threw was probably as bad a throw we've made all year. Carolina forced us to throw, and we didn't make contested catches. When we had a three-score lead in the fourth quarter, we purposely slowed it down. We got the ball with 6:30 left in the game and marched right down the field. We also made them use their timeouts."
On Wake Defense:
"They were 2-16 on third down. We have a good third-down defense. We have a plan and these are things we've worked on in the spring and in camp. We've practiced third down. We've worked hard to fix that, and we're seeing results from the adjustments."
Wake Forest quarterback Jamie Newman
On the final drive:
"One of the things was we stayed calm on the sidelines we didn't panic. We have been in those situations before. Coach Clawson does a great job of coaching us in moments like that. We did a great job of finishing and doing our jobs and executing.
Wake Forest wide receiver Sage Surratt
On performing well in the brother-vs-brother matchup:
"I just try to do my job and execute the plays that we run. We had a great performance by the O-line and that opened up for Jamie to throw some really good balls. He was throwing some really good deep balls to me and I was just trying to make a play on them."
North Carolina Head Coach Mack Brown
Opening Statement:
"First, credit to Dave Clawson and Wake Forest. They were ready to play. They outplayed us so much in the first half. We got in a huge hole and that's credit to them. I didn't think we were as ready to go as we needed to. Then at halftime, the guys had to make a decision. We got to pick it up and play and come back out and give yourselves a chance to win in the second half like you have in the other games. I said the South Carolina game it was 20-9 at halftime. You either had to make that decision to do that or keep playing and lose. I'm very proud of them that we kept playing. Wake Forest got the win but when Coach Royal used to tell me that when some team plays that hard in the second half you don't really lose, you run out of time so it's something we can build on. We got a lot of injuries and we got to go back and get some backups ready to play against Appalachian because a lot of guys went down tonight. I'm disappointed in the loss but I'm really proud of the second half effort. Defensively, I thought we played really well at times in the first half. We had a third down and short stop. We had a fourth down stop at the goal-line or we're out of the game. So defensively, they held us enough in the game that offensively we really didn't get going until the fourth quarter and then Sam started playing well, we woke up and played much better in the fourth quarter. Hopefully that will help us against a really good Appalachian State team next week."
On their second half defensive effort against Wake's RPO:
"I thought we played better. Without Strowbridge we got some young guys that really have to step up and penetrate. We weren't penetrating the run very early at all, so we weren't getting any pressure on the passer at all. But in the second half we were able to do both."
On what he learned about his team after the game:
"What I learned is that they really want to be good. I learned that they weren't mature enough and our coaches and that I didn't do a good enough job of getting them through the first two games and getting them over the Miami game in preparing well for this one emotionally. I didn't think we played well emotionally in the first quarter and parts of the first half. We talked about it and we knew it was an issue. We weren't used to this position to be in. We knew Wake Forest would play really hard and we still didn't come out and play like we did the first two games so that's my fault."
Players Mentioned
QB
/ Football
WR
/ FootballWake Forest Football Highlights vs WCU (Sept 6, 2025)
Sunday, September 07
Sterling Berkhalter snags a 51-yard touchdown
Saturday, September 06
Demond Claiborne takes it 85 yards for his 3rd TD of the day
Saturday, September 06
Claiborne get his 2nd score of the day
Saturday, September 06