Sept. 26, 2009
Recap | Final Stats | Notes
– GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Johnson
“It was a great win for our program. I am really proud of our guys I think a lot of people had written them off and us off. We can out and played with intensity and focused, we didn’t do everything right but we played hard. We simplified on defense and thought our defense played well and it was a good team effort. It is hard to move the ball if you don’t have it. Anytime you can dominate the time of possession like we did today, I think it was 42-17. If we make a couple of easy kicks, the game should have been out of reach early on. I’m proud of our team and I thought they played hard. We still have a lot of room to grow to get where we want to be, but they competed.”
Comment on Josh Nesbitt’s and his play today:
“I think he played a great game today. He handled the ball and did some things and at the end when we had to have him on the mid-line option he came up big running the ball. We converted some key third down conversions. Pass to Anthony (Allen) was key. We made some plays because we sure weren’t going to get a break.”
Comment on his discussion with the officials at the end of the first half:
“First of all, the kid had caught the ball and goes out of bounds, the one official calls him out of bounds and the other winds the clock. Even if he is not out of bounds, it’s a first down so the clock has to stop to set the chains. So, they kept winding the clock, it was like they froze or something, I don’t know. That is what happened. It really took away any chance we had to get another play and kick a field goal or whatever.”
Comment on the impact of Georgia Tech scoring after UNC’s touchdown:
“It was huge. We played really good on defense and they hit us with a really big play and we responded. We came back and converted some third downs and basically put the game out of reach with the clock. Took any chance they had out unless they could have gotten a couple of big strikes. So, it was huge and also good to get into the endzone. We bogged them a couple of times in the redzone and we can’t continue to do that.”
Comment on holding UNC to 1 of 11 on thirds compared to Miami a week ago:
“Third and long. They didn’t have very many third and shorts and we stopped them from running the football. When you hold them to 17 yards rushing, you usually win. The team that runs the ball the best will win the game 99 out of a 100 times.”
Comment on adding the third linebacker on the defense:
“I think it might have helped some, but you know what we did, we simplified it and the kids could play. We still didn’t get lined up every time but they could play and they knew what they were doing and we simplified. We had a good game plan, our defensive coaches did a good job with that, keeping it simple and our guys played hard. If you do that, you will give yourself a chance.”
Comment on UNC’s defense holding opponents to 52 yards rushing was an incentive for the team:
“About eleven o’clock this morning, you could tell we were ready to go but as far as the practice, we had a decent day on Wednesday, but to be honest with you we really don’t ever talk about that because what we do is different and we knew if we ran for only 52 yards we would get beat. So we didn’t talk about that. I think depends on who you are playing.”
Comment on Dwyer having more plays than in previous games:
“I think we just got him involved early and he just stayed out there. He gassed himself a little bit early, I think he was so jacked up he got gassed, but he was able to stay out there and get some carries really in the other games, the most he carried the ball was seven times. The first game we took him out, the second game they did a good job, I don’t know how many carries he had, maybe sixty yards against Clemson, but I’m telling you, Clemson they are pretty good on defense. Against Miami he was hurt and so today he stayed out there and played more.”
Jonathan Dwyer – Running Back
On Spreading The Ball Around – “It helped everybody stay fresh, and it helped the offense to have the defense running around not knowing who was going to get it. You can’t key on just one person anymore.”
On Bouncing Back After UNC scored – “Coach Johnson told us that we have to accept this challenge, and that they are going to try to compete with us so we have to fight back. If they punch at us, we have to punch back and keep punching. Our mindset was to go out and keep fighting and not let them have any chance of getting back into the game.”
On Execution – “Everybody was just playing hard, and that is all Coach Johnson asks for. Nobody is going to be perfect, but the one thing you can be accountable for is going out there and playing hard each and every play.”
On The Draw Play – “It was a new play, and caught them off guard. It was a good play, and all Coach Johnson is trying to do is get me into space to try to make a play.”
On Intensity – “We challenged ourselves throughout the week to go out and compete, and show that we can play against anybody. We were going against one of the best defenses in the ACC, maybe even the country, so we challenged ourselves to go out and compete with this team.”
Morgan Burnett – Safety
On The Big Win – “It was a good day for the team as a whole. Coming off of a hard loss to Miami, seeing it all week, we took the challenge to step forward as a defense and as a team. We owed North Carolina payback after lost year for messing our title hopes up.”
On Defensive Changes – “It helped out a lot, but the guys were accountable for each other, trusted each other, helped each other out, and fit where we were supposed to fit.”
Derrick Morgan – Defensive End
On Defensive Changes – “This week we did job of simplifying everything down, and making sure everyone knew their assignments so we could just go out there and play football.”
NORTH CAROLINA HEAD COACH BUTCH DAVIS
“It was a sound defeat. We didn’t play well, and you have to give Georgia Tech a tremendous amount of credit. Time of possession was totally lopsided. The most telling thing when you play this type of offense, you can’t turn the ball over more than the other team. Third-down efficiency was totally disastrous; we were 1 out of 11, they were 10 of 19. They did a tremendous job executing their offense, and they kept our defense on the field.
“Our defense, for an awfully long time, hung in and hung in. At halftime, the score was 10-0, and we missed a field goal that could have made it 10-3. You can’t miss those. That’s two times we’ve missed short chip shot field goals. We’ve got to make those. If it’s inside 40 yards, we’ve got to be 100 percent.
“We didn’t play very well. We didn’t tackle as well as we did a year ago. They did an outstanding job. You’ve got to give Georgia Tech credit.”
One of the players mentioned there might have been some lack of intensity but had no explanation.
“I didn’t notice any lack of intensity. I only noticed lack of execution. We just didn’t play as well as we needed to.”
As sharp as Yates was last week, this week he was throwing balls low, behind guys. Did he just not get into a rhythm?
“He never did. Early on balls were behind guys, they were short of guys. Then you start to press a little, you try to make a throw. We did a poor job offensively on first-and-10. Our effectiveness on offense on first-and-10 was disastrous. It seemed like every possession we had second down and 9, 10, 11. Then, ultimately, it was third down and long, and that’s no recipe to play well offensively. We’ve got to do a much better job on first down.”
How much did the early field position situation hurt getting into that rhythm?
“When you look at Georgia Tech and watch all the games they play, you know that field position is potentially going to be tough – the time of possession, the number of possessions. We talked to the defense and said we’ve got to get some stops. A year ago, we got some stops, and we got some turnovers. All of those things contributed dramatically to our ability to win the game, and we scored points and took them out of their element. This offense is extraordinarily difficult to stop. When they’ve got a lead, every phase of that offense is still viable.”
You had 17 yards on 18 (rushing) carries.
“Terrible. We just didn’t do a very good job, and sometimes we just got taken out of it. We got in a little bit of a rhythm there late in the second half. We started running the ball a little, we made some first downs, but it never manifested itself into anything consistent. We’ve got to take a long look at how we block the schemes and do we run in the right holes. We’ve got to take a long look at ourselves.”
