N.C. A&T Alumni Times

North Carolina A&T head coach Sam Washington’s thoughts on the game: “I thought offensively we played well enough to win the game. Defensively we did not play well. Our special teams let us down a time or two as well. Those are the things we will address immediately. We will get them fixed but it's time to move on to the next game.”

Coach Washington on addressing the loss: “I have not spoken with the team. Hopefully, we will do that later on today. Through all of this, we are still in the race and as far as I am concerned, we are still going to win the race. We do have that to look forward to. I am very excited for this week and depending on how we bounce back shows how much character we have. So here we go.”

Coach Washington’s thoughts on how to keep the team focused despite a short week to prepare for the next game: “We just move everything we usually do on the regular week ahead one day. We generally don't practice on Fridays, but Friday will have a walk-through. We will close the gap that way.”

Coach Washington’s thoughts on the health of his team after playing a physical game: “I really believe the heat did more damage than they did physically. We had a few guys cramp up during the game because of the heat. I think that played a bigger part than the physicality of the game.”

Coach Washington’s thoughts on whether he could have prevented the trash talk throughout the game: “I don't think so because it happens so frequently and in so many different places it would have been hard for me to be in two different places to prevent it. I could have done a better job of getting my team into the locker room. That’s the only thing that I would have done over.”

Coach Washington’s thoughts on moving forward: “That's yet to be seen. On the other hand, I think it's very important that we get this last game behind us. That game can't help us or hurt us and no way. Especially me I have to let it go. So that we can move forward.”

Coach Washington’s thoughts on keeping his team focused during homecoming week: “We have a ritual of keeping our players from the activities that occur during the week of homecoming to keep them focused on our game. We cannot play as we played on Sunday, so we must remain focused despite the major distractions. “

Coach Washington on teaching his players on how to play with emotion but under control: “We're going to start with that today. We're going to teach them about guidelines of playing under control despite having high emotions. We're going to practice some activities that help us with performing like that in the future.”

Coach Washington thoughts on backup quarterback Jalen Fowler’s play during the game: “He was a little timid at first, but eventually he settled in. He made some great throws. He made some big third-down conversions. He kept everything moving and his last drive was impressive. We had the opportunity to win. I wish Jalen would have thrown the ball a little higher into the end zone, it would have given us a better chance. But he put the ball in the right place.”

Coach Washington’s thoughts on the play of the defense: “I thought the defense played bad overall. There's no particular area. Secondary didn't play well. Linebackers missed some fits. We missed some tackles. We didn't get the penetration we needed, and really we just started out flat.”

Coach Washington on whether the delay contributed to the defense coming out flat: “Absolutely, I can say that. I can say it was a thousand things. The key is they didn’t play well. Our travel wasn't the norm, but we are not going to use that.”

Coach Washington thoughts on what was the reason for the halftime scuffle: “It was my fault. It was my fault for not getting them in the locker room. I should have had a plan in place going into the locker room, and I didn't so it's my fault.”