UNC coach Larry Fedora Opening Statement
Miami 24, North Carolina 19 Postgame Quotes: UNC coach Larry Fedora Opening Statement “Let me start off and give Mark and his staff, the team, the Miami team, a lot of compliments. They did a heck of a job today and won a football game, a heartfelt battle. I’m proud of our team. They played hard. There’s no doubt in my mind our guys are playing hard. There’s no quit in them. They’re a tight group. They’re not divisive. They don’t point fingers. They go out there and they care about each other. They love each other and they play hard together but we’ve still made too many mistakes to overcome to win a football game, especially against a really good football team.” On the difference between last week’s game and today “We ran the ball better. We played better up front. Our protection was better. Overall, we played better as a football team.” On turnovers “You don’t win when you turn the ball over four times. You don’t give yourself a chance when you turn the ball over four times. It doesn’t matter who you play and that’s something we have had a lot of problems with and if you do that you make it really tough. That’s what is amazing – we turn that ball over three times and we are still in that game and had a chance to win it and then we turned it over a fourth. That was pretty much the dagger.” On Nathan Elliott’s performance “I thought he was really gritty and played really tough. He ran the ball and did some things and gave us some opportunities. There was one ball that he probably didn’t need to throw that he pressed on, but you know what? That kid, as many reps as he has gotten, he went out there and I thought he did a heck of a job.” On Beau Corrales’ performance “Just another one, a true freshman, another kid that has pressed into work and he is getting opportunities and making plays and he is learning. I keep saying that every week. It’s a kid after another kid, getting some valuable reps that’s going to make him better down the road and he is going to be a better football player because of it. It’s just growing pains. That’s all it is, but man, I can’t emphasize enough how there were a lot of good things that happened on that football field today.” On team morale “That really is the leadership on this football team. Our staff is doing an unbelievable job of keeping those guys positive. I have to credit all them because they are the ones making that happen. We’re not in that locker room everyday, but those seniors are. They are the ones keeping guys positive. They are making sure young guys understand what the culture is and the way you act and the way you handle yourself. “
Miami 24, North Carolina 19 Postgame Quotes: Miami coach Mark Richt Opening statement “North Carolina obviously played a great game today. We give our salute to Coach Fedora and his staff. A lot of big things happened. Offensively was not what really made it for us. I cannot really remember us sustaining a drive. Deep ball shots and big gains were had and that is great, but we just weren’t consistent when it comes to the little things. When it comes to catching a snap, we had our first fumble by an offensive player. We have not had a fumble all year. For the most part we protected the ball. The defense played great. We let a few plays spin out of there. The early goal line stand was huge. It probably was the difference in the ball game. You can’t blame them for trying to go for it on third down when it looked like they scored. The special teams got a blocked kick by a true freshman. A lot of good things happened. Just not clean enough for me personally.” On his team’s offensive struggles “Yeah, 4 of 17 [on third down] is not a whole lot to write home about. It is hard to keep your drives going if you don’t get the third downs right. We did get a fourth down, one of two. Even that did not turn out to be a touchdown. Might have gotten a field goal out of it. I’m not really sure if we did there, but yards become a dime a dozen. It is points that you are most concerned about. Still had 400 yards of offense which is not bad, but we have to get the points that equal that type of yardage.” On his team’s second-half performance “That is why you play 60 minutes first of all. You may not get that many yards in the first half, and it is frustrating. Then you start making big plays and things change for you, but all I know is when the play is over or half is over, you have to assess where you are and find a plan to have success in the future. That is all you can do. You can yell, scream, and go nuts on people. Sometimes maybe that’s the thing people need to get the cobwebs out, but for the most part – I know this – if we keep a cool head, make good decisions, and execute when we are called on, we got a chance to come back and win. That is what I believe the team has done even in the tightest of circumstances. No matter how they might feel, whether it is tired or disappointed. Whatever it may be, you have to keep hanging in there, keep banging away, and keep being a team player. This works for us.”
Miami 24, North Carolina 19 Postgame Quotes: UNC Players So. QB Nathan Elliott On being thrown into action this week “I was just really excited for the opportunity. It was great to be out there with the guys. I haven’t had many reps previous to this but being back out there was a lot of fun.” On being a receiver twice “That was fun. That was awesome. The first one, wish I would have scored. I think I should have scored. The second one didn’t go as well but that was a fun play to run for sure.” On Beau Corrales’s play “I was very proud of Beau. He played a great game today. It was good to see him out there. I am really proud of him and hopefully he keeps growing off of this into next week.” So. WR Anthony Ratliff-Williams On how this game differed from previous games “There was a lot of energy. It was just a different vibe when we came out of warm-ups early. The work that we put in all week, we felt it and kind of knew what we were ready for and what we were getting ourselves into as a team. We were ready to go out there and give it everything we’ve got, and that’s what we did.” On the positives that can be taken away from the game “Just that when we put our minds to it, we can fight and we can do anything that we want to do. That’s all it is. We had every reason to have doubt because we’re facing adversity with injuries and all of those types of things. We have every reason to give it up and to not give it everything we got. We still do it every week, we go out there and that’s something to be proud of.” On what he saw from Nathan Elliott “A lot of poise, actually, for what was going on and what was taking place. He definitely showed a lot of poise. He came to the sidelines and was talking to everybody, keeping guys’ heads in the game. That was just big on his part, understanding what the circumstances were when he was coming into the game and keeping his head on straight. That gave everyone else the positivity to know that we were going to be fine.” Fr. WR Beau Corrales On Nathan Elliott’s performance “I think he did great. He’s a hell of a leader and he’s great. I will follow him into anything. He did a great job with the opportunities and the situation that was happening.” Jr. DE Malik Carney On performing well on third downs “That’s what we talk about a lot — getting off on third downs and I feel like we did pretty good on that. In those situations, we have to make sure that we get our offense the ball and keep getting them the ball over and over again so we can score.”
Miami 24, North Carolina 19 Postgame Quotes: Miami coach Mark Richt Opening statement “North Carolina obviously played a great game today. We give our salute to Coach Fedora and his staff. A lot of big things happened. Offensively was not what really made it for us. I cannot really remember us sustaining a drive. Deep ball shots and big gains were had and that is great, but we just weren’t consistent when it comes to the little things. When it comes to catching a snap, we had our first fumble by an offensive player. We have not had a fumble all year. For the most part we protected the ball. The defense played great. We let a few plays spin out of there. The early goal line stand was huge. It probably was the difference in the ball game. You can’t blame them for trying to go for it on third down when it looked like they scored. The special teams got a blocked kick by a true freshman. A lot of good things happened. Just not clean enough for me personally.” On his team’s offensive struggles “Yeah, 4 of 17 [on third down] is not a whole lot to write home about. It is hard to keep your drives going if you don’t get the third downs right. We did get a fourth down, one of two. Even that did not turn out to be a touchdown. Might have gotten a field goal out of it. I’m not really sure if we did there, but yards become a dime a dozen. It is points that you are most concerned about. Still had 400 yards of offense which is not bad, but we have to get the points that equal that type of yardage.” On his team’s second-half performance “That is why you play 60 minutes first of all. You may not get that many yards in the first half, and it is frustrating. Then you start making big plays and things change for you, but all I know is when the play is over or half is over, you have to assess where you are and find a plan to have success in the future. That is all you can do. You can yell, scream, and go nuts on people. Sometimes maybe that’s the thing people need to get the cobwebs out, but for the most part – I know this – if we keep a cool head, make good decisions, and execute when we are called on, we got a chance to come back and win. That is what I believe the team has done even in the tightest of circumstances. No matter how they might feel, whether it is tired or disappointed. Whatever it may be, you have to keep hanging in there, keep banging away, and keep being a team player. This works for us.”
Miami 24, North Carolina 19 Postgame Quotes: UNC Players So. QB Nathan Elliott On being thrown into action this week “I was just really excited for the opportunity. It was great to be out there with the guys. I haven’t had many reps previous to this but being back out there was a lot of fun.” On being a receiver twice “That was fun. That was awesome. The first one, wish I would have scored. I think I should have scored. The second one didn’t go as well but that was a fun play to run for sure.” On Beau Corrales’s play “I was very proud of Beau. He played a great game today. It was good to see him out there. I am really proud of him and hopefully he keeps growing off of this into next week.” So. WR Anthony Ratliff-Williams On how this game differed from previous games “There was a lot of energy. It was just a different vibe when we came out of warm-ups early. The work that we put in all week, we felt it and kind of knew what we were ready for and what we were getting ourselves into as a team. We were ready to go out there and give it everything we’ve got, and that’s what we did.” On the positives that can be taken away from the game “Just that when we put our minds to it, we can fight and we can do anything that we want to do. That’s all it is. We had every reason to have doubt because we’re facing adversity with injuries and all of those types of things. We have every reason to give it up and to not give it everything we got. We still do it every week, we go out there and that’s something to be proud of.” On what he saw from Nathan Elliott “A lot of poise, actually, for what was going on and what was taking place. He definitely showed a lot of poise. He came to the sidelines and was talking to everybody, keeping guys’ heads in the game. That was just big on his part, understanding what the circumstances were when he was coming into the game and keeping his head on straight. That gave everyone else the positivity to know that we were going to be fine.” Fr. WR Beau Corrales On Nathan Elliott’s performance “I think he did great. He’s a hell of a leader and he’s great. I will follow him into anything. He did a great job with the opportunities and the situation that was happening.” Jr. DE Malik Carney On performing well on third downs “That’s what we talk about a lot — getting off on third downs and I feel like we did pretty good on that. In those situations, we have to make sure that we get our offense the ball and keep getting them the ball over and over again so we can score.”
