Head Coach Mario Cristobal addressed the media after the 20-6 loss to NC State.
He was asked about making a change at quarterback:
"I think it's not just pointing a finger at Tyler [Van Dyke]. I think that offensively there's things that we need to do better. The passing game certainly hasn't been what it needs to be. Especially when we started the season in such a strong manner, but it's tied into us being able to put it all together and synchronize it. Sometimes, the routes are covered, smothered a little bit; sometimes, protection's been fairly good for the most part. They brought a lot of zero blitz today and then played a lot of coverage, drop eight. So it's a little bit of everything. We got to coach it better. We got to get our guys to perform better. We've got to design a couple things that might help us see things a little bit more clearly, but a little bit of everything."
On true freshman running back Mark Fletcher:
"I thought he was really good. Really good. Really tough. Saw things really well against a defense that was really good. They don't allow much on the ground or in the air. Really good in protection also. He's a really good player. Going to be a great one.
On the defense:
"I thought they were awesome, man. They limited these guys. I don't know what the third down conversion rate was, but certainly was high-caliber for us for our defense. We limited them to under 50 plays, 50 snaps. When you do that, you should walk away with a favorable result. We put pressure on the quarterback, stopped the run, contained some of their explosive players for the most part, but they made a couple plays too. They played their hearts out. They gave us every chance to win the game. We win or lose together. There's no one over there pointing a finger at anybody on the other side of the ball, but we got to put together as a team."
On if they coaches know why there are struggles in the passing game:
"We do. It hasn't been what it's suppose to be, or what it was early on. I'm not sure if it's a little bit of everything...it's on us to fix it. We haven't done good enough. When I say that, we have to do it as an organization, players, coaches, scheme, design, execution, the whole thing. Sometimes it's this, sometimes it's that. We're out of sync. We're not throwing the ball and catching it really well. There's no one person to blame. It's all of us."
On Tyler Van Dyke's health:
"He's doing pretty well. At this point in the season, a lot of guys are banged up. I think he's feeling it like anybody else, but he's fighting through, and certainly, he doesn't make any excuses."
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