Oct. 1, 2005

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NORTH CAROLINA COACH John Bunting
QUOTES FOLLOWING 31-17 WIN OVER UTAH

BUNTING: "I'm really proud of these kids, and really excited about beating Utah, a good football team. I'm really excited about winning at home in front of our great fans. I'm really excited about winning two football games in a row. Kids played really, really hard. They played their hearts out for the second week in a row.

"Turnovers obviously were a big factor. That turns games around every single time it happens. They (our defense) kept playing hard, they never stopped believing. They kept playing the defense called and trying to move the ball on the ground. We weren't as good as we want to be, we know that. (Baker) came up with enough plays and the receivers made enough plays to help us win the ballgame. The Masons and the Holleys and the Hamletts and Justin Phillips, those guys made some plays. We got to work harder now to get this run game in the right direction.

"I'm really looking forward to enjoying this win and I'm going to enjoy it thoroughly.

"The defense started fast and played extremely hard and they did a terrific job for the most part. Utah, to their credit, came out with a different scheme in the second half, and it took a while to get adjusted to that. We knew they were going to call some of those smash routes because the coverage is a little soft out there but that's how to have to beat them. You have to make them throw over and over and over again to beat you.

"It's a difficult team to play against but our kids did a terrific job of adjusting, a great job of forcing some turnovers and a great job of harassing the quarterback.

"Our special teams played pretty doggone good today. We had one poor coverage and after that our coverage was pretty good. I'm really happy with that.

"(Brandon) Tate is special, he is a special young man. He's a special kid. He saw through training camp that is fearless. He is confident and we started to develop a lot of confidence in him. He's going to be a lot of fun to be out here over the next few years."

On being down 10-7 at halftime and turnovers changing the game:
"Absolutely, turnovers were critical. We turned the ball over five times, which is - you're not going to win any football games turning it over five times. It's just not going to happen.

"And defensively we played fairly well. Two things that hurt us were the turnovers and letting them have the kickoff return the opening play of the game. That's ridiculous; that should never happen.

"You're right, coming in at halftime 10-7 was a blessing. As poorly as we had played, we were fortunate to be only down 10-7 at that point.

"Big turning point of the game also was when Eric Weddle's pick for a touchdown gets called back. You know, roughing the passer, I guess. So, that was a critical play also."

On it being a winnable game where key plays just weren't made:
"Certainly. We had our chances. Right now, we're just a good football team, and until we can win a tough game on the road, that's all we're going to be is a good football team. That's all we are. Until we go into somebody's house and win a tough one on the road, we're just a good team.

On the critical roughing-the-passer call:
"When I saw it, as it happened, I didn't think so. However, there was no replay in the stands, and I very well could be wrong. It looked like a bang-bang play to me where it was released and hit right after. I can't say for certain until I see it on the tape. But as it happened, I thought it was a legal hit, but obviously I didn't have a chance to see the replay yet.

On the abundance of penalties:
"Oh yeah, penalties. We were penalized, what, 12 times for a hundred yards? That's far beyond - we've been averaging five a game. That's another thing you can't do. You can't be that penalized and hope to overcome it. You combine all the negatives we had - the penalties, the turnovers, the kickoff return for a touchdown - too much to overcome.

On the motivation of the Tar Heels
"Yeah, they were motivated. They should be. If they weren't, there'd be something wrong with them, after what happened to them last year. That's human nature.

On the improved Carolina defense giving up fewer yards:
"I thought they played tougher against the run than they did last year. I think the front seven is more active and just a better overall front seven than what we saw last year. And yeah, you're right, a little bit less - it was half. It was 600-plus last year and 300-plus this year, so it was a much better job by them defensively. Much better."

UNC PLAYER QUOTES:
Matt Baker
On the Tar Heel defense:
"I was pretty confident the defense was going to do good things this year and they played great. Hats off to them, they won this game for us."

On his performance in the first half:
"I got frustrated, and you can't do that as a quarterback. I wasn't playing too well, but there are going to be ups and downs as a quarterback and an offense. But that's why you have to bounce back and play better and that's what we did."

On adjusting his game:
"It's not so much adjusting, it's just making better throws. Sometimes you make bad throws and in the first half I made a couple of bad throws. Second half I pulled it together."

Wallace Wright
On the importance of Brandon Tate's kickoff return:
"That was real big. I think that kind of put the pressure on them a little bit. It took a load off the defense a little bit."

Larry Edwards
On the Tar Heel defense:
"We have so much talent. Some people overlook us but we have so much talent and depth on this defense. We come out there and force turnovers and make some big plays that get us in good position. That's what we do. We go out there and play the game. Play fundamentally sound, we play fast, we play physical, we play smart.

Tommy Richardson
On the significance of the win:
"(Utah) was an outstanding ball club. But we're not content with just being 2-2, so we're going to go right back to the drawing board."