11/17/2018 football Edit

Narduzzi on the win, battling back, Coastal champs and more

Chris Peak • Panther-lair

Publisher

WINSTON-SALEM (N.C.) - Pat Narduzzi talked about his team’s resiliency after beating Wake Forest Saturday, and here’s a full rundown of what he said.

Narduzzi: You know what? You can hear the noise in that locker room. Our kids have done some unbelievable things this year. It starts with our seniors; I couldn’t be happier. We can be prepared - we brought [championship hats and shirts] from Pittsburgh. Derek went out and got them this week. I said, ‘Get them; it’s going to happen.’ Our kids had a lot of faith in the second half, when a lot of teams might panic on the road and go, ‘Oh gosh, we’re in a tight situation.’ But we had faith in there and said, ‘Hey guys, we didn’t play very good in the first half we’re going to go out and knock them out in the second half.’ And that’s what our kids do. They just do what they do.

We got our run game going. I had questions on Thursday about what we would do if we had to pass it; I think we passed it today. We made some great plays and it started with Maurice Ffrench’s big one-handed catch down here on third down. Kenny Pickett was outstanding the entire day with his run checks and obviously throwing the ball. I couldn’t be happier.

We’re one step closer to where we want to go. We’ve got an opportunity to go to the ACC Championship Game in a couple weeks and we’ve got Miami first.

You talk about coming back in the second half. How fitting is it - you come back against Syracuse, you come back against Duke, you come back against Virginia, and in this game where it means the most, when everything’s on the line, you do it again.
Narduzzi: We find a different way every week to do it. It wasn’t a great first half but our guys find a way to get it done. It says a lot about the character and persistence. We’ve talked a lot about that and our guys got it done.

You said before the season at the luncheon that you guys were going to Charlotte. You later said that wasn’t a guarantee, but can you say that now that that’s essentially what it was?
Narduzzi: You know, we are going to Charlotte. I didn’t make any predictions. I don’t remember what I said. I didn’t say this year. I don’t know. But I guess it was meant to happen. Our guys worked for it and we got it done.

20 minutes of possession in the first half; even though the yardage wasn’t there, did you feel like you guys were slowly wearing them down?
Narduzzi: I think so. It looked that way. I mean, I give Dave Clawson and that defense a lot of credit. They went out and made some plays and they did a great job. I told Coach Clawson, ‘It looks like you found your coordinator over there, I think he did an outstanding job game-planning.’ Our guys just kept finding a way. They loaded the box, played a lot of quarters like we do and made plays. Our guys just kept plugging away, never stopped believing and had faith in what we were doing.

The Miami game is next week but the fans started chanting ‘We want Clemson.’ What do you think this ACC championship and the Coastal title means to your fans?
Narduzzi: I think it means everything. It’s something that everybody wants to be, is a champion. They’re out here, I think they want to stay here. But it means everything. That’s the first step you need; to have a chance to be a champion, you have to be the Coastal champion. We got that step.

Our focus is really - the fans, they want more, but we know we have Miami next week, a really good football team down on the road again, and our goal is to finish the season the right way.

How did the shower feel?
Narduzzi: It felt great. I was hot anyway so I needed cooled off.

The touchdown to Stefano, was that a reward to the O-line for the way they’ve played all season?
Narduzzi: I guess. We felt like it was there and I think that play is 3-for-3 in the last four years. But it’s a reward for this football team, period. But the O-line has done a tremendous job and it is fitting.

You said Thursday you weren’t sure what Kenny’s best game was yet; do you think you know now?
Narduzzi: I think so. You look at the run checks and he put the ball on the money. He made a lot of plays. And at the end of the first half, you say, ‘Gosh, what are we going to do? Can we run it? Can we pass it?’ Give the offense credit. And I’ll tell you what, our defense, it was three three-and-outs in that third quarter, which really set the tempo. Once we got up, I told our defense, ‘Hey, they don’t score again.’ We just kept plugging away.

Qadree got banged up earlier in the game. Did he pass everything he had to do to get back in there?
Narduzzi: Yeah, he got the wind knocked out of him. It looked like head-to-head, whatever; they were both going low, it was legal. But it had nothing to do with his head; he just got the wind knocked out of him.