California 35, North Carolina 30 UNC Coach Larry
California 35, North Carolina 30 UNC Coach Larry Fedora
Opening Statement “Their guys played hard today. I told them it wasn’t because of a lack of effort by any means. We didn’t win the football game, but it wasn’t because of the effort on the field. The guys played extremely hard throughout the entire game in every phase. The problems were we made too many mistakes. You cannot win games like that or any game like it when you make that many mistakes and that was on both sides of the ball. There were just too many opportunities that we gave up on both sides of the ball to be effective and win a football game. That’s why we didn’t win it. Pretty simple.” On evaluation of quarterback game “From the sideline, I thought that the thing that I was looking for, was to see how poised they were throughout the game. When a mistake was made, how did they recover from it, and I thought both kids played hard. I thought both kids did the things within the system. We had a couple throws that we’d like to have back. We’ll look at the film and see what he saw and go from there.” On sequence following Dalton’s penalty “That was big because they scored a touchdown on a long play, I think on the very next play. We got them backed up and punted and again, you can’t make mistakes like that. You have to be smart. You have to play smart. I’m sure that wasn’t done on purpose, but that was a flagrant foul and he was kicked out of the game for it.” On Chazz Surratt’s play “We just felt like [Surratt] was really poised throughout the game. He handled the situation very well. I never saw him panic. He took the ball where it was supposed to go according to what the coverage dictated. He didn’t make all great throws, but I thought he was doing a good job.” On quarterback decision “When we went into the game, we said ‘Okay, we’re going to start Brandon Harris and Chazz Surratt is going in on the third play of the game. Then we’re going to play it by ear from that point on.’ I anticipated both of them playing throughout the game. I didn’t know if we would end up settling on one. It was going to depend on how they played. It was not a, ‘Hey, you made a mistake. This guy is going.’ It was more orchestrated, that we were going to play both of them to see how both of them reacted in the situation. I didn’t think there was a whole lot of separation going into the game. We’ll evaluate the tape and look at it to see how much separation there is now.”
California 35, North Carolina 30 UNC Player Quotes
Sr. WR Austin Proehl On the mood in the postgame locker room “We have a lot of great senior leaders that brought everybody up and told us that this was just one week. But we have to hold everybody accountable and it starts with us. It’s not about our coaches. We go back to work tomorrow.” Jr LB Andre Smith On California’s big offensive plays “It was very disappointing. Something we pride ourselves on is not allowing any catastrophic plays and we just have to go back to work.” On facing Louisville QB Lamar Jackson next Saturday “The opportunity to play against a competitor like him excites me. We obviously have a lot to learn from when we go to watch the film.” Fr QB Chass Surratt On figuring out playing time: “Coach Fedora let me know and Brandon (Harris) know earlier in the week, he told me that I would come in in the third series and Brandon would start the game and from there we just rolled and saw how each one of us played and how the team was moving.” On the way he thought he played: “I thought I played pretty well. I mean, we lost so that takes away from it. I obviously want to win as a team, but for the first time the game wasn’t too fast for me. I learned just be yourself and do what you do everyday in practice. That is what Coach Fedora preached to me. I just tried to stay within myself and let the game come to me.” On taking big hit after the first snap: “It felt good to get hit. I haven’t got hit since my senior year of high school during playoffs. It was definitely good to get it over with so that kind of calmed me down and I was able to just play from there.” On starting to get comfortable with the game: “The second touchdown drive felt good. We had a good game plan. The coaches put me in positions where I could succeed. I felt comfortable throughout the whole game.”
California 35, North Carolina 30 UNC Player Quotes (continued)
Gr QB Brandon Harris On his first game at UNC “It was obviously not the game you want, especially when you are in a new environment, in a new conference and with a new team and the coaches are still getting a feel for you. Obviously it wasn’t the start we wanted. It was a game I thought we should’ve won.” On finding out he had the starting job “He [Coach Fedora] told me Monday. He told me I was taking the first snap and that there was the potential for Chazz [Surratt] to play. He didn’t explain the roles to me. My role on this team for my time here is anything to help this team win.” On the two QB system “You can talk to any quarterback and guys like to get into a rhythm. I have never been a part of that. You have to try and keep yourself into the game. It’s right before you go out there he [Coach Fedora] tells you who is in. You just have to find a way to make it work.” So TB Jordon Brown On the offense “I feel like we showed we have the ability to make plays. We just didn’t make enough and made too many mistakes, but we showed potential to be a great offense.” On running the ball “We were just trying to do whatever we could to move the ball. We had a few big runs but just couldn’t put enough plays and drives together.”
California 35, North Carolina 30 Cal Coach Justin Wilcox
Opening Statement: “Well, it’s great to get a win. In the locker room, it’s pretty special right now and I’m just really proud of our team and excited for those guys. Obviously, there’s going to be a ton to learn from today on both sides of the ball, offense, defense, special teams and the coaches. But I think when you look at the big picture of the game, it was just the battling back that we had to constantly show up in different ways, shapes and forms. Look at the end of the first half from down 10 points late in the first half and found a way to make a play to get it close and then in the second half, there’s a number of times they get the interception. You could feel the tide turn. “I’m just so proud of our sideline because never in one moment during the game did the offense or defense or a player or a coach or anybody stand up or look the other way, looking for somebody to blame. They just battled the whole time and it really shows how much they care about each other. I’m really proud of our team in that regard. I’ve got to give it to North Carolina. They’re a very well-coached football team. Ton of respect for them and their players and it was a special moment in that locker room for our players and our coaches and support staff. It’s pretty cool. I’d also like to thank our fans who made the trek out here. Not an easy trip for them and it was really cool at the end of the game to be able to go and say hi to them. There are a lot of things that transpired during the game that had a major impact. You look at the big plays – we created six 20-yard-plus plays that were huge in the game. Like I said, at the end of the first half, that series and Ross (Bowers) bouncing back from a mistake that he made but not going in the tank and believing, and stepped up and threw a ball to Vic (Wharton) that was huge. We had some new guys playing in the game today, just like they did, and I thought they handled it really well. “There’s going to be so much off the tape that was far from perfect, it’s never going to be quite as good as you want it, but man it feels good in that locker room right now and I’m just really, really proud of our team, the players, our coaches, our university, our fans. It’s just a great moment. Now it can’t define us. We’ve got to go back and enjoy it tonight but get to work tomorrow and continue to grow as a team in all phases and I know they’ll be excited once we hit practice again on Monday. On Ross Bowers’ first game as starting quarterback “Ross is a confident guy, and we expected for him to play well. We will have plenty to coach on from the tape. He is a confident guy, and it wasn’t too big for him. He was as cool as ice before the game. So I know people like to make a big deal about the first start and all that. Yeah, there is a little energy there obviously, but he was fine. Never at any moment did I think it was too big for Ross, not at all, or the other guys on our team who were making their first starts.”
Cal Coach Justin Wilcox (Continued) On strategy going for it twice on fourth down “It was just kind of the rhythm of the game, and knowing that we wanted to keep those drives going that would be important for us. They had 89 plays, so you are getting up there in terms of number of plays against our defense. We felt confident about the situation for our offense and those moments. Like I said, Beau (Baldwin) made some great calls on those fourth downs and our guys went out and executed them. Like I said, we believe in them, and it really wasn’t any second thought to doing that.”
Opening Statement “Their guys played hard today. I told them it wasn’t because of a lack of effort by any means. We didn’t win the football game, but it wasn’t because of the effort on the field. The guys played extremely hard throughout the entire game in every phase. The problems were we made too many mistakes. You cannot win games like that or any game like it when you make that many mistakes and that was on both sides of the ball. There were just too many opportunities that we gave up on both sides of the ball to be effective and win a football game. That’s why we didn’t win it. Pretty simple.” On evaluation of quarterback game “From the sideline, I thought that the thing that I was looking for, was to see how poised they were throughout the game. When a mistake was made, how did they recover from it, and I thought both kids played hard. I thought both kids did the things within the system. We had a couple throws that we’d like to have back. We’ll look at the film and see what he saw and go from there.” On sequence following Dalton’s penalty “That was big because they scored a touchdown on a long play, I think on the very next play. We got them backed up and punted and again, you can’t make mistakes like that. You have to be smart. You have to play smart. I’m sure that wasn’t done on purpose, but that was a flagrant foul and he was kicked out of the game for it.” On Chazz Surratt’s play “We just felt like [Surratt] was really poised throughout the game. He handled the situation very well. I never saw him panic. He took the ball where it was supposed to go according to what the coverage dictated. He didn’t make all great throws, but I thought he was doing a good job.” On quarterback decision “When we went into the game, we said ‘Okay, we’re going to start Brandon Harris and Chazz Surratt is going in on the third play of the game. Then we’re going to play it by ear from that point on.’ I anticipated both of them playing throughout the game. I didn’t know if we would end up settling on one. It was going to depend on how they played. It was not a, ‘Hey, you made a mistake. This guy is going.’ It was more orchestrated, that we were going to play both of them to see how both of them reacted in the situation. I didn’t think there was a whole lot of separation going into the game. We’ll evaluate the tape and look at it to see how much separation there is now.”
California 35, North Carolina 30 UNC Player Quotes
Sr. WR Austin Proehl On the mood in the postgame locker room “We have a lot of great senior leaders that brought everybody up and told us that this was just one week. But we have to hold everybody accountable and it starts with us. It’s not about our coaches. We go back to work tomorrow.” Jr LB Andre Smith On California’s big offensive plays “It was very disappointing. Something we pride ourselves on is not allowing any catastrophic plays and we just have to go back to work.” On facing Louisville QB Lamar Jackson next Saturday “The opportunity to play against a competitor like him excites me. We obviously have a lot to learn from when we go to watch the film.” Fr QB Chass Surratt On figuring out playing time: “Coach Fedora let me know and Brandon (Harris) know earlier in the week, he told me that I would come in in the third series and Brandon would start the game and from there we just rolled and saw how each one of us played and how the team was moving.” On the way he thought he played: “I thought I played pretty well. I mean, we lost so that takes away from it. I obviously want to win as a team, but for the first time the game wasn’t too fast for me. I learned just be yourself and do what you do everyday in practice. That is what Coach Fedora preached to me. I just tried to stay within myself and let the game come to me.” On taking big hit after the first snap: “It felt good to get hit. I haven’t got hit since my senior year of high school during playoffs. It was definitely good to get it over with so that kind of calmed me down and I was able to just play from there.” On starting to get comfortable with the game: “The second touchdown drive felt good. We had a good game plan. The coaches put me in positions where I could succeed. I felt comfortable throughout the whole game.”
California 35, North Carolina 30 UNC Player Quotes (continued)
Gr QB Brandon Harris On his first game at UNC “It was obviously not the game you want, especially when you are in a new environment, in a new conference and with a new team and the coaches are still getting a feel for you. Obviously it wasn’t the start we wanted. It was a game I thought we should’ve won.” On finding out he had the starting job “He [Coach Fedora] told me Monday. He told me I was taking the first snap and that there was the potential for Chazz [Surratt] to play. He didn’t explain the roles to me. My role on this team for my time here is anything to help this team win.” On the two QB system “You can talk to any quarterback and guys like to get into a rhythm. I have never been a part of that. You have to try and keep yourself into the game. It’s right before you go out there he [Coach Fedora] tells you who is in. You just have to find a way to make it work.” So TB Jordon Brown On the offense “I feel like we showed we have the ability to make plays. We just didn’t make enough and made too many mistakes, but we showed potential to be a great offense.” On running the ball “We were just trying to do whatever we could to move the ball. We had a few big runs but just couldn’t put enough plays and drives together.”
California 35, North Carolina 30 Cal Coach Justin Wilcox
Opening Statement: “Well, it’s great to get a win. In the locker room, it’s pretty special right now and I’m just really proud of our team and excited for those guys. Obviously, there’s going to be a ton to learn from today on both sides of the ball, offense, defense, special teams and the coaches. But I think when you look at the big picture of the game, it was just the battling back that we had to constantly show up in different ways, shapes and forms. Look at the end of the first half from down 10 points late in the first half and found a way to make a play to get it close and then in the second half, there’s a number of times they get the interception. You could feel the tide turn. “I’m just so proud of our sideline because never in one moment during the game did the offense or defense or a player or a coach or anybody stand up or look the other way, looking for somebody to blame. They just battled the whole time and it really shows how much they care about each other. I’m really proud of our team in that regard. I’ve got to give it to North Carolina. They’re a very well-coached football team. Ton of respect for them and their players and it was a special moment in that locker room for our players and our coaches and support staff. It’s pretty cool. I’d also like to thank our fans who made the trek out here. Not an easy trip for them and it was really cool at the end of the game to be able to go and say hi to them. There are a lot of things that transpired during the game that had a major impact. You look at the big plays – we created six 20-yard-plus plays that were huge in the game. Like I said, at the end of the first half, that series and Ross (Bowers) bouncing back from a mistake that he made but not going in the tank and believing, and stepped up and threw a ball to Vic (Wharton) that was huge. We had some new guys playing in the game today, just like they did, and I thought they handled it really well. “There’s going to be so much off the tape that was far from perfect, it’s never going to be quite as good as you want it, but man it feels good in that locker room right now and I’m just really, really proud of our team, the players, our coaches, our university, our fans. It’s just a great moment. Now it can’t define us. We’ve got to go back and enjoy it tonight but get to work tomorrow and continue to grow as a team in all phases and I know they’ll be excited once we hit practice again on Monday. On Ross Bowers’ first game as starting quarterback “Ross is a confident guy, and we expected for him to play well. We will have plenty to coach on from the tape. He is a confident guy, and it wasn’t too big for him. He was as cool as ice before the game. So I know people like to make a big deal about the first start and all that. Yeah, there is a little energy there obviously, but he was fine. Never at any moment did I think it was too big for Ross, not at all, or the other guys on our team who were making their first starts.”
Cal Coach Justin Wilcox (Continued) On strategy going for it twice on fourth down “It was just kind of the rhythm of the game, and knowing that we wanted to keep those drives going that would be important for us. They had 89 plays, so you are getting up there in terms of number of plays against our defense. We felt confident about the situation for our offense and those moments. Like I said, Beau (Baldwin) made some great calls on those fourth downs and our guys went out and executed them. Like I said, we believe in them, and it really wasn’t any second thought to doing that.”
