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Al Groh Postgame Quotes
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Post Game Quotes
Virginia Head Coach Al Groh
On Virginia’s performance against Duke:
“The only thing that really matters is what’s up on the scoreboard, but despite what we saw up there, we saw a lot of positive things in a lot of different areas. Our running game from Reshawn (Jackson), Keith (Payne) and Mikell (Simpson) had some more positive plays than what we’ve had in the past. Defensively, we were able to do a number of things that we thought were important to do in the game, but we had too many turnovers and too much bad field position. Those two things pretty much tie together, one creating the other in some circumstances, and it makes it really challenging for the defense to keep the points down and for the offense to get anything going.”
On giving away chances to score in the first half:
“We had a couple of opportunities early in the game, and clearly, if we would have taken advantage of those, we probably would have gotten a positive spark. That’s the story of the season though, not being able to take advantage of those opportunities.”
On losing defensive back Ras-I Dowling and linebacker Clint Sintim on the same play in the third quarter:
“Those were clearly not just two real good players for us, but two of our principle playmakers on defense. After (they were injured on the same play), we were just kind of rocking along without them. We would have liked to have them in there, sure, but it was an opportunity for some guys to step in and do a little bit more for us.”
On whether he gave any thought to taking out quarterback Marc Verica after throwing four interceptions in the second half:
“No, because that’s part of growing up as a quarterback. You can’t run for the hills when things get though. You have to stand out there. Other players have some tough circumstances, and there’s no one out there to bail them out. It’s good, one, for him to be put in that circumstance, and two, for us to see how he’ll deal with hit and how he’ll handle it. We have every confidence that Marc will go in the right direction, but this will be his opportunity.”