Duke 27, UNC 17 UNC Coach Larry Fedora
Duke 27, UNC 17 UNC Coach Larry Fedora
Opening Statement “The first thing I want to do is give Duke credit. They played a heck of a game. They played error-free. They played hard. Our team played hard, there’s no doubt about the effort that was out there on the field. They made more plays than we did and we’re in a position to win a football game in the fourth quarter and we didn’t finish and that’s happened to us three times. Everybody understands that’s my responsibility. We’re up in the fourth, I’ve got to find a way to get this team to finish.” On what’s going wrong for North Carolina “I don’t know what to tell you yet. I’m going to have to look at the film. We talked hard about finishing. We worked this week knowing we’ve been ahead in all these games. We’ve talked about it. It wasn’t a lack of effort. We just didn’t make the plays that we needed to make there in the fourth quarter and they did. They had a few plays that they had to make and they made them.” On North Carolina’s defense “Overall, I thought we played pretty good. Obviously there are a few plays we’d like to have back but we’ve got pressure on the quarterback. We didn’t really give up catastrophes. The only thing that we didn’t do was create a takeaway and that’s been the thing, whoever’s won the turnover battle in this game usually wins it.” On how Chazz Surratt handled the game “I thought he was very poised throughout the game. I thought he did a really nice job of taking what they were giving us and then as the game got closer there, I think he really tried to make something happen and that’s when we made the mistake and we’ll learn from it. Overall I thought the kid played with a lot of guts. He played really hard and I thought he put us in a position to win a football game.”
Duke 27, UNC 17 UNC Player Quotes Fr. QB Chazz Surratt On the pressure from the Duke defense: “Hats off to them, they did a good job pressuring us all night. There was some pressure, but there were times that we kind of made it worse than it really was.” On the difficulty caused by injuries and changes at the wide receiver position: “It was tough. We had guys mixing in and out through camp, so those guys have had reps before. It’s just basically next man up, that’s our philosophy. They came in and did a nice job for us, but it does hurt. You just have to move forward.” On Anthony Ratliff-‐Williams: “Ratliff is really explosive. I was trying to get the ball into his hands. He was making plays all day and I thought he had a really good game.” On the team’s record and whether UNC could just as easily be 4-‐0: “We definitely could be 4-‐0 as well as 1-‐3, but it’s just how the ball rolls. We made some mistakes at the end and we just have to clean some stuff up and gain more experience as the season goes on and try to get those mistakes cleaned up.” Sr. CB M.J. Stewart On the defense being on the field so long: “I wouldn’t say we were getting tired because we knew coming in they were going to run 95-‐100 plays per game – they did that in both previous games they had. We knew they were going to run a lot of plays, and they just made more plays than us.” On defensive pressure: “We feel like we are an aggressive defense, and we don’t want to sit back and let teams throw on us all day. We have to come after them sometimes.” On the team’s injuries: “It’s hard seeing so many guys go down. And some of those guys you may be really close to. A lot of those guys that went down, I know how hard they worked, but it’s next man up. That is the game we play, football. Things happen sometimes, so the next man has to be ready to step up and fill that role.”
Duke 27, UNC 17: UNC Player Quotes, continued Sr. OT Bentley Spain On running game struggles “I think it’s that they made more plays than we did, and we will have to really work on being more consistent and technique and things like that. Playing smart, being physical and just overall put a little more emphasis on trying to establish the run.” On next-‐man-‐up philosophy: “During the game you just have to move on to the next play, and you can’t let something that happened on the play before affect you on the next play. You just have to move on.” On Chazz Surratt handling pressure “I think he has done a tremendous job handling it. Making reads, seeing things, escaping pressure … it is nice to have a guy like that back there.” So. WR Anthony Ratliff-‐Williams On what he brings to the team: “Play-‐making ability. When your number is called you have to step up. Taking the ball over the top, things like that. When my number is called I have to step up and do what I have to do, and that’s what I did.” On being up in the fourth quarter then losing: “It’s real tough. That is probably the biggest thing we need to work on, to learn how to finish. Once we get that job done we know the sky is the limit for us, but it’s just that little hump we have to get over.” On thoughts before big catch: “Make the play. I was hoping the ball was coming my way and I when I saw it go up I was thinking in my head ‘you got to make the play. We need a score right now with 22 seconds left so we are running out of time and we need a score to go into the half.’” On Chazz Surratt’s play: “He had a great game. He gave us a chance. He kept us in the game and that is all you can ask for in a quarterback with that kind of experience. Keep us in the game and make plays when you can.”
Duke 27, UNC 17 Duke Coach David Cutcliffe Opening Statement “A lot of really good things happened on that field. And we weren’t the only ones doing it. I thought North Carolina played really well. I thought Duke played really well. When two teams play like that some of the things you are going to ask me about— well, you gave up explosive plays on defense. You had trouble in the red zone. They had their problems with their defense and our offense. It was that kind of football game to win in the fourth quarter. Third-down and fourth-down defense and offense proved to be a big part of the day and without that we probably wouldn’t have won. There were some timely runs. It was a slug-fest of a football game.” On the 100th win of his career “Well, you remember a whole lot of players, a whole lot of coaches, and a lot of families. It mostly makes me think about my wife Karen who has won a hundred games. She has done a heck of lot better job than I have. But 101 is going to be a lot harder to get than number 1.” On the difference between this year and last year “I think in January I told you all I did a poor job of maturing our team. A lot of good things happened at Duke that had not happened in a while and I think we handled adversity poorly. This year we went a little old-school and I think it has showed.”
