Nov. 24, 2001

Recap |  Stats |  Notes

Wake Forest Head Coach Jim Grobe
"They did it to me again. They just can't make it easy for an old man. I give credit to Northern Illinois. They came out in the third quarter and we got into a dogfight with a good football team. That was the biggest challenge for us. We knew we would be facing a good team. After playing so many tough games in our conference, having to finish the season out of conference was a tough challenge for my staff."

On finishing with a winning record:
"It feels special. Certainly not many people expected us to do that in our first year. It's a tribute to our players. I feel like this season began back in the winter. We challenged them pretty hard. Every week these kids gave a great effort. As much as I'd like to say it's coaching, these kids are the ones that made it happen. I think we had just a couple sluggish practices and we never had occasion to question their effort.

On chances of receiving a bowl bid:
"It will be tough, because there are a lot of good football teams in the ACC. If you could reward a team with a bowl game based on their effort, than this group ranks near the top of the country. I think we are very deserving of a bowl game, and it would be a blessing if we were selected to play another game."

Senior Wide Receiver/Kick Returner John Stone
On how he wanted this team to be remembered:
"We were a good football team that never quit. We went out every Saturday and gave it our best."

On finishing with a winning season:
"It's real big, especially having been on previous teams. A winning record hasn't come every season around here. Hopefully this team will be the beginning of making this program respectable in the ACC. I'm really proud of being a part of this team."

Junior Quarterback James MacPherson
"I give Northern Illinois a lot of credit. They kept fighting, making plays, giving it to us. I'm just happy to come out with a win."

On Tarence Williams:
"He is just amazing. When it's fourth-and-short we give it to him and he'll always get it. You see him in practice during the week limping, but he always comes ready to play. He's a playmaker. When it's on the line, you can count on him to get the first down."

On a possible bowl berth:
"This team has been preparing for this, ever since the end of last season. We've been preparing all year, and we never quit. Now it's time to sit and wait and let it play out. We know we gave it everything we have."

Northern Illinois Head Coach Joe Novak
On Wake Forest:
"They're a real good football team. Write this down, Jim Grobe is a great coach. He is a friend but I think he's just done a wonderful job. I think he inherited some good players with some good speed. But I've watched their tapes from all season and Jim has done an outstanding job. I thought they played Florida State well. The win at North Carolina and last week against a very good Georgia Tech team. They've done a great job all year. They're tough to defend. They're young and they're only going to get much better."

On coming back from 17-point deficits:
"We just kept hanging in there and gave ourselves a chance to win. We've done that all season. We've won six games and four of those have been after trailing by double digits. We just didn't make enough plays at the end. Obviously the punt (fumble) hurt us. It's a long game and they just made two more plays than we did."

On the offense coming to life in the second half:
"They gave us a different look defensively than they had on tape. Sometimes you practice against a defense and it still takes some time in the game to get a feel. We just kept doing what we do best. Our kids kept playing and our coaches made adjustments."

On losing the final game of the season:
"I'm just disappointed for our seniors. But I'm proud of our kids. We want to keep building on the successes we had this season but we've got a lot to work on between now and next season."

On senior quarterback Chris Finlen:
"We're really going to miss Chris. He has had a great career and he should be very proud of what he accomplished here. We've got some big shoes to fill."

On senior wide receiver Darrell Hill:
"He's just been excellent over the last half of the season. He's been as good of a receiver as I've ever coached. It's a tribute to him because he's worked hard to get to where he is. He's had a great senior season for us."