The Grounds

Junior Quarterback Michael Rocco

On his interception:
“The pass was intended for Tim Smith. The safety rolled down into cover three, and I tried to fit one in there. The ball was too low. It could have been a big play if I had gotten it over top of him, but the safety made a good play, and then made a good return. It wasn’t my best throw. We were going to run that play later in the game, and if I were to do it again I would try to get it to him a little earlier. Theball was just too low that time, and it got picked.”

On no longer being eligible for a bowl game:
“We’re not happy. You play for a bowl game, you play for championships, and you play to win. After a loss, it’s tough. Especially knowing that you’re not going to be able to go to a bowl game for our seniors and the guys graduating. But we’ll move on. We have a big one next week.”

Sophomore Quarterback Phillip Sims

On the dropped pass to Darius Jennings:
“It’s just one of those plays that you work on in practice. I’m going to be honest with you; in practice this week I really haven’t hit that play. It’s not my favorite play, if you were to ask anybody. I made a pretty decent throw on this one, but we just didn’t hit it tonight. It’s just the story of the night, I guess you could say.”

On the North Carolina defense:
“It’s a really talented defensive line that we played against tonight. This is what they do. They’re going to get after quarterbacks. They don’t do a lot of crazy stuff with linebackers, like bringing eight guys to overload you. They just let the front four go to work, and that’s how they make their money.”

Sophomore Running Back Kevin Parks

On the failed 4th and 1 near the end of the third quarter:
“It was a big turning point in the game. We get it, it’s a different ball game. I think it would have been a different story of a game. We came up short. We didn’t get in. It hurts.”

On Carolina’s defense on the 4th and 1:
“It’s one yard and you have to snip the end zone. I didn’t do a good job on my part getting in. You have to do anything possible to get in. That’s why I’m kind of hurt right now. You watch that film and learn from it, you learn from your mistakes and you fix those mistakes.”

On not going to a bowl this year:
“I think it will hit me in the morning, later on when I think about it. Give it up to Carolina, they came in and they played a really good game. They had a good game plan against us. We didn’t make the plays we needed to. It hurts right now, but we’ll bounce back we still have one game left in Blacksburg. We’ll see what happens.”

Senior Linebacker La’Roy Reynolds

On running back Giovani Bernard:
“Our mindset was to shut him down; I feel like that’s what we did. It was the other things that we should have focused on even more. He is a great back so our mindset going into the game, especially for our linebacking corps, was to limit him and shut him down in any way possible. He can put up big numbers reallyfast, so our goal was to contain him. They got a couple big breaks. Things just went their way tonight.”

On his emotions right now:
“It’s a lot of emotions. I love the fans, the energy everyone brings. I love the team so it’s disappointing. It hurts honestly. You put in so much work, so much effort, all the guys collectively. When everyone works extremely hard to reach a goal and you come up short. I tell all the young guys we have to value the game and value what it gives you. It gives you an opportunity to do something you love. Whenever you step on the field that’s how you have to approach it, enjoying the game you love. I appreciate everybody, all the fans, the program has been amazing.”