Virginia Head Coach Al Groh Quotes

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On the game overall
“Unfortunately, this one looked too much like some that have preceded it. We played fairly well for a long time on defense and managed to push them offensively. But however many there were-there don’t need to be many, 4, 5, 6-of the plays that cause teams to lose, they took us in the wrong direction. So it’s unfortunate. A lot of kids played their heart out today to make it different, but there were just too many gift points. There were 10 points we can attribute to turnovers and a couple of mental errors that resulted in long plays.”

On the defensive line’s play against nation’s No. 6 passing team
“They had some really good pushovers. I’m very pleased with the way they responded. We had some schemes that we thought would get some pressure and they did a really, really good job all week of tuning, as well as of executing, during the course of the game. And that was a big factor in what we were able to get accomplished.”

On defensive strategy
“Obviously our defense was up against the sixth-ranked passing team in the country and passing the ball about sixty-five percent to a wide receiver, so that was one thing that had to be stopped. So we had some plays and some things we wanted to do and for a long time we did a nice job.”

On the passing game
“Protection certainly should be better. We dropped some balls. In college football these days, with a few exceptions, success comes with the passing game.”

On Duke’s play during the game
“They were well prepared. They were on every one of our plays. They recognized the formation and they really challenged us. They anticipated where the ball would go, and I give a lot of credit to them. They played and executed at a critical time.”