UVa Coach/Player Quotes

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Virginia vs. TCU
Sept. 12, 2009
Virginia Head Coach Al Groh Quotes

On the game:

“Clearly we need to play a lot better than that. We need to be cohesive. We’ll continue to work and grind away at that.”

On the penalty called prior to TCU’s first touchdown:

“It certainly was a significant play in the game. It turned out to be a seven-point play.”

On TCU’s strengths:

“They were the No. 7 team in the country last year and it is pretty apparent why they’re ranked highly. Their quarterback [Andy Dalton] is an excellent player. He was able to really control the game in a lot of different ways. And their defense was one or two in the country last year so we understood it was going to be rugged moving the ball but still, we expect more out of ourselves.”

On the Cavaliers’ difficulty to complete long passes:

“First of all, quite obviously, the ability of a quarterback to go downfield, or for that matter, the team to go downfield, it’s based significantly on the amount of time the quarterback has to do so. Unfortunately, Jameel [Sewell] was under quite a bit of duress. We need to do a better job of protecting him on those plays.”

On the positives in the game:

“I think the catches of the two young receivers late in the game [Javaris Brown and Tim Smith], we had to be encouraged by that. For them to be able to step up and make those plays and now they have their first big plays and they both resulted in touchdowns. There’s certainly hope that there’s a boost of confidence that comes from that. Jameel has a whole game under his belt. We hope to see some benefits from that. Obviously the points say we have to perform better on defense than we did but we had our moments there where we did okay.”

On scoring late in the game:

“We had some really good individual plays. Jameel shook loose. Javaris stayed with his route. That’s how you score points.”

On the Cavaliers’ fake punt:

“In retrospect, I think that was a poor decision on my part. It had the same effect as a turnover. But we weren’t out there to try to prevent losing. We were out there to try to win. We hadn’t generated anything close to making us think that we were going to get any points at that point offensively so the thought was to try to generate some movement and field position and try to turn that into points.”

On what he’ll tell the team moving forward:

“Stay together and keep grinding.”

On fan support:

“There was a great group of fans there to greet the team when we arrived at the stadium today. The positive encouragement and positive energy they supplied was wonderful and those are the people we really want to win for. We’re grateful for the energy and the enthusiasm the players got from their fellow students.”

UVa Player Quotes

UVa sophomore cornerback Chase Minnifield

On what the team will take away from this game:

“I think we can take a few things away from this game. The fact that we never quit playing says a lot. We are just going to keep working and keep going tomorrow.”

UVa senior linebacker Denzel Burrell

On the positive aspects of the game:

“We can build on some things. We knew they were a spread offense, and they came in and did what they wanted to do and what we had expected from them.”

“I really think there are some things we can take back from this game, like not giving up and fighting until the end. We did not allow points when a lot of other defenses would have probably given in.”

On TCU’s first touchdown:

“That was a really tough break, especially with the call, but you just have to bounce back and get it out of your head. You have to play every down and you cannot think about things that are in the past.”

“It was tough, but we stayed in and kept fighting and I’m proud of everyone for the fight we brought.”

On the rest of the season and sticking together:

“We still have tons of football left, and that is the beauty of it. This is just one game, and we are in the hole at 0-2 but we can come out of it just as quickly next week.”

“The locker room stands together, and it is a tough loss for all of us. We are just going to get in there tomorrow, watch some film and get this out of our heads. We are going to work hard and have a helpful week of practice.”

Virginia sophomore safety Corey Mosley

On matching up with TCU:

“We knew what they wanted to do going into the game. They wanted to make first downs, take care of the ball, and eventually put points on the board. We just wanted to keep everything in front of us and let our athletes make plays.”

On late hit call:

“I am a pretty aggressive player, and that’s something we preach on defense. We want everyone to be aggressive and look to make plays. I had to just keep my focus and worry about the next play. Hopefully next time we won’t get that yellow flag.”

Virginia senior linebacker Aaron Clark

On TCU offense:

“They have a lot of very good players on their team and today they came to play. We didn’t accomplish what we set out to do, and they did, so hats off to them.”

On looking ahead:

“You have to have a short memory. We have to keep working hard, and strive to get better as a team.”

On fake punt attempt:

” Sometimes you have to try things, and unfortunately for us, it didn’t work out. We definitely have to execute better next time.”

Virginia freshman wide receiver Tim Smith

On fourth quarter touchdown catch:

“They called a play, and I ran a route. Jameel made a great throw and I was able to make a play. That’s my job.”

On TCU defense:

“They mixed up coverages, showed us cover two, cover eight, and pressed us a little. They gave us a number of different looks. Next time we just have to execute better.”