Nov. 12, 2015
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GEORGIA TECH HEAD COACH PAUL JOHNSON
Opening Statement…
“I don’t know where to start. Again [we’re] disappointed. I don’t know how many times we fumbled the ball, like three or four in the second half alone. Penalties [on] third and short and then when we’re close to field goal range. Dropped balls. We’re not good enough to overcome any of that stuff. We’ve got to do a better job. Ultimately I’m responsible for it. It’s embarrassing.”
On the defensive performance in the second half…
“I thought they gave us a chance in the second half. They went out and got some stops and made some plays. That was encouraging. It was good to see.”
On starting Marcus Allen at B-Back…
“We weren’t getting any production the other way. The other guy was fumbling. We put him in and he fumbles the first or second time he has the ball. I thought we’d give Marcus [Allen] a chance.”
On slowing down after first quarter…
“Well we just stopped executing. I mean we just stopped executing. Again the way we play, especially in the first half, there’s not many possessions. When you go out and block the wrong guy or you turn a guy loose, it’s hard to overcome it. We did convert a couple of third downs there. We did convert on a third-and-long in the second half we got a little delay thing we put in, but you can’t keep converting. Then when you’re third-and-25 because of a personal foul or whatever it is, there’s not many teams that are going to make those.”
On Brant Mitchell’s performance…
“It was a nice pick on the interception. I think [Michael Brewer] threw the ball behind the tight end and Brant made a nice catch and was able to get it in the end zone.”
On Virginia Tech’s adjustments…
“Pretty much just execution. I’m sure they settled down to the speed of the game. The mike linebacker [Andrew Motuapuaka], nobody ever touched him so he was out there on the option pretty much every play. We tried to make an adjustment to that and then we missed the read and then it’s second-and-10 again. Right now we’re just not very good.”
On Justin Thomas’ performance…
“He’s beat up. He can’t be the only guy out there to make plays. You’ve got to get something out of the other positions. You’ve got to.”
On proximity to field goal range before the personal foul…
“I think we were probably in range. We’d liked to have gotten closer. We felt like if we could get to the 35 we were in good shape. I think the ball was on about the 39. But the play before that should have been a long play. The mid-line option and [Marcus Allen] got tackled by one hand on his foot. That should have been a big play there.”
VIRGINIA TECH HEAD COACH FRANK BEAMER
Opening Statement
“I can’t tell you how much this win means. The players played exceptionally hard. I thought the TV viewers got their money’s worth. I thought at the end we both did some things we probably didn’t want to do. But in the end, the thing that was very obvious is our players played as hard as they could play, never taking a play off. I thought our coaches coached as hard as they could coach.
“It’s a big win. Coming in here, a tough place to play, getting them to turn the ball over; that’s a hard thing to do. Get them stopped a couple of times, that’s a hard thing to do. I thought our defense, after the beginning, played great. The interception after the half, the long play to start the game … you better have character guys when you start the game off the way we did and then start the second half off the way we did. You better have character guys. That says it all right there.”
Thoughts when your fans were chanting your name as you came off the field
“Our fans … there were a lot of them there. They were loud, and they helped us win. They’re a part of it.”
On Georgia Tech going scoreless on its last eight possessions
“It was not so much adjustment, but getting used to it (Georgia Tech’s offense). I thought we had a good defensive game plan, and I think it showed up after the beginning. I give credit to our defensive coaches and our players, holding that group to I don’t know how many yards, and to 21 points. You don’t usually do that to those guys.”
Did this feel like a typical game to you; how was this different tonight than other games?
“I think you always feel it, I can’t lie about that. All our effort was toward Georgia Tech. I told our coaches and players after we made the announcement that we were going to turn our attention towards Georgia Tech. That’s the only thing we can control. You put your efforts towards things that you can control. I thought we did. That’s the way they played tonight.”
GEORGIA TECH FRESHMAN LINEBACKER BRANT MITCHELL
On if he was surprised by the throw that led to his interception
“Yeah, I was a little bit surprised. I mean, I knew the receiver was on the outside of me and I wasn’t expecting the ball to come right to me. I thought I would have to push a little bit more, but luckily I was in the right place.”
On if it was tough to tackle Travon McMillian
“Oh yeah. He’s a tough guy. We missed several tackles on him. Ones that we should have made, but he’s a good running back.”
On what P.J. Davis means to the defense
“He means a lot. He’s a great player. We missed him a lot. There were a lot of guys coming off the sidelines to help try to replace him, but he’s a great linebacker and we missed him.”
On if the defense struggled lining up with Virginia Tech’s quick counts on offense
“Yeah, they were coming at us pretty fast. We expected tempo. We try to prepare for it, but you’ve just got to do what you’ve got to do in that situation. Try to get lined up. “
GEORGIA TECH SENIOR SAFETY DEMOND SMITH
On if the defense feels more pressure when the offense struggles
“It goes both ways. There have been times when we couldn’t get a stop and they were scoring. So, it goes both ways. We just can’t seem to put everything together right now. “
On the defense’s approach against Virginia Tech’s passing game
“We knew they were going to try to get it out quick. We came into the game looking to blitz. I mean, we lost Adam [Gotsis], so we had to find ways to create pressure.”
On what this year has been like for the team
“It has just been frustrating. From the injuries to our record, it’s just been real frustrating. But, with the guys, we never quit. I can say that we have the effort. We bring the effort each and every game. We just can’t put it all together right now.”
GEORGIA TECH JUNIOR CENTER FREDDIE BURDEN
On the penalty that pushed the offense out of field goal range
“I mean, the guy made a mistake. We all made mistakes today; it was obvious. So you can’t be down on just one person. It’s the whole team to blame. You just have to keep going and move on.”
On if he was surprised by the offense’s strong start in the first half
“No, I wasn’t surprised. That’s what we are supposed to do. I mean, that’s what we practiced for all week. And that’s the kind of thing that we try to go out and do every game. And then as the game went on, it got kind of rocky. They [Virginia Tech] made adjustments and then we tried to make adjustments, but they just came up on the better end.
On where he will dig for motivation over the next two games
“Just the chance to play another game. It’s fun to just go out there and play. Our next game is at Miami so that’s always a good experience. We had a good time down there last year. So that will be fun getting back down there. Of course we are going to get up for our last game against Georgia here. I think there will plenty of motivation. We just have to execute like we have been doing all year. We just have to go back to practice and get better, essentially. “
