Cam Ward threw for 348 yards and 3 TDs, but the offense sputtered at times in a 28-23 loss. He met with reporters after the game:
On the loss: We didn't play our best ball. We're the best offense in the country and we only put up 23 points, so that says it all right there. The fourth downs we've gotta get, the third downs we've gotta get, we weren't as explosive as we always are. Everything was there at the end of the day. We just didn't execute a high level. That's something we've gotta do going into the next game.
On the game-ending drive: It hurts at the end of the day, but all you can do is play the next game. You can't go back into it and try to relive that moment. But if we get the opportunity again, I'm sure it'll go a different way. You just watch the tape. Gotta have great ball security, especially at times like that. But I'm not really overly pressed about it, because at the end of the day, we put ourselves in a position to win the game. We just didn't come through. We did a lot of good things, but we also did a lot of bad things today.
Nothing's gonna change for me. I lost seven games last year in my last school. Every winner is going to lose someday. Today just happened to be our day. It’s only two outcomes. You either win or you lose. Tomorrow, I’ve gotta wake up and I’ve gotta go lift and I’ve gotta do the same process. It hurts because it was the first loss of the season, but at the end of the day, we're still in a position to control our destiny.
On the bye week: It helps a lot, especially with the nagging injuries that some of our guys have. We’ve got a chance to get healthy. The bye week is the most important week. We’ve got to sit on this loss for a whole week before we can do something about it. There’s always been a chip on our shoulder and it's just got to get even bigger. I feel really lucky for the last two games that are guaranteed in my college career. I'm just grateful for the opportunity. At the end of the day, we had a lot of guys come out healthy. That's all you can really ask for. God's gonna continue to bless us. We’ve just gotta do our part and just put in the work every day.
On the passing game: We were explosive at certain times. We weren't explosive as we've always been. We were able to run the ball efficiently when we really needed to. Dame was great in the check down game. Mark was great in the check down game. We’ve just gotta get better at the little things. We’ve gotta continue to make routine plays. That's something that we're gonna be working on going into the bye week.
On any positives from the loss: The only positive is that we finally faced real adversity. We finally lost the game. The upside of it is, “Who are we gonna be when we come out of this bye week? What are we gonna show as a team when we come out of this bye week?”
We get a chance to play against a good Wake Forest team. We’ve got a locker room full of good humans on both sides of the ball. We're gonna pour into each other for these next two games to try to control our destiny.
On the locker room: It’s down. Every time you lose a game, you're not happy. But the thing about our locker room is that you've seen it– from first quarter to fourth quarter– we continue to play no matter how much we're down or how much we're up. We just worry about getting people healthy, going to the bye week, executing plays on both sides of the ball and doing the little things. The little things will win you games. We didn't do enough of that today. But we will try to be better after the bye week.
On third down struggles (3-10): Just miscues, not executing at a high level like we always do. That's something that we can't have. We're the number one offense in the country. We prove that to ourselves every week. We don't care about the outside noise, but we’ve got to get back right. We’re just excited for the opportunity that we get against Wake Forest. We don't really have too much to say about this game, because we can't control it now. We're gonna control what we control going forward, trying to win two more games.
On the coverage sacks: They were dropping a little bit more back, but a lot of it was just us not being efficient on time and not being decisive on my part, on the route running part. At certain times, we didn't play freely together. That's something that we gotta get better at. We’re a 9-1 team. We're one of the best teams in the country. We're in a good position to still play for the ACC championship. I'm gonna leave the past in the past, and I'm just ready to go try and beat Wake Forest.
On the message going forward: We've already had that conversation a lot. Every winner’s got to lose some day. We ended up being on the losing side of today. But our routine isn't gonna change. My routine isn't gonna change. I've been working for nine weeks. If it didn't work one week, why change it? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
I’ve played a lot of college football. I've lost a lot of games. I've won a lot of games. So to go and put yourself in a position where a loss just takes everything out of you, it means nothing. Because at the end of the day, you’ve gotta wake up and do the journey all over again. Hopefully in two weeks, we'll be on the right side of it.
and seeing no way out of different putrid coaching hires and recruiting battle losses, we sit at the doorstep of being elite. I’m buying and breathing easier in a long time.
