North Carolina State University Athletics
Coach O'Cain Talks About This Week's ECU Game
11/17/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
"Teams are not necessarily good or bad on paper it is what they do onthe filed, and that is why you play the game. North Carolina defensively was pretty good on the field, and you have to give them credit. I don't think we played particularly well. They did some things early in the game, they took some things away that we thought were going to be good for us, and they changed their alignment and took away some things. We also dropped the ball and threw some incompletions when we had open guys and those are the types of things that keep a drive going and not keeping a drive going. Carolina was 1-8 but they are not a bad team, they were 1-8 because of certain things. Defensively their front line is pretty good, because they have some of the best recruits in the state and around the country. They lined up and played very good against us on Thursday. We were not able to run the ball very well, and that was because some oftheir good play and some of our poor play. We did not block very well,and we did not hold our blocks. We are not good when you have to throw the ball all the time, and we have to have some balance."
On calling the option on third-and-one late in the game:
"I still feel great about the call because he would have walked into the endzone, you just have to execute. Why do you call an option down there, because they have seven men between the tight ends. We lined up and felt like we had what we wanted, and if get it pitched and we get it caught you walk into the endzone and everybody then says it was a great call. It just comes down to execution, its not the scheme or the plan because they were excellent. We could not have put our players in a better situation."
On the approach to the ECU game this weekend:
"I want the team prepared for what they are going to face, prepared fora very hostile situation. But at the same time I also what them emotionally ready to play. We need each individual emotionally ready to play the way they need to play. Some guys have to go out there relaxed and poised, while others have to be biting nails with blood coming out of their eyes and all of those kind of things. That is a hard thing to do as a coach and you are dealing with 60 players. Some people say we were not ready to play Thursday night, and I disagree because I think we were ready to play."
What will you tell your team about the surroundings at ECU?
"It is going to be as hostile as any place that we have ever been. This game for those folks is something that they have been looking forward to since they found out we were coming there. (Us going there) has never happened, and finally is has happened so you have to know that they are going to be excited. This game is very important to their fans, and from there we are just going to have to wait and see what it is going to be like."
