North Carolina State University Athletics
Quotes from the Coaches
10/9/2002 12:00:00 AM | Football
Oct. 9, 2002
North Carolina Head Coach John Bunting
Opening Statement
"We're going to play at home and it would be nice to do something good at home, this week. It's interesting that we are 2-0 on the road and 0-3 at home. Looking forward to this game, obviously it's a huge game, a big rivalry, something that you look forward to as a coach, something you look forward to as players. It'll be fun to prepare, every day should be intense and our preparation every day should be something you should look forward to as a player. These are players' games. A lot of you guys would like to think it?s myself and Chuck (Amato), but it's the players' game, it's the fans' game. I?m hoping that the Blue Blitz is out there. That's part of our culture change we're trying to get going here at Carolina. Get everybody wearing blue, it's the way it should be, the way it will be, but I'm looking forward to that. Looking forward to this afternoon's practice. We have an awfully tough opponent, nationally ranked, undefeated, great quarterback. We played against a great quarterback last week and this guy ranks right up there with him. He's in that class. He's probably the best in the ACC. We got a pretty good one right here in this program , but Philip Rivers is awesome and his receivers (Jerricho) Cotchery, (Bryan) Peterson and (Dovonte) Edwards are awfully good receivers. We have a few of those too, so it will be an interesting match-up in that respect. Last year was a great game over there. It was kind of the turning point in our season. We had a big win against Florida State, but to me beating State at State was real big for us. Once again, the rivalry and doing it at their place and doing it in the fashion that we did. But this a different team, they're a different team and we're a different team. They're more potent on offense than they were last year. They've got a better running game. The backs are more experienced, their wide receivers are back and more experienced, and our defense is not the same. We're going to have to play our very, very best on defense and hopefully hang in there. Roll with some punches, come up with some turnovers if we can, got to play well on special teams and we've got to play our best game on offense. Hard to top last week what we did against Arizona State."
Coach Bunting on the defense
"We haven't stopped anybody. I saw improvement against Georgia Tech, believe it or not, in the run defense because we fit plays better. We still missed a bunch of tackles, especially toward the end. We look back at the first two games. We played very well against Miami (Ohio) and then we got worn out, we played well against Syracuse, our offense kept the ball in the fourth quarter, so we didn?t get worn out. Texas, we're not a match for them right now, it was great experience for our players having that kind of team on our schedule, it lets them now where they want to be. Georgia Tech, we hang in that game, we don't make plays on third down and we wear down. I don't think that is a result of conditioning, that's just a result of players and the mentality, the youthfulness and the experience factor. They haven't been there, they haven?t overcome those things yet. The good part about last week is we made some plays at the end. Michael Waddell made a huge interception in the end zone. They were getting ready to put us away. Huge interception in the end zone. Kevin Knight, game's on the line, huge interception, so I'm accentuating the positive."
Coach Bunting on the NC State offense
"They have a lot of ways they can score. They have great receivers and a great quarterback who has tremendous experience, a great presence. I was hoping that he would go to the NFL last year and leave us. He is very sound, tall, and has a lot of criteria you would want in a quarterback. The receivers make plays, they catch the balls and run after the catch. They are going to make plays, they will have some trickery plays, they do a good job of that. We need to tackle the catch, they are going to have completions, we need to tackle them. Put a little pressure on the quarterback and what you hope for is a tipped ball, here and there, and make a big play out of it."
NC State Head Coach Chuck Amato
About the off-week
"We gave them off Monday and Tuesday, what more do they want? They are on scholarship (jokingly). We went at it Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. It was really good. I almost wanted to scrimmage on Friday. But then, I milled it around and then I said it would be crazy if we got someone hurt if a third stringer fell on a first stringer's ankle."
On injuries and healing
"We expect T.A. to play. We'll know more today. He's getting his cast re-done. He will practice this afternoon and we'll see how the new cast will work out, and how many times we're going to have to modify it. We've been told that he should have no problem at all playing and I believe that. Everybody else should have a chance to get back unless something happens between now and then in practice -- which it can. We're not going to do anything different. We're going to go at it pretty good today and tomorrow."
T.A. McLendon and carrying the ball
"He carried it quite frequently these past couple of games because people teach when you run to the left, you put the ball in your left hand and when you run to the right, you put it in your right hand. I was kidding him last week, 'Your just going to have to learn to put it in your left hand every time no matter where you're going, just squeze it there and be done with it.' I don't really see it as a big factor."
Center Jed Paulsen's return
I think Jed [Paulsen] will be available and if things go well, hopefully start. We got into a lot of drills last week, and it looks fine, feels fine. Obviously it can't be 100 percent, but the kid is hungry for it."
On UNC's win at Arizona State
"It didn't surprise me one bit. They move the ball on everyone they play. They could very easily be sitting there with at most one loss. It was probably a great game to watch. Their quarterback is leading the conference in total offense and passing offense. They've got wide receivers who are big and athletic and can make plays. They move the ball on everyone they play, Texas included. I hope they got that 'hotness' out of them, but it might be something that will spurn them to be that much better because of the confidence factor that it does in winning a game of that magnitude. It was a great win for the University of North Carolina, and a bigger win for the Atlantic Coast Conference. To go out in the Pac-10 and beat a team that was 4-1, and had just given Stanford a terrible thrashing the week before. It was a big win for this conference."
Defending wide receiver Chesley Borders
"We're trying to get 12 on the field (jokingly). He can make things happen. He can run right by you, which he did to a couple of [Arizona State's] people, and then there was a busted coverage that put him wide open. Four touchdown catches in one game is a big day's work. You still have to think that [Sam] Aiken is 'the man.' He leads UNC in receptions and leads the conference. He's a big man and he makes big plays."
Dantonio Burnette's broken thumb and recovery
"Dantonio will be there, ready to go, chomping at the bits. He brings so much to the table. I was in Macon, Ga. last Monday talking to a touchdown group there and he grew up maybe 20 minutes away from there. I can remember him at the camp at Florida State. They asked why we didn't recruit him there. I said, 'Well look at him. He's 5-9, He weighs 230 pounds, he runs 5 flat in the 40, he can't jump, he's not quick.' They asked would I recruit him now? If I knew the way he plays now, yeah I'd recruit him. I tell you what, you can take all of those measurables and throw them out the window. When the ball is snapped and moving, he's 6-3, he runs 4.6, he's quick and he makes plays. His mental quickness and mental speed is much greater than his actual speed. Dan is smart, and his "want to" says he could have played anywhere in the country."
Recent defensive struggles of UNC and NC State
"Isn't it really neat. Here we are two defensive coaches and we're so offensive minded. Isn't that so unique. We have to work on tackling and getting people lined up and doing their job. The game is going to come down to blocking and tackling. The team that blocks and tackles better is going to win the game. I really believe we have to win the kicking game, and I say this every week, we have got to win the kicking game to give us a chance to win any game. That's a big part of it, hidden yardage. The Clemson/Florida State game last Thursday night, what a great example of both teams in the kicking game. In the first half, all of those points and probably half had to do with the kicking game."
Terrence Holt's ability to block kicks - is it emphasized or natural both?
"He's good at it, and if we didn't emphasize it, nobody would know he was good at it. The fact that we work on it, and we think we stress it, and we do. That's why we start our practices with kicking. He enjoys it. You have to remember when he was a redshirt freshman. He blocked a couple kicks out there at Texas and that was his plight in life and he took it serious. That earned him a scholarship. He's not only gone to better things in the kicking game, but he's learned to become a greater safety as well."
Approach to rivalry - is it emphasized it or played down?
"When you go into a rivalry game, if we as coaches have to make an emphasis about the rival game, we're in trouble. If the kids don't feel it, we're in trouble. They know it, our players know it, their players know it. ...Our players have to realize that there are a lot of great schools of education in this state and we're two of them. This weekend, we're the two playing each other and it is a rival. That's my feeling on it. It's a rivalry."
Before game chit-chat with opposing coach
"I'm still not at ease with that, forget rivals. I still enjoy talking, probably more so than they enjoy talking to me. There ought to be a seminar about what to say in the middle of the field. You all know me well enough, I'm a fun loving guy, some people don't take me right way. I don't care because life is too short."
How big is this game?
"It's the biggest game on our schedule this week. It's bigger than what Texas Tech was that week, bigger than what Duke will be next week, until next week comes. It is a big game, it's a rivalry game. It's rivalry game and you [media] guys love it. You want us to say something silly and I usually do because I talk so much and you'll write an article that Amato said such-and-such and [John] Bunting said such-and-such. Then we'll cut it out like little kids because we took that course on cutting and pasting in college. We'll put it on someone's bulletin board and say, 'Nah-nah-nah-nah-nah-nah!' That's me and I love to have a good time, and when I go out to talk to John, I'm going to have a good time.
"Oh it's the game, absolutely. It's bragging rights for 365 days. That's what makes it neat. These youngsters have played on the same high school teams with each other. Some of them have played on the same all-star games - some with each other, some against each other. They've gone on recruiting trips together. Some chose to wear red and white, others chose to wear blue and white, and that's what makes this game so neat. The alumni and the administration are so excited. But the game is played on Saturday and it all comes down to 12-noon."
