Virginia head coach Tony Elliott addresses UVA's 31-28 loss to North Carolina.
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00:00I did, I did, just you know the mentality of next man up.
00:07Find out on Thursday that we're gonna be down the big three.
00:11They're not gonna be able to play in six and 86.
00:14They're gonna have to step up and 26 was gonna have to step up.
00:17The ability is not to carry more.
00:19Paris was gonna be down.
00:20So we knew we weren't gonna be at full strength, but they didn't finish.
00:24And they just came out with a mindset of they decided they were gonna play to win.
00:30And in the first half, that's what you saw.
00:32And so that's a positive that you can show them what they're capable of.
00:36When you just show up and quit worrying and just play for each other.
00:42So definitely a glimpse there.
00:43And the resilience there at the end of the fourth quarter.
00:46But then also, we see a growth opportunity in the third quarter.
00:50We talked about competitive stamina a lot.
00:52And football comes down to five, six, seven plays in the course of the game.
00:57And we didn't make those plays in the third quarter.
01:00That put us in the position that we were going into the fourth quarter,
01:03trying to come from behind in the two score game.
01:07Mike and Greg.
01:08Attorney, you mentioned some of that fight in the fourth quarter.
01:10The last touchdown, Billy Kemp,
01:12limps off of an injury then makes the 14 yard conversion on third down.
01:16Brennan, that didn't look like an easy physical touchdown to score head first.
01:20What does that say about those guys, that they have that in them?
01:23Right, I think you've seen that all year long,
01:25that these young men got some pride to them.
01:28They're competitive, they wanna win.
01:32But I've also said, you gotta learn how to win.
01:35And I think today, the guys learned or got closer to learning how to win.
01:41But there's no quit, no fight, gotta play four quarters, doesn't matter.
01:45Again, going back to the growth mindset, we talked a lot about that.
01:49It doesn't matter what the situation is.
01:51It's all about the next play and an opportunity to do better.
01:54So really proud of those guys, the way that they fought.
01:57But man, this one hurts a lot because they were so close.
02:01And just gotta encourage the guys to continue to persevere through
02:05the adversity because the joy's on the other side.
02:08And then along the same lines, those last few plays defensively,
02:12you look very frustrated with the penalties.
02:15John said he coaches them to finish, so where's the balance for you?
02:18It's gotta be smart, gotta be smart.
02:21Don't want any personal fouls,
02:22don't want anybody ejected from the game in that situation.
02:27We're trying to see if we can force them to make a mistake.
02:30But at the same time, too, you gotta be smart right there.
02:33And one thing we talk about is winning and losing with class.
02:36And they're at the end of the game, I want it.
02:39Cuz then it spoils over and
02:40you see the guys get in each other's face after the game.
02:42We don't have any time for that.
02:44When we win, we wanna be humble, and we wanna be humble in defeat as well.
02:49Are the issues to the three receivers long term, does it vary?
02:53I think Wicks is probably the longer term of all of them,
02:57with the bone bruise that he has coming off of that.
03:00But it's nothing that we believe is gonna be too long term.
03:04It's more gonna be a pain tolerance as he can come back.
03:07KT was a decision that trying to do what's best for him and the football team.
03:12And we felt like not risking it this week and
03:15being able to give him a little bit of time to recover.
03:18But we expect him to be back in practice next week, ready to go.
03:21And then Lavelle will be a day to day situation.
03:25Jackie.
03:26Second point in that career, high perceptions today.
03:29What can he bring to the offense?
03:31Is it something that you guys see in practice throughout the season?
03:34Both the tight ends and that position right there, if you know philosophically,
03:3811 personnel, offensive philosophy, those guys, I mean, they're critical.
03:43They're just as important as the quarterback.
03:45Really, they're the glue that holds everything together.
03:47And when those guys can be effective in the passing game and
03:51give you that extra hat in the run game, it gives you a lot of flexibility so
03:55that you don't have to do a ton of personnel changes.
03:59But today we wanted to do some more personnel changes because we knew we were
04:03down the big three and we wanted to see if they could adjust and
04:06kind of keep them off balance.
04:08But to see Sackett come on and catch the ball and be consistent and
04:13look to run the score afterward, that's what I'd like to see today.
04:18Sometimes those guys wanna catch the ball and I caught it and I run with it.
04:21They wanna fall down or look to go down or expect to get hit.
04:24But I thought today he was playing with that competitive toughness that we all
04:28know that he has and he came up big for us.
04:31He had some big plays in the course of the game and
04:33we needed him to considering the situation with the depth of that.