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#UNC players press conference with defensive back Kaleb Cost and QB Max Johnson
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here. Uh, and you guys start off 24/7.
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What went wrong when everything started
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to help and what was the mental
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challenge of not allowing snowball and
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trying to fight against that?
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I mean, we just got to be tougher as a
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team as a whole. You know what I'm
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saying? Like just taking it day by day,
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practice by practice, uh, drill by
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drill. And when it comes to game time,
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we just got to be tougher all around
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and, uh, compete better as a team.
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Is there a point as you look back right
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now in the game you thought this was
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getting out of hand and you felt maybe a
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little bit helpless in
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I mean absolutely I I wouldn't say I we
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felt helpless at all like we still kept
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grinding we still kept pushing and to to
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try to get some production out of that
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game but uh all in all like we lost the
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game at the end of the day and it didn't
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went it it didn't go our way but we just
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we we we still kept going forward
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Grand Sitorials on the side. I know
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there wasn't really a whole lot u going
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for you guys, but the crowd and the
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environment seem to be awesome. What do
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you have to say about them and showing
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up for you guys?
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We absolutely appreciate Tar Hill
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Nation. Uh and we we we would need that
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every single week. Absolutely. We we're
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sorry we let y'all down and it won't
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happen again. We promise you that for
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sure.
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Let's go to Brian back here.
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You guys seem pretty confident in the
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weeks leading up to this game. How much
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of a shock or disappointment was the
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effort that you guys put out there?
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Um, it's definitely disappointing, but
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it's just back to the drawing board
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again. We're going to go hard. We're
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going to go hard every single day this
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week going into Charlotte and make sure
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that never happens again.
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Let's go to Jeremiah.
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Yeah. I obviously haven't had a chance
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to, you know, really look at it and
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everything like that, but I guess how
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would you evaluate the I guess sense of
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cohesion, connectivity, I guess, were
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you guys as a unit going into the game
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and then also just kind of, you know,
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reflecting after the game?
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We're definitely connected as a unit.
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We're still connected as a unit, uh,
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defensively, offensively, and as a team.
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Like, we understand what what happened
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tonight, and we're going to fix it.
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We're going to solve it. Figure out
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everything we need to do to solve it.
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and do that.
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Caleb over here athletic. Yeah, same
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similar question, but to that point, I
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mean, morale-wise for yourself, like how
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do you sort of keep things high? How do
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you prevent this from, you know, maybe
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lingering a little bit?
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Uh, try to just try to keep positive
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energy just all around. Um, obviously
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it's a little negative energy, but um,
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as we come together as a team and come
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together as a band of brothers, uh, and
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realize what happened today, uh, we we
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it it's a it's a team. It's a team. it
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it's from top to bottom from coaches all
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the way down to players. So, um yeah, we
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just got to go back to the drawing board
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like I said.
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Let me go David.
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How did you feel like the game plan was
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the game plan that prepared you for what
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you saw tonight or were you kind of
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surprised by some of the things that TCU
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did that they had success with?
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We were prepared for the night. We were
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prepared but it just didn't go in our
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favor. So,
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let's go to Emma. Ken, just would you
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say this was the team that you guys saw
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in preseason? I mean, you guys the way
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the way you guys practiced this
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preseason. Did Did your performance
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tonight surprise you guys in any way?
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Uh, no. We knew they was a tough team.
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We knew they was a competitive team. We
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knew that they were going to come in our
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house uh and try to beat us. We knew no
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team was going to give us anything. So,
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uh, that definitely wasn't a factor of
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anything. Like, we knew what we had. We
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knew the opponent very well and we just
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didn't execute at the time we did.
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Time for a few more.
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Caleb, how would you describe the mood
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in the locker room after the game and
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what did coach say to you guys?
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Uh we're just we're just moving forward.
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Just moving forward. And the mood is
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fine. the mood. Obviously, uh
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uh people are obviously we're we're
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we're angry as a team, but like I said,
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it's back to the drawing board and we're
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going to use that to take the practice
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and take the next opponent.
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Let's go to Dennis in the back.
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You talk about the guys rallying
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together after this loss. Who are those
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leaders in the locker room because so
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many new guys?
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Everybody.
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Everybody. Sorry.
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Everybody. Everybody.
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Everybody.
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And last one here with Carro.
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Uh Kayla, can you talk a little bit
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about the impact of that semi-f
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I mean uh I mean it was a good run on
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them. Like it was a competitive play on
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them. Uh he broke out and made a good
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run obviously. Uh
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uh we just got to compete like keep
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competing just till the end like
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regardless of the situation or
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regardless of the play that just
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happened before or after whether it's a
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good play or a bad play like we got to
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keep going cuz obviously like the game
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went good at the beginning and it
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started going downhill but even with the
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good things like we got to keep our foot
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foot on their neck like regardless like
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regardless.
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Perfect. Thanks so much.
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Cool. And then we had played&m together
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and what a special moment. So
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let's go to Aaron here.
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Yeah, nice Aaron here to the AP. There's
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been so much attention and buzz about
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coach Bel coming in. I'm curious, how
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would you describe your feeling right
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now with a game that really got away
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from you guys? Is it shock? I mean, how
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do you sort of reconcile what happened?
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No, I mean, I thought we were prepared
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for the game. We prepared, you know, for
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um, you know, week and a half now for
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TCU specifically, you know, but we've
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been working on our fundamentals for,
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you know, this whole past year and um,
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you know, I thought we were prepared for
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the game, but you know, it didn't go our
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way. We we got to do a better job
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executing.
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Let's go to Andrew.
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Uh, Tario 24/7. Aside from the outcome
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tonight, it would be impossible to
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describe you being victorious and being
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successful tonight. the fact that you
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walked on the field and played given
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where you were this time of year.
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Can you kind of process that? And I I
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know that you guys are competitive want
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to win, but is there any emotion
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intertwined with processing that?
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I wouldn't say I wasn't. I mean, I was
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just so thankful and happy to be out
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there. I just, you know, threw the
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touchdown and threw the go ball to Vari
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and just gave God the glory just for,
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you know, just being blessed to be able
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to be out there. I can't, you know, I I
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couldn't see myself, you know, a year
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ago being where I am now. And but I
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always trusted that, you know, I had,
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you know, my faith in Christ and how
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that kind of motivated me, motivated me
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to get my, you know, my leg healthy and
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um but yeah, we got we got to do a
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better job of executing and um you know,
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we'll be ready to go next week.
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Let's go to Adam.
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Max, it obviously couldn't have been a
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better start for you guys out in the
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game. uh what did you make of the
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adjustments that TCU was able to make
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and the adjustments that it seemed like
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you guys weren't like you know what did
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you think changed how did they change
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the game and how how were you guys not
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able to react to to what they were
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I think we just you know we got to
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communicate better with each other um
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with you know what we're um you know
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with what we're doing um they they made
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some good adjustments um we we made some
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adjustments coming out of halftime and
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we just gota we got to go out there and
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execute better we had some things that
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were there Um, we just had to do, you
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know, a better job of, you know, going
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out there competing every single play
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and, you know, throughout the whole
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game.
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Let's go to D.
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Uh, ahead of ESPN. Kind of walk us
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through obviously go through the
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competition where you don't get the job.
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What was kind of your response to it and
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then how did you kind of prepare
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yourself to be ready for for tonight?
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Yeah, I mean, I've been in, you know,
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multiple quarterback battles in, you
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know, my career in college and it's it's
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crazy. There's I mean there's ups and
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downs and you know you've win some and
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then you lose some and you just kind of
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find a way to you know maximize your
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your spot where you are. You know
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whether you're a starter you're
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preparing to play whether you're the
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backup you're preparing to play it
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doesn't matter. Um so I think I was
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prepared to play this game and I
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prepared like I was a starter. Um I
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thought I had a a good camp and I was
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fully healthy the whole time and you
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know just just tried to work my butt off
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and um you know I felt like I I was just
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happy to be out there and you know play
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again and throw the ball and just um
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just very blessed. Let's go to Shelby.
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Shelby,
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sorry. I'm curious. Um, with Gio Lopez,
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the start obviously wasn't going as well
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for him as you would have thought. What
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were you saying to him on the sideline
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just to encourage him to stay?
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I think it's just doing a a good job of
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kind of keeping him, you know, motivated
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and um keeping the guys going. um he's
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you know started off hot and you know we
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kind of um got slow for a minute but um
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I think hopefully I haven't talked to
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him hopefully he's he's feeling better
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um but you know he's a good player and
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you know I think we learned a lot from
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each other just being able to bounce off
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bounce off ideas from each other and um
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just encourage each other
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athletic in your football career you've
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obviously seen a lot of different
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stadiums a lot of different atmospheres
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how would you sort of compare this one
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something else you see seen and then
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also for for fans who are maybe
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disappointed by the outcome tonight what
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would you say to As far as sticking,
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yeah, I mean it was special come out
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there and see the lights, you know, the
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Carolina blue lights. I mean, it was it
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was it was really special to be able to
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to run out, you know, out of that tunnel
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and kind of see everybody cheering and
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it was it was it was awesome just to
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kind of feel the whole vibe of the
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stadium. But I would just say to all the
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Carolina fans, you know, don't lose
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hope. I mean, we're going to continue to
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put our best foot forward. We're
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continue to work um and trust in each
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other. So,
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let's go to Brian
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off of Uh did you feel like the
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competition was close? Did you feel like
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you might get the call that you were the
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starter and then you've been through it
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where you are the starter, you get hurt
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the opportunity that may present itself
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here moving forward?
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Yeah, I mean I thought that I you know
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had a good fall camp. Um I thought I
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performed well. Um you know I'm not I
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expected to play. I mean that's that's
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the way I I'm always thinking. Um I'm
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never going to know you know not I'm not
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going to doubt myself. Um so I had faith
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in the way I competed in fall camp. Um,
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but I I I was ready to go tonight. So,
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let's go to Jeremiah in the back.
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Yeah, Matt. Um, when Bill and Caleb were
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in here, they were kind of talking about
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a regrouping, so to speak, back to
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drawing board type of mentality for you
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from an offensive perspective. What do
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you think is that first couple of
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priorities that you guys need to, you
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know, kind of hone in on?
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I'd say we got to communicate better um
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just with each other. We got to
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encourage each other, uplift each other.
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We know that, you know, wasn't a great
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showing for us tonight. So, I think we
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got to just like they said, just get
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back to the drawing board and, you know,
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dial up some things and get going.
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Let's go to Noah here.
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Noah stop target 247. What was it like
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driving onto the field there in the game
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and just what went through your head and
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what were you thinking? What were you
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thinking?
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Uh, again, like I was just so happy to
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be out there. Like I there was not a um
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a nervousness, you know, I've played a
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bunch of college football, so I mean I
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was I felt confident in myself to go out
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there, you know, execute what was
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called. Um, but again, just want to give
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God all the glory and the credit for
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allowing me just to, you know, be able
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to play the game of football still.
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Hey, uh, Max, you, like you said, you've
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been through this multiple times. I know
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you went through this your first year at
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LSU and then, of course, at&m, you know,
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what do what do you think when you go on
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the field, especially when your team's
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down, what what do you tell yourself?
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What what do you do on the field to just
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kind of get everything going, get
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everybody together, especially such a
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tough time? Yeah, I mean everybody goes
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through tough times, but it's just, you
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know, being able to encourage, you know,
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others around you, bring others up and
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uplift them. Um, just telling them to
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keep fighting, put it on film. It's
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going to get watched. So, you know, just
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keep fighting, give your, you know, put
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your best foot forward, never give up.
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That's the thing that we will not do
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here is we will never give up.
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And last one for Aiden here. Maxire
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obviously it was you wanted to go into
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the game but I imagine obviously going
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in for a teammate who's injured is not
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the ideal situation but you know you
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went in and provided some offensive
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spark and I guess talk about you know
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being able to throw that pass to your
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brother too. You know you guys growing
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up and to be able to finally do that on
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the same team.
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Yeah I mean we threw you know a couple
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touchdowns together when we were at
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Texas A&M. Um, man, it was it was I
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honestly didn't even know he was in the
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game. My brother was. I knew that. I
12:27
knew the play was called. We had a tight
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end there. I didn't know it was Jake at
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first and then once I threw it to him,
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it was what a special moment. Um, just
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to celebrate with him. It felt like we
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were little kids again, you know,
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playing PeeWee football and just going
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out there and celebrating. But, um, you
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know, we got to come to work next week
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and put on a better show.
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Perfect. Thanks so much everybody.
12:43
finance offer. Let go.
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