UNC Head Coach Butch Davis Quotes

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North Carolina Head Coach Butch Davis
Opening Statement:
“They really ganged up-we had trouble in the previous three seasons running the ball against Virginia because of how big they are. I think that Dwight Jones had by far his finest game as a Carolina Tar Heel. I thought T.J. Yates’ poise and calm with the football generated big, explosive plays. I thought that was extraordinarily critical. We did a lot of good things offensively. We’ve just got to continue to grow on that and get better every week.”

On game philosophy:
“I think when you’re scoring, you think you might dictate not only the tempo, but the style of which the game’s played. We kept the pressure on [Virginia]. One of the things that you’re always concerned about as a coach is when you get off to a big, explosive start like that. I’ve seen teams relax and let the other team get back into it. I was concerned at halftime-they had scored right near the end of the half and you could see the momentum switching. They closed the gap and they leave the field with a positive attitude, feeling like they’ve done something good, and it was really critical for us to come back out and start good in the third quarter and reestablish a little bit of control of the game.”

On ability to overcome off-field issues this season:
“We’ve got good kids-this is a good group of football players. They’ve got a lot of character, a lot of integrity. There’s a lot of good leaders on this team. You can’t say enough about this coaching staff-Edward Winters has done an absolutely remarkable job given all of the things he’s had to try to deal with. They just show up like junkyard dogs every week and bring their hard hat and go to work. But these kids-there’s leaders on this team that hold each other accountable.”

On offense:
“Clearly, this might be one of the biggest and most explosive offensive performances we’ve had.”