Tar Heels Football

“My hat goes off to Charlie Strong and the coaches at Louisville.

They play really good defense and have a good young quarterback. This was not going to be an easy test and we knew it coming in.

It’s good to be 5-1, 4-0 against the nonconference and 2-0 against the Big East. People talked throughout the early part of the season about us starting fast but not doing well in the second half. I think we reversed that today. We worked on a bunch of things at halftime and I thought over 200 yards [of offense] in the second half was huge.

This defense was ranked in the top-15 in the country and for Giovani [Bernard] to gain 109 yards is pretty good. So we’re excited about that. Obviously, we have got a lot of things to go back and work on. Any time you can go back and work on things and come out with a win, that’s important. Gio’s the first back since ‘84 and Ethan Horton, to rush for 100 yards in four straight games. So that’s a pretty good stat, we need to keep that going.”

Never before has our football team needed the support and backing of all of the great guys and terrific players who have worn the Tar Heel football jersey.

I understand that emotions are raw and nerves are frayed, but our players need your support. They need our [UNC Tar Heel] Lettermen and our Fans behind them 100%.

I hope those kids understand the importance of what the lettermen built here. Things just didn’t start overnight. Those lettermen built this program and I want our lettermen to feel a part of it, because I think it’s special and I think that group has been good to this football program and we need to show that to them.

Obviously we are very disappointed with the outcome of the game today. Two teams battled their hearts out today and we did not make enough plays to win the game.

I told our players in the locker room there are some things that are the measure of a man. How you compete, how you play, the level of intensity you play with. I think from an effort standpoint I could not be more pleased with the way our kids played.

There are some things we obviously wish we did better. A punt return for a touchdown is almost always a back-breaker and something that is extraordinarily difficult to overcome. When your defense is playing well and your force them to go three and out then give up a touchdown. It is certainly a tribute to them.

The other disappointing thing is the inability when you get in the red zone to punch it in the end zone, to stall and have to settle for field goals. As much as it is good to make them for Casey [Barth] and he made a great one today from 49 yards. The ones that you get inside the 20 you need to knock them in and score touchdowns.

Our kids played hard. State played well enough to win and they deserved to win today.

One of the real measuring sticks for any quarterback is how mentally tough are they?

There are some guys that have phenomenal athletic ability and they’ve absolutely got a fragile ego and any criticism just crushes them. The thing that speaks volumes about T.J. is that he is getting mentally tougher.

If you play that position … somebody’s going to criticize that you didn’t play perfectly and you’ve got to know: What are the expectations? What can I truly control? What am I accountable for?

This class is what we would like a recruiting class to look like in future years to come.

The first couple years you have to recruit on need. There are voids in the roster, you need speed or skill players or you are short at a position. In this particular recruiting class we signed a player at every position, with the exception of quarterback.

— on the quarterback position —

We felt comfortable with the guys that we had on our team.

We respected the idea that kids who play quarterback want to look into the future. Not only do they want to know whom they are going to play with, they also want to know what their opportunities are to get a chance. … Coach (John) Shoop and I felt that in the Carolina’s there are some of the most dynamic quarterbacks in the country. We felt like this would be an appropriate time to skip the quarterback position.

Our program is excited for the opportunity to play in back-to-back bowl games and make a return trip to Charlotte.

Will Webb and the staff of the Meineke Car Care Bowl do an outstanding job with the game and the activities leading up to the bowl.

Our players are excited to continue their season and play so close to home. We had tremendous fan support at the game in 2008 and we will need that again this year against an outstanding Pittsburgh team.

“Last year we flipped the win total from four victories to eight and advanced to a bowl game. Our fans have been such a huge part of our game day atmosphere and our team feeds off their energy.

We’re excited about the direction we’re heading and it’s an exciting time to be a part of Carolina football.”