UVA football coach Bronco Mendenhall talks with reporters after his team’s 31-17 loss at Georgia Tech.
Opening Statement:“I was impressed with our team’s preparation, fight and spirit for a lot of the game today. They put a lot of work in this week, especially on the defensive side, put in extra time to give them a chance to win this game. We had similar issues at times as the game went on with ball security and turnovers, another turnover for a touchdown. Really, I think, the majority of the points that had the game separate came off turnovers. So we haven’t cracked the code yet on getting our decision-making and execution to match the situation to help us move through those pivotal and pressure-filled moments of the game. We’re playing a lot of those up to a point. I was really impressed with how we moved the football and the consistency with which we moved the football for a long time, as I was with us playing very, very well against option football. There were three big plays, but the consistency how the defense played around those still was very strong and gave us a chance to win the game. We played effectively on third down also, and that controls the number of plays and time of possession that Georgia Tech can have, and that was by design.”
On not getting points after stopping Georgia Tech on fourth down: “For a team to take that risk, there was a sense of desperation on their side, trying to separate. I don’t want to speak for their coach, but they viewed that as a sign that that was a huge play, and they weren’t able to convert with a team that runs the ball very, very well. To have the ball on the 29 and not have points, certainly (was a missed opportunity). To win close games against good teams, those things have to happen.”
On your kicking game concerns with the windy conditions: “We had an early forecast all the way starting Tuesday about how the winds might be. We have a plan for it, and we executed the plan in terms of the decisions we made, and the outcome was not what we hoped, maybe in two critical situations … the field goal we just talked about and then the kickoff that went out of bounds at the end, even though we played good defense and they didn’t score. Those two things stood out for me.”
On the performance of Matt Johns at QB: “It was strong for a long time. We looked composed. We looked experienced. We looked like we were making good decisions. We moved the ball methodically. We weren’t taking things that weren’t there and trying to force. But some of those things did show up later, and he did the best he could. A lot of that reflects the supporting cast also, but the quarterback is the easiest to view. He played well for a long, long time today. Assessment is something we’ll do as a staff, and then we’ll look at what we think is best for our team, best for those individuals and best for our program.”
On the statistical disparity in Virginia’s favor (first downs, total yards, time of possession): “One of my passions is defending the option, and the kids did a really nice job. There were a few assignment mistakes, but they did a nice job giving us a chance to have the ball longer, get out of third downs and give our offense opportunities to score enough points to win.”
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