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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEDIA CONFERENCENovember 7, 2012Jim GrobeJIM GROBE: We've got to get ready to play Saturday. We know we're going to play against a very motivated North Carolina State team, a very talented team, well‑coached team. We were fortunate this past weekend to get a win against Boston College. I thought the Boston College kids played really, really hard, and we felt fortunate to get a win, and we're going to have to step up to another level this week. We've not played particularly well at NC State, and so we know it's going to take a great effort on our part, and we know we'll have to play really, really well to have a shot to win. Q. It was unusual to see a statistic like 57 passes attempted with one of your teams, and I know they were a lot of underneath routes and short things. Is that the kind of trend that you would expect to continue, or was that just one of those things, taking what they gave you? JIM GROBE: Well, I think that's a little bit out of my comfort zone. We would like to have more balance. We would like to run the football better. Actually Josh Harris had a pretty good day. I think he had 80‑some yards and averaged about four and a half yards per carry. So Josh had a pretty good day. It varies week to week honestly what people do defensively dictates more to the offenses as far as what we do. I think going into this Saturday we'll just kind of see what happens. But I think with Boston College I think we felt like that throwing the football was going to be a little bit more successful against them. They've always done a pretty good job against us stopping the run, and so that was kind of the plan last week. But going forward it'll change week to week. Q. You mentioned that State would probably be motivated. The kind of game that they had against Virginia, was that a not‑good thing for your team? JIM GROBE: Well, I think‑‑ I think every week is different. You just‑‑ every Saturday is different. They've been like us; we've been through kind of a gamut of emotions this year. We've had ups and downs, and we've had weeks where we've played really good, we've had weeks where we didn't play good. Your competition varies week to week. I think it was unexpected that they would lose to Virginia this past week like they did, and I think typically when teams with good coaches and good players and teams that have been successful in the past stub their toe, they typically bounce back in a good way, especially from a motivational standpoint. So I've just got a feeling that they'll have a good week of practice, hopefully we'll have a good week of practice. But I think we're going to face an NC State team that's going to be a full‑speed football team this Saturday, I don't think there's any question. Q. I've been looking at the records of the series, and it's struck me it's an oddity in the ACC, it's so much a home field series that in the last 16 games you guys are 7 and 1 at home, and NC State is 7 and 1 at home. Is that just an oddball thing, or is there some home field factor here maybe more than normal? JIM GROBE: Well, with those numbers, it would seem like there's something there. Obviously 7 and 1 at home makes it seem like home field advantage plays a pretty big part. I think part of that makes us realize that our kids are going to have to play really good to have a chance. We've been beat pretty soundly a couple times at Carter Finley. We've had a couple games that have gone right to the wire that have been really, really close, and we know that going in there and getting a win is not going to be easy. But we've always, for whatever reason, had a tough time going over to Raleigh and playing. I think their guys play well at home, and obviously when we play here at home, we play a little bit better. When you go on the road in this league, you've got to pretty much steal a base to get a win. Q. The other thing I was going to ask you is Tom O'Brien, they've had trouble running the ball lately. You guys have been up and down all year on the running game.  How difficult is it to get it to balance off the passing game? JIM GROBE: It makes it so much easier if you've got a little bit of running game because it gives you a chance to be a little bit more confident to try to throw the football when they're not expecting it and run it when they're not expecting it. But if you're not getting much out of your running game it puts you in long yardage situations too much. So I think especially if you're able to run the ball successfully on 1st and 2nd down, it makes the throw game so much easier. But you just never know going in. Every week we go in to a game we're trying to run the football, it's just a matter of whether we're capable of doing it or not. I think‑‑ I would guess Tom has got the same thought we've got, that your throw game is going to be so much better if you can balance it out with a little running success. Q. In terms of your defense, what do you need to do as good or better against NC State coming off that BC game? JIM GROBE: Well, the thing we did well against Boston College is we forced some turnovers, and I think that's for all defenses, and especially for teams, if you're going to win, you've got to manage the turnovers. And I think one way to help you more than any other way is to force some turnovers on defense. We had a couple of 4th down stops that were big for us. A 4th down stop is really a turnover for all intents and purposes, and so I think in the games that we've won, the games that we've played well defensively, we've been able to hunt up some turnovers. You know, I think that would be important Saturday, but I know after last week I know Wolfpack turned the ball over a few times against West Virginia, and that got them in trouble. So I know their emphasis this week is taking care of the football, and I think when you play good defense, you find some turnovers. Q. I wondered what kind of recruit was Campanaro coming out of high school, and did you suspect early on that he would become the player he has? JIM GROBE: Well, we thought we had a really, really good football player. What happens to us sometimes at Wake Forest is we have to be careful that we don't put too much stock in height, weight and speed because some of the biggest programs beat us out on those type kids. And so we felt like Camp was a home run as a player and as a kid, loved his family, all those kind of things, the intangible kind of stuff. But he's not very big, and that's what I think got a lot of people off of him. We thought that he had‑‑ we kind of compared him to Kenny Moore. We kind of thought we had a guy that might not be the biggest guy, but we loved his ball skills, we loved him as a running back, we thought he could play running back or be a receiver. He had really good hands. I think our thoughts were we never dreamed he'd be as good as he is right now, I don't think you can ever plan on that, but we thought we had a really good football player. We thought we had a guy that didn't have some of the tangibles as far as height and weight kind of things, but we felt like we were getting a really quality football player. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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