Virginia Head Coach Mike London Postgame Quotes
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Virginia vs. Virginia Tech
Nov. 26, 2011
Virginia Head Coach Mike London Quotes
On Virginia Tech’s second half play:
“Anytime you allow a team to eat up the clock and get points out of that, then it’s tough. That’s a good offense; it’s a good football team. We had to come out the second half and try to limit those opportunities in order to get our offense back in the game to get them back on track. Everything they did today worked well for them. We didn’t play very well. It’s indicative of the score.”
On going for it on fourth down in the first quarter:
“It was the opportunity to send a message to our guys up front that if you’re going to win championships, if you’re going to win games, you’ve got to be able to knock people off the ball and gain a yard, particularly when you’re favored in run-play. They did a good job of defending it, and we didn’t get it. It set the tone for them to go the other way.”
On Virginia Tech’s run defense:
“I thought they did a great job playing defense. It’s what they do. It’s unfortunate for us because one of the things we pride ourselves on is being able to run the ball. I give them all the credit. They did a good job, and beat us in a lot of ways to make us become more one-dimensional. They got us in third-and-long situations. You can’t let that happen because then you pin your ears back to rush the passer and get pressure on the quarterback. They played like they normally play and we didn’t play well enough.”
On mistakes:
“I’ll have to go back and look at the film as far as mental mistakes. I know as far as physical mistakes, there were missed tackles, and things like that. The mental mistakes are ones where maybe you turn a guy loose in coverage, or you fail to block a guy. There were some physical mistakes out there for sure that led to big catches, long runs, missed tackles, and things like that. It’s tough because of everything that was riding on it, but I want to tell you something: I’m proud of my team. At 8-4, no one thought we’d be this far or get to this point. 8-4 is a good season for us. The things that occurred and how we won games is a learning process for us, but to be 8-4 and know that your last game will be decided for a bowl game is something to be proud of for this program. It’s disappointing to lose and to lose a chance to represent the coastal division in the ACC Championship, but in no way are we disappointed about the season. The good thing is that we get a chance to end the season, hopefully on a positive note, once we find out who our opponent will be.”
On talking to the players postgame:
“I told them it’s okay to be disappointed because it is disappointing. To have worked hard to get yourself in a position to play in a big game, to represent your side of the conference in the big game, and then to have a game get away where you get beat on the field offensively and defensively is disappointing. That disappointment can’t be overshadowed by the fact that there were a lot of achievement that happened this year. There’s a lot to be proud of. We’re disappointed because we didn’t win this game. But, for where we were last year and going into the chances of winning this year, and the games that we won, how we won, I’m proud of the team. We have a lot of work to continue to do, and continuing this process, yes we do. You get that with recruiting. You get that with developing your players and making them better. You get that with the chance of playing in bowl games where you now have extra practices to get your younger players ready for spring practice. Something we haven’t had here in a long time is the opportunity to continue to develop players because you have an opportunity to get ready for bowl games. We’re disappointed, but at the same time, 8-4 and the chance to be 9-4 for this program? I’ll take that.”
On losing streak to Virginia Tech:
“Whatever it is now, it’s just one more loss to them. We put ourselves in a position for this game to be relevant at the end of the season. We’ve got to keep doing that, keep putting ourselves in the position for a game to have some significance to it. We have to improve on the outcome of it. This is the second year of not getting it done the way we need to get it done. I know that everyone will talk about the school and how many games. That’s appropriate. But, for this team, for the guys we’re responsible for now, it’s the second time, and we’re looking at getting ourselves better and competing harder, and continuing to improve the way we need to because we’re going to have to play better. You can’t have three turnovers. There are different aspects to the game like that that can get away from you.”