University of Richmond Athletics
Postgame Quotes: Virginia 43, Richmond 19
09/02/2012 | Football
Richmond Head Coach
Danny Rocco
On Richmond's
performance:
"We got outplayed today by a really good football team.
Especially with the FCS playing up, you really find the time to watch a lot of
film. They are well coached and Mike (London) is doing a great job with this
team. They are settled there with the quarterback. Mike (Rocco) knows what he's
doing back there, he understands the offense, he makes good decisions, he
distributes the ball and he didn't make any significant errors. They were more
physical than we were, and their defense really flew around today. I told the
guys after the game that there's nothing to feel good about. I don't feel good
about anything. We pretty much got our butts kicked, but I'm really really
excited to be the head football coach at the University of Richmond. We showed
some glimpses of being able to withstand and athletically compete. But we
lacked consistency today, and our special teams were very erratic. I encouraged
our guys to work to put this behind us and move forward."
On the play on
defense:
"Our kids on defense competed well. The one thing that
happens defensively when you are thrown out there repetitively on three and
outs, you just swing the pendulum so much against you that you have to
understand what you want to get. Once we got any movement or balance on
offense, once we were able to control the ball at all, our defense kind of
settled in. I'm not disappointed with the way our kids played on defense. They
played hard, they played physical. We were outmatched somewhat athletically and
played against a very efficient quarterback. We had a couple plays on the
perimeter where our corners missed the tackle, and you know those are the kinds
of things that will make it hard to win. We had a few too many of those
miscues, but nothing against the kids who competed and gave it their best
shot."
On containing UVa's
passing:
"We did pack things in a little bit. It was a calculated
decisional risk. We didn't drive our underneath people for as much width and
depth as we have in the past. We wanted to have a few more helmets around the line
of scrimmage, a few more guys who could negate the cutback runs and get gang
tackling. I think in theory we set ourselves up a little bit for Mike to be
able to get the ball out to the edge, and they saw it and took advantage of it.
But you have to choose your poison a little bit in these types of match-ups,
and maybe be hopeful that they won't throw and catch at a really high
percentage, that they drop a ball or tip a ball, and get a break. You make your
own breaks, but we didn't really get one today. We didn't take the ball away,
and we were never really able to get the ball on the ground."
On talking to Michael
Rocco postgame:
"I said I'm really proud of him and I love him. I'm just
really proud of Michael, of all he's done and the way he's performed and
competed. I've been following him for a long time, and he had some poise, which
hurt us today."
On Strauss's
touchdown:
"I don't even know what to say, it was irony. We botched the
play a little bit, and Mike found himself under pressure and kind of forced to
throw. Kendall (Gaskins) received the ball and fell into the end zone. I called
a timeout more so because I was concerned about the play clock and I didn't
feel that the play was signaled in clearly enough. There was a little confusion
out on the field with our guys so I chose to call a timeout."
On his perception of
the season as a new coach:
"You just don't know what to expect today as you go into the
first game as the head coach in a new program. I'm happy to be the head
football coach - I think that sums it up. It's all about relationships with
people, and you don't really get to the core of some of these relationships
until you get into the heat of battle. Practice is practice, meetings are
meetings. You get to know the guys, they get to know you, you get mad
sometimes, you praise them sometimes, you encourage them sometimes, and now
you're in a game. The players need the coach and the coach needs the players.
We need to be united and we need to be one heartbeat. It's in these battles
that you start to find out who your leaders are, who has that heartbeat and who
has that focus, who's on board with you in terms of your thinking, and I liked
some of the things I saw."
Senior QB John Laub
On what you take away
from this loss:
"The energy and the fight were definitely there, we didn't
stop fighting the entire game. I think that we showed the sparks offensively
and defensively that we can be a great team and stop the ball defensively and
move the ball offensively. I think we just need to be at that high level more
often. We came in knowing that we could do that and we just need to be more consistent."
On starting:
"I could say that first quarter I was a little nervous. I
need to relax a little bit more and play ball, I need to be more consistent
with my accuracy on some of those balls. Coach Streeter tells us the offense
goes as the quarterback goes and I just need to be more consistent with my
abilities and confident that I have the o-line protecting me, confident that
the receivers down the field are open. I just need to be a little bit more
consistent and then that will raise the level of our offensive ability."
On passing to Ben
Edwards a lot, especially early:
"Some plays it could be me looking for him in his matchup
because he's a great route runner. He's a great receiver overall. Some of the
stuff where he was in the middle was designed to get him the ball quick and let
him make plays but certain plays that was just who the ball was supposed to go
to. Ben is a great player and I look to make plays."
On having his head
coach against family on the other team playing:
"Obviously he [Coach Rocco] wants his family to do well but
he's the head coach of the Richmond Spiders and he insists we do well too. I
think Coach Rocco handled it this week very well as far as all of the questions
he was getting and stuff like that. It's a unique situation and I'm sure their
family enjoyed it."
