Postgame Quotes - North Carolina Game
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Oct. 25, 2014
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Virginia vs. North Carolina
Oct. 25, 2014
Virginia Head Coach Mike London Quotes
Opening statement:
“Obviously this was a disappointing loss. We coached poorly at the end and played poorly. We did not recognize things that we should have. It is disappointing to have an opportunity to win a game down the stretch and to have all the miscues that occurred. North Carolina did what they needed to do to win the game, so congratulations to them. But we beat ourselves today and played poorly in the last few minutes of the game.”
On the substitution penalty:
“There was an extra guy on the field who should not have been there. When we make those switches, one guy comes in and one guy comes out. It was not caught or noticed. That is coaching, that is us on the sideline watching what’s going on.”
On UNC’s final touchdown:
“It’s a route that we practice and practice and practice and practice. It was not anything that we have not seen before. But we did not have guys in position to make the play. And that is what’s disappointing. You practice those things to put yourself in position to make plays and be there, to do the things necessary to win football games, and in that moment it did not happen.”
On the UNC onside kick:
“There is always an opportunity for it to happen. The thing you teach your guys is that you need to always be alert and aware. And obviously we were not alert and aware, and they got away with it. That was execution on their end and a lack of execution by us.”
On Greyson Lambert’s fourth quarter interception:
“It was a screen pass to KP [Kevin Parks] and obviously the big lineman stepped in front of it and made the play. If it’s not there, throw the ball in the ground and live to see another day. I need to go back and look at the film to see what he was trying to do, but it was not successful and they got a crucial and costly turnover.”
On the difficult loss:
“Every loss eats at me. I want to win football games. What is disappointing is the way this game unfolded, with a team that has shown progress and execution. Today we were not good enough. I did not do a good enough job coaching. Coaches didn’t do a good enough job coaching their players. And the result is a loss. Now we have to regroup and get ready for Georgia Tech.”
Virginia Player Quotes
Freshman safety Quin Blanding
On UNC’s onside kick recovery after scoring go-ahead touchdown:
“It was tough. We let this one slip away. When they came out, I kind of knew they were going to do something funky. For them to recover it, it blew my mind.”
On miscommunication that led to illegal substitution penalty:
“I think there was some confusion between the linemen on who was in and who was out. We’re one big unit, so that’s just a mental error. We have to fix it.”
On whether this loss could be a tipping point in the season:
“Not at all. We just know we have to come out next week and be ready to play.”
On the defensive alignment on UNC’s game-winning touchdown catch:
“It was just a miscommunication between myself, the linebacker, and the cornerback. That’s pretty much the bottom line of it.”
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Greyson Lambert:
On interception in the fourth quarter:
“It was a screen pass. I tried to look off the defender before I threw it and I saw the lineman there. I probably should have thrown the ball in the dirt or maybe tried to maneuver around in a different way. Ultimately, I didn’t get it there, and that’s my fault.”
On fading off after a hot start on offense:
“In the second half, we didn’t execute like we wanted to. Also, their defense made a couple adjustments here and there and their punter did a great job flipping the field and pinning us down at the one-yard line a couple of times. A lot of things happened, and it definitely falls on our shoulders to execute.”
Senior Tailback Kevin Parks
On the game:
“The name of the game is to just keep playing. Things did not go the way we wanted them to today. It hurts, like getting a knife to the stomach, but we have to get back out there in the morning and see what type of men we are made of.”
On the miscommunications:
“Our guys just were not aware on the sideline. We have to give credit to the Carolina coaching staff for calling the onside kick. They called and made the plays they needed to win the game.”
On the loss as a tipping point:
“I myself have to be very positive, guys on the team look up to me and see how I act, so if I act negatively the guys will see that and things can go downhill very fast. It is up to me and the seniors to keep our hopes and vibes up and to keep playing hard so that the team can feed off of our positive energy.”
On Mike London’s reaction:
“Coach London is a very positive guy, but I would be angry too if that happened to me as a coach. He is staying positive and knows what he’s doing so I will stand behind him one hundred percent, and so will the other coaches and our team.”
Senior Safety Anthony Harris
On stomaching the loss:
“We just have to go back and look at the film and continue to get better.”
On the defensive effort and the last UNC touchdown:
“It’s tough to give up a play like that right in the middle of the end zone and give them the lead on that play.”
On the onside kick and last minute penalty:
“Things like that will happen in the NFL as well as at the college level. Those are situations we just have to continue to communicate about and continue to practice so we can prevent that from happening again.”
On the loss as a tipping point:
“I don’t see it as that right now. We feel that we can continue to go out there and win some games and continue to compete. It was close, and we could taste the victory, it’s just all about us staying together and making the extra plays. It’s always tough to be in the game and lose by one score.”
Senior Wide Receiver Darius Jennings
On the offensive effort:
“We always say as an offense that three points isn’t going to get the game done. Having two turnovers hurt us and they kept pinning us back on our own one and two yard line, but we just have to keep getting first downs and try to put points on the board.”
On Carolina’s defensive adjustment:
“I didn’t see anything. I think it was more on us just not executing like we did on the first few drives. I think we hurt ourselves a lot today; we had spurts where we would play well but it just wasn’t enough to win.”
On the onside kick:
“I always try and warn the team if I see them tipping off an onside kick. On that play I didn’t see anything but we had talked in the huddle that it was that time of the game and that we should be ready for it. Our guys were alert but they just made a great play.”
On the receivers and losing Gooch:
“Gooch is a heck of a player and one our senior leaders. He’s been here for five years so him getting hurt definitely hurt our offense but our mindset as a receiving corps is that it’s just the next man up. We all play as a group and we all play as a team, so when Gooch went down we felt that we have more than enough guys able to step up and make plays.”
On the season as a tipping point:
“We just have to stay united. Our seniors have seen the highs and lows here, and things can go downhill, but I think that this team is different than the previous teams that I have been on and our mindset is just to correct what we did today tomorrow and get back at it.”
UNC Coach Larry Fedora Quotes
On the game:
“What a game. I’ve got to give those guys on the other side credit. They played a heck of a football game. We were fortunate to find a way to win. I am proud of our kids because we did find a way to win. We did not play a good game in any of the phases, but we made enough plays to win the football game and it boils down to that.”
On the surprise onside kick:
“The kickoff team had prepared that for a few weeks now and they executed it. I told them if I call the play, it has to work. And then I thought the offense did a nice job of eating up the last four minutes of the game.”
On backup quarterback Mitch Trubisky:
“I’m happy with what we have been doing with Mitch. I know a lot of people think we are idiots, but I think it paid off for him in that situation. He went out there, he was calm, he knew what he was running, he executed the play, and threw a touchdown. He never blinked. It was good for him and all the work he has done. Talking about it in the locker room, the players were all over him.”
On WR Mack Hollins:
“The guy just makes plays. That’s all he does, it doesn’t matter what we ask him to do. He is on the kickoff team, punt return team, punt team, and whatever one I didn’t say he is on as well. He is a guy that will find a way to make a play if you need one. He did it all of last year on special teams, and now he is a wide receiver and is still doing it on special teams.”
On CB Des Lawrence:
“Des is just growing and growing. He’s a young kid who is getting better and better like a lot of these guys. But again, I don’t think there is anybody on the team that is going to say that they played a great game. None of them are going to say that, but what they did is enough to win the football game, and that is all that is important. We have to learn from it, grow from it, correct mistakes, and play much better this coming week.”
UNC Player Quotes
Sophomore kicker Nick Weiler
On the play call for onside kick:
“We were talking about it on the sideline, we saw the look all game and we were just looking for the right time to run it and we executed it in practice every time, so the coaches were confident in it. We had the look and we knew we had to make a game-changing play on special teams so we used that at the time.”
On Mack (Hollins) being the one to recover it:
“Yes, he is usually the one to recover it. Mack and I work on it a lot. He’s the ball guy.”
On his confidence lining up for the last field goal:
“Any time you step on the field you just want to do your job, so you kind of just look forward to the next kick.”
Sophomore WR Mack Hollins
On having fun out there:
“When we make special teams plays, that’s when I have a lot of fun. Offense is always great, but I love making special teams plays.”
On the onside kick:
“Their frontline backed up really fast because we were getting down the field – so fast they had to back up to make blocks. Nick kicked a real good ball and they were backing up while we were kicking the onside kick, so they had no chance. For us, you’re either going to back up and get the blocks and miss the onside kick or stay in for the onside and miss blocks.”
Freshman QB Mitch Trubisky
On feelings going into the game after Marquise’s helmet came off:
“To be honest I wasn’t thinking too much. I saw his helmet come off and just knew I had to be ready. It was such short notice that I didn’t have time to think about it. I just went in, got the play and executed it and it turned out in our favor. I’m really proud of our guys upfront.”
On offensive line giving him time to allow the play to happen:
“They did a great job. They gave me enough time to get the ball off and that’s all I need. We made the play work and I’m really proud of them. They battled all game and they made it happen on that last play for me.”
Junior OG Landon Turner
On Nazair Jones’ Interception:
“I love this guy. I’m really close with my teammates and I think he’s a great guy. Seeing him make that accomplishment, especially as a fellow big man, I was pumped about that. And I was like ‘oh wow I need to get on offense.’ We were able to finish out the game because of that; it was huge.”