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Nov. 16, 2012

Virginia vs. North Carolina
Nov. 15, 2012
Virginia Head Coach Mike London quotes

On missing fourth-and-one scoring opportunity:
“It’s very disappointing. You get down in that situation there where you have the chance to tie the score. It seemed like the game kind of turned on that, not getting that fourth down opportunity, and as it went on, the other fourth down opportunities at the other end that we didn’t get, driving the ball, not being able to stop them, particularly with the bubble screens, and the play action passes they were doing. We couldn’t quite get a rhythm to stop them. I thought we played very competitively in the first half and had a chance, and we left some points on the field for sure, that dropped pass by (Darius Jennings) wide open. It’s frustrating. I feel for the guys in the locker room there. I give North Carolina credit. They played good offense. It’s a good team. They played well.”

On losing bowl eligibility:
“You tell them that’s there one more game left. There’s one more opportunity. We always like for the guys to have a positive college playing experience, one more opportunity to playwith your teammates, play your in-state rival. You’ve got to make it your bowl game. That’s what it is: one last game to play. I know the players will be up to the challenge. It’s a very quiet locker room in there with a lot of disappointments. We’ve got to pick ourselves up and get ready to play one last football game.”

On stopping Bernard and Davis:
“All of the receivers and what they do were very prominent. There was a lot of focus on Bernard. At the same time, they’ve shown those bubble screens. I thought that their receivers, physically, got on our corners there a little bit, and gave their receiver an opportunity to catch the ball, get seven or eight yards, and they were consistent with that. That’s part of their offense. It spreads you out and makes you defend the field width-wise. With Bernard and the inside run plays, opportunities were there to throw the ball to him as well. I know he was limited in his yardage, and I know he was the number three rusher in the country. We’ve got to be able to make those plays on the perimeter, because that’s ultimately where it ended up hurting us.”

On taking Sims out after a touchdown pass:
“Coach Lazor and the offensive staff do what we’ve been doing all year, over the last two games where guys play a couple series. The next series was up and Mike was the guy. I think Mike had an interception, and we put him back in as well, right afterthat. We have two quarterbacks right now, and I’m looking at the statistics. We’d like to have had a better game. There were some drops there, some short underneath routes that we didn’t convert. Last week we were pretty good on third down, and one of the things that stands out right now is two-of-15 onthird down. That hurts when you can’t convert like that. We definitely have a lot of work to do in improving the opportunities for us to keep the ball on the field. I think we did a great job the last two games, and obviously this game, we did not.”

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