BLACKSBURG – Virginia Tech football spoke with the media on Tuesday during its weekly press conference. Brent Pry stepped to the podium elaborating his expectations heading into the matchup versus Boston College. Redshirt freshman Xavier Chaplin communicated the improvements needed on offense following the loss to the Cardinals.
Read below to see what they had to say.
Head Coach Brent Pry
On the evaluation process following the loss to Louisville:
"Yeah, that one hurt. I'm going to be honest, all losses hurt. But I think our guys, you know, you could just sense it. The expectations and excitement and the build up to the game and you try and keep things even keeled. But they felt it. They hear it. I think more so we were disappointed in how we played. We didn't give our best effort. We've played better, certainly played better in the previous ball game. Played faster, better temperament, executed better. There was a combination. When you play a good team and you don't play your best, it's not a good formula. But you know, we have to make the corrections. We had to identify where we weren't good enough and we had to live in that space and own it."
On the team's competitive mentality against Louisville:
"I would say temperament, just the confidence and temperament necessary to go play toe to toe with a group like Louisville. That's what I was disappointed in the most and I think the kids are too. You would think coming off that Syracuse game Louisville look like we did against Syracuse, just the demeanor and the edge and the attitude and the confidence. I have to do a better job, it starts with me. And there's no reason we shouldn't have gone out there and felt more confident and been more up to playing just toe to toe with that group. So, we talked about it as a team and as a staff and we'll be better from it moving forward."
Offensive Lineman Xavier Chaplin
On playing with better technique on offense:
"Our run game in the past has been great. I just felt like we got a little bit out of our element last game. We weren't all on the same page. We weren't playing the best football we could have played. We played it in the past, we could do it."
