Nov. 11, 2011
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– GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH Paul Johnson
Opening Statement
“I thought that Virginia Tech played a really good game. We came back there in the second half and had the lead. I thought we had some really good momentum and then we got the big penalty that I think really changed the game. If you could point to one thing, we were going to be up five and they were punting from their 10-12 yard line and we had a chance to get the ball back. Instead they got the first down and went and scored a touchdown and took the lead. It’s disappointing. I thought Virginia Tech played well and did what they had to do. They played well for the most part and after the first two drives I think they scored every time they had the ball except for the one turnover. We couldn’t match them.
On the personal foul
It was huge and it compounded with the fact that they drove it down and scored. Like I said, we might have gotten the ball back somewhere around midfield up five and had the momentum to possibly have a two score lead, and in that game we needed to be up two scores. It changed. I couldn’t see what happened. The play was dead for what seemed like forever, they never blew the whistle and Logan Thomas kept trying to move, we couldn’t get him down anyway. He was a big, strong guy.
On going for it on fourth and one
I elected to go for it on the fourth down because I felt like we needed to score. I think since the second possession of the game, if I am correct, we didn’t stop them. We needed to go down and score. I thought we could make a yard, and we didn’t. We didn’t do a very good job with the play, maybe we could have had a different play call, we didn’t execute the one that was called.
On the extra time to prepare for the game
I really don’t think it is that big of a deal with the extra time. I think you can take things and make them what you want to make them. I thought the Virginia Tech defense played well; they were giving up eight yards a play, 15 points a game, and we almost doubled it. Their offense, give them credit because they almost did the same thing. I think when you play good teams, it doesn’t hurt to have extra time because you are aware of what they are doing but it doesn’t make a huge difference. When you go back and look, when you play good teams, you will find that it’s a problem because they are a good team. When you play teams that aren’t as good. It isn’t such a big deal.
On what is most disappointing
We just didn’t make enough plays, get it done. Offense, defense, special teams, nobody got it done. Offense has to score enough points to get the W, defense had a hard time stopping the run. They outrushed us, when teams do that, you aren’t usually going to win.
VIRGINIA TECH HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER
Opening remarks
“I’m really proud of our football team to come in here and battle, hang in there, play a really good football team, and do the things you really need to do to win. I’m really proud of what we’re all about. It wasn’t easy out there, but we hung in there and got the win.”
On the momentum swings in the game
“We had it rolling there, and then we fumbled going in. They take it down the field. It was just a lot of back-and-forth. When you get two good football teams together, you’re going to have some momentum swings. That’s what happened today. I’m glad we got the last one.”
On Logan Thomas’ ability to convert third downs
“He’s a load. He’s a hard guy to bring down. He gets a little bit better all the time. I like the way he threw the ball. He pulled it down a couple times and made a couple plays. I think he sees the field a little better each and every week and feels things. He’s a great leader for us, I can promise you.”
On not losing confidence after David Wilson’s fumble
“He runs with great effort on every single play, but on that one I really think he relaxed a little bit. I think on that one he hit it on one of our own guys. One of those fluke things. But we’re not going to lose faith in that guy. I thought the other guy, Oglesby, also ran the ball well tonight. He had that forward lean and picked up some critical yards for us.”
On the significance of this game in the division race
“When you get to November, you want to be playing for something. You want to be playing for championships, and these guys have put us in that position. That’s where you want to be right now. To come in here and win this football game was critical, I can promise you that.”
On the 12 straight road wins
“You’ve got to have good character kids. You’ve got to have guys where it really doesn’t matter where you play, when you play and who you’re playing, what time you playing and what day you’re playing. You just play the same way, and you’re not up and down. I think we’ve got a lot of those kids in our program. They’re very consistent, they handle their personal life that way and play football that way. That enables us to go on the road and be a consistent football team.
Tevin Washington QB #13
On the offense
I think for the most part, we did what we wanted to do. They lined up in the defense we worked on for the past two weeks and a couple of times we shot ourselves in the foot but for the most part we did what we were coached up to do and had pretty good success.
On the last drive of the first half where the Jackets scored on a field goal
We knew we were going to get a chance to move the ball down the field, so we just tried to come out and take one play at a time and do everything right and execute.
On being out of the Coastal division title race
It’s a let down. We worked all offseason and this season our way to the ACC (championship) so it’s just a let down. There’s nothing we can do about it now but go out and try to win the next two and put our selves in position to have a decent record.
Jeremiah Attaochu OLB #45
On his personal foul penalty in the third quarter
I just had an overdose of adrenaline. I was ready to go in and when I initially made contact with the quarterback, I was hacking for the ball. So I just kept hacking and that’s what we do in practice, we try to hack for the ball when we make contact with a player who is still standing up. So I just kept hacking and had an overdose of adrenaline. There’s no excuse for it though.
Did you know the flag was on you?
I’m not going to lie, I’m not going to sit here and tell you no, I knew I was going too hard. I’m a high-energy player. When I made contact with him, he wasn’t going down. We do that in practice when someone is standing up by hacking for the ball when I was behind him. My body kind of moved to his front so I kept hacking for the ball and then the flag was thrown. I’m not dumb I knew it was the reason for the flag.
Julian Burnett ILB #40
On Virginia Tech QB Logan Thomas
We’ve faced some good quarterbacks before but probably not as big and as strong as that guy. It’s no excuse to let him do what he did to us. We should have executed better. We had him as a target to stop him and we just didn’t do it.
Embry Peeples AB #24
How difficult is this loss to swallow?
Can you imagine trying to swallow a baseball? Pretty much like that. That’s how I feel. We’ve just got to put it behind us and come out next week and go give Duke our all.
