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Jim Grobe Q--A

Wake Forest improved to 2-0 and 1-0 in the ACC with its 28-27 win over North Carolina (1-1, 0-1 ACC) Saturday, Sept. 8, but will face a daunting challenge Saturday, Sept. when it plays No. 5 Florida State (2-0, 0-0 ACC) in Tallahassee.
The Demon Deacons have won four of the last six meetings with the Seminoles, including a 35-30 win in Winston-Salem in 2011.
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Jim Grobe discussed his team's dramatic victory against the Tar Heels, the upcoming challenge and more in his weekly meeting with the media Tuesday, Sept. 11.
Has your heart-rate gone down a little bit since Saturday? "Yeah, a little bit. It's a little bit easier to breathe right now."
What have you seen on tape from Florida State? "They haven't been challenged. Their games have been over in the first quarter basically, so I don't know if that's good for us or bad for us. I think in our first two games we were challenged, and I think most coaches would feel like the challenge we had from North Carolina was probably good for you to have that kind of challenge and come out on top, but we're beat up pretty good."
"We had a lot of kids banged up. I know Florida State lost a real good defensive end, but I think for the most part they're a pretty healthy football team, so probably a pretty good tradeoff there I'd guess."
How important was it to be challenged like you were those first two games before you go down to such a hostile place in Tallahassee? "Well, I think it's good if you come out on top. It's not good to be challenged and lose, but I think having two wins under our belts and having to play in the fourth quarter for both of them was good."
"Like I said both games were very physical, and we're pretty battered and bruised right now, but I think we'll get everybody back. The biggest question's going to be Nikita [Whitlock] whether his ankle heals up. I don't think they found any structural damage. I don't think they found any bones that were broken or any problems like that, so if he doesn't have any ligament damage or those type things it's just a matter of how quickly he recovers."
"Kids all recover at different times. I think everybody else will be back. It's just will they be full-speed? We've talked about it before, but if you don't practice during the week how effective are you on Saturday? Some of your more veteran players that have played a lot of football probably still can go out and not have any problems, but younger guys are a bit more of a challenge."
On Hasan Hazime: "The great news was Hasan Hazime stepped up, and was fantastic. [He] had what we consider impact plays. [He] had the sack, caused the fumble, recovered the fumble, had one or two passes batted, came off on a pass-rush one time on a screen pass that looked like it was going to get out of the gate and he ran down the line of scrimmage and made the play. That was fun. I think Hasan stepped up, and made us feel a lot better about that position."
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