Louisville-Syracuse Football Postgame Quotes
November 18, 2017 | Football
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Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino
(Opening statement)
“I'm really happy for our seniors. I think they've done a great job keeping this team together, having a great attitude, and a great work ethic. I think it's a real tribute to our assistant coaches and how hard they've worked, and we've continued to improve. Like I said, we had a real tough loss a few weeks ago, and you wonder which way we were going to go. Our seniors and our leaders did a great job of keeping the team together, working hard, and getting better. We've improved, and that's great to see. I'm very happy for our assistant coaches also. Defensively, I thought we played really well. That's always a tough offense to play against, the speed that they go and their ability to run the ball and throw it off of the run plays. It really challenges your eyes and your discipline. Again, we tackled well, we did a good job on 1st downs. Jaire (Alexander) did a really nice job against Ishmael. He's a tremendous player, and we were really worried about him coming in. We know him well, we recruited him really hard, and he's made a lot of plays in this conference. So, that was an outstanding job of coverage on him, and then we got a lot of turnovers. That was fun to see.
Offensively, Lamar had another great game. It's amazing to see the runs that he makes. He didn't have as many carries as he usually does, but he also had some great throws for touchdowns. That was awesome to see. It didn't seem like the weather bothered him much. I look back on it, I think maybe one throw that we had a slant that he would normally complete to his left, but other than that he did a great job sitting in there. We got a lot of guys carrying the ball. I was really happy for Reggie Bonnafon. Reggie had a great game and a great touchdown run, a great touchdown catch. I'm just really happy for him. He's given a lot to this program, the ultimate team player, really you can't say enough about him. Overall, it was a very good performance.”
(Did you feel a performance like this coming on in practice? Did you think your team was capable of it?)
“You never really know. You just go work hard. I did feel like the last three weeks that our guys have been very focused in practice, practicing with good purpose, practicing fast, and getting better. I also think they've done a really nice job in the meeting rooms. We understood what they were going to do, and we played fast. I think that's the key is that our guys are playing fast, not hesitating, and really have a great understanding of what's going on out there.”
(Another week, another couple really nice touchdown passes by Lamar. The one that he threaded through to Jaylen (Smith). Can you talk about what made that play effective and how you saw that?)
“They were really trying to bring guys down to the run. So, it was a play action pass, and Jaylen ran a great post route, Seth (Dawkins) ran an over post, and Lamar could have thrown to either one of them. The one that he did throw was probably the tighter coverage. He just dropped it over the safety's head, and Jaylen did a great job catching it and running it in the end zone. That's a throw Lamar makes very, very well.”
(How did you handle the delay? That's something not really planned for.)
“We thought that we might have it, so what we did is we came in the locker room, I put the assistant coaches one group in here, one in the next. I just went in and told the players that 'Hey, relax. We're not going to have the coaches come in here and talk to you about football. Get something to drink, get something to eat, and 30 minutes will be the quickest that we get back out on the field.' We've been through these before. I remember one – our first game here actually – the opening kickoff we were delayed at Kentucky, and Paul (Petrino) just kept coaching and coaching and coaching. Finally, I told him 'Get out of the room.' You just have to relax, and take a little break, and try to get ready for when we go back out there. It's not fun, obviously, but I thought they handled it well. We didn't lose any focus, and that's the biggest thing.”
(What made Malik Williams so effective?)
“Fast and strong… I'm just really happy for him, because for as quickly as he came back from that elbow injury, it's just because he really wanted to. He worked extremely hard at it. He's powerful. I always give him a bad time when he gets caught from behind. So the second time he didn't do it. He saw the holes and he hit them hard and he can really accelerate. I think the three of them helped each other get better.”
(On the impact of Jaire Alexander)
“Jaire's personality, his confidence, the way he plays the game is just about like Lamar is to the offense. So the first thing he does is give everyone more confidence. They work harder in practice and then he goes out there and covers really well not only leads with his energy and personality, but by his performance – he's a real special player.”
(On Jawon Pass)
“He's a calm guy. He's really been working hard to get on the field. We don't have any issues of any confidence that we think we can't do anything in our game plan. We feel like anything that's in our game plan, Jawon knows it, he understands it. He maybe hasn't taken the physical reps with it, but his focus in practice and his concentration, he's gotten the mental reps. It was great to get him out there. We really tried to just run the ball out, but then they kept blitzing so we had to throw it. He threw a great touchdown pass.”
(What kind of improvement have you seen from Lamar Jackson from last year to this year?)
“Mentally, he just understands the game so well and makes a lot of decisions out on the field because of his preparation and his understanding. He's really spinning the ball and throwing it well and he can still accelerate a little bit when he runs it. I think the weight has made him even harder to tackle. You saw him run through that one for the first touchdown and again on the second one, so his lower body strength has really shown up and helped him a lot and really has kept him fresher this year. I think we've helped him a little bit where we take a day each week where we don't run him in practice, we just work with the other guys and all the reads and just try to keep him fresh. We probably wore him out a little bit last year.”
(Will this be his last home game?)
“We're not going to think about that. We're just going to go get ready and have a great week of practice and go from there.”
(After becoming bowl eligible, what these wins mean for what's possible right now?)
“As an athlete, as a competitor, you try to go win the game that you are in. But I think it shows a lot of character on our team and the leadership from within our team. Like I said, three weeks ago, things were hard. We could have turned one way or the other, and because of positive attitude and great leadership from the young guys and our vets and our assistant coaches -sticking together and working hard together and being committed. One thing we always talked about is there are a lot of obstacles out there and things aren't always going to go where you want them to in life and this will be a good lesson for all of us.”
(How did hearing your name chanted feel?) Reggie Bonnafon: “That was like a dream come true. I haven't heard it since probably my freshman year when I was playing quarterback. So to hear it -- it had never been that loud. It was cool to feel the love from the fans. I appreciate it.”
(On the turnaround from the defense)
James Hearns: “I think the health and people getting healthy might've played into it, but also at the end of the day it's also just growing pains. New defensive coordinator, new players, those types of problems. But at the end of the day, you don't want to make an excuse for it. If I had to pick one thing, I think everyone's going to be all right.”
(What's it been like to be part of this defense)
James Hearns: “It's great. Like I said last week against Virginia, it was one of the funnest games of the year. This one would probably second, minus the weather. I think it's great. I love playing with these guys. Overall it was a great game, on both sides of the ball.”
(Reggie talking about winding your career down)
Reggie Bonnafon: “Definitely. I wouldn't have been able to write a better ending to it. Pregame, after warmups, it finally hit me. All the adversity, all the things that happened over the four years. My family -- my dad passed my freshman year and stuff like that. Just to finally soak it all in and see how far I've come and all the love and support from my coaches and my teammates, all the fans, it was just an emotional time for me at the beginning of the game. And then when the ball kicked off, it was just about having fun. So that's what we did.”
(Did you feel faster?)
Reggie Bonnafon: “I felt faster. Like I said, I've been working.”
(What made the rushing attack so effective?) Malik Williams: “I would say just work ethic. Going hard everyday and going for it, reading the D. Focus, cut back lanes and look for them. Pre-snap reads, and just preparing and being ready.”
Reggie Bonnafon: “I said the same thing going into this week. We were going to have the chance to run the ball against this defense, so we took it as a challenge. It's fun working with these guys everyday, be around guys like Malik and Dae. In the position group that you're going to be practicing with all day, you're only going to be getting better. I think it's benefitting us a lot.”
(With this ending, if someone had told you three years ago when you were playing quarterback that your last home game this year you'd be starting at running back after two position changes and playing for a team that won like this, what would you have thought?) Reggie Bonnafon: “I wouldn't be surprised. Honestly. I always knew I was capable of doing a lot, so I just went with it. I wouldn't trade it for anything.”
(James, it's now two good performances for the defense in a row. Is something fixed, do you feel like this is going to be the defense for the rest of the time?)
James Hearns: “I don't think anything was fixed. I don't want to say that something was broken to begin with. But this defense that you saw the past two games you'll see against Kentucky and in a bowl game, definitely.”
(How was having Jaire Alexander out there?)
James Hearns: “It helps a lot. Like I said, even if they don't necessarily throw to the guy they're covering, he's an Energizer Bunny. He keeps everyone up and stays positive, so it's good to have him back out there.”
(What did you guys do during the weather delay?)
Malik Williams: “Coach came in and told us to relax. Get off our feet. We just sat around and waited for the call to go back out there, really.”
(Have you guys started to think about what could be a pretty big game against UK next weekend?)
Malik Williams: “You know, we'll enjoy this win. Then tomorrow we'll wake up and get ready for that week. It's a big week for us, and we're excited for the challenge.”
(Has it set in that the rivalry is coming up?)
Malik Williams: “Yeah, it has.”
(Reggie, the offense today seemed like it flowed easily)
Reggie Bonnafon: “It all starts in practice. Us just coming out to practice everyday. Coming out there and just playing fast. Our coach is always emphasize that. Saturday comes and you just see all the hard work pay off. We just want to keep doing what we're doing during the work week and Saturday will be the time we go out there and have some fun.”
(Reggie, coach said three weeks ago you guys could've taken a turn for the worst, but you didn't and came back and fought hard. Why do you think that is?)
Reggie Bonnafon: “Character. We've got a lot of the guys on the team have bounced back from adversity and played a lot of games and been in a lot of different situations as a team. Honestly, we all just stuck together and knew what we were capable of as a team. We wanted to fulfill that potential and that's what we did.”
Lamar Jackson and Jaire Alexander
(Lamar, what made the offense so effective today) Lamar Jackson: “We've been preparing all week in practice. We're out there every day. We work very hard. Our team is moving at a fast pace each period, we're busting our behinds and that showed tonight. Everybody came to play, even the defense and the special teams.”
(Two years in a row Lamar rushed for 400 yards versus Syracuse. What is it about their system or your system that leads to that kind of big performance?) Lamar Jackson: “Well that's just film study. I'm just watching film constantly, over and over, just trying to see what they're going to bring you then you've got to execute out there.”
(Jaire, when you're on the field, the defense seems like a totally different defense. Do you see the guys around you playing with more energy?) Jaire Alexander: “Well, I notice that. I notice we fly around to the ball a lot more. The energy is great. That's a testament to the coaching staff putting us in the right position to make plays but the energy, it just comes natural for me. I just love it when my guys feed off of it just as well as other players.”
(You told us a few weeks ago that you like to bring the juice. How do you do that?) Jaire Alexiander: “Well, I'm just nonstop. Normally we're quiet during our pre-game meal but once we hit that field it's nonstop. I'm probably the loudest one. I just make sure my guys are right there with me. No man left behind, if I've got the energy you've got to bring it as well.”
(How did that interception feel?) Jaire Alexander : “It felt great. I've been watching Jaylen (Smith) a little bit, I had to drag my foot. It felt good, I was like, 'Dang did I get it?' But once I got it I was like 'oh yeah, this is going to be a good game right here'”.
(The defense as a whole played well. What do you think made you guys so effective?) Jaire Alexander: “Well, like I said just the energy. Just knowing what we're capable of. Especially seeing last weekend's performance. We just noticed that, if we bring the juice then everybody's going to have the sauce. Testament to the defense staff, Coach Sirmon, you know, calling a good game”.
(What is the difference between the juice and the sauce?) Jaire Alexander: “The juice? The juice is the juice. The sauce is the sauce. You can't get lost in the sauce.”
(Lamar, how did you feel walking off the field knowing it could be your last time) Lamar Jackson: “Well, I haven't been focusing on that. We've got a big game coming up. I've waited a whole year for this game and we've just got to prepare well this week. I haven't really been thinking about me leaving or anything.”
(Is Kentucky a game that was one you've been thinking about?) Lamar Jackson: “It has.
(Why?) Lamar Jackson: Because I fumbled last year and we lost. I don't like that, so it's going to be a good game.”
(Lamar, thoughts on the game Reggie had, obviously the fans chanting his name out there, that had to be pretty special for him). Lamar Jackson: “Yeah, Reggie, you know, he's the 502 hero. He's always throwing it up out there. We tell him you got to every time you score. Reggie is awesome you know, he is a great athlete, he can doing anything on the field. Hats off to Reggie. I can't speak enough positive for him.”
(What did you see from Jawon Pass while he was out there?) Lamar Jackson: “Same thing I see in practice, he drops dimes, drops dimes, and I'll celebrate with him, I was too excited. I lost my voice a little bit.”
(Lamar did the weather affect you at all?) Lamar Jackson: “Yeah I threw a slant to the ground, like it didn't have no action at all. I was kind of heated about that, I wasn't really heated I was just like yeah we got to get the next play, I can't mess up again like that.”
(Lamar, you guys have talked so much since the Wake Forest game about fighting back from that to close that out with a win against Kentucky next week like you talked about after last year, what would that mean?) Lamar Jackson: “You know winning games period, it's just great for us, that is all we want to do, play the game. We love it. We come out there, no fear in our hearts, you know, a W is all that is in my mind and that is what we train for an practice for each and every week.”
(Do you intend to play in the bowl game?) Lamar Jackson: “Absolutely, yeah.” Jaire Alexander: “He is going to play, he's playing”. Lamar Jackson: “Just like I am playing next week, yeah.”
(Lamar how important is a quick strike for this offense mean, you did that a couple times, three drives that were less than a minute, and how demoralizing is that for a defense? Do you see that out there?) Lamar Jackson: “Well you know like I always say we got to execute out there, you know that is our draw, scoring points and you know any time we got to punt the ball we let our defense down. They have to worry about stopping the opposing team. We don't like that so we got to go out there each and every time. Any play, we can score on any play, that is how I feel, that's what we like to do.”
(What'd you do during the weather delay) “The weather delay? Oh I was asleep, I was laying down. I was relaxing.”
(You're kidding me?) “No, I was just relaxing, it was break time I guess. Lightning came. I was just chilling waiting for the game to start again.”
Jaire Alexander: “Oh no I didn't go to sleep, I was just on my phone a lot, Twitter, surfing the internet.”
Lamar Jackson: “I was just trying to get all my energy back, that rain was knocking me down a little bit, I was just having to rest a little bit, rest my eyes.”
(Did someone have to come wake you up?) Lamar Jackson: “Oh no, coach came in, 'All right, we got five minutes,' and I was up.”
Syracuse Head Coach Dino Babers
(Opening Statement)
“Well, obviously that's a fantastic football team. What they did to us, they put a whooping on us really bad. Hats off to Coach Petrino, Lamar, that defense, what they were able to do to us, it was an outstanding effort by them and we need to do a lot better than what we did and we will.”
(That pretty seals no bowl (game) for you guys. When you look at the rebuild as a whole, what's the difference between making a bowl and not making it. What would that have done for you and how does this shape the future?)
“I'm not even going to use the “B” word right now. It's just a situation where we went out there and played a football team that's in the top part of our conference and we didn't get an opportunity to compete with them. They jumped on us very quickly, similar to last year. Let's not fool ourselves, Lamar is special, there's no doubt that Lamar is special. Disappointed that we couldn't do more offensively, disappointed that we couldn't stop more things on defense. But Lamar is a first round draft pick. Someone just asked me is he better then RG3, I want to say no, but God dang he's special, he's really special and he's a first round draft pick.”
(When you look a recruiting this year and next year, when you try to sell recruits, how important is a bowl or an improved win/loss record compared to the other variable factors that you try to pitch to a kid?)
“I think the biggest thing is where we are headed. I think that when people look at the program they can see that our days are in front of us, they're not behind us. We're on the upswing, we're not on the downswing. A bowl, you made me say the “B” word, would obviously expedite things. But, I think people understand when they look at us that we're on the second year of a rebuild and we're heading in the right direction.”
(What did you see from Zack today that just wasn't clicking and what made you make the switch over to Rex in the second quarter?)
“Zack threw his second interception and one of the things that we want to make sure that we do is that we're evaluating our team, as well. We were going into the wind with that second quarter. Culpepper has a strong arm, I think at the time there was six minutes left in the half and we said let's put him in there and see what he can do into the wind. Eventually, he ended up throwing two picks, as well.”
(Coach, you mentioned that Lamar is special. What makes him special in what he does for them?)
“First of all, he's so cool and he's so calm. He's fast, but as fast as he is, he's quicker than that. He's as quick as a cat, I don't know how quick a cat is, but a cat is probably as quick as Lamar. When he throws a deep ball, he's really, really talented, he's really, really gifted. He's by far the best one that I have seen in a long time outside of RG3.”
(How would you evaluate Zack Mahoney's career, given that he came on as a walk-on to a guy that started some big games late in the year?)
“When you look at what Zack has done his whole college career, I think he should be commended. He came here with no scholarship and I think he's been a starter in eight games. He earned a scholarship at a power five school, which is a big deal. He's a major contributor to our football team and I think that he's somebody that people, especially people from Syracuse, will always remember. His career is not over yet, but he'll be a guy that everyone will always remember and will probably be a fan favorite.”
(The defense has been giving up a lot of big plays the past couple of weeks. Is it a miscommunication thing?)
“I think it's a lot more about who we are playing and what they are doing. Coaches are doing a good job isolating people and putting them in situations where guys are going to have to make plays. The guys they were going against were exceptional.”
(What are your thoughts on the seniors who probably won't play in a bowl?)
“I'm going to talk to the seniors tomorrow, but I really thought the 2017 class would be the class. I'm just disappointed that there are so many special individuals, that if that doesn't happen, that part will disappoint me. But, I know that in their heart, when it does happen, that they will be right there and they will be pulling for us and they'll be happy for us.”
(You were 3-for-13 on third down, what would you say the biggest struggle there was?)
“Well, we had a lot of man-to-man on third down and we have got to make throws and all the throws we didn't make. We played almost exclusively man-to-man on third down so guys have to shake free and the ball has to be thrown accurately.”
(Malik Williams also had a big game on the ground. What makes it so hard, especially knowing how well Lamar Jackson can run the ball, to stop both of them?)
“Well, what happens is you're basically playing an option team. It's the same thing we do, as well, in certain plays. But, there is one tackler for one guy and everyone else is playing their gap or playing their man until the ball declares where it's going. Once the ball declares where it's going, everyone else has to rally and help that one guy if that one guy doesn't make a tackle. And if he doesn't make a tackle, whoever that one person is, and Lamar or the tailback gets downhill, then as you see, we need the cavalry to come. We need people to help very quickly because there is not a lot of people behind him and that's what you saw.”
(You guys have faced some good offenses the last couple of weeks, especially at the quarterback position. Do you think the Tampa 2 can be successful against the best quarterbacks?)
“Again, we didn't really play that much Tampa 2 out there. When you see the structure of what you are talking about, we were in a lot of single high, which is as far away from Tampa 2 as you can get. It's what you need to play if you're going to stop some of the teams that we are playing. But, that's not what we have been playing exclusively. We've been more single high in pressure and those type of things, so there's a mixture of things. It's not just that defense. That defense is really good versus certain styles of offenses, but when you are running the quarterback and stuff like that, that's not the stuff that we were doing.
Senior Linebacker Zaire Franklin
(Zaire, you got a look at Lamar Jackson last year. How much preparation did you use from last year to try and face him this year and what didn't work out today?)
“I think the difference between last year and this year was last year we didn't really know who he was. We knew he was a really good athlete, but nobody knew he was Lamar Jackson. We kind of found out and today he made plays that people can't make other than him.”
(When you have two dynamic rushers like Lamar Jackson and Malik Williams, what kind of things do you need to do defensively to try and contain or stop both of them?)
“When you have a rushing attack like Louisville's, obviously headed by the biggest threat in the country, it takes a lot of attention trying to stop him (Lamar Jackson), which opens up a lot of things for other people. I think Louisville did a good job of scheming us up a lot and knowing exactly where to hit. Those guys took advantage of it.”
(Going to a bowl has been the goal all season for this team. Now that that won't happen after the loss, what did the team talk about in the locker room after the game?)
“Right now, there's not a lot of talk. Guys are just hurting, myself included. I think we will feel it all night. We've got to treat it like everything else and finish the right way. Come in, watch it, learn from it, get a win on our senior night.”
Redshirt Freshman Quarterback Rex Culpepper
(What did coach tell you there in the second quarter when he told you that you would be coming in for Zack?)
“Coach was like you've been practicing for this for a long time. You've been here a long time, you know the reads. This is your opportunity, go get it.”
(On his performance against Louisville defense)
“It was a heck of a challenge. The weather, the team we were playing. It was tough and I'm glad I got valuable reps out of it.”
(Do you feel like the team is on the upswing? Do you feel like the team is better than last year?)
“100 percent (better). The win over Clemson was huge. Obviously, it's extremely tough when you lose your starting quarterback in Eric Dungey. He's been a great help along the way, but there's only so much he can do when he's not on the field. We miss him. There's just a different energy about our team, everyone's just buying in. I know our record doesn't show it, but we're leaps and bounds ahead of where we were last year.”
