Tony Elliott, Des Kitchings, and John Rudzinski speak on Virginia's 37-7 loss to Pittsburgh.
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00:00 >> Two plays and then secondly, what kind of disadvantage did it put you in
00:05 your plan offensively, if at all, after an opening run?
00:09 >> Yeah, what I saw is I gotta do a better job of coaching Brendan in those
00:13 situations to help him be able to process.
00:18 And that first one, he worked all the way across the field,
00:23 if he made it into the game, but that's something he's gotta do a better job of
00:26 making sure that he is prepared.
00:28 A week in and week out, and then on the second one,
00:32 what you saw there was just, their guy made a good play, man.
00:36 We were sitting on a situation where we're trying to clear it out with an out route,
00:40 and he guessed and he came off of the out route and made a play.
00:44 But overall, we gotta do a better job coaching,
00:47 I gotta do a better job of having the team prepared to play.
00:51 >> Yeah, coach, in that first quarter, and
00:53 obviously things began to snowball a little bit.
00:55 They got the 28 to nothing, their physicality,
00:58 can you talk about it up front, how difficult was it?
01:02 You lose Furnish later in the game, but
01:04 even from the jump, the difficulty of blocking Pittsburgh's front.
01:08 >> Well, we knew it was gonna be a challenge, and they did a good job, and
01:11 they showed up with the right mindset and ready to play.
01:15 And I didn't do a good job of having the guys with the right mindset,
01:20 understanding the matchup that we had, the physicality that I was gonna take,
01:23 the intensity and enthusiasm that we started the game with.
01:26 So it's not on the players, it's on me to make sure that I fully articulate and
01:30 have them prepared to be able to play in the game like this.
01:33 >> Last two things for head coach Tony Elliott.
01:34 Coach, you have been consistent in your message and your core values,
01:38 competitive stamina.
01:40 After a 28-0 first quarter, it was a 9-7 football game.
01:44 Did you see anything in as bad as the loss might feel to you
01:48 that you might be able to build on in terms of that value?
01:52 >> I thought that some guys were able to persevere through the adversity, and
01:57 it was a physical game.
01:58 You got guys going in and out of the lineup.
02:01 I thought the guys battled defensively.
02:03 They gave up in the second half.
02:05 I think it was three tries for field goals.
02:07 So there's gonna be some positive, but for me, it's a lot of ownership of
02:12 an evaluation of making sure that I do everything I'm supposed to do as
02:16 the head coach to have the coaching staff and the players ready to go.
02:20 >> And see what were you looking for and what went wrong?
02:22 >> Yeah, so the first play of the game, we had a draw RPO on and
02:27 try to attack the flats and this is up the middle and
02:31 got dropped to the field and work back to the boundary.
02:34 It was probably a little late, obviously a little late getting it back.
02:37 So that was the first one.
02:39 And then the second play, trying to move the pocket for him and
02:43 throw the speed out.
02:44 And the corner was kind of baiting there and it came off on the out front.
02:49 And I don't know if he saw it or not.
02:50 He said he didn't see it.
02:52 But again, I was trying to move the pocket for him on that second play and
02:54 get him out of the pocket.
02:55 Cuz we knew going into this thing that obviously the challenge would be up front.
02:59 And then when our bat was up front against their defensive front, and
03:04 felt like they were gonna try to bliss us up inside and attack us.
03:07 And obviously, that's what they did.
03:08 So they were trying to get some things out of his hands quick early in the game.
03:11 And unfortunately, it didn't go our way.
03:15 Start off 14, down 14, and their offense hasn't touched the field.
03:20 That's obviously not a great recipe to start the game off.
03:24 But not good on third downs, cuz a lot of them were third and
03:27 longs in that situation.
03:30 But I tell you, starting with Brendan, you all know this.
03:34 He's a competitor and he competed and he wants to win.
03:37 But there's other guys I thought that, Billy Kemp has been practicing on one leg.
03:43 He battled all game forwards, played a lot of snaps.
03:46 It's great to get Malachi back out there, get some playing time.
03:49 And obviously productive and obviously excited about his future here.
03:53 And JR, JR missed a couple days because of sickness.
03:57 Comes back to battle.
03:58 So I mean, there's a lot of growth.
03:59 Obviously, not the results any of us want, not the start any of us wanted.
04:03 And got a group of kids that are hurting, coaches are hurting.
04:06 Cuz we've been making progress and today,
04:09 just took a step back with the start of that game.
04:12 And cuz they're a ball control team on offense, so
04:16 just really put us in a bad spot for the start.
04:19 >> What you guys wanna do here, how much of a setback is it to be having a
04:23 disappointing year in year one in terms of recruiting, building fan base?
04:27 And is that something that you can worry about?
04:30 >> No, I tell you what, again, just like we'll ask our players to have a one day
04:34 mentality, we've gotta take a one day mentality.
04:36 We've gotta be great learners from our experiences.
04:40 And that allows us as young men here in the program, and as men and
04:45 women who are leading these young men, the opportunity to continue to
04:49 pick up that rock like Sisyphus and take it to the top.
04:53 And then just like Sisyphus does, you push it back down that mountain and
04:58 pick it back up and go back to the top.
05:00 >> After Pitt got those two offensive touchdowns in the first quarter,
05:06 you've kept them out of the end zone.
05:07 What changed defensively the rest of the game?
05:10 >> I don't know if anything changed defensively other than it, again,
05:13 obviously, again, it's in college football.
05:15 Both sides are gonna make some plays.
05:17 And our guys did a nice job of fighting.
05:20 And like I mentioned, as far as having a short memory, which, and
05:25 if you just take that mentality, we won't be the only team in college football that
05:30 gave up a first series touchdown.
05:32 It's the same across the country.
05:34 And you gotta be able to respond.
05:36 And I know that the young men, they're on defense, are excited for
05:40 the opportunity and challenge that we have coming in here next week.
05:43 [BLANK_AUDIO]