RALEIGH, N.C. – Following its game Thursday at No. 24 NC State, Virginia Tech football met with the media for a press conference. Read below for what head coach Brent Pry and defensive back Armani Chatman had to say.
Head coach Brent Pry
On having a 21-3 lead and letting them slide back into it defensively:
"Yeah, we have to cover better. I thought we let the quarterback have a little bit too long down the stretch. But, their kids made some plays. As good as Mansoor [Delane] and Armani [Chatman] played, they took a couple shots (towards them) and their kids converted. We had some coverage changeups. But they did a nice job in the fourth quarter of airing it out. We got to obviously do better."
On what happened offensively in the second half with the spark:
"They (Tech's offensive coaching staff) made some nice adjustments. NC State gave us a little bit of a different look. They were being aggressive with their pressures. I thought the guys did a nice job with some misdirection and some formation things that helped us and gave us a chance to move the ball. We got to take shots to Kaleb [Smith] and we did that. There were some chances for some explosive plays that we weren't getting in the first half. But we can't lay an egg like we did in the first half, when you play so well defensively. You talk about complementary football, if we just done a little more and be able to do some things in the first half like we did in the third quarter offensively. I think it would have looked a little bit different."
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Defensive back Armani Chatman
On what NC State did in the fourth quarter offensively to be effective:
"Playing complimentary football over there, I will definitely say that. Basically, we had to come together as a defensive unit, we needed to tackle and make plays, you know, execute. Coach Pry put us in the right spot, but we just have to do better on our end."
On the mood in the locker room after losing five straight games and having a close contest tonight:
"This was a tough one, you know, fighting for bowl eligibility right now, you have to keep pushing for those seniors. So, everybody is trying to keep their head up, keep pushing and keep that mindset that we still have work to do and the season is not over. We have more games left on the table and you definitely have to play for one another. Coach Pry is definitely making us, as a team, stick together and keep our heads up. So, you know, it's not dead in there (the locker room), it's just not what we want."