Aug 30, 2013

Recap | Final Stats | Notes | Photo Gallery 1 | Photo Gallery 2

Head Coach Steve Spurrier

Opening Statement
Our defense took back a big play, and then we held them down around the goal line. Our offense wasn’t very good in the fourth quarter, but we did some good running and obviously hit some big plays in the game. Shaq Roland from Connor Shaw in the big first one and of course Mike Davis’ run. Dylan [Thompson] goes in there one play and hits Kane Whitehurst for a touchdown. We had some good plays and had a lot of bad play. We only had 59 plays, and they ended with 79. We’re happy to beat them. Who knows how good of a team they or us will be. It was a good first game, and they made a bunch of third downs. We were not very good at all on third-down conversions, but we managed to score enough touchdowns to beat them. We’ll take tomorrow off and come in Saturday to watch the tape of the game and start getting ready for the Bulldogs.

On the strategy of the running game
The first half, we had five possessions and scored on four of them, so that’s not too shabby. The second half, we didn’t do much of anything. Mike Davis’ run was about it. We had a good little running game going, and I thought we’d like to try a long pass but we didn’t even get it off and ended up with a 15-yard sack so that ended up being pretty stupid. But it could have been a lot closer. North Carolina hit some passes here and there, and our red-zone defense kept them out a couple of time from scoring touchdowns. We’ve got some improving to do.

On Connor Shaw
Connor did alright I think. He didn’t have any picks, he only threw 20 passes, and he kept running and stopping. He’d run in there, stop and get knocked backwards. That’s not like him. At least he can dive in there for two or three yards.

On Shaq Roland
He didn’t have a lot of opportunities. We only threw 21 passes, and they threw 43 and hit a lot more than we did. But again, winning is the name of the game. The team that has the most plays doesn’t always, the team with the most points wins. That’s where we’re sort of at around here as far as trying to win games. We can win sort of ugly looking games. We beat Vanderbilt last year in a pretty ugly looking game. Hopefully we can improve and get ready for Georgia.

On Brandon Wilds and Mike Davis
Brandon was running really well. He had some very good runs. Brandon and Mike had some good runs. I thought North Carolina defense was pretty sturdy to tell you the truth.

On Elliott Fry
Elliott made eight out of nine in high school and made 49 out of 50 extra points. So in the games he’s pretty good. Sometimes in practice he misses a few. I just said Elliott, you’re pretty good in games, so I won’t worry about you just go kick like you do it games. He answered the bell, and he’s a confident young man. He a chance to go to a smaller school. But he wanted to go somewhere in the SEC, so coach Joe Robinson found him and offered him the chance to walk on and snatched him up.

Defensive Coordinator Lorenzo Ward

On Clowney’s energy
I think it wasn’t just (Jadeveon) Clowney. I think the entire defense got winded. We knew coming into the ball game that they were going to hurry up. We tried to simulate it in practice, but that was the fastest team I’ve ever seen.

On playing a lot of guys
We planned to play a lot of guys, especially up front. Of course Coach Botkin was going to rotate in a lot of the young players, but we knew it was going to be a hot game and we knew we were going to need a lot of guys to play for us.

On what pleased and displeased him the most
Well, what pleased me is that we played a team that snapped the ball 79/80 times and had 10 points. A team that averaged 40 points a ball game last year, with a veteran quarterback coming back and the way we had to go live stands a few times, the guys had to dig deep, so we have a lot we can work on but those are some positives.

On Victor Hampton being on special teams
I don’t get nervous, but I told Vic (Hampton), we don’t need a courageous guy. Better decisions. The punt return, he should have fair caught it, or not even have been near that ball. Vic has great courage and you never want to take that away from him, but he has to be smart. I told him the hits he took tonight, he’s not pulling off an entire season.

Sophomore Tailback Mike Davis

On his 75-yard touchdown run and his speed
I guess my speed shows for itself. Some people thought I would be slow but I just wanted to show my talents.

On his first physical runs and getting those out of the way
I wanted to set the tone early. I was trying to go out and punish guys and then later use some finesse.

On splitting his workload with running back Brandon Wilds
I think it’s good for both of us. We don’t have to take that much pounding. We can both come in and show different styles.

On how he describes Brandon Wilds’ and his “1-2” punch
I wouldn’t know how to describe it. Brandon Wilds is a very big guy, very hard runner. He also has breakaway speed. I guess you can call both of us thunder and lightning.

On being a native Georgian and if he will keep his emotions in check against UGA or let them be a positive
I am showing all my emotions. It’s a hometown game, UGA. I can’t wait. I already have had guys call me and tell me they are going to beat us. I’m going to show all my emotions that game.

Junior Corner Back Victor Hampton

On getting hurt
I got hurt a couple times, but, I mean, I’m a tough guy, so I don’t think I’ll be out for a couple of days or anything like that.

On helmet to helmet hit
I definitely felt like it was a late hit, I have to see it on film. I don’t exactly know what happened to be honest, but I’ll have to look at it on film.

On going against Renner and how it helps for next week
I think it helps us out a lot. I think next week we will be a little bit more conditioned and I don’t think Georgia will move the ball as fast as UNC does, and I don’t think they will be able to get the ball out as fast as Renner did today, just because of the system that they use.

On playing a lot of inexperience players
I think that was definitely the case, I think I came out of the game more than I ever did last year today because of the pace of the game. So, I was just very proud of the two’s and the three’s for coming in and not making mistakes and just being mentally ready. I think it will really help us down the road because the guys that really didn’t play a lot last year or this year so far got a chance to get a lot of reps today in game action.

On being aggressive
I definitely learned on the punt return I got hurt on that I could have definitely fair caught that one, so I definitely learned a little bit. I’m just anxious to make a play, but sometimes you have to be smart.

Junior Defensive End Jadeveon Clowney

On the clip
I really don’t pay attention. If the ref doesn’t see it I don’t say anything. I just continue to rush and try and make plays.

On being tired
I was pretty tired, but you have to play through that. I was still coming off the ball and that’s what matters. I might be bent over sometimes but when that ball snaps, I was getting off. They were tired. They were telling me at the end of the game that they were tired, too. It’s just one of those games, you have to push yourself.

On critics on his playing
It doesn’t matter. We got the win. Did you see the score? That’s all that matters.

Senior Quarterback Connor Shaw

On the first touchdown
We recognized what coverage’s they were in. Shaq had a great route and ran through it. It was great; he was excited.

On being encouraged/discouraged by big plays
I was encouraged. I had some fun out there, I think we all did, coming out there and my first pass was a touchdown, and Dylan’s (Thompson) first pass was a touchdown, so, it was great getting us both in there and getting the offense clicking.

On (Brandon) Wilds and (Mike Davis)
It was huge, that long run (Mike) Davis had. I knew coming in they had both worked so hard over the summer, and they were well prepared for this game.

Head Coach Larry Fedora

Opening Statement
We played a really good football team tonight. They have some really good players and coaches and we didn’t play the way we wanted to play. We knew it would be tough coming in here to their stadium and playing a game in this situation and I was disappointed in the way that we played in all three phases of the game, but you have to give South Carolina credit they are a good football team.

On limiting big plays
We worked a lot all summer on eliminating big plays or limiting big plays. You just can’t give up big plays like that and you can’t drop a punt on the 50-yard line. You can’t do a lot of things that we did tonight so that was disappointing.

On the play of the offensive and defensive line
We knew they where good on the defensive line. Everyone has been telling us how good they were so it was obvious that we had our work cut out for us against their defensive line. Offensively they were big and they can mash you and they did a good job of it tonight.

On the execution of the team
I don’t want to take credit away from what they accomplished. They won the football game and did a great job but we have to execute. If we execute like we did tonight then it won’t matter for us because we won’t have a chance. We need to make better decisions with the ball, we have to block better, and we have to run harder. You have to make plays and we didn’t make those tonight.

Sophomore Wide Receiver Quinshad Davis

On the overall performance tonight
It didn’t go as planned. We have a lot of stuff to work on and we need to go back to practice work on those things and get ready for next week.

On what the offense will take away from the game
At times our tempo looked really good, other times it could have been better, but there where times where we had them on their heels.

On what it will take to increase the tempo
We have to practice at that speed all the time. We need to get into better shape and I think that we will be fine.

Junior Bandit Norkeithus Otis

On not playing South Carolina next season
I’m not really disappointed, we have to move on. This is the rivalry UNC needs because the crowd was in to it, the players where in to it. It was just a different look for us.

On if this is a rivalry that will lead to championships
They are a good team but Carolina football is also a good team. Just as Coach Fedora says we will play smart, fast, and physical, so I think we are on the way there.

Senior Quarterback Bryn Renner

Were you aware of (Clowney) out there?
I mean, no, I’m aware of all 11. As a quarterback you need to be aware of everything.

On coming back after the weather delay
I think we did a great job of coming back and finishing.

On Clowney
We took into account when we prepared for South Carolina that he was going to be a big factor, but I thought our offensive line held up pretty well tonight … Clowney is the heart and soul of the defense.

Senior Defensive End Kareem Martin

On the early touchdown
You know it definitely hurts momentum going into the game you know after all the excitement in the pregame… Our big thing is the next play, think about the next play.

On how North Carolina played
We are a good team. We made a lot of mistakes. It was more so what we did than what they did.

On Connor Shaw
He is a very mobile quarterback. …. It was everything we expected.

On facing a top-10 team
Number #6 in the nation, you understand that there’s going to be big plays and you just have to limit them.

Senior Offensive Tackle James Hurst

On what went wrong for North Carolina on offense
It’s really disappointing. You know that those missed assignments sometimes came down to the redzone.”

On defending Jadeveon Clowney
I didn’t want him to touch the quarterback… that was my goal. I didn’t want him to harm our quarterback, and I’m happy about that.

On not finding success in the red zone
We really had some bad moments in really critical times. We gotta improve our red zone efficiency, no doubt.