Rutgers Head Coach Greg Schiano
Opening Statement
"Thanks for sticking around. Again, I want to recognize our student section. I thought they were awesome. They really bring the energy. They formulate a home field advantage for us, so that was really cool. Guys found way to win the game. Our goal was to be 1-0 at the end of this Virginia Tech season, and I say that, and I know there are people that say, oh, well that's coachspeak again. Here is the deal. I want everybody to understand the amount of effort that goes into one game. If you had to think, I have to do this 12 times you would psych yourself out. That's why we say it's a Virginia Tech season. You pour so much into that week, that season, and now tonight you got to take a break and start over and do it again into the Michigan season. If you don't do it -- I don't know, I'm not tough enough to look at it as 12 straight. I got to look at one at a time, and that's why you are team does it. That's really where's it's at. We found a way to be 1-0 in the Virginia Tech season. I'm really happy about that. We didn't play our best at times, but our guys figured it out. That's part of it."

Q. You were up 21-16 and looks like they're starting to gain some momentum. Kyle rips off that run. Talk about that turnaround play there and how they were able to stay the course.
GREG SCHIANO: "Yeah, I mean, I think today the whole day was chopping, right? It was all about whether things go good, whether things go poorly, you can't be thinking about the past and you can't be focusing on the future. You got to stay right here and chop the moment, and that's what our guys did. Because sometimes the moment wasn't great. You swing the axe and it does nothing. It hits and bounces off the tree. What do you do, quit? No you keep swinging it because eventually it'll do it. We're really learning how to do that. You have to. We play in the best league in college football. We have to learn how to do that to have a chance."

Q. What did you think of how Gavin played today?
GREG SCHIANO: "I thought Gavin did exactly what we needed to win to be 1-0. He ran the ball really well, and most of all he protected the football. When we don't turn it over we're tough to beat. He did a very good job."

Q. How have you felt about Gavin's development?
GREG SCHIANO: "I thought he did a good job in the first two games. Some days it's just not there, and you don't force it. You take what the defense gives you and that's what we did.
We got improve. It's not just Gavin. We got to improve in every area. There was a couple plays where we ran the wrong route so it looked like we were out of sync. Well, we were out of sync. There is a lot that goes into each play. I was so proud of him the way he took care of the football, the way he ran the ball. That's what -- we know he can do that. The passing game will pick up."

Q. Defense, especially after they made it a close game and came back and then they came back and really shut them down for the rest of...
GREG SCHIANO: "Drones really gave us issues, right? He ran the ball well. He scrambled well. That can get you a little out of whack if you're not careful. We had to keep hitting the reset button. Just keep hitting the spot. It's going to work. You just got to hang in there. It was frustrating, right? They had him what appeared to be dead to rights and he gets out of there, and that can take its toll on you if you allow it. Once that play is done you can't think about it. You got to move on. We have to think about it because we have to make adjustments. They need to go play the next play, and they did, and found way to make enough stops to be 1-0."

Q. What's the significance being 3-0 going into Michigan to take your shot at a really good team?
GREG SCHIANO: "Yeah, I don't know. I don't know the significance. We worked really hard to be 3-0, but the most important thing is after today we're 1-0 this season. So we're going to relax a little bit tonight and then it's right back to work tomorrow. We know what's coming. We know what's coming the rest of the year. I mean, that's the league we play in. That's what we love about it."

Q. Kyle Monangai with back-to-back games with over 100 yards, another productive day for him on the ground. What did you see in terms how he played and just how he has developed as the season has gone on?
GREG SCHIANO: "Yeah, he's running very, very hard, running smart, running determined. Thank goodness, right, because he's helped us win games."

Q. Any concern that the offense might have got too conservative in the third quarter?
GREG SCHIANO: "No. No. Maybe you go for it on that fourth and one there at mid-field, you know, but up 21 to 3, that's not what I'm going to do right there in that situation. I'm going to make them go the whole field, and then if they do, they do. That's part of it."

Q. Coach, how important it was to start off the game with a fumble recovery on defense and then the rushing touchdown on offense?
GREG SCHIANO: "It was huge. Yeah, I mean, at the beginning of the day -- again, we needed that takeaway. The two takeaways gave us on opportunity. The good thing, we got the ball down in the red zone and we scored three touchdowns in the red zone. That's not easy to do. We got to keep doing that. If you get the ball down in the red zone you got to find a way to score by 6s, not 3s."

Q. Second straight game where Kyle Monangai in the second half running stronger, running harder, reminiscent of some of the running backs you had your first time here. Can you speak to his work ethic and what you see from him that third and fourth quarter when defenses are wearing down?
GREG SCHIANO: "Well, I think it certainly is important to be able to continue to call the runs. It's like if we were a boxer those are body blows, body blows, body blows. Eventually a guy drops his hands because the body blows hurt too much. That's when you can take a knock-out shot. If you're winning the game then you have a chance to continue to do that. If you get behind it's hard to get all those body blows in. That was important, getting the lead today, and being able to do that. They're a very aggressive defense, well-coached, but I thought if we could play with a lead today that we would be able to wear them down. I think that's what happened."

Q. Aaron Lewis, eight tackles, had some big plays in the second half. Just talk about his play today.
GREG SCHIANO: "I thought Aaron showed up with a big way. You know, that two-point stop where he sweeps the ankle on the guy, I mean, that's a significant play at the time. But I thought he played at a high level and we're going to need him to do that certainly. He's one of our better players."

Q. Christian Dremel was a walk-on for this program and worked his way up to an important role; gets rewarded with his first touchdown today. Can you just talk about his journey and career and what he's meant for this program?
GREG SCHIANO: "I have the utmost respect for Christian Dremel. He's an incredibly hard worker. He is a team guy. He's tough. He's been bumped up. We don't talk about it, but he has toughed it out. I think our whole team has a lot of respect for that young man."

Q. Run through the guys that were on the report, Needham, Long, and Brantley I'm assuming is still an NCAA thing. But just what kept those guys out of the game, and can you share anything about their long-term prognoses?
GREG SCHIANO: "I think we'll get them all back at different times. I can't tell you about Brantley. That's a different story. But injury-wise I think we'll get them back at different times. Might be a little bit for some of them, but we'll just -- guys are working hard. I think everybody, they readjust. If you get an injury you readjust your vision, what you can do now. I always tell guys that are injured, I don't want to know what you can't do. I want to know what you can do. If I can't run right now, I can sure watch tape. I can sure fit against the screen, where if supposed to fit if I'm a defensive player. I can move where I'm supposed to go as an offensive player. I can lift my upper body. I can eat right. I can sleep. I can heal. Let's focus on what can we can do, and I think our guys are doing that. We have great medical team that cares for them and gives them all that instruction. At the end of the day they have to do it and they are. I'm pleased with that."

Virginia Tech Head Coach Brent Pry
Opening Statement
"Thank you to our fans that made the trip and came out to support us. If we got back in that game, I appreciated their effort and their energy in that stadium. They had a nice atmosphere there today. I appreciate the folks that came out. I give credit to Rutgers and Coach Schiano, (his) fourth year in the program, doing some good things. (They have) good size, they've built depth, they're playing smart football. I thought they did a nice job today."

On staying in the game when the opponent is running the ball well:
BRENT PRY: "I don't think the numbers looked like that in the beginning of the fourth. I think the short-yardage run was a backbreaker. I think the quarterback hurt us running the ball for three quarters. We have to do a better job there. I think being able to finish, we had a defensive breakdown on third and one. It's 21-16, it's third and one, and we don't have the edge on defense and he gets out. We can't do that on anybody, let alone the quarterback. Then, not being able to finish. They bend your ears back, came off of the ball, and were able to close it out running the ball."

On young guys filling in today:
"We have got to build depth, you guys have heard me talk about that. Of course, Alan Tisdale didn't play, and you just got to get Will Johnson, and even George Ballance, we have to get some guys coming along. I think at safety, obviously Nasir [Peoples] out, [Jalen] Stroman didn't play the second half, Mose Phillips III and Jalen Jones, converted receivers, these guys, we have to keep bringing them along. I think developing these guys is critical. We have got Mansoor [Delane] playing some safety. We have got [Derrick] Canteen trained to play there a little bit. Takye Heath went in the game at receiver, suffered an injury in the first series, and wasn't able to play. Dante Lovett got some work, Braylon Johnson got some work, and not just in their units, but also on special teams."

On Kyron Drones first career start:
"I would say (it was) inconsistent. I think there's some really good things. He made it hard to defend him. I think he had some nice balls today, he did a really nice job running the ball. He did miss a few reads that I think left some plays on the field. His decision making was pretty good. First college start, I think there will be a lot to build from. Certainly some good things, but I think he would be the first to say a bunch of things that we need to be better at."

On Grant Wells:
"He was not able to play today. He didn't practice a whole lot this week. He was an emergency guy."

On digging themselves a hole and almost getting out of it two weeks in a row:
"I have to look at that first as a head coach. I think we have self-inflicted wounds, the fumble and the missing tackle. We got out after the fumble in the first series and we got a free-hitter behind the line of scrimmage and missed a tackle. Again, plays that need to be made. We have to start that. I don't know if it's a confidence thing, or the way we start practice, we are going to look as a coach and see. Certainly talked about it among the players. We know the team that we can be, there's signs of it in both of these loses, there's signs of it in moments. We have to be the team that we are capable of being more consistently throughout the four quarters."

On the fight his team put up today to keep themselves in the game:
"That's what I told them, it's hurtful for everybody in that locker room that you work so hard to claw back in it, we just put ourselves just too much in a hole to overcome. We are not that type of team, the margin of error for us is very small. We can't afford to make those kinds of mistakes early in a game, and then just bounce right back. That stuff can't often enough, I'm sure. I am encouraged by the positive things, there is good fight, and there are guys that stepped up and made good plays. Da'Quan Felton, Kyron [Drones], [Bhayshul] Tuten, they're doing good things. We just have to put it together a little better."