North Carolina Tar Heels College Football Pregame Quote, 11/11/2019

I think Virginia was very simple: We didn’t stop their best player (Bryce Perkins). We thought we had to stop him running and force him to throw the ball, and other than the 65-yard run ‚Äì which is a little facetious ‚Äì I thought we did a good job throughout the night, but he goes 65 yards to start the second half. We go up 17-10 with 2 minutes and 6 seconds to go in the first half, then you’ve got to have a stop and take a lead into halftime with them getting the ball to start the second half and they drive right down the field and score with very little time left, which is where we’ve got to grow up; we’ve got to do better. We’ve got to learn to answer the other side of the ball. Then we say the next five minutes to start the second half is the second-most important part of the game, and they take it 65 yards on a run and score on the first drive. It puts us where we’re up seven with 2 minutes and 6 seconds to go in the half, we’re down seven right after the half. The other thing is we didn’t make three critical fourth downs that we’ve been making and all three of those put us in positions where we could have won the game and we had some drops and we had some overthrows. It kept us from winning against a really good football team.

So, I’m encouraged that we keep getting better. I’m encouraged that they fight every week and we haven’t had a down game; they’ve been very competitive and they’ve tried really hard. They fight back when they get down, because they’ve been down a lot throughout the year. All of those things are real positive; we’ve still got to make the plays to win the game at the end. That’s hopefully what we can do the next three weeks. We’ve got a new season, we’ve got three weeks to try to finish this thing strong, and that starts on Thursday night with Pitt.

Pitt is a typical Pat Narduzzi team: They’re going to crowd the line of scrimmage and stop the run, which they’re doing as well as anybody in the country. They’re going to try to get you in second-and-long, third-and-long and rush the passer, which they’re doing with sacks as good as anybody in the country. And then they’re going to make you beat them one-on-one some outside in the passing game. That’s just who they are. He did that at Michigan State with Mark Dantonio. They’re really good on defense and that doesn’t change. Michigan State has been the same way; they’ve been one of the better defensive teams and schemes from Michigan State to Pitt in the country.

Offensively, they’re going to be balanced, but they’re going to throw the ball a lot. Obviously, people have picked on our corners. We’ve got to play better at corner and we’ve got to play better on the fade and the back-shoulder ball. And that’s really, really important to us. We’re going to have to run the ball on the road to win. That’s very, very difficult against them. We’re going to have to stay balanced and hit some throws because they’re really, really good up front, and then we’ve got to be able to stop the run and force them to throw some fade balls and let’s make plays for a change, because we haven’t done that. Then, you’ve got to win the kicking game, which we’ve been OK in; we haven’t been great at any time in our kicking game.

On preparing for a Thursday night game:

The biggest challenge is to figure out what day it is. Just like today, we’re sitting here, this is a Wednesday and it’s on a Monday. Sally gets really mad at me when I’m totally zeroed-in like this is Wednesday. She says, ‚ÄòWhat are you doing in today?’ I said, ‚ÄòWell, it’s Wednesday.’ She said, ‚ÄòIt’s not Wednesday, it’s Monday.’ So, the biggest thing is we had Tuesday’s practice yesterday on a Sunday when they didn’t have class, so it was unique and different. Then, we had Wednesday’s practice today. We’ll have Thursday’s practice on Tuesday. Then, even in your staff meeting today trying to figure out which day you leave, you leave Wednesday, which is Friday normally. So, coaches are in such routine that you block out your schedule so much that you really just have to completely change it this week. Then, you think about the kids get back at 4 o’clock in the morning and we need them in class on Friday. So, that’s a challenge for them. One of the good things is we practice in the mornings, so class is in the afternoon. We’ll need to get them to get a little bit of sleep and then get up and do their classes, then they’ll have Saturday off and then we start next week for Senior Day. The only difference in this open date before Virginia Tech and Pitt, is Sunday you start over with your regular routine. If you’ve got a Saturday game, they come off a day off Friday and a day off Saturday, to you’re practicing Tuesday. So it’s a real, real short week. That’s why you had to do a lot of Pitt stuff last week.

On the opportunity and challenge of throwing deep balls against Pitt:

The challenge is protection. They really rush the passer well and they do it by scheme a lot, but they’ve also got Patrick Jones, who’s 6-5, 260, and he’s a great pass-rusher. That’s the thing; we can’t end up second-and-long, third-and-long. You know, we start the Virginia game with a sack; I’ve never seen that before. I told Phil [Longo] and the guys, ‚ÄòCome on now. We work a full week to get that first play of the game so we can get started, and we have a sack? We can’t do that.’ We’ve got to stay on schedule, we’ve go to run the ball some, even though they don’t make it easy. Backs are going to have to make some 4-yard runs where we’re not going to block everybody. And it’s going to be really cold. We’re lucky that it’s going to be 30 degrees here tomorrow and 16-mph winds, so we’ll probably practice outside and let them get ready to go to Pitt. So we’ll say, ‚ÄòWelcome to Pittsburgh; here we are.’ I think that’s the biggest thing: We’ve got to stay balanced enough to be able to protect, we’ve got to stay ahead of the chains and then we’ve got to hit some deep balls.

On if he talks about earning bowl eligibility with the team:

Because this Sunday was a Tuesday, we didn’t talk about anything except Pitt. Normally, what we’ve done is we go over, ‚ÄòHere’s the league standings, here’s the bowl situations and all that.’ We’ve got to get another win before we can start talking about having one more to go for a bowl. So, we really haven’t talked about it very much. They’re fully aware that we need to win some more games to get to a bowl game.

On the winning streak against Pitt and if there’s any carryover:

I don’t think so. One of the things that really intrigues me is why universities have streaks against other universities; I never figured it out. We had trouble beating Kansas State at Texas when I was there, and now, they beat them all the time. So, I don’t know. That one always gets me. Like we talked about the streak at Georgia Tech being very difficult for us, I’m sure Pat has brought up the streak this week. And what you do if you’re them, is you get tired up and try to change it. And if you’re us, you try to keep it going.

On how Sam Howell stacks up against other freshman quarterbacks he’s coached:

Sam [Howell] is very much like Colt McCoy because of his accuracy. If we give Sam time, he’s really an accurate thrower ‚Äì and he’s that way in practice. I used to sit and watch Colt throw for hours and the ball never hit the ground, and that’s what we’ve got to do. We’ve got to be more consistent catchers at wide receiver because Sam is going to put it there and they’ve just got to catch it. Also, because of the injury to Jace (Ruder) and the inexperience of Vincent Amendola, we haven’t run Sam very much. And in this offense, you really need to run your quarterback. That’s so important that on third and fourth down, third-and-3, third-and-4, if it’s not there, he can run for three or four. We’ve been more hesitant to do that with him just because of our lack of depth, so that’s hurt us some, too, I think. In his future, I think we’ll see him be a much better runner and continue to improve his accuracy.

On how much of a priority signing Sam Howell was when he accepted the UNC job:

It was our No. 1 priority. We weren’t sure what we had on campus; we knew we had two young ones. But we also really liked what we saw in him when we got here. The coaches who were here talked about him and we couldn’t afford to lose a great quarterback out of Charlotte.

On how the team benefited most from the open week:

Probably some rest. Young guys got a lot of fundamental work, they got a lot of physical work. Older guys got some rest. Javonte [Williams], for instance, we could really rest him completely and get him fresh. The backs who have been hit so much, we just didn’t hit them much during the off week. We came back and had a regular practice [Sunday], [Monday] and now [Tuesday], tomorrow. I think that was the biggest thing. In some cases, I think because we haven’t had depth ‚Äì and it’s our fault we haven’t developed enough depth ‚Äì is that we wear down during games. So, we’re really trying hard now to put more guys in the game. For instance, Ray Vohasek has played more and played well. We’re trying to get Jahlil Taylor in the game more so we can get some rest for especially Aaron Crawford, who played 90-something plays at Virginia Tech. That’s just inexcusable; that’s too much, especially for a 300-plus-pound guy. He wears down. That was a big thing for us; get some conditioning in, get some rest in and keep the young ones working on a lot of fundamentals.

On balancing winning now and building depth for the future:

Everything we’re doing is to try to win now. We promised our seniors at the first of the year that we were going to do everything we could to win every game for you because this is it for you. We had a couple of freshmen who didn’t practice well yesterday, and I called them out in front of the team and I said, ‚ÄòYou’re going to be a senior one day and you’re going to ask the rest of the guys to play for you because you want your senior year to be special and you’re going to remember it the rest of your life. And here you are laying down and being lazy and not creating an edge for practice. That’s just inexcusable and unfair.’ So, that’s what we’ve told these seniors. Everything these next three weeks is for them to try to finish a lot better than they have in the last two years. They even said the senior class the last two years had disappointing years, and Senior Day is next week; I want the stands to be full and I want it to be a special day for them and I want that to be really the kickoff or the start of something special in our program moving forward.

On the commonalities between the six ACC teams that rank top 20 nationally in sacks:

We’ve helped them. We’ve led to some of those good sacks for them… There’s good athletes, No. 1, in those positions and we throw the ball a lot in this league. I think there’s a lot better teams in this league than perceived because a lot of us are so much alike that so many games are coming down to the end. There’s Virginia Tech that loses by one point to Notre Dame on the road and then you come back and they beat Wake Forest by a couple of touchdowns. Virginia Tech is really doing a good job. Virginia had Notre Dame on the ropes and turned it over a few times at the end of the game. I do think the league is better than perceived.

On if anything stands out schematically with those six teams:

I think there’s a lot of great defensive coordinators in this league. We talked about Bud Foster. I think Jay [Bateman] will be one of those; he’s coming right now like he is. A lot of different schemes and a lot of people are stopping the run on first down and they really bring a lot of different stuff on third down and it has been very, very difficult to stop.

On what it will take for Howell to be a Heisman Trophy candidate one day:

Us to win. We’re so close. Those guys [Joe Burrow and Tua Tagovailoa] are winning. Joe Burrow is not in there because of just being Joe Burrow; if those guys were 4-5 they wouldn’t be talking as much about Joe as they are Sam. So, Sam is off to a great start. We need to finish strong and then we need to become a better program. Then the guys will get the individual attention for winning games. I told Vince Young one time, ‚ÄòThe only stat a quarterback is ever remembered for long term is his record, how many wins.’ I think Vince Young was 30-2. I can’t remember how many yards he rushed for, I can’t remember how many passes he had; I can remember 30-2.

On if he talks to Vince Young a lot:

I do. I’m so excited Vince is going into the Hall of Fame. He’s having a big dinner and I’m going to fly up for his dinner. I text with the guys more than I talk to them because everybody is so busy. But any time anything comes up with this 150 years of college football, he’s on all the time. If I ever turn on a TV and see him, I take a picture of it right quick and say, ‚ÄòThank you.’ He’s a special guy in my life and Sally’s life and I’m so proud. He went into the Rose Bowl Hall of Fame last year and he’s going into the National Football Hall of Fame this year. And as much we need to be recruiting, I will be there because I’m not going to miss that.

On Garrett Walston’s development:

Garrett [Walston] has gotten much stronger. He wasn’t a very good blocker last year, so it was hard to put him in a lot. And now he’s worked so hard in the weight room. He’s got good strength and he runs really well. And he’s tall. He’s got length. And he’s got really good reach and ball-catching skills. So, he’s fast enough to get open. He’s got the big body to shield himself from linebackers and safeties. And he’s tough. And he can catch. But I think the biggest difference is his ability and willingness to block.

On coaching effort:

The best way to coach effort is have depth and put them on the bench, and right now we don’t have that. Bench is the best motivator and that’s what we’ve got to do. If you can take them out and they know you can take them out, they’re going to play harder because they like to play. But the most powerful thing you’ve got is when you’ve got somebody behind them who you can put in and they know they lose playing time. That’s the best motivator. The rest of it ‚Äî we all talk about speeches and all that stuff ‚Äî eh, that bench is good. ‚ÄòHey, come here. Sit there. Other guy is going to play for a while.’ Then they pout, they get mad and then they got back out and they don’t come back out again.

On whether he thought this team had bowl-game potential at the beginning of his tenure:

Very honestly, I had absolutely no idea what we were going to do. When we beat South Carolina, I was surprised because we needed a linebacker that had never played the game, quarterback who’d never played in a college game. So, if you’d asked me the night before the South Carolina game, I couldn’t eat or sleep, but the guys just played so hard. Then we were disappointed at both Wake [Forest] who’s a really good team, we were disappointed at [Appalachian State] who’s a really good team. Then we got back on track, so it’s been an up-and-down ride, but I think in every case, the good thing is these are good young people and they’ve really listened and they’re trying. Where Jay [Bateman] and I were disappointed sometimes and when the defense didn’t try as hard, sometimes I think they’re worn out a little bit too and they’re worn down. They weren’t worn out after sitting in the dressing room for 20 minutes for that first drive of the second half, but part of a transition is learning how to play hard all the time. Sometimes they think they’re playing hard all the time, but they’re really not because they have to see themselves on video before they realize. I said, ‚ÄòIs that full speed?’ And you can say, ‚ÄòIf that’s full speed, you’re not good enough to play for us and that’s not good enough to be in the NFL. But if that’s all you got, then we need to put somebody else in.’ And usually they understand, ‚ÄòI loafed.’ So, that’s the process we’re going through and that’s why I think we grow each week.

On which players surprised him:

Ray Vohasek is picking it up and he’s so quick inside. I think he’s got a chance to help us here in the next three weeks. Jahlil Taylor, like I said, I think they’ve got a chance. It’s interesting. We’re trying to get Javon Terry, Storm Duck and DeAndre Hollins where they can play a fade. Just where they’ll compete and it’s a process. People say, ‚ÄòYou got to play the ball better.’ Well, you’ve got to see the receivers eyes go up and his hands and eyes go. And when they go, you’ve got to go and we’re not doing that very well and Dre [Bly] is killing himself trying to get them to do that. I think we’ve improved in that area, but losing all these defensive backs really changed who we are defensively because it’s put Jay [Bateman] in such a bind. Do you protect your corners with zone? Or do you try to stop the run by putting them all in and playing man? Or do you disguise so much? And how much can you disguise with a young secondary? From the Clemson game when we’ve gotten a lot of people hurt, we just haven’t been as consistently good on defense and that’s hurt us some. Offensively, I think the most improved three players for me, let’s go Beau Corrales, Garrett Walston and Marcus McKethan. We weren’t sure any of those three would be players for us when we started in the fall and all three of them have had a lot of good snaps for us.

On what plays will prove the defense understood his message on effort:

Stop the run, force some turnovers. That’s how you play defense. Against Virginia, we really didn’t do either and if you don’t stop the run, the game’s over. What I thought is that Virginia would have a lot of trouble running the ball and that Bryce [Perkins] had not thrown the ball consistently well. I didn’t think we would be able to run the ball because Virginia was No. 2 in the league in defense at that time and we’d have trouble protecting because they’d had a bunch of sacks. Neither was right. We threw it all over the place and they ran it and threw it all over the place. I thought it would be one of those 20-17 games and it ended up being whoever had the ball was going to score. You just never know.

On whether officiating has worsened or technology has made it easier to notice mistakes:

I think it’s No. 2. We know everything now because we can replay a play so many times that we know exactly what happened. These officials are guys who have full-time jobs during the week, and they run out and they do this on the weekend and the game’s so fast now. Things are happening so quickly, sometimes they can’t see it. That’s why I wish that the guy upstairs would make a decision if it is a critical game-changing play, then let’s go upstairs and get it right and let’s just stop the game. People would say, ‚ÄòWell, we’re stopping the game too much now.’ We want the game to be right. Like I said the other day, the coaches are held accountable, the players are held accountable. To me it helps the officials if we have that call upstairs. If it’s an absolute pass interference call and the guy on the field misses it, call down and say, ‚ÄòI got video here. It’s pass interference. Throw the flag.’ That’s what I wish we would do. I think that’s the only way to get it right. If not, every Sunday because of human error we’re going to have plays that make a difference in the game that are missed calls. When your team is like we are ‚Äî because we’re not better than anybody, we’re just like everybody ‚Äî a call or two will make the difference in whether we win or lose a game and we’ve seen that. It just kills you. So, we may turn in five calls a week that were missed. They’re game-changing calls and they say, ‚ÄòSorry. We missed it.’ Well, good I’ll go throw up. Come on, man. That’s what it is. I’d like to see us have more help for the officials upstairs. I love the officials. You’ve got to give them credit. They don’t get paid a whole lot, they work themselves to death, they fly all over the country and they work really hard and they’ve got impossible jobs. There are sometimes, as long as I’ve coached, I see the play and I don’t know what happened. I can look up to the jumbotron and say, ‚ÄòHey man.’ They will not look. … They won’t speak either by the way, or look, but they have hard jobs.

On officials changing to full-time positions:

I don’t know with money issues like we have in college sports that we could afford to pay officials full-time. I think that would be the question. I think there should be transmission in the helmets for the quarterbacks and even the linebackers. There is in the NFL, but we don’t have it in college football and you know that the NFL coaches and players are further advanced than we are. So, why couldn’t Phil Longo talk to Sam [Howell] during the game to help him? And the reason is it costs too much money for all 130 schools to buy it, so we voted it down. To me, the ones that can afford it buy it and it helps our game. Same with linebackers. With the tempos going so fast, you’d love to have your defensive coordinator talking to your linebacker to get him lined up right. I think that would really help as well.

On Clemson ranking:

I was worried when we started the playoff and the committee that it would push coaches to beat somebody as badly as they could. And I think it does. Right now, everybody is trying to impress the committee and the difference in the No. 1 spot and the No. 2 spot is huge because of where you play. It’s huge, it’s not big, it’s huge. You get that ‚Äòhome-field advantage’ if you’re No. 1. The other thing that you look at, I called Clemson losing to Syracuse. I think they were in the playoff that year. I saw them lose to Pittsburgh and might have won the national championship that year, so Clemson normally doesn’t play as well early as they do late. I think we’ve been very, very unfair to them and I think it’s because of our game. I think people thought, ‚ÄòWell, we were bad enough when that game was close. Clemson must not be any good.’ That’s very unfair to them because they’ve played some close games early, but to me, Clemson’s right in the middle of that LSU [and] Ohio State conversation. I don’t see how they possibly couldn’t be as many games as they’ve won and as good as they are on both sides of the ball. They’ve had a lot of young guys, but if you look at Dabo’s [Swinney] teams, they get better as the year progresses every year. Everybody better look out because I think they’ve got a strong trend up. As a coach, you don’t even have to say it. They know when they say they’re fifth. ‚ÄòWe’re fifth? What do you mean we’re fifth? We’re undefeated, man. We won 31 straight games.’ That’s motivation enough. All you have to do if you’re Dabo is walk in and say, ‚ÄòGuess they don’t think we’re very good. Maybe they’re right. I don’t know, we’ll see Saturday night.’ That’s all you have to do. It doesn’t take much.