Opening Statement: Good win over a very tough Boston College football team, they played us hard and played us with great effort. I was pleased to get out of here with a win. I’m not pleased about our injuries. Going on with Duke, you know it’s a team that’s really three points away from being 5-2. I think they’re a really solid football team and I think a very good football team. They can really throw the football, they spread it around, they’re running backs have been about 41 catches; Vernon and Varner are probably about to set some school records and ACC records, they’re good offensively. They are very efficient running the football, and they can score points. Defensively they play hard, they have two seniors and a junior in their secondary, so they’re experienced back there. They get into a lot of eight-man front, they get a lot of people close to the football, and I think we have our work cut out for us. The ACC is very balanced for the most part and we got our work cut out for us.
How big of a loss is Bruce Taylor?
Well you know it is a tough loss, he’s played a lot of plays and made a lot of plays. He’s a very smart guy and gets us into the right things, so it’s a tough one. Barquell Rivers has been a starter; he and Jack Tyler will take that over and work together to play that position. We have a lot of confidence in both of those guys.
Is Bruce the one guy that you can least afford to lose?
I think there’s a lot of guys on our football team that would be tough losses if you look at both sides of the ball, but there’s no question that Bruce has not only a lot of leadership but his play, the number of tackles and sacs, and all those things I mean it’s a tough loss for us.
Have you ever had a season like this is turning into, injury wise?
I can’t remember one, but I think it’s just the way it goes. Some seasons you get to play with the same guy every week and that just isn’t the case for us.
On guys continuing to step up
That’s the good part there, I’ve been really please with the guys that have stepped in there and been there. Bonner came in and did a good job this week, and I think that is the good part our defense is has really hung in there very well.
This probably wouldn’t be the week you would want four or five starters out correct?
Well I think this Duke team is very efficient in how they operate, they’ve won three and they were only three points away from winning a couple more and even in the Stanford game you look at the score and it’s lopsided but in the third quarter it was a 10 point game so I think that’s misleading too. I think this Duke team is very good and pretty dangerous in my opinion.
How much more important is it for the offense to take time off the clock?
It’s always your goal to have possession time and get some points on the board, so I think keeping it out of a dangerous offense. If you can keep Duke’s offense off the field, it’s certainly to our advantage.
On the way Branthover came back after the first punt
He’s a good kicker, and good kickers do come back, they know they can kick it was just a matter of not hitting that first one very good. He’s got a solid leg and I think the more experience he gets the better he’ll be.
On Logan Thomas having 16 carries
I think whatever the games calls for. A couple of those were for protection when he was out of the pocket on passing plays too, but I think it kind of depends on how the game is going. He’s a big, strong guy and a lot of toughness. I don’t want him to take shots he doesn’t have to take, but I think as he goes along he’ll learn that too, which hits he can take and when he needs to get out of bounds or go down. It’s his nature right now to get every yard he can get.
Do you want Logan to back off that tendency to give shots?
I’ll just say we don’t want him to take any more licks than he has to. When you’re a quarterback in any situation you don’t want to take chances when you don’t have to take chances.
On David Wilson averaging 6.3 yards per carry
He runs with a lot of energy, and he’s got ability, strength, he’s explosive, he’s fast but he runs every play with very great energy and great effort. As a result, every time he touches the ball there’s a chance of something really good to happen.
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Chris Graham
