NC State linebacker Caden Fordham met with the media to discuss the Wolfpack's road loss at Duke.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.
What was the message in the locker room after the game?
At the end of the day, we just got to play better. I mean, we come out swinging, doing our thing, and then we letting teams get back into it. We can't let that happen. We got to when we get in those positions, we got to end the game. It's plain and simple. We just can't let teams back into it.
How is the momentum swing like going into halftime, third quarter?
Yeah, I mean, it's football. It happens. Obviously you don't want that to happen, but at the end of the day, we got to go out and respond as part of the game, and obviously we didn't do that as much as we needed to.
So, is it too simple to just reduce this game to you guys turned it over a lot? They didn't. You guys literally outgained them by like 100 yards. Too simple to reduce it just to the turnovers.
Yeah, I mean obviously you can't do that, but we also got to get turnovers on defense. At the end of the day, it's it's a team sport, so it's all of us. It's not it's not offense versus defense.
Seems like the defense still struggling to find its footing a little bit. What's the message in the locker room?
Yeah, we just got to continue to communicate. It starts with those linebackers. We got to communicate and get out there so we can play fast and and do our thing. But right now we're we're not doing that to the level we need to, so, we got to get that fixed.
What was Duke able to do? You know, Mensa obviously was able to extend some plays there, but what were they able to do that kind of pitch you guys off guard?
It goes back to the passing game. We just got to be better at communicating, u making sure we get to the quarterback and get pressure, take that time to throw down, not give him as much time. So, that's something we got to fix as well.
What changed in halftime? They had 149 yards in the entire first half. In the first two drives, in the second half, they had 150.
Yeah, we just, like I said man, we just didn't come out and respond the way we needed to. Coming out of the half, we can't get lazy. We can't let teams back in the games. We got to go out and when we get a lead, we got to put it away. It's simple.
Big picture, you guys are still 3-1. You're in pretty shape. Is that kind of the way you guys head out after this one?
It's going to suck going in there watching this film tomorrow, but it's a big learning thing. You can say we're 3-1, but we don't want to lose any games. It sucks to lose, but there's a lot of learning that comes from this, especially when you have to lead in the game. So yeah, there's going to be a lot of learning from this one.
