Postgame Q&A: Jim Grobe

Postgame Q&A from Jim Grobe following Wake Forest's dramatic 33-30 overtime win over Duke on Saturday in Winston-Salem

What about Alphonso today?
"The thing with [Alphonso] is he had a couple of plays he could have made last week he just didn't come up with. I felt watching him in practice this week this would be a game he would do some things in. The blocked punt was huge as well as the two picks. None bigger than the final play. He is a guy that wants to make plays and does."

On Aaron Curry...
"I have never been more impressed with the effort of a player. He was banged up pretty good but he didn't back down a bit. He responded like a champion. He's a tough guy."

On the offense...
"Very encouraged. Wouldn't have picked this score before the game. We are still missing some guys and with Griffin out we had a freshman come in and play. I thought Doug Weaver came in and fought hard. Would be nice to get Wooster back and Adams couldn't go so we were a bit of a skeleton crew. Did a nice job missing the run and pass."

Is the offense still a work in progress?
"We know who we are right now. We've got to run the ball better and we need a fullback on the field. We are not a total spread football team. That's not us. We need to be able to do that but our I formation stuff is helping."

On winning without a stellar defensive game:
"How about Shane Popham? That was so cool. I have not been very happy with him the past three weeks. I gave him the first couple weeks being he was a rookie getting thrown in the fire. We loved him up a bit but we didn't do that this week. Great to see him win a game for us when he had been taking a lot of heat from our fans and staff. He has a good leg and has a bit of confidence today. The offense also took advantage of opportunities and it is nice to win another way. The defense is not happy but Duke was good on offense."

On the penalties...
"We are typically very good with that but we had four personal fouls today. There was a lot of chippy play out there on both sides but seemingly we were the only ones doing it but it was going on both ways. They always catch the second guy and we must have been the second guy all the time. We can't do that."

On Alphonso lining up on the line for punt block?
"He did that a few times last week and just got tripped a few times. One of the issues is I'm too conservative. Sometimes I'm so conservative it makes me want to throw up I'm so conservative. Coach Knorr has our punt return team and he has wanted to go after punts all year. I was more content to let Phonz catch it and try and break one. I got tired of getting no pressure on the punter so last week we turned Phonz loose."