North Carolina State University Athletics
Football Coaches Quotes on This Week's Game
11/10/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
NC State Head Coach Mike O'Cain
What would it mean to beat North Carolina:
"Obviously it would feel real good having not been able to get that done
since I've been the head coach here. For me personally it would be very
gratifying, but I do understand how important it is to our fans, our
players and the alumni of our university. That brings a lot of
gratification just making those folks happy, and something that makes you
happy."
On preparing earlier in the week for a Thursday game:
"We started on Sunday than what we normally do. We spent more time than
a normal Sunday looking at the previous game. Yesterday we came in at
8:00 a.m., spent about an hour and a half just looking at and grading the
Maryland film so we get all of our stats and different things that we
need to do for that game and get it behind us. Then we go right on to
North Carolina, and practice for North Carolina last night. I didn't want
to wait until today to start practicing, even thought we didn't do a
whole lot last night. Monday is usually a transition day for us where we
are getting our minds off the game which we had Saturday, and getting it
on the game which you have the next Saturday in this case on Thursday. I
felt like it was important for us to get that done last night so that we
can put all of our focus and all of our concentration on North Carolina
today and tomorrow. These are the two critical days that we have, because
we will have some practice on Wednesday, but it will not be what we
normally do on a Wednesday."
On how this game affects recruiting:
"It is hard to put a tag on how hard this game does actually affect you.
I think there are other things that affect recruiting more than who wins
this game. We've had bad years and we've beaten them on guys, and they've
had bad years and beaten us on guys. Obviously it does affect recruiting
because there is a direction that your program is heading and people want
to be involved with that so you want to be on the winning side of that.
If both teams are winning, I'm not sure how it would affect that, but if
one team is really down over a period of time I think that affects you
more than winning the game one Saturday. I've never had a player come to
NC State and say he came here because we won the game. From a recruiting
stand point the only way this game helps is that you are a little closer
to the kids in the western part of the state. It is a great opportunity
for a lot of those kids to see that stadium, and a lot of them might not
get the opportunity to be in that stadium again."
About UNC's quarterback situation:
"Everything depending on who they have playing affects our planning. If
Antwon Black was playing we would have a little different scheme than if
Luke Huard is playing. We have got to make sure that we do a good job of
getting him enough things as to where he can not play the position
effectively. We've got to come at him and try to force them to be a one
dimensional team, and that is what I think you try to do every Saturday
where you try to take something away with what you are doing defensively
to make them become a little more predicable and a little bit more one
dimensional."
How different would the game be if they were one dimensional:
"Obviously you think it would make the game easier, but at the same time
they played Georgia Tech with a quarterback that played very little and
maybe should have won the ball game. They have the talent to lineup and
run the football. They have seniors on the offensive line, and what I
think are very good running backs. A lot of the backs they have, most
everybody in the country has tried to recruit, and I know there are
several of them we wish we could have had here. If they can throw the
ball a little bit, then that will spread us out I really don't enough
about Williams as a quarterback, and I really don't know enough about
Huard as a quarterback to know what he can and can not do because nobody
has really had the chance to see him. It is sort of a scary aspect, you
feel like you should be okay but you just don't know. You don't know how
good they can be, and that is the scary part."
About the improvements on defense:
"I really did not feel like we played as physical and as aggressively
and as emotionally defensively as we need to probably since the Florida
State game. I thought we played we down there, and that scores is not
nearly as indicative as to how well our defense played. The next week
against Wake Forest we were just flat, then we did some good things
against Clemson from the second quarter on, but we were still not as
physical, flying around defense and Clemson causes you to be that way
because of the type of offense they run. Virginia we were tentative and
part of that was (running back) Thomas Jones because he causes you to be
a little bit that way and we lost Levar Fisher early in that game and
that hurt us. Duke even though we played good in the second half, we just
were not physical. At Georgia Tech we looked tired and we looked slow and
it was a complete reversal of that this Saturday."
UNC Head Coach Carl Torbush
On last week's game against Wake Forest:
"I felt like defensively we made some improvements against Wake Forest. It
was probably one of the better games we've played on defense since early in
the season. That was a sign of improvement, and that's what we've been
looking for. We did a better job against the run, which is one area that we
had not done as good a job this year as we needed to. We were also able to
make some key plays.
"I feel like Julius Peppers continues to grow up. We feel like he has a chance to be an outstanding football player before he leaves Carolina.
"Offensively, we were not able to move the football with any consistency and we were not able to sustain drives. I felt going into the game that for us to have a chance to win it would have to be a low scoring ballgame and I feel like it basically was.
"We also got ourselves into trouble with some silly penalties on the kicking game. Because of that, we probably gave up three field goals that would not have been made otherwise. Wake Forest has a good football team and they've got a chance to possibly go to a bowl.
On Thursday's game in Charlotte:
"Right now, NC State is playing as well offensively as they've played all
year. A lot of that has to do with the return of (Chris) Coleman and (Ray)
Robinson. During that time, they've also been able to get some other guys
some experience.
"They're always well coached. I've always had a great deal of respect for Mike (O'Cain) and his staff. They do a great job of attacking what you give them and that's why you'll see some games where they rush for 200 yards and some games they throw for 300 yards.
"I've always been a fan of Jamie Barnette. He's a tough young man and he's been through a lot of ups and downs in his career, but in the last two and a half years he's had a lot more ups. He has a great understanding of what they try to do offensively. There's a lot to having a fifth-year senior quarterback. He's an outstanding quarterback and he's done a lot for NC State football.
"Defensively, I think State is playing well. They've done a good job of getting their guys into position to make some plays and they've been opportunistic. They've made the key plays when they've needed to make them and they do a good job of adjusting to what they may see that particular week.
"This game will be very important to both football teams. It's very important to them in the fact that they need to win their next two games to be able to go to a bowl, and we know it's our cross-town rival. It's a game, regardless of the team's records, that both teams will be excited about playing."
