DIV-1

Stop The Run Takes On A Whole New Meaning This Week

North Carolina A&T head coach Sam Washington opening statement… "Good afternoon everyone, happy to be here again with you guys. This game was a tough ballgame, and we knew going into the game that it would be tough. They are an "O-fer" team, but they don't play like that, and if you look at their previous games, they were ahead going into the fourth quarter as many as 21 points, very similar to what we had and that turned around. Going into the contest, we knew it was going to be very important that we got started fast and finished strong. That was the motto, and I thought we did that. Offensively, we came out and put points on the board and moved the ball. Defensively, I thought we played perhaps our best half of football for this season thus far. We were able to get pressure on the quarterback, and everything was going according to plan. Then in the second half, we were receiving the ball thinking that it was going to be big for us, and we had turnovers, two in particular, that made for a short field for North Alabama, and they capitalized on both turnovers. That's why we put so much emphasis on protecting the football because when you have those kinds of mishaps, bad things normally happen. I was very pleased and proud with the way we finished the game. The guys never quit. They never wavered, but you have to tip your hat to North Alabama. They fought. They didn't give up. They didn't quit, and they continued to play at a very high level, and they capitalized on those turnovers and turned them into points. They also changed the tempo. They went to a faster pace offensively to kind of get us off balance, and it did, but I thought we finished strong."