Louisville Postgame Quotes
September 02, 2016 | Football
- www.GoCards.com -
Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino
(Opening Statement) "I was happy with what we did, you know. I like the way we took care of our business leading up to the game. I thought that our Friday night went real well and the meetings that we have and how we go about our business at the hotel - we're a mature football team. It's great to have everybody back. We did a good job today in our walk through. We did a nice job in our preparation in the locker room for the game and then we went out and did what we were supposed to do. We took care of our business and that allowed a lot of guys to get in the game in the second half which will certainly help us down the road. It was great to get so many guys in there and get experience. You know like get Seth Dawkins a touchdown, couple kickoff returns - we saw what kind of talent he has, so that will be exciting. We don't need to make too much of it. We took care of our business - do what we should do."
(On his thoughts on Lamar) "Yeah. I mean he did a really nice job. I thought that he ran the ball early - did a great job with his legs, did a good job reading things. I didn't really like the way our passing game was executing the first part of the first quarter. It seemed like we were running around too much, we weren't getting the type of timing that we wanted, but it really got better as the first quarter went on and the second quarter is kind of what you want to see - make good decisions, deliver the ball, and get a lot of guys involved. It was good to see different guys catching the ball and run into the end zone, so Lamar did a really nice job. One of the things that I really liked with Lamar was his preparation for the game. You know, I really watched him in walk through today and could see him picturing the play and taking charge and going through his progressions in walk through. That type of growth and maturity is going to help him throughout the year."
(On his thoughts of a clean game) "Yeah, I mean, I don't like turning the ball over there in the second half and giving them a touchdown and then King having a bad decision on the punt, you know, it's hard giving points away. But, I thought we did a good job of keeping our hands inside on the offensive line, and we didn't have a lot of unforced errors - I think we had maybe two procedure penalties, which is better, it's not what we want; we want zero. You know, but it's better, so we got a ways to go though. We got to get better."
(On if spreading the ball was a key point in the game) "Well not really. The thing we have really been working him on - read the defense, go through your progression, have confidence in all of your guys. That's one of the things we feel like is that we have a good group and a lot of depth and you just have to distribute the ball according to what the defense tells you. I think he did a nice job of that."
(On the timeout called in the first half to get the touchdown) “We wanted to practice our two minute offense. It was one of those things where you don't always get that opportunity and we needed to work on it and practice it. We've been doing it in practice, but you know it's different in a game. It was a great situation, we had one timeout left, well we had two we called timeout to get the ball back and to drive it down and execute like that. The last play that we had was a good situation for the quarterback to know too. We had zero timeouts left, I'm either going to throw a touchdown or throw it away so we can at least get three points. To be able to have that situation come up is always good for us.”
(On thoughts of bringing Lamar back out for the third quarter) “Yeah there was a little bit if we wouldn't have gotten that two minute drive. If we wouldn't have been able to have a two minute drive, we probably would have brought him out for one series in the third quarter, but after getting the ball back and being able to have that two minute drive, then we said let's get the twos out there and make sure we get out of there healthy and get a lot of experience. Being able to play our two offensive line that much and all those receivers, tight ends and running backs. Defensively, we were going to leave our defense out for one series and then get them out.”
(On Jawon Pass) “I talked to Jawon and we have decided together that the best thing we think we can do right now is have him prepared each week to go in and play, and if we stay healthy and everything works out then we'll hold onto his redshirt. He'll practice each week, just like he did to get ready to go in and play. I'm really excited with Jawon. He's very, very mature, he's real smart. For him, the way he handles himself at practice for his age is amazing because he's into every play. He's watching Lamar, he's watching Kyle when he's not in, and he learns and gets better each play in practice.”
(On Lamar going through his progressions more effectively as the game went along) “Yeah, no question about it. I liked what I saw in the second quarter. I like the timing, the understanding of what the coverage was, and keeping our vision downfield and delivering the ball on time. Even the one crossing route to Jamari, he looked deep first, they doubled him, he checked to him, got hit as he threw the ball. All that's good stuff.”
(On what made the defense effective in the first half) “We're pretty physical up front. They didn't have a lot of room to run the ball and they were going to try to force it to run a little and we tackled well. I thought on situation football we did a great job getting off the field on third down.”
(On how the offensive line played and thoughts on Lamar Jackson) “I can't sit here and rate the offensive line right now. You always have to watch video to know how the offensive line really did. I didn't like what I saw early because we had to run around a little bit and scramble on some called pass plays. They did come in and play a little kamikaze defense and made us have to do some of that. I thought Lamar really settled in after he scrambled around a couple times and made some plays with his legs. Maybe he wasn't having his vision down field like he should have early, but I thought the game was great for him to be able to concentrate and focus and come to the sideline and take coaching and then go out there and do it.”
(On how Stacy Thomas played) “Stacey's a really good football player, he has been for the last two years. He's been a big part our football team. It's great to have him back and going. He's one of our smartest players out there. He understands what the offenses are trying to do and he's going to make a lot of plays for us.”
(On Lamar Jackson not forcing the run) “That's exactly what we wanted to see. A couple of the runs in the first quarter were called, either hand the ball or keep it and run. A couple of them were scrambling around and making plays. I was really happy to see us look like a passing team in the second quarter and take the right drops at my feet, receivers be where they are supposed to be, or the running back, or him understanding that no one had the running and delivering the ball to him, I liked that. I thought he did a much better job in the second quarter knowing what the coverages were then he did in the first quarter.”
(On how Lamar Jackson will handle the attention after eight touchdowns) “He'll handle it well. He probably should have had nine. We'll make sure to get on him for that.”
Jamari Staples, Sr., WR
(on Lamar Jackson) “He was able to run and throw a lot. He was able to get a lot of space, and be himself. Tonight was his night, he was hot, and he was making plays.”
(When did you get settled into the game) “When the offensive line got more settled into the game. I mean, there was a lot of hype and emotion into this game. We don't look at any team as a light team, we go about every game the same.”
Lamar Jackson, So., QB
(On were running backs being targeted) “The defense gave us the opportunity to hit the backs and we just went with it. Trying to give everybody the ball and everyone scoring, trying to win.”
(On if he ever scored eight touchdowns) “Probably high school. I don't think in college I've played like that but it's fun though.”
(On running up record books) “I don't try to dwell on anything like that, I just try to win games. Try to put my team in a good predicament.”
(On running early and then settling into the passing game) “The defense showed us blitzes that we haven't seen before, and hats off to them. I guess, after that the coaches started to call plays to execute against the blitzes and find out where they were coming from.”
(Was it a focus early to get more guys involved) “That's a quarterback's job. Know every target and try to get everybody the ball. You don't have a lot of unhappy players. I just feel like everyone can make any play any time. Just try to hit everybody.”
(On playing rookie mode on Madden? Did that feel like it?) “No, I just like to win. I just go out there and try to put my team in a good position.”
(How do you feel that you have gotten better?) “My line did an awesome job holding them off because they were bringing a lot of blitzes like you have seen. I just had to stay in the pocket. Last year when I didn't know the play, I'd just sit back, look one time and take off. It's not like that anymore. I'm sure now, I know what I'm doing.”
(About being nervous) “I was trying to get after them fast. I just had to calm down because I was too hyper at first. I had to calm down and let the game come to me.”
(On the play that made him settle down) “They were talking trash. That's what made me have to get right. I can't just let them keep talking like this. We going to make them shut up.”
(What were they saying) “You know, some stuff…”
(On running the 2-minute drill) “We have been working on that throughout camp, and even working on it this week, as a matter of fact we were working on it a couple of days ago. We got the field goal and Coach was on me about that saying with different coverage, you need to check down and stuff like that so that's what I tried to do out there.”
(On sitting next to Traveon Samuel to make Samuel L. Jackson from the jerseys) “Samuel L. Jackson thing? He just showed me back in the locker room. That's funny. When he showed me that I started laughing.”
(On the offense being improved and making a statement)“No not yet. We haven't made our statement yet. When we do it's going to be pretty crazy.”
(About having an encore performance) “I don't know yet. When the game comes I'll deliver.”
Josh Harvey Clemons, Sr., Safety
(On playing time) “I mean we have been repping it a lot this week in practice so I kind of expected it. But you never know what Coach Grantham is going to do. He changes it up at any time and you have got to be ready for it.
(About the dime package) “We just got a lot of guys that can play in different positions. We need to be flexible. It makes it easy to play different packages depending on who we are playing and what their strengths are.”
James Hearns, Jr., LB
(On being effective in the 1st half) “The goal was the same as every game which is to give the ball back to the offense. Obviously to keep their offense from scoring. We just wanted to put pressure on them and speed the offense up as fast as we could.”
(On dime package approach up front) “Yeah, I think it gives us an advantage. It makes us more flexible. It moves the safety up into the box to free us up a little bit. It gives the quarterback another place to look and less ways to make plays.”
(About back-to-back sacks and the pass rush) “Yeah, it was good. I think Coach Grantham put together a good plan. He had some good plays throughout the game. I think it really helped us win. Plus, we had help from our quarterback.”
(About life been like without Shelden Rankins up front) “I mean obviously it's been a big loss, but over the offseason we did a great job as a unit for making up. People were thinking that we lost him, but in my personal opinion we didn't lose anything. I think we really did a collective job with the off season with filling the shoes as a unit.”
Charlotte Head Coach Brad Lambert
(Can you give us some thoughts on the game tonight?)
“Well, we ran into a really good football team tonight and knew that coming in a top 20 team and we couldn't make mistakes in the game and I feel like we had way too many penalties in the first half and then we were having a hard time handling Lamar (Jackson) you know, he's just a superb athlete and we knew that coming in and we had some free guy early in the game you know and some blitzes and he just can do that to you he can make you look bad in a hurry he's a heck of a player. I thought he threw the ball around really well. I thought the guys around him, they got a lot of people back and they've got a fine, fine football team and they showed it tonight. We helped them a lot kind of combine it in the first half with the penalties and some of the mistakes we made but you know they got a nice football team.”
(Looking at the score this is probably the best football team you've played so far. What can you take away from this? What are your learning moments can you take away from this for the upcoming season?)
“You can't have penalties like that, it's not who we are. That's the most penalties especially big penalties - the 15 yard types - they're just really difficult and we do make plays with holding penalties. I think that's the biggest thing that I talked to our team about after the game is hey we played a real, real good football team on the road and they played well and we just we made from a penalty stand point I didn't like the way the game went.”
(What are we going to do to prepare for the next game?)
“We've got to go back and continue to build and look at our mistakes and look at the penalties that we made and make sure that we eliminate them - that's the key for us. We've got to go back and correct mistakes that we made and understand that Lamar was some of that and that their running backs and offensive line played well. We couldn't' get anything off - eventually they got a hard time blocking up front. We'll get back and look at the film… how can we get better and improve on our part of it and then go from there.”
(Did Lamar Jackson doing anything that surprised you, maybe not necessarily in terms of his athleticism, but you talked about his throwing. Did look like he's improved?)
“I thought he was. I watched him last year and seeing him live, he threw the ball nice. He's a good player and they were letting him drop back and throw the ball and if it breaks down, he has that ability to extend plays and I thought he saw he field and I watched him on film and seeing him live, he's a good quarterback a really good player.”
(On the muffed punt that resulted in a Charlotte touchdown)
“I thought that our special teams played pretty good tonight no question. I thought that was one of the areas we want to improve on. I thought our guys stayed too deep and we got after them pretty good at the half about going out and just playing one play at a time, and one drive at a time. Stay focused in the moment and our guys have done that since we started our program. One game and the year forward and our guys have always played hard, they've always done that. They have never quit on us and I don't expect us to. That's obviously an indicator of what was going on in the second half.”
(Was it a combination of them maybe and you not playing so well, and then having to do that?)
“No question, you make the switch in the opening. You're playing a top 20 team on the road at their place on a Thursday night and they're a good football team. Coach is doing a good job with them, they have good players and they executed pretty good against us. They got off the gas in the second half and ran the ball, but that's a good football team. We were going to have to play mistake-free period to have a shot to win the game and we knew that coming in. There's a reason they're ranked at 18, so yeah coming out of the game, they're a good football team.”
(What's the biggest takeaway looking at the game and your strategy for the rest of the season?)
“I really liked what we had coming in - what our game plan was. Two or three drives of the game we had guys free on a blitz and we could tackle him. You can draw a lot of blitzes up to get a free guy and a lot of times you don't get them free and a couple times we had clean guy. And Daquan just couldn't tackle him early in the game. When you miss those tackles is when you've designed a blitz and it all breaks down, and it gets crazy on you. It makes it a little hairy defensively. We need to continue to grow each week and it's a long season and we have our own set of goals we're trying to accomplish. The next opportunity for us to win a game is next week, and we'll go back to work on Saturday and focus on that.”
#10, WR Austin Duke
(What can Charlotte take away from this and learn from this?) “What can you not take away? There is a lot to take away. As far as offense, defense, execution, there is a lot to learn from the other team. They came out and executed and performed. There is a lot of learning on that tape. Respect to #19, I wish them the best for the rest of their season. They're definitely deserving.”
(Looking ahead to Elon and a home game) “I feel like we did handle the travel pressure and their environment, as far as mentally. Obviously, we didn't get the job done. Just getting back on that plan, learning as much as we can from this process, and then get ready for Elon and the rest of our season into conference play.”
(About his touchdown giving Charlotte momentum?) “No. It was really a pointless touchdown. I mean, you go out there you keep battling, you keep fighting, you don't give up. That's really what that touchdown was about. It didn't change anything in the game. It didn't change any momentum. It just showed we weren't going to lay down.”
(On score snowballing in the first half) ”Yeah, I mean something we are trying to change, something we are trying to grow from, something we are trying to stop doing. As a senior it is definitely, you know comes a point in time where you have to understand that, you know you have to grow up. And there are some things you just can't deem as acceptable. And I feel like those are, that's one of the things that we need to work on better as myself and as a team whole. I know I'm being pretty blunt here but I mean, it's the truth. I'm not going to sit here and say anything I didn't believe true.
(On being a senior, what do you say to your team in this coming week, going into practice, getting ready for next week.)“Well that's the thing, I was on the sideline and sort of had a bland face but you know my job is to make plays and its not to hoorah and talk like I feel like we are at the age now that the talking is done. There is no secret we needed to score a touchdown. There is no secret that we needed to get the ball moving. There is no secret we needed to execute. There comes a time you have to grow up and you have to be mature enough to say enough talking just do it. Like there is no point in talking.”
