Brennan Armstrong: "Our Mindset Was to Hit Them in the Mouth Early"
No. 22 NC State quarterback Brennan Armstrong met with the media via Zoom following the Wolfpack's 39-20 win over North Carolina Saturday evening.
Armstrong completed 22 of his 31 pass attempts against the Tar Heels for 334 yards and three touchdowns. He also rushed for 22 yards on nine carries.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Armstrong’s interview in the player above.
“It means everything. I've had a few senior days, and I just kept coming back, so I was like, “This is the one. I have no more eligibility left, so this is my last game. It feels really good to have a five-game winning streak and to come out here and beat Carolina. It's funny; I still always look them as a rivalry, even at Virginia. This one still felt the same to me. I really wanted to win and put together a clean game. We put some points on the board. I thought we left a few out there, but we came up big when we needed to and got the job done. It just feels really good to get a team win five games in a row. We're rolling, so we get to get healthy this next month and figure out what we're going for the bowl game. We'll see you guys there.”
“Credit to the training staff here. They got me ready. We were just rehabbing, getting my body ready. I took a shot last game, and I had a previous thing in '21 that was there, and it kind of got re-aggravated. We did the best we could, and I was like, “This is my final one. I'm not gonna not play.” I slid a little bit more. I didn't get some first downs that I thought I probably could have or should have, especially on third-and-one, but I was just trying to be smart unlike I had been sometimes throughout the season. I slid a little bit morel, but that's what it takes, right? It sort of takes toughness, and I tried to bring that. The guys rallied around it. I guess we got to see the results with our offense and the team. That's who I've been for a long time, and I just try to push that on the team.”
“I think it's just momentum. Our mindset going in was to hit them in the mouth quick and early. We did that, and we knew, if we just kept hitting them in the mouth, we're going to get points on the board. Like I said, there was some drives in the endzone we'd like to get seven points and pull that game away, but overall, we got points every time we were down there. I thought we moved the ball well. Once the third and fourth quarter got going, we were trying to still be smart, take care of the ball, and get that clock milked out. We knew our defense was going to come up big, and they did with the two turnovers at the end. Overall, it's just momentum that the four weeks that we've had carry into this last one, and then it's rivalry week, so that enough should get the guys fired up.”
“Personally speaking, I can't speak for everyone, but it's another game in a sense. I know it's a big game, and it's a rivalry game, but what we did the last four games, those weren't rivalry games, but they're another very important game in our schedule. It was the next game. It's the next game. To get the exact words Coach [Dave] Doeren said: 'We're going to have emotions, but you've got to control them. Don't let them get out of hand.' I think we did that. I think we did that really well. I think we were clean with penalties. I know we had a few that kind of hindered us, but other than that, we were really clean. Like I said, we didn't turn the ball over, and that helps. I think that's a recipe to winning. Winning the turnover margin will win every game, and that's just what the facts and the stats say. We did that the past four or five games.”
“I see myself as both [a Cavalier and a Wolfpacker]. I hope that the fans and people in Virginia see me as [a Cavalier] for the time I put in there. I tried to be the same guy that this fan base has seen and this team has seen here: Toughness, character, integrity, just being a good leader. I try to give that to both teams. At the end of the day, it just matters what my teammates think, but with who I am, I just try to portray that and be a good role model. Both experiences were is huge for me. The experiences I had in Virginia for those five years and then coming here the experiences I've had here, I've learned so much. You learn so much playing football just in general. It’s a lot of highs and lows, and my career has been that. I just continue to push. We’re riding a wave right now, and we've got to continue to do that. I don't know what my what my career is going to look like moving forward, and I don't know what my life's going to look like moving forward. I've learned a lot through these, and I'm going to continue to do that throughout my life.”
“K.C. [Concepcion] is an insane player. I've never seen a true freshman like him before. We started to realize who we were as an offense and our identity, and we tried to get him the ball. As the season progressed, I felt the offense, not just K.C., but the guys understood more of what we're trying to do, how we're going to do it, and what's effective, and I think overall, as the season's went on, I've really seen like a tremendous step forward in our offense. As we played and scored in the offense, you can see that Overall, I think the chemistry is getting built pretty quickly. It just takes a little bit, and as you play games and as things have went on, it's gotten a lot better."