Nov. 15, 2008
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Maryland Quotes
On today's game:
"It was an unbelievable game and a huge victory for us and our season. The kids kept fighting and we made a couple of key plays. I thought our defense played very well, and every time Carolina had an opportunity our defense responded. Offensively, when we were executing we were very good, and then we had mistakes. That's the thing we have to get better at, because when we execute we have a chance to be pretty good. On our special teams, we have to cover and return kickoffs better."
"This was a great win, and it sets up a big game next week with Florida State. That is going to be a huge game, probably one of the bigger games that we have played here. They have a great football team and we'll have to play a lot better than we played today, although we played good enough to win. "
On keeping the defense off of the field:
"The offense had drives but the defense kept themselves off the field. I don't know how many three and outs they had, but they had a lot in key situations. I think we had the ball over eight minutes in the last drive and I thought James [Franklin] did a heck of a job on calling plays in that situation. Chris Cosh called a great game today. He did an unbelievable job of being prepared for all of the things they do. Obviously when you have that kind of possession it helps everyone but you really should get more than 17 points. "
On Chris Turner:
"The big play was on the fourth down. I told James (Franklin) to take two to get it. We were on the 32-yard line and he threw it underneath and the official got in the way. James said to me `What do you want to do?' and I told him to go for it. They had us all covered and didn't expect Chris to run in that situation. His awareness of what the coverage was and what he needed for a first down was a huge play in the game. We got it down there in scoring position, I was going for two if we made the touchdown, and we had twelve men in the huddle because one guy didn't see the personnel group. I lost it on that one. "
On beating ranked teams:
"I would like to tell you it's great coaching, but it goes to show you the type of schedule we have. Next week Florida State will probably still be ranked and I don't know what will happen if Boston College wins. Both of them are right near the Top 25 in the country. We are just going to have to keep playing. For some reason, we play better at home. "
On Ronnie Taylor's performance:
"Other guys would have dropped it on the way down, but that goes to show you what type of receiver he is. He's going to be a very good player and he made a big hit tonight on that drive that made a huge first down. That was huge."
On the final drive of the game:
"We were really determined to score, our defense was playing great in the second half and we knew it was our opportunity to win the game."
On controlling their own destiny to make it to the ACC Championship:
"That is a huge goal of ours, but we are going to take every game one at a time. We have Florida State next week and we want to go undefeated at home and we are going to do the best we can to come out with a win."
On the play of quarterback Chris Turner:
"Chris was extremely poised at the end of the game. We all knew we were 11 guys with one mission and we had to come out of that drive with some points. Chris really wanted to win this game and he was determined to do it."
On the play of the offensive line:
"The offensive line played great, they gave me plenty of time to make the plays we needed to win the game and they did a good job of keeping the North Carolina linebackers out of my face."
On what the game means for Maryland:
"We knew that if we could get this win, it could change the trajectory of the season. Hopefully we can just capitalize on this victory and come out and play like we are capable of doing next week against Florida State."
On the Maryland running game:
"The offensive line did a great job getting off the ball and the receivers did a good job blocking downfield."
On the roller-coaster style of the season:
"That's just the way the ACC is this year. Unfortunately last week we lost, but bounced back and came out here and beat a good team tonight. We know that on Monday we have to come back to work and try to get it done for against Florida State."
Senior Defensive End Mack Frost
On how the game went today:
"That's just the resiliency of our team, and the senior leadership that we have. Even on offense we had some second string in and we went down there and scored."
About the sack:
"That was so big; it felt so good that I could go out there and do that. It was a team effort though. Everyone got such a push on that play, and luckily enough we were able to get him. That was a big play."
How the win feels:
"It feels good; to get the win today feels great. We have one more game at home, last game at home for all the seniors; it's going to be special."
What are the emotions you feel before kicking the game-winner:
"I just try to focus in, block everything out, and just kick like I kick it everyday in practice. And if you do that everything will work itself out."
How he feels now, compared to when you first started out early in the season:
"I feel a lot better. At the beginning of the season I am not sure what was going on, I was just a little unlucky. And now I have been able to be more confident and I am kicking a lot better now. I guess I just lost a little of my focus early in the season."
On the field being sloppy and not allowing it to affect the kick:
"I can't control the field. I can't control the weather. The only thing I can do is control my mindset, and if I get my mindset right then I can go out there and give the ball the best chance of going through the uprights. So you just try to do that, and with the sloppy conditions, just hope for the best."
North Carolina Quotes
Head Coach Butch Davis
Opening comments:
"Obviously, this was a very disappointing loss. We didn't play well to start the game. You have to give Maryland a great deal of credit. They did some things tonight that are certainly conducive to winning tough football games. They were able to run the football. They did a great job on third down conversions. We had opportunities inside the 35-yard line where we had to settle for field goals. By not converting those [scoring opportunities] to touchdowns, it is something that is going to come back to haunt you. We did not play well enough to win the game. Maryland played well and they deserved to win the game."
On the play of the UNC offense:
"We struggled offensively. Maryland has a very physical front-seven football team. They have given a lot of teams a difficult time trying to run the football. Certainly the weather conditions didn't help us at all. It negated a little bit of our passing game and our speed."
On the emotional state of the team:
"There are a lot of kids in our locker room right now who are hurting, but there is still a lot to play for. I think emotionally they will bounce back and we will be ready to play well next week."
On settling for field goal opportunities:
"There were a lot of chances where we could have scored more points instead of just kicking field goals."
On third-down conversions:
"When you go one-for-11 on third-down chances, you have got no chance to win a football game."
On the Maryland running game:
"Maryland ran the ball very effectively and that hurt us."
Junior Quarterback Cameron Sexton
On his team's performance:
"We left a bunch of points on the field. We didn't play well. We didn't capitalize when we should have."
On his performance:
"I played poorly today. I know that you win and lose as a team, but as the quarterback of this football team, I have a bigger responsibility. I left so much on the field. I played a poor game. I never got into a rhythm. I need to play better than this in order for us to win ... I couldn't get going. This was easily my worst football game this year and it'll probably go down as one of my worst."
On trying to get to the ACC championship and bouncing back from the loss:
"This is what we have to do, and we're not out of it. We're not worried about it and we won't be worried about it. This is when we play our best, when we come out after something like this. We rebound better than anybody. I might sound like a broken record after our losses; we're going to work hard and I know we're going to play better next week. This team knows how to respond to adversity. That is what we hang our hat on and that is what we're going to do."
Senior Linebacker Mark Paschal
On the meaning of their loss:
"We had a great opportunity in front of us and we failed to capitalize. [Playing for the ACC Championship] is not completely out of the possibilities, but we had the situation we wanted with three weeks left and we knew we were in the driver's seat. We just let it get away from us."
"We have to play [NC] State at home next week and I guarantee you that not one player on this team is looking past playing them at home next weekend."
On Maryland's game winning drive:
"That's where we got hurt. We played them right for the entire second half, but we just couldn't get them off the field on that last drive. We haven't been great on last drives this year. We held them to a field goal, which was somewhat of a positive, but we couldn't turn it around on the other end."
"We did not capitalize on a couple of things. Third-and-long, we've got to get them off the field. Fourth-and-long, we've got to get them off the field. We had great opportunities. They completed a long pass; they got a quarterback scramble for a first down, just little things like that. A great football team doesn't make the mistakes we made tonight."
On being on the field for 40 minutes of the game:
"It felt like we were out there all day. I don't think fatigue was that big of a factor. By this time of year it starts getting cool and we're getting more and more conditioned. We just have to make more stops on defense and put our offense in a better position to score."
On Maryland's running game:
"They were trapping our defensive tackle, which is a look we haven't seen. We tried to make corrections at the half, but it was hard to figure out and all get on the same page. That was the hardest thing that they had for us. It's a good football play and they ran it pretty well. Hopefully we won't have to face that kind of offense again. That's the strange, tricky kind of running game they play."
