Post Game Quotes
Nov. 1, 2008
Virginia
Virginia senior linebacker Clint Sintim
On Miami’s two touchdown drives late in the game:
“Usually those types of plays go in our favor. Hats off to them, they played a great game. They closed it out in the end, so they deserved to win.”
On the late turnovers by Marc Verica and Cedric Peerman:
“It’s unfortunate. Those are two of our best players and sometimes the ball just flies out like that. They made a lot of great plays for us today and they really carried the team. Sometimes it just happens like that. It’s unfortunate, but we still stand behind those guys; those guys are two members that have worked the hardest for this team.”
On Miami’s game-winning touchdown pass:
“Coach (Groh) emphasized keeping them in the pocket and I may have gotten a little too antsy. He made a great move and came around the outside and just aired it out there. Their receiver made a great jump on the ball and that was a touchdown. They made a great play and they had an opportunity to make the play and they did, so my hat is off to them.”
Virginia junior wide receiver Kevin Ogletree:
On his 16-yard touchdown off of the reverse:
“It was a play that we hit on a couple of years ago and it worked really well so we put it back in the game plan. There was some great blocking and I just got out.”
On the offensive struggles in the second half:
“We were just trying to move the ball up and get it as close to the goal line as we could and get some points on the board. It didn’t really happen and we wish we could have just had a little bit more in the second half. Our defense played a great game all around and if we could have it back, we would have tried to get some more points up.”
Virginia sophomore quarterback Marc Verica:
On the offense in the first half:
“We were executing nicely in the first half but we still weren’t finishing drives the way we should have been. It was nice to get a 17-10 lead going into halftime. We knew we would have to play our best half of football in the second half to win the game and we didn’t. Miami deserves a lot of credit. We had many opportunities to take control of the game. When you don’t take control of the game, that’s what happens-the other team does. Hats off to them, they played a great game. We are just looking to bounce back and get ready for Wake Forest.”
On the offense struggling in the second half:
“It’s frustrating because the defense was doing a great job of holding them off and giving us great field position. To not get anything out of those drives is really frustrating.”
On fumbling in the fourth quarter:
“The guy (Sean Spence) made a good play stripping me there. That’s completely my fault for not securing the ball in such a crucial situation. It’s something to work on; ball security was definitely important in today’s game and that’s something that we have to work on.”
Virginia redshirt freshman wide receiver Jared Green:
On his first career touchdown reception:
“It was big. It was kind of emotional for me because we wanted to prove that we are the great team that we are. It was wide open and the ball just came to me, but we needed more.”
On losing such a close game:
“It hurts – it hurts really badly because I know that we are a great team. It’s stuff like that that we always practice and work on before the game. We didn’t execute the way that we wanted to. “
Head Coach Al Groh Quotes
On missed opportunities:
“We had our opportunities to take the game but we didn’t do so in all three phases and, as a result, the game eventually got away from us. We had multiple opportunities to make plays but didn’t come up with many of them. We played hard but we missed opportunities.”
On an emotional loss:
“We’ve been on the other end of that type of deal before. It’s heartbreaking to our team. There are real raw emotions in the locker room. They (the players) are in a real emotional state right now.”
On Miami QB Jacory Harris
“Clearly he was the catalyst of what they did. The problem he posed for us was accuracy. We give him a lot of credit for coming in and performing the way he did especially in the critical situation for his team. One of the principle things going into the game was ‘keep the quarterback in the pocket.’ Clearly we came up with less than we wanted in that circumstance.”
On the game-ending fumble by Cedric Peerman:
“You can count on two fingers the number of turnovers he’s had. Cedric has had our backs for many weeks and we have his back tonight.”
On the Cavalier defense:
“We have to play the whole deal (the whole game) and we know that better than anybody. Right now we’re looking for something to make us feel good and say we played well for a long time but we didn’t do it long enough.”
Miami
Freshman QB Jacory Harris
On his role at the end of the game…
“We had like five minutes left. I just knew that we had to play our ball. We just had to protect the ball and do everything the coaches told us. We just had to make plays and do things to get this team get behind us. So I just knew I needed to go out there and make plays and make things happen by using my playmaking skills.”
On how he handled Virginia’s defense and his scrambling for plays
“I didn’t scramble to find open lanes. You just have to get out of the pocket and make a play. I wasn’t expecting anything when I scrambled on that last drive to get us into field goal range. I wasn’t thinking Travis [Benjamin] was going to come back to the ball, but he had good instincts and he came back. I said ‘I gotta squeeze this in there’ and as I was getting hit I just threw it. I didn’t know if he caught it or not.”
On his nerves
“I can’t get nervous because if I get nervous it’s like a compulsion. Our offensive line, receivers and running backs, they can see that. If they look into your eyes and see that you’re scared then they’re going to be scared themselves. If your nervous, just act like you’re not nervous.”
Junior DB Ryan Hill
On the win
“This might have been the most exciting game of my career. This is crazy because we keep changing our position every week. The last couple weeks we were in the position of coming back. It’s been said a lot that we play better when we come back.”
On Miami’s missed tackles
“We missed tackles, definitely in the first half, and that’s not our brand of football. That’s something we definitely need to work on in upcoming games.”
Miami Head Coach Randy Shannon Quotes
On the 95-yard drive
“I think we had to have it as a team. I think these are the things you look at from this team. Either way it goes, both quarterbacks gave us the opportunity to move. Like I said earlier this season, when Robert (Marve) is in the game Jacory (Harris) learns a lot and he sees certain things. And then when Robert is on the bench he sees a couple things. They were doing a nice job with these things. We have to recognize where the safety was fitting in. I think we did a tremendous job of getting out of the pocket and setting things up again and we got a touchdown by Laron Byrd.”
On QB Jacory Harris
“He was just moving the ball tonight. You know, if somebody’s hot you go with it. Then we went into overtime and he was hot so we just went with it. That’s just the way it is.
“It’s unbelievable what he does, I mean he’s got a knack for it. He knows what his mistakes are, but he knows where things come from. And you look at both of those guys, Robert and Jacory, and they find a way to move out of danger a little bit to buy themselves time for the receivers to get open. I think you just have to have a knack for that.”
On the defense in the second half and overtime
“It was a tremendous adjustment. Coach Young and the defensive staff recognized what they were doing. They were running the football, running a power game and getting kicked out and ended up inside and then our corners would make the plays. I think we adjusted to it and found a way to recognize what they were doing and then we changed a little bit defensively and got them into some good situations to give them plays on the negative side on offense.”
On penalties
“I think it’s just anxiousness. When (Matt) Pipho went in there, it was his first snap and I know what he was thinking, ‘I gotta get my block, I gotta get my block, I gotta get my block,’ and he lost concentration. I think those things as a young team, when they get older you will see those types of things stop happening. Pipho, he’s old but he’s young-it’s really maybe the second game he’s ever played for the University of Miami.”
On how the victory impacts morale
“It’s a tremendous lift to this football team. You can look at this football team and see where we’re going. We’ve accomplished a lot of things but it’s not enough. We have our mind set on moving forward and trying to get this team to where we want to be as a group. And I think you can look at this team and you’re going to say ‘how can they do the things they do.’ It’s come from hard work and dedication to this program by these guys on this football team.”
“This is four games in a row that we’ve won. We haven’t won four games in a row in a while and then you go on the road to a team that’s been on a four-game win streak itself and they’ve been playing tremendous football. They don’t beat themselves. You’ve got to make them play like they did today. They were solid on offense, solid on defense, solid on special teams. You’ve got to make sure you’re playing the best game you can play to give yourself a chance.”
On being on the road
“It’s about time for us to break. We’ve been on the road for about five or six weeks, so it’s about time for us to break. We’re going to take some time off a little bit to recuperate and get back into academics. Our guys are going to study hard and focus on grades more than anything. We’ve got a stretch to go – we have to get back in the weight room and get refreshed and get back strong.”
On bowl eligibility
“These guys aren’t thinking about the bowl – they’re thinking about the next game. Our goal is to win our games-we don’t think about the bowl, we just think about the football game that we have to play and what we have to do as the University of Miami football team.”
