Postgame Q&A: Jim Grobe

Postgame comments from Wake Forest head coach Jim Grobe following Wake Forest's first loss of the season. The Demon Deacons fell to Navy 24-17 on Saturday.

Jim Grobe:
Coach, could you just not get a stop against their run game? "We knew going into the game we would have a tough time stopping their option stuff. It is really hard to simulate it in practice. I thought as the game went on our kids got used to the speed of the game pretty good we just gave them too many opportunities. Our offense did not get anything going in the second half very well."

Why couldn't the offense get going? "Obviously turnovers. I told our kids you can't beat anyone turning the ball over like that, that I know of -- especially against a good Navy offense. We didn't do anything well tonight. We thought we could run the football a little bit and we didn't do that very well. We thought we had some throws we could make and didn't do that very well. We couldn't find anything that felt good to us for four quarters."

On the play along the line of scrimmage: "We had several short yardage situations where they got into our backfield. Their defensive front was playing with good pad level and they just did a nice job defensively."

What is the problem with the run game? "Part of it is that Navy plays the run pretty good. They go against the run every day in practice. We weren't surprised they were tough against the run. We weren't getting as much push as we need and we just aren't good at running the football right now."

Is it shocking to see Riley through so many picks? "Yes. Honestly it is. It is not something we expect. A big part of our offense is throwing the football. We may have got a bit spoiled by him not throwing interceptions. Tonight was just a bad night."

What are your thoughts on Navy dropping eight in coverage? "It really means you have to be patient. You have to take what you can take and you need to run the ball better. Honestly, when you have got people dropping that many guys into coverage you have got to run the football better."