Postgame Quotes
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Nov. 5, 2016
Recap | Box Score | Notes | USATSI Gallery 
Postgame Quotes — Wake Forest 27, Virginia 20
Virginia Head Coach Bronco Mendenhall
Opening Statement…
“It was a hard fought football game. Congratulations to Wake Forest and the progress they’re making in Coach Clawson’s third season. I think he does a nice job managing his team and the style of play that fits their institution with the talent base that they have. I really liked the way that our team responded after being challenged at halftime. The urgency and the mindset was improved. The difference in the game today was Wake Forest took the ball away three times, and we didn’t take it away. There might be other story lines that branch off from there but really you can trace that to being the difference in the game. We were able to steal a possession back with our pop-up kick, which was executed really well. I would say that shrunk it down to two extra possessions. One of the turnovers went for a touchdown, another was short field, and another lead to three points. The difference in the game, in my opinion, was ball security and takeaways.”
On Kurt Benkert forcing plays…
“Sometimes you’re going to get sacked. It’s sometimes better to take the sack than deliver the ball in traffic. He is trying so hard to extend plays, and I applaud him for that. He doesn’t have to do it all by himself.”
On finding an early offensive rhythm…
“I think there was some use of tempo there. I think we were a little bit more unpredictable on early downs, so they weren’t able to get a great feel for us. We were just executing at a higher level with better intent. The second half wasn’t a game of lack of effort or intent. This game was an execution and ball security game. When you play close games, which Wake Forest plays, those kind of things make the difference.”
On Wake Forest defense…
“I think Wake Forest has a good defense. I enjoyed watching the film on them, and they did a nice job.”
On learning how to win…
“We are making significant strides in the resiliency and the resolve of this team in playing to the end. I can see it, and I can feel it. You have to earn the right to get into those pressure situations, and the next step is the execution has to hold. I’m optimistic, and I’m encouraged.”
Wake Forest junior quarterback John Wolford
On Game Preparation…
“We were splitting reps early, but your whole preparation has to be you’re going to play even if you’re not the one or the two. So in regards to that, I didn’t change. I knew I had to be ready from the start and have to be ready to play in their (the starter’s) place.
On the 64 yard run…
“Yeah it was definitely a pass, the offensive line did a great job of picking up their men, and stepped up and made a wide opening and I took off. Cam (Serigne) made a good block down the field and the safety slipped and I went through those two defenders and scored the touchdown.”
On getting past the secondary on the run…
“I was feeling pretty fast. I had no idea. I just didn’t want to fumble, that was my thought process. If I felt I was going to get closer, I was gonna go two hands. I was able to pull away and it’s always fun to get in those kind of runs.”
Wake Forest redshirt sophomore defensive back Cameron Glenn
On the Interception…
“First of all we were in cover three. The defensive line put pressure on the quarterback. He rushed a throw to the man Jessie (Bates) was covering and Jessie got a hand on it and it just fell right into my hands.”
On falling behind in the fourth quarter…
“Of course everyone was kind of down. You could tell on the sideline, we were like `keep your heads up, the game is on us. We just have to make a play.'”
On the difference in this year’s team…
“We always go out with a nothing bothers us mentality. Not every game is going to be the perfect game Things are always going to happen. It’s up to us to not let them affect us and keep our heads up and play well.”
Wake Forest Head Coach Dave Clawson
Opening statement…
“We were playing well and playing hard, and then Virginia got on a little bit of a roll to go from 17-6 to 20-17 in the fourth quarter. It was just an amazing job by our whole team, and our defense to get those two turnovers. Cam Glenn with the one, Jessie Bates – big time players make big time plays, and Jessie’s play was an absolute game-changer for us. [I’m] really, really proud of our guys. It’s not always pretty, it’s not how you script it, but today we ran the ball for over 200 yards, our defense played really well, and we got a fourth quarter comeback to get to six wins now. We’ve got more work to do, but it’s a great feeling and I’m proud of them.”
On becoming bowl eligible…
“[Six] is a magic number, and now you work like crazy to get seven. We’ve got some tough games ahead of us, but it’s nice to know we’ve got six and we’re now bowl eligible. We’re going to work on seven and see what we can do, but it’s a great feeling…I was very open about it and very frank about it at the beginning of the year, that I thought it was a very realistic expectation to go to a bowl game this year. I would have been very disappointed if we didn’t get into a bowl. But this gives us momentum, along with building a brand new football center. This gives us recruiting momentum, this gives us program momentum. The greatest thing about this whole thing is that locker room. We have some kids in there who have really busted their butts and put a lot into this program for three, four, five years…The high of moments like that is why you keep [coaching].”
On the team bouncing back from last week’s loss…
“Our whole football team was disappointed in ourselves with how we played a week ago. If anything this week, we wanted to play with energy, play with passion and play hard for four quarters. If you do that – it worked out.”