Wake Forest Demon Deacons College Football Pregame Quote, 09/24/2019

Just wrapping up Elon … I think that game went the way we wanted it to. We scored early, we got tested, we gave up the touchdown, 14-7, we then responded the way you’d hope you respond. I was really pleased with the way we came out in the second half and it was great to be able to play so many players. We played between 65 and 70 players in that game. I think it wound up being 69 which, for us, is good. I read somewhere Clemson played 111, we don’t even have 111 lockers. We got to play a lot of players and that will help us down the line. Those games always make coaches nervous. You’re glad when they’re on the schedule. When you play them, you don’t know the mindset of your team and I thought our team handled that very maturely. I thought we came to play. Again, it was great to get so many guys out there and we didn’t have to play our starters 100 plays or 80 plays. Some of our defensive kids played between 25 and 30 plays which, in terms of their health and their freshness going into BC, is going to be really important to us.

We now head into the ACC schedule and we play a very good Boston College team, who’s 3-1. They just beat Rutgers a week ago. They’ve got a great win over Virginia Tech. I don’t know if there’s a team that reflects the personality of their head coach more than Boston College. Steve Addazio is a hard-nosed, tough football coach and this team has, every single year, they reflect his personality. They are one of the most physical teams that we play every single year. On offense, their personality is they’re a downhill running team. Their offensive line is aggressive, they come off the ball. Certainly, going into the season, A.J. Dillon (Boston College) and Travis Etienne (Clemson) were the class of the ACC in terms of running backs. (Dillon) is a 250-pound, downhill load. He is tough to tackle, he can make you miss, he has good speed. There’s no doubt he’s a guy who’s going to be playing on Sundays. And the other running back, (David) Bailey, he’s a real good player too. He’s 240 pounds. Getting those guys downhill sets up everything that they do. Again, they’re a tough, physical offensive line that comes off the football, they’re extremely gifted at running back. They have more 6-4, 6-5, 250-pound tight ends, and they play them. These guys are fourth and fifth year players and grad students, and 22 and 23 years old. They’re really good in the passing game. They get you so much to commit to the run, and then their ability to take shots in the play-action game, because of what you have to commit to defend their run game, it’s extremely well thought-out. It’s a different style but it works really well for them and they’re effective at it. Their quarterback, Anthony Brown, we’ve watched him grow up. We had him for one of his first starts in 2017. He had a career day against us a year ago. He is athletic, has a strong arm, he’s accurate, he knows the offense well. He has become a really good quarterback. And they’re still skilled at receiver. They have guys who are good route runners, they’ve got big guys who can make plays on the ball. They added a new freshman receiver, No. 4, Zay Flowers, who they’re going to find ways to get him the ball, whether it’s speed sweeps, screens, just a very, very dynamic player. On offense, they’ve been really productive, scoring over 30 points a game, getting a lot of yards. They have always been a very tough out for us.

Defensively, they’re doing an outstanding job of taking the football away. They lead the ACC, they probably lead the country in turnover margin, they’re plus nine. After four games, that’s unheard of. They’ve created 10 turnovers. They don’t beat themselves, they’ve only turned it over once on offense. On defense, they have experience at every level of the defense. At every level of the defense they have a returning starter. Again, it’s the personality of BC, these kids are tough, they’re physical, they come off the ball, they’re firm tacklers, they’ve always been good in the secondary. Last year. they probably did as good a job as anybody of defending Greg Dortch and defending our passing game. This is always a really competitive game. It’s a program that we have a ton of respect for. It’s always a great football game. It’s become, every year, one of the biggest games in the ACC for us.

On Boston College’s secondary creating so many turnovers:

They’re playing a little bit more zone this year. They’ve always been a big man-free team. They’re playing a little more zone and what that allows you to do is have more eyes on the quarterback and when the ball is thrown there are more guys breaking on it. They’ve always been able to rush the passer and create hurries and I think the combination of that (with) they’re talented in the secondary, they’ve got more eyes on the quarterback now. I think lots of teams would love to play man-to-man but the reality is when you play man, you don’t get a lot of picks because people aren’t looking at the quarterback, they’re looking at their man. Whereas if you’re more of a zone team, your eyes are on the quarterback and you get more of a convergence on the ball. Sometimes you concede some things that are of the shorter variety but you get breaks on the ball so when you get tipped passes and those types of things, there’s more opportunity for picks. They’ve changed their coverage scheme a little bit but I think it’s been really effective for them. It’s one of the reasons why I think they have seven interceptions so far this year.

What’s the difference between this team and the 2016 and 2017 teams that also started 4-0?

We have to wait and see. I shared that with our football team the other day. This is nice but we’ve been here before. How did we handle it in ’16, how did we handle it in ’17, how can we be different, what can we do better, what can we do better? And I think the fact that we’ve been in this position before will help us. I also think that this team is built a little bit differently than those teams. I think in ’16 we went into every game thinking ‘we”ve got to hold them to 20 (points or fewer) or we’re in trouble.’ And in ’17 I think we thought that if we didn’t score 40, we were in trouble. I do feel this team is capable of doing either of those things. I said this at the beginning of the year, I think this is the best balance we’ve had here between offense and defense. I think we can win a 20-17 game or a 17-10 game and I think we can win a 45-42 game. That’s one thing I feel better about. Now that we get into ACC play, every single one of these games is tough. And it starts this week. BC is a very good football team and what they do is different. If you don’t show up to play against BC, they’re going to get after you. And that’s one thing that Steve’s teams have always done, they always play with that physical nature. If you ever show up and play BC and you think you’re ready, you’re going to get embarrassed. I think our team is a little bit more mature this year. I think we’re a little older, we’ve got more kids that are in their fourth and fifth year. And there’s a part of me that thinks those ’16 and ’17 teams were kind of happy to be 4-0. I don’t want to say they were satisfied but it was an accomplishment. I think with this football team, they don’t feel like they’ve accomplished anything yet.

On the road team winning each of the last five games in this series:

Sometimes it happens. If you look at every year, probably the better team won. Last year they were 7-5, we were 6-6 and they were probably a little better than us. I think in ’17 we were probably a little better than them. I think the better team’s won, it just so happens the better team was on the road that year. I think the last two years, if you look at the whole season, probably the better team has won. But it’s early in both of our years and I don’t know who the better team is. I hope it’s us but we know we’re playing a really good football team.