Postgame: UVA coach Bronco Mendenhall, players talk loss to Pitt

Bronco Mendenhall

Opening Statement
“Congratulations to Pittsburgh, and a game well played and a victory. They certainly earned it and deserved it. I think our team played, certainly, as they were prepared. In some manner, I wasn’t able to get through to our team and prepare them deeply enough for this game. We never did find rhythm offensively from beginning to end [with] turnovers and a number of penalties. The penalties meaning concentration-ish penalties rather than ones that I think were forced. A couple of big plays defensively that we gave up. We knew that was going to be a critical part to the game and so not making a few critical tackles. But, in general, I don’t think a staff, led by me, prepared this team, our team, to execute well enough at a high enough level to deserve the win. Critical plays matter and we didn’t make enough of them, I think that is really the bottom line.”

On Pitt controlling the line of scrimmage
“It was the first thing that I mentioned to our team when we got ready to play Pitt. The first thing I mentioned was the physical nature of the game and what that would be like. And knowing that that would be the determining factor in whether we had a chance to win. Ultimately, with a couple of the runs that kind of squirted out and went the distance, you’d have to say they ended up winning the line of scrimmage, certainly on the offensive side. On the defensive side, the amount of pressure they could get on our quarterback, as well as playing the run with the lack of production there, I would say that would be the same on the other side.

On Virginia’s penalties (especially those early in the game)
[Maybe it was] the excitement to play the game, maybe the rain, it’s hard to say. But it’s atypical to have that many in that stretch in that time. It seemed liked they were kind of spaced throughout the game though and it never really went away, or we became poised and executed at the level that I expect and would hopefully coach to.  But it seemed at the beginning there were more. Again, my job and my staff’s job is to anticipate circumstances and anticipate really every possible scenario and then prepare our players to effectively be able to manage them. The players play as they’re prepared. Somehow, someway, we didn’t get through to them.

On Bryce Perkins’s decision-making
Every play and every game is a learning experience for [Bryce Perkins]. As this season continues to move forward, and we become more and more successful, that continues to create new circumstances. As he learns to mange those, every play is a learning experience, and every game is. And so this one, yeah, there’s plenty to learn.

On Virginia’s run defense
“It’s a completely different style [for Georgia Tech]. What we saw tonight was a different running game, completely different styles than we have been defending. What you saw before the injuries and really through most of the first half, it was fairly consistent other than the one that squirted out at the beginning. But it became harder to coordinate and fit players collectively together as it went on. But, their system was different, the first we’d seen that system this year, but we had studied it from a year ago. But those two plays were the story there.”

On signs of being unprepared
“There weren’t any signs. I thought we had a really solid model for a Friday night game. I thought we were on point from everything that I saw. Certainly a learning opportunity for me to examine and see if I can retrace and see where it might have happened. The volume of miscues, mostly concentration-wise, that’s what is frustrating me most.”

Sophomore WR Terrell Jana

On Bryce Perkins
“I have full confidence in Bryce. Everybody makes mistakes and I will always ride with Bryce. I’m not going to say what my teammates should be doing. He’s made tons of plays during scrambles and we just work to get open and contribute in any way that we can.”

On Offensive Contributions and Touchdown
“We knew it was going to come, that look, and Bryce saw me and trusted me. Then I just made the play. The coverage was perfect on that play. I was in the right place at the right time. Making my first touchdown as a cavalier was an amazing feeling. I come into every game hoping that I will make every single play. I’ve been working as hard as I can since spring ball. My focus is on being a more reliable option for the quarterback, the coaches and the team in general. I’m getting opportunities to grow. Luckily today, Bryce had confidence in me and it was great.”

Senior OT Marcus Applefield

On the outcome of the game
“It was definitely a frustrating game. There was miscommunication and other small things that hurt us a lot. We tried to come out of the game and be aggressive, getting the first punch. It is just our nature and it didn’t swing our way today. Those small things held us back.”

On Bryce Perkins and holding the offensive line
“It’s definitely really hard. I trust in Bryce with everything that I have and I’m going to try to block as long as I can for him. Whatever he is doing, I’m going to try to adapt to it, regardless. I can definitely feel it when he is holding the ball a while, but once again it is on us to block longer and let him do his thing.”

Junior WR Joe Reed

On bouncing back after this game
“I have a lot of confidence in this team. Starting first thing tomorrow morning we will work on fixing things from tonight and moving forward. I know these guys very well. I’m confident that we will bounce back from this one.”

On opening kickoff
“Every kickoff I’m thinking about how to get good field position for the team. After the opening return where there was a fumble I just had to get ready for the next one. On the next drive I saw good blocking and opportunity. It was good field position and it set us up for a touchdown.”

On Bryce Perkins’ scramble plays
“I don’t think it is hard for him, I think it is part of being a dual threat quarterback. That is just what happens sometimes. My role as a receiver when he is under pressure really depends. I can bounce back for a possible option or I can start blocking.”

Junior Quarterback Bryce Perkins

On if there were times he should have thrown the ball away
“Yeah, definitely. Those two long sacks were on me. I’ve got to be more critical, especially in those tight situations in the fourth quarter. I can’t take those sacks. I’ve got to be more smart and play smarter, especially when it comes down to crunch time.”

On whether Pitt did anything to contain him
“They were physical. Safeties came down hard, but I mean it was on us. They didn’t really do anything we didn’t know they were going to do. We just have to come out and execute our assignments better.”

On what the team learned
“We have to come out every week and we have to play with more intensity than they do. It felt slow. It felt like we were slow and lethargic out there. We have to come out and have more passion in the way that we play and more pride about scoring points.”

On what needs to happen now
“We got to look ourselves in the mirror. Olamide said it after the game. We got to look ourselves in the mirror and make sure we are prepared, and you got to be honest with yourself about how you played and about the assignments you did. You’ve got to take that to heart.”

Senior TB Jordan Ellis

On whether Bryce Perkins should have gotten rid of the ball sooner
“We trust him with the ball when he is able to scramble around. He has done it all year and we trust him every time he scrambles around and tries to make a play. I mean, he is special with the ball in his hands, so anytime he can scramble around he is just trying to make something happen and we’ve got to give him the credit for that.”

On how optimistic you were at the half
“We were very optimistic. It was a battle, and we knew it was going to be that type of game. We were trying to come out after half time. We knew the defense could get us a stop, and on offense we didn’t capitalize on our opportunities.”

On how physical the game was and if it was disappointing
“It is very disappointing. We wanted to be the more physical team. We knew they were going to be a physical team from the jump from watching their film and we didn’t get it done. It was definitely disappointing because we wanted to be the more physical team today and we didn’t do that.”

Junior ILB Jordan Mack

On getting out there and being back
“It felt good to get back out there with my guys and be able to help them out. I did not play up to my personal standards today so I need to go back to the film room, look at it, assess it and come back better next week.”

On how tough it was to lose three guys
“It was very tough when it comes to depth and play making and all those things. It just has to be the next-man-up mentality and guys come in there and it isn’t a drop off.”

On where the lack of execution came from
“Just focus. Guys just mentally staying focused and in it for the long haul and not the short haul. I personally felt really well prepared. I thought we were really well prepared, but there was a lack of execution today. I don’t think we played our best ball today.”

On how physical Pitt was
“There were a pretty physical team, like Coach Mendenahall said. They played physical throughout the game that allowed them to execute at a high level.”

On how confident you are in bounding back
“I’m very confident. We have a great group of guys. We will take this, learn from it and move onto the next one.”

Sophomore LB Charles Snowden

On how losing three starters changes your plans
“We see our defense as a unit, so we have the next-man-up mentality so obviously we don’t like to see any of our players go down, but we do expect the next man up to fulfil the responsibility in his place.”

On priding yourself on your physicality and how frustrating this game was
“It’s frustrating and something we emphasized all week and to not execute it was frustrating.”

On how you felt at the half
“We knew we could definitely play better in the second half and we were positive knowing we were winning and could play a lot better and we just didn’t execute in the second half.”

On what you take from this
“We can never relax, never let up. Kind of have to view every game as an ACC championship game and so everything has to be exactly right in order to win. It’s a long season, so going forward we have to be perfect in everything we do.”