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00:00Thank you Jeremy, what a great game, exciting game, a whole lot of offense on both sides.
00:09Really really proud of our guys, it's the first time we've had two ranked teams playing
00:13against each other at Carolina.
00:16Somebody told me since we played Georgia in maybe 2016 and then when you start looking
00:21at this game it's been a real nemesis for us because none of our players on the current
00:26team had ever beaten Virginia Tech and somebody told me if the stat is right that we have
00:32lost 13 of 16 against them since they came into the ACC and then last year the 6 overtime
00:40game and the year before that we had a chance to put them away with 4 minutes left and they
00:45beat us with 19 seconds left in Coach Fedora's last year.
00:49So the guys are excited, it's fun to win, we saw the offense that we can be today when
00:56you can run the ball as well as we did today, we know we can throw it but anytime you can
01:01run the ball that well they ran it really well but we ran it better than they did and
01:07that was not anticipated coming into the game.
01:09So proud of all the guys on offense that blocked so well for both of our running backs and
01:16then Sam did a good job of being accurate and getting the ball out of his hands quickly
01:19and getting it to the right place.
01:21So defensively we were down 3 starters and then you start looking at Kyler McMichaels
01:28and really his third game as a starter at corner, he was a special teams guy at Clemson.
01:34Cam Kelly played part of one game against Clemson last year, he hadn't played any others
01:39and Patrice Rene the same thing.
01:41So we were thin in those areas and we missed a lot of tackles, we busted some coverages
01:46and didn't play very well on defense, we're still not getting turnovers.
01:50We had our hands on a ball that was a turnover and it goes up in the air and they catch it
01:57and run it down to the 20 I think with a big tight end, number 82.
02:02And then we were ready for the onside kick, we sat there and said they're going to onside
02:06kick and we just didn't handle it the first one and then did a good job handling the second
02:10one.
02:11So proud of the guys, proud to be 3-0, I thought the crowd helped, there were just a few there
02:19but they were loud, I love the students being back, they did a great job and the players
02:24had a lot of fun.
02:25So get this one cleaned up, too many penalties, too many missed tackles.
02:33Got ahead and kind of sat there some in the third quarter but came back and did a great
02:37job offensively in the fourth quarter.
02:39So we'll get all this, we'll enjoy it tonight, we'll get everything fixed tomorrow and get
02:44ready to go to Tallahassee next week.
02:47All right, thanks, Coach.
02:49We've got a handful of questions already in the queue.
02:51So we will begin with Mike Toper.
02:53So Mike, go ahead.
02:56Thanks, Mark.
02:57Hey, Coach.
02:59You mentioned the Russian game there, obviously, Michael Carter and Javante Williams combined
03:03for almost 400 yards, just those two guys.
03:07What did you make of Javante and Michael today?
03:09And also, what led you coming into this game to say that you guys needed to pound the ball
03:13as much as you did?
03:16First, those are two of the best backs in the country.
03:20They've got balance, they're fast.
03:22They've got the power and quickness to run inside and the speed to run outside.
03:26So they are two of our best weapons, and we know that.
03:32And when people have to come in and stack the box, they give us an opportunity to throw
03:37to our fast guys outside.
03:39But if they're going to allow us to run it, the receivers were excited about blocking
03:44today.
03:46And the tight end was excited about blocking today.
03:48And the players love Michael and Javante.
03:51So they were excited for them, and the offensive line's been beaten up since we've been here.
03:56My gosh, they did an absolute great job today.
03:59All right, let's go over to C.L. Brown.
04:03Go ahead.
04:04Yes, Mac, I was wondering, speaking of the offensive line, that was an area of concern
04:12coming into the year.
04:14When you see the numbers that you guys put up running today, how much more comfortable
04:19are you with feeling like that unit is where you need it to be?
04:24Well, we've still got to gain more depth, but we did have Josh Azudu back today, and
04:30he is such a good player.
04:31He's really smart.
04:32He can play a lot of different places, so he gets his depth by the fact that he's back.
04:38He gets his confidence.
04:40So I thought he was a huge lift coming back, and then Jordan Tucker did a good job.
04:48But I thought the offensive line had very few penalties.
04:51I think they had two false starts early, because they were probably – I don't remember holding
04:56penalties.
04:57There was only one sack.
04:58We held them all too long.
04:59They went the wrong way on that one sack, and Virginia Tech was averaging 6.5 sacks
05:04per game.
05:06So those guys had an outstanding day.
05:09I'm really proud of them.
05:12As a follow-up, you guys were – the rushing game gained 12.5 yards per rush on first downs
05:20alone.
05:21How – when you're able to gain those big chunks – and I forgot the second part of
05:26that stat.
05:27I think you were never in a third and nine or more yards all game.
05:31When you're able to have those first down successes running the ball, how – just how
05:35does that set up the offense for success?
05:39It gives you a chance to be really good, because you – if you can run it that well, at some
05:45point they can do things to take away your running game.
05:48And when they do, you've got excellent weapons outside.
05:51And Sam was so accurate today.
05:54We dropped a couple of passes that we should have caught that would have been more drives,
06:00really, that's unusual that we would drop those passes.
06:04But when you can have an offensive pass interference penalty, get backed way up and hand it to
06:09Michael Carter and go score the next play, it shows you how fast and how dangerous these
06:14two backs are.
06:15All right.
06:16Let's go over to Bridget Condon.
06:17Bridget, go ahead.
06:18Hey, Coach.
06:19101 combined points between you and Virginia Tech.
06:20That's the most between any ranked teams in history.
06:21Were you guys just kind of putting on a show for the fans and going off of that on the
06:22fans?
06:23I know you've mentioned it.
06:24But what was it like for the kids to have all of their parents there and to have that
06:41crowd noise?
06:42At one point, I thought we were back in the Big 12 because everybody was scoring every
06:45play and it was crazy.
06:46And you're never out of a game when it's like that.
06:51But it was fun.
06:52It was fun for the players.
06:54more fun for the offensive players on both teams than it was the defensive players.
06:58But I thought the fans got a really good show today.
07:00And there'll be some fans that aren't happy with the defense.
07:03And what I'm gonna tell them is be happy with 3-0.
07:06I think that's, you can find something to be mad about every week.
07:10And people who are angry will find something to be mad about.
07:14But if you love your team,
07:16be happy they're 3-0 with a lot of things to fix.
07:18Great, let's move over to Ross Martin.
07:23Ross, go ahead.
07:26Hey, Coach, what did you see better out of the connection
07:28with Sam Howe and his receivers,
07:30particularly the usage of Daz Newsome
07:32and the deep ball with Damian Brown?
07:34Thought we did a better job, Ross,
07:36of having some quick stuff ready
07:39where he could get it to the guys early.
07:42And then Virginia Tech had to come up,
07:44and then it lets a speedster like Damian go deep.
07:48We've got to get the ball more to Daz on even the short stuff
07:53because he's such a good runner.
07:55And we had a little underneath speed sweep to him today,
07:58and we had some flares to him.
08:00And then Michael Carter and Javante are so good outside.
08:03But Bo and Deami have the speed, and Bo's got the length
08:07that when you have to bring the safeties down
08:10and get one-on-one with the corners,
08:12it gives you a chance to get the ball to Deami deep.
08:15And we haven't been able to do that.
08:17We weren't doing anything consistently good enough
08:20on offense that it would determine
08:24that it would lead to something else.
08:26And today we were able to do that.
08:28And I thought the offensive coaches did a great job
08:31of taking the first two weeks
08:33and figuring out why we had been inconsistent
08:35and getting us back on track.
08:38And then quickly, how much did you miss Ray Vohacic today?
08:42Ray's one of the best players in the league.
08:44He's tough. He's big up front.
08:46I thought they blocked us some up front.
08:48So we'll have to go back and look at that.
08:51Okay. Thank you.
08:52Thank you.
08:54Okay. Next up is Greg Barnes.
08:58Hey, Mac.
09:00The team has won each of these first three games
09:02kind of in different ways.
09:04What does that say about this group
09:06that they've learned how to win?
09:09Greg, that's the most important thing.
09:11We tell them each week, go through your process.
09:15Go through your practice, routine.
09:18Understand your culture.
09:20The discipline that you – if you miss a class,
09:23that leads to the same undisciplined act
09:26that it does if you have a penalty.
09:29You either do things right or you don't.
09:31Your coaches either trust you or they don't.
09:33So we're trying to get our guys to understand,
09:36do everything right every day.
09:38And when you do that, the objective is just win the game.
09:43You know, it's not – these are kids,
09:46and COVID has changed things.
09:49I think it's been harder for officials.
09:50It's been harder for coaches.
09:52We're seeing more upsets.
09:53We're seeing some craziness happen in college football.
09:56So we've told them, don't worry about anything but winning.
10:01And to win this game and be 3-0 is all that we wanted to do,
10:05and that's why I'm so excited for them.
10:09Thanks, Mac. Thank you.
10:11Again, we probably lost this game last year at Virginia Tech
10:14in a very similar way because last year
10:16they dominated the fourth quarter.
10:18They had 120 yards rushing.
10:19We had 20.
10:22We made four out of ten third downs
10:24in the fourth quarter last year.
10:26So there were things that we needed to finish strong today
10:30that we didn't last year,
10:31and we had a big emphasis on that all week.
10:33And I thought the guys really stepped up
10:35on offense to do that.
10:38Okay, next up is Brendan Marks.
10:41Hey, Mac. Thanks so much.
10:43Earlier this week, you had mentioned
10:46that these guys had never been in a top-ten game before.
10:48They'd never been ranked like this before.
10:51What does this sort of say about them?
10:53What sort of message does it send within your locker room?
10:55And also, what sort of message does it send
10:57to the rest of the conference?
10:58You mentioned this is the offense that we can be
11:00when we're doing everything the right way.
11:02Oh, Brendan, number one, we've talked about
11:06to the guys about we need to buy a house in this neighborhood.
11:11We haven't been here much.
11:12We've been visiting the first couple of weeks
11:15in the top ten, but that's who we want to be.
11:18But have we earned it yet?
11:19And that's what we talk to them about each week.
11:21And playing a top-20 team in Virginia Tech
11:25that was dominating their first two games
11:27while we weren't gave us a chance
11:29to prove that we can be good.
11:31And I was so proud that the offense stepped up today
11:34and did that.
11:35And now we've got to go back and just figure out
11:37what went wrong today on defense.
11:39And part of it was Virginia Tech playing well.
11:43And we knew Hooker would probably come in
11:44and he's an outstanding quarterback.
11:46So we thought all that was going to happen,
11:48but we weren't sure.
11:50Then we thought Patterson might come in.
11:51So it was kind of hard to prepare for what we were doing.
11:56And then when they got behind,
11:58they threw the ball a lot more than they ran it.
12:00So we thought that they were going to just try
12:02to run it down our throat because that's
12:03what they've done the first two games.
12:05So for another week, like Boston College,
12:09throwing it 56 times, we were surprised
12:12that Virginia Tech would throw it that many times today.
12:15But I do think that you've got to quit feeling pressure
12:21to be something because you are what you see on film.
12:26You are what you do in the game.
12:28And we can be perceived as something,
12:30but until we're showing it, we're not.
12:33And today, we were a really good offensive football team.
12:37And I thought at times a real poor
12:39defensive team in the second half.
12:42Thank you. Thank you.
12:44Hey, Coach, we appreciate your time.
12:46Thank you so much.
12:47Thank you, folks. Have a great weekend.