UVA football players comment following the victory over Central Michigan.
Junior Wide Receiver Doni Dowling
On the team waiting for Coach Mendenhall to celebrate:“It’s 100 wins. I can’t say I have 100 wins. That’s something big to celebrate. I congratulated Coach Mendenhall, but this won’t be his last one, so we’ll keep pushing forward and give him 100 more one day.”
On stretching the field and big plays: “That’s always been a big part of our offense. Today we really executed on our plays. We came in confident. Coach Anae dialed up some plays that we are really good at and that worked well in practice. The play was already made in practice, so today was just a showcase of that.”
On how the team handled adversity: “A big thing we’re working on is staying together. If you notice, our sideline is completely different from last year– completely different from the first game. We stay together. As long as we stick together and encourage our teammates, the fans come around, and it’s contagious.”
Junior Quarterback Kurt Benkert
On breaking the school’s single-game passing record: “It was a collective effort from a lot of different guys. That last one to Smoke was a swing pass for 53 yards, so I didn’t really have to do much on that one. We had a lot of really good plays. The O-Line has really been getting better every week, and the whole cohesiveness of the offense is coming together.”
On responding to his pick-six: “It just happens. It’s football. They jumped a screen, and it was a really good play by the guy. I didn’t think he was going to actually catch it, but it was a really good play by him. We’ve been in tough situations already this year, and none of that really shakes us at all.”
On the team’s outlook before the score to break the 28-28 tie: “We knew that it was important to move the ball. We had to worry about first downs first, trying to set ourselves up for good third-down situations, and we didn’t do a great job of that to start the second half. They just gave us a look that really worked on the play, and we just took a shot.”
On what it was like in the locker room after the game with Coach Mendenhall: “[Coach Mendenhall] and his staff do so much for us, and they put in so much time. It just hasn’t worked out the first three weeks the way we wanted it to or expected it to. We’ve just worked so hard for so long and for all of it to finally come together and for him to get his 100th win after such a heartbreak last week, there was just a lot of raw emotion in the locker room.”
Junior Defensive End Jack Powers
On his pass-breakups today: “He [Cooper Rush] gets the ball out quick, and a lot of times we can’t get there [to him]. The first one I probably should have intercepted. I wish I could’ve gotten that one back.”
Sophomore Wide Receiver Olamide Zaccheus
On his 82-yard touchdown reception: “It was there earlier in the game, and we just went back to it. I told Coach Anae that it was a play that was there. They played it similarly earlier in the game.”
On what the win felt like: “It’s just another one, honestly. I learned in high school just to be even-keeled about everything, even when we lose. It’s just another win and just learning from everything.”
Senior Tailback Albert Reid
On the intensity when the game was tied 28-28: “We are not tense at all. We don’t tense up. That’s the one thing coach tells us ‘don’t tense up, just play the game’ and we got four quarters.”
On the tweet he sent out to ESPN College GameDay: “I just want to thank College GameDay for not believing in us. I want to thank everybody for not believing in us because we proved you wrong. Everybody else who doubted us, thank you. Don’t come back when we continue to win. I heard it right when I came out of the hotel room. I looked at Smoke [Taquan Mizzell] and said okay we have something for you. I don’t care who it was. I know it was on ESPN College GameDay and they doubted us. I tweeted it and showed the team. They disrespected us and made us the laughing stock of TV today just because they said this game for Central Michigan was going to be a lookover game.”
On the feeling of the win: “I have never felt better. I know it is going to continue to come every week. We want you to keep not believing in us and we are going to prove you wrong.”
On the resilience of the team: “We practice that all week. We practiced that all week, we practice when things go wrong, somebody has to step up. We knew it was going to be a breakthrough.”
On not arriving yet: “We continue to go everyday. As far as the leaders and captains, we have to push everybody because it’s only the beginning.”
On the locker room post game: “You should have seen it. There was Gatorade being thrown and water everywhere. Coach [Bronco] Mendenhall came in and he was the first person to start celebrating and the locker room went crazy.”
Senior Tailback Taquan Mizzell
On the feeling of getting the run: “It felt great. It was a time in the game where our team needed a play. There was a time in the series before when my coaches said ‘we’re coming to you’ and I said, ‘please do.’ I just had to make a play.”
On the College GameDay Tweet: “I heard UVA and heard what they were talking about. [Albert] Reid told me about it and as soon as I heard I wanted to quote it. We let the guys know in the locker room, so it was great motivation right there. I don’t care who said it, I was happy to hear it. It’s been a rough start to the season, but you can never count us out. It is football.”
On ever being happier after a win: “I can’t remember being happier than that. The trials and tribulations make it that much more exciting. Guys counting us out at the start of a new program, and heartbreaking losses like last weekend, and fighting as hard as we did against Oregon. To come back like that was so exciting for us and the whole team and coaching staff.”
On having an impact on the game: “We all feed off each other. When offense goes down we look at some of our leaders to make plays and O [Olamide Zaccheaus] is one of them. He is a huge playmaker for us just like Albert [Reid], who we’ve been leaning on a lot. I just knew that for me, it is the opportunity to keep my head up and keep working hard and make the plays.”
Junior Inside Linebacker Micah Kiser
On helping Coach [Bronco] Mendenhall getting his first win of the season and 100th career: “It was awesome. That was probably the most emotional I have ever seen him. To be able to get his 100th win overall and his first one at UVA, that was a great moment for us.”
On celebrating with Mendenhall in the locker room: “He was proud of us. And that is probably the only way I can put it. He was proud to be a Cavalier and we are happy to have him as our leader.”
On the College GameDay Tweet: “Coach Ruffin [McNeill] always talks about the nonbelievers, so we fight against that. It doesn’t matter. We stay together and all we need is our team. We know what we’re capable of and we know what we can do. I think, especially since the Richmond game, you’ve seen a pretty resilient group out there.”
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