|
Jim Caldwell has emphasized
the importance of the
UAB game to his team.
|
Quotes From Coach Caldwell's Press Conference
Wake football looks ahead to matchup with UAB.
Oct. 19, 1999
On Florida State
"They're a very good team. That front four that they have - that's a good
group. They're not average players, and obviously, they have not allowed
anyone to rush for a significant amount of yardage against them, no matter
who they've played so far. We had some opportunities. Against a team like
that you're not going to get consistent play across the board and you're
not going to beat them up front across the board consistently. But when
you get opportunities like when we ran our option play that we were able to
run down the field for a pretty sizable gain - we got it called back for
penalty. A couple penalties hurt us on key drives. We always feel we can
perform much, much better than the way we perform. Every loss is tough.
The guys played hard and gave effort. That's what we ask of them.
Obviously, winning is a component as well. We hope winning is a by-product
with that kind of effort, but we fell short this time."
On the team's defense
"A good nucleus of our front seven has been fairly consistent. (Kelvin)
Moses and (Dustin) Lyman, for example. After they started playing for us,
they were just coming along and getting better every week. Also, Fred
Robbins is playing consistently well inside. A lot of guys up front are
playing for us. There's a whole host of guys we get in ballgames. We're
able to keep them relatively fresh, but they're also playing extremely
hard. In previous years, we were so thin. We wore down rather quickly."
On UAB
"They have some guys that can run. They're aggressive and have a lot of
good athletes. In terms of team dynamics, they're a team that has good
speed and good size. They get after you. All you have to do is watch two
minutes of film, and they get your attention in a hurry. They have talent
and may have the best quarterback we've seen. He can run and even throw.
They have enough speed all the way across the board. One thing that jumps
out at you on tape is that they can really move. They have explosion and
can get up the field on both sides of the ball. We always say every game
is the big game. This one is big and extremely important to us. We've
gone through a stretch where early-on we got off to a decent start and then
we let one slip away from us, and then obviously we played a team that just
played better than us at this point last Saturday. What we have to do is
take a look and see that it's time for us, literally, to start over again.
If you could possibly do it, you'd like to just wipe the slate clean and
start over from scratch. That's how we'd like to approach this ballgame.
We'd like to focus in on it and let's get back to doing the things we know
how to do. This game looms large, and we're looking forward to a good
challenge."
On Fred Robbins
"Fred has played hard and certainly played well for us in the middle. He's
been a significant factor on the interior of our defense. The thing about
him, he's played well and continues to work hard. He's got to continue to
get better, and that's the key. He's gotten a little better every week.
Fred has always been a willing worker. He'll do what you ask him to do.
He certainly has ability. He's a big guy that can run, a 300-pounder that
can move. He's got size, quickness and dexterity."
On the team's walk-ons
"We've had a great history of guys that have come out and have been able to
contribute. Adam Dolder, Will Clark, Will Merritt - there are just a
number of guys that have done well and played a significant amount for us.
We get so few of them, primarily because we're a private schools and most
of the students, to be honest, don't need any money. Half the time, when
you're at a state school, a lot of students try out for football and hope
to get a scholarship so that they can pay for their education. A lot of
them don't sense the need to come out and get knocked around every day of
the week. But, yet, we have a pretty decent nucleus of guys. We've been
fortunate that we've had a few that have been able to help us."
