California head coach Justin Wilcox
Opening Statement:
"It's always great to get a win, I mean, we played hard. That's a good football team. They are talented. They came in and they did a good job, very competitive and put schemes in, made some adjustments at halftime, which we knew they would. So we were able to find a way to finish the game. We probably didn't finish it as well as we would have liked. A lot of little things, offensive, defensive, special teams, but we found a way to win the game. The guys battled which gave us so much to learn from in video, which is encouraging because it's a lot of more time to learn those lessons with a win. So, a lot of credit to North Carolina. I have respect for them and their program and, like I said, they have talented players. We are focused on fixing individual things we can do better, coaches, players, younger players in our program, and collectively as a team. That's what our process will be starting Monday when we get back."
 
Defensive impressions in the first half:
"The turnovers were huge. Taking the ball away and creating some field position, getting the score that was the difference in the game. Turnovers ratio is the number one indicator of where you are losing. So when you win the turnover battle, four to nothing, you are giving yourself a chance to win the game. In that situation, you would like to think that you could pull away. I think that shows we have a lot of work to do everywhere, and so it's great to see the guys reading the plays. Obviously, the guys catching the ball in the secondary, but also guys rushing the quarterback a couple of times, so it was great."
 
Fourth quarter offense and defense impression:
"Well, we weren't finishing plays as well on either sides of the ball. Defensively, they had some long fields like the first drive was nineteen plays. The second one was thirteen and, in each situation, it is four down territory and the rest of the game we were calling some things and if they ran the ball, we knew we would be a little bit softer, but those aren't the times to play zero coverage man to man, nevertheless throw a fade over the top of you. So there is some of that going on. It doesn't excuse missed tackles or missed assignments, which we had some of that. You've got to find a way to get a stop somewhere in those drives. Also affecting the quarterback in pass situations; we got to get better there, whether it's through pressure or four-man pass rush. So those are the things that are going to show up and are pretty evident in the last two drives. We had our opportunity to get them off the field, but missed tackles that showed up big and then things started bleeding and then all of a sudden, its second and eight to second and four and its totally a different deal. Now with them running the ball on the clock, so there's some of that going on, as well."
 
On Patrick Laird
"When he needs it, we'll spell him. We are going to use other people in certain situations in the way the game was going, that was the way we were playing it. There are other guys that will get reps, but we want to make sure we will take care of Pat as well as we can. He's a tough guy and he wants to compete. He wants the ball every down. We will protect him from himself in a lot of ways when it comes to that. Twenty-nine carries, that's a pretty good day. Threw the ball to him in the middle of the backfield, four catches. That's him being who he is and we've got to continue to work those other guys."

California Players
Patrick Laird, RB
Thoughts on the Cal defense:
"Loved it. Loved their performance, I really think this was a defensive win today. Obviously, the whole team is out there, offense, special teams, but I feel the defense helped steady the whole entire game. I loved seeing that, especially our offense - we have a lot of things to do better, and so it was good to see our defense was solid in the first game and help us get the win."
 
On Garber's play throughout the game:
"I thought all the quarterbacks showed a lot of poise, especially Chase. He was acting the same way he does on at practice on a Tuesday like he did out there today. You know, the little conversations between plays. He's the same kid I saw in practice during camp in the last month. Great to see that."
 
Jaylinn Hawkins, S
Thoughts on being a unit, and getting the win today:
"Just us coming out, preparing all week as a team, and as a unit, after practice coming in, studying plays, it just helps our team gel together especially on defense and reach respect for one another."
 
Thoughts on being called the "Takers":
 "I'm just happy we got the win. All those interceptions contributed to a win and that's the ultimate goal for the team It's a team thing."
 
Camryn Bynum CB
On his pass coverage:
"I just knew it was coming that I was there guy and I just knew I had to play my best because I don't want to be out there getting torched. I just knew I had to make a play."

North Carolina head coach Larry Fedora
 
On message to the team:
"It's the first game. We've got a long season. We talked about what our goals are and what we have to do. The most important thing right now is to start the recovery process for this next game. Then this next game is the most important."

On early offensive struggles:
"We couldn't get anything going in the first half offensively. We never got our running backs into the second level, to the linebacker level. It will be interesting to see on film what the real reason was, but we never got any consistency in the first half."

On quarterback Nathan Elliott's early struggles:
"Whether you get pressure or not as a quarterback, you need to make the right decisions. Unfortunately, we turned the ball over four times today, and if you turn the ball over like we did, you're going to have a hard time winning football games. You can still be in the game, but you're going to have a hard time winning the football game. They didn't turn it over and we turned it over four times. That's the difference in the game."

"Turnovers and penalties. That's the game right there."

"We were talking to him throughout the entire game. There's not one turnover that you make as a quarterback that you want to make. I didn't see any difference in him and his demeanor, the way he talked to us, or the way he tried to lead our football team. I'm sure it affected him but he's going to put it behind him and move on to the next play. We kept him in because we felt he gave us the best chance to win."

On team's defensive performance:
"I thought our defense played well enough to win a football game. I thought all day they gave great effort and got good pressure on the quarterback. We forced them to go to their quick game really the whole second half. I thought our guys played extremely well. The only other thing I would have liked to see from them would be a couple takeaways, but they played their hearts out. We were aggressive, we tackled. I thought we played really well on defense.

"I thought our defensive line controlled the line of scrimmage. On pass plays and run plays, I thought the defensive line did a really good job today."

On finding offensive flow late in the game.
"You get a little bit of rhythm, you get a first down, and you start getting some confidence that you can do some things. You get a little consistency and you start moving the chains, and that's the way the offense is built. If you can move the chains and get some tempo going, that's how you put a defense on their heels. We'll have to look at the film and figure out why it took so long to get going."

North Carolina Players
Antonio Williams, RB
On struggles in the first half.:
"They (Cal) played really good today and, at the end of the day, they outplayed us."
 
On struggling with the run game in the first half:
"Cal played really well. They had us bottled up and outplayed us. That's all I can say about it. They outplayed us."
 
Dominque Ross, LB
On Fedora's message in the locker room after a tough loss:
"We have to keep our heads up. It's a long season. We just need to keep our heads up and keep pushing."
 
Charlie Heck, OT
On slow start in the first half:
"We didn't execute in the first half. They (Cal) came out, and did a great job. They were more into the game in the beginning than we were. We weren't mentality locked in. We got complacent early on. We've got to knock out those jitters early and then get into a rhythm earlier and quicker."
 
Nathan Elliot, QB
On teams slow start in the first half:
"We need to be better. We weren't moving the ball that well in the beginning. Towards the end of the second half, we started picking it up and it was a lot better. But, we need to come out of the gate faster."
 
On turnovers in the first half:
"In the moment, I'm not thinking about. I'm doing everything I can to block that out and focus on the next drive and next play. When I'm out there on the field, I'm focused on the next play. The next play is the most important play."