University of Louisville Football Post-Game Quotes
October 03, 2009 | Football
Oct. 3, 2009
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Louisville Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe
(On the play-calling with Adam Froman at quarterback) "We ran some plays that we had installed throughout fall training camp and it was more of a situation where we just called those plays. It was a situation where we put in specific plays for this game. We had a package that we called more because of the fact that Adam can run pretty well. He did some good things tonight. I thought, for his first significant action, he managed the game well, did some good things with his feet, made some nice throws and with the exception of the fumble, played error free."
(On the decision to start Froman at QB) "It was really a game-time decision. We weren't really sure what was going to happen with Justin, who didn't practice on Monday. He didn't practice much on Tuesday and just a little bit on Wednesday. I just didn't feel like today that he was in a condition where he could go out and protect himself and I'm not going to put a guy out there who can't protect himself by running around and making plays. I talked to the doctors and he's one hit away from it being a pretty significant injury, so we want to get him back healthy before we put him back out there again."
(On whether he is surprised in the breakdowns in the secondary with their experience there) "Yeah, but not having Terrence (Simien) out there is a big deal because he was such a good player for us early in the season. But we have to be better than that and we can't give up big plays in the passing game like that. It's just disappointing."
(On where he goes from here with the quarterback situation) "We'll just see how they come out from here. They'll both be in the training room because Adam got a little banged up tonight on the sideline hit. We'll have treatments tomorrow and then we'll get back on our normal week routine on Sunday and evaluate where we're at. The good thing is that we have two guys that can play, so I really feel good about that. Adam proved tonight that he can play and Justin proved in the first three games of the year that he can be a very capable quarterback as well, so I'm not as concerned about the play at quarterback as I am the play in the secondary. I think we have two very capable guys at quarterback and we can operate with either of those guys in the game."
(On the play of the Cards' line play) "I thought our defensive line did a little better job tonight of getting a four-man pass rush. We got a couple of sacks and pressured them a little bit. On the offensive line, we struggled. We struggled at the offensive tackle tonight. We tried to help those guys out with some shifts, some different seven-man protections, some play action to keep them off balanced and move the pocket a little bit. We struggled in some one-on-one situations when we got in third-and-longs where they know we're throwing."
(On the play and injury to running back Darius Ashley) "He was really starting to get in a rhythm. He had a great carry on fourth down and couple of other really nice carries and then we had to take him out of the game because he banged up his shoulder a little bit. After those first couple of runs, I felt like we could feed it to him and give him a chance to run it because he was really doing a nice job. But he couldn't go back in the game and that was really unfortunate."
(On moving Chaz Thompson from safety to cornerback) "I think Chaz did some good things. I'd have to look at the film to know for sure because I have the worst seat in the house at times for some of that, especially plays on defense down the field. We were trying to get our best four guys in the secondary on the field tonight. He's played both corners and both safety positions for us, so he gives us a little bit of flexibility there."
(On finishing the game 3-of-15 on third down conversions) "We got in some short yardage situations where we ended up going for it on fourth down and got those, but early in the game, there were some third down situations where we've got to convert those. Later on in the game, we got in the third and 18's and third and 20's because of penalties and those are a little tougher to convert. Anytime you're in those third and one's and third and three's and four's, you want to be and should be at 80 or 90 percent. When you're at third and five and that area, you should be at about 60 percent and maybe even the low 70's, so we've got to do a better job of converting those to keep drives alive."
(On Pittsburgh and their running backs) "They're good players. They have a good offensive line and they do a good job of running the football. I think one of the keys for them is there two tight ends because both of those guys are physical blockers. They also have flexibility. Frank (Cignetti), their offensive coordinator, does a nice job of moving those guys around with motions and shifts and playing those guys all over the place."
(On whether this loss is more or less frustrating than the previous two losses at UK and Utah) "They're all frustrating. We were in the game for two and half quarters. At halftime we had the lead and had command of the game at that point in time. Then we gave up the deep shots and that took the wind out of our sails. We had the turnover and all of a sudden, we go from being in a position where we're up 10-7 to being down by 11. That was a little disheartening, no doubt."
Louisville Sophomore DE Greg Scruggs
(On the long pass play) "On the front end we were doing what we were coached. We have to get more pressure and give the guys more time to get in their coverage. We have to give the guys a chance to do their assignments. I have no idea what happened back there."
(Was this loss more frustrating than the other two?) "I think it is more frustrating. Coming into this game we knew how good we were. We knew how good we can be. When we don't execute our assignments we get exposed. Its just simple things, when people don't do their jobs, which includes me, if everyone does their job we win the game. When people don't do their jobs and try to be playmakers you don't win. If you just do what you're coached to do and trust your teammates, we win the game. If you don't do it, you don't win. That's what's frustrating about it. We do it everyday in practice. But when the lights come on and the fans start screaming, with ESPN here; we suffer because everyone gets caught up in the moment. We don't execute like we do on the practice field."
(Are you worried at all about the direction the team is going?) "Not at all. Not one bit. We have good leadership in our seniors Scott Long, Trent Guy, and LT Scott. We refuse to let the team go the wrong way. I'm not a senior but I refuse to let this team go the wrong way. As a starter I feel like I am a leader on this team. We are going to continue to practice hard. We are going to continue to keep up moral, we are going to continue to pick each other up, and we are going to come back and fight next week."
Louisville Junior WR Doug Beaumont
"We went out there and came out fighting. We scored quick. We just got a little lackadaisical. We lost our momentum in the third quarter they came out and scored. We didn't produce on offense, we are going to get our mistakes fixed and we are going to be ready for next week."
U of L quarterback Adam Froman
"I felt good and we had a good game plan and worked hard all week. Pitt is a good squad. We were just a couple plays away -- just a little play here and there you never know when the big play is going to come but you know, we gotta make it. I felt good and we had a good game plan and worked hard all week and the offensive line was working their tails off all week. They did a real good job and they were working hard. The receivers worked hard to get open. We were just a couple plays away and when we were third down and short we need to convert. (We needed) Just a little play here and there.
(On his performance) "Obviously my performance was not good enough because we didn't win. The rest of the team did a good job, I need to do a better job if we are going to win. I don't have any idea what the numbers show, but it wasn't good enough to win."
(On knowing that he was starting) "I knew Friday I was going to start. I had friends back home and I knew the game would be on they would be watching it anyway so they would figure it out in the first quarter."
(On being on special teams to being a starter) "That is how football goes sometimes, you have to get in there and contribute any way you can. Sometime you are the guy calling the shots, sometimes you are the guy making the blocks. Last week I did anything I could to help the team and this week I got the opportunity to be the quarterback. I did what I could with it and appreciate the opportunity."
(On Darius Ashley's play) "Darius Ashley came in and ran hard and he has a lot of heart. He is a little guy with a big heart behind those pads who comes in and runs hard every play and gives 110 percent and like you said he gave us that little spark."
(On what went wrong with the second half offense) "I can't really tell you. We didn't come out and execute good enough . We had third downs that we didn't convert and stuff like that which kills the drive and kills momentum. Even some of the drives where we weren't near the end zone if we could have converted on third downs and kept it going and keep the defense off the field and we just didn't get it done tonight."
(On starting next week) "We'll see. I mean, I hope to start but if not, I am here to support the team. It is a team sport and I will be behind the guy who is out there on the field. We gotta come out here and win ball games, so whoever has the best chance to do that will be out on the field."
(On his fumble) "That was me, I just got lazy carrying the ball and I didn't keep it high and tight and I let it slide down on my side a little bit."
(On Pitt defense) "They are a good squad with good guys on the d-line, those guys worked hard. Our o-line did good job, I was proud but I was feeling a little more pressure than I have, but that is just how the game goes."
(On taking a step back from level Cards played at Utah and UK) "No not a step back at all -- it is kind of werid where we were in the last two games against Utah and UK -- a play here and play there -- and a couple of big plays that we converted on and could have changed a whole lot in those ball games. Figuring out how to win is tough to do and when we figure out how to do it we are going to win a lot of ball games because we are real close but we need to execute when we have the opportunity to."
(On Pitt defense) "They were big and getting a little penetration here and there the coverage guys did a pretty good job and seemed to stop the run pretty good. I kept trying to bounce it (outside) and they were able to keep me inside. They hustled, worked hard and shut us down."
(On if he thought he could establish a passing game) "Absolutely. We had a good game plan watched a lot of film on them and they did what we thought they were going to do and we did not execute like we needed to."
Pittsburgh Head Coach Dave Wannstedt
(Opening Statement) "As I told the players a couple things happened tonight. Number one, we didn't come unglued at halftime. We did not play good in the first half. We felt we came out in the second half with a sense of confidence and not a sense of panic. We finished the game. We talk about it as a coach, but we actually did it; really all that matters. I told the guys we won a game on the road in front of a tough crowd. Pitt hasn't done that in a long time. It was a great win. The best part about it was that we can play a lot better. We didn't play as good as we can as a team. We still had a couple of turnovers, gave up a couple of plays. We had too many penalties. So the good news is we found out how to close out a game on the road in conference. Good news, too, we can get a lot better. We want to play our best football at the end of the year."
"I have to give Billy so much credit playing last week at NC State in front of that road crowd and playing here and keeping his composure even when we were dropping a few balls. We never came unraveled. He's been focused and he's been tame the whole year. As I said on opening day I couldn't be happier for him. He's accomplished a lot. He's grown up a lot as a football player, and as a man."
(On Defense Showing Up This Game) "They converted 3 of 15 third downs, which was big. When you talk about last week, we had a poor effort on defense. We corrected it. And coaches had us on the rope early. I brought too much confidence to the team going for the first 4th and 5. We could've kicked a field goal or attempted one there. Actually probably didn't make the real smart decision there. That was probably a little too over confident. I thought we could do it."
"To give a freshman like that carries on the road in front of this type of environment that gives me a lot of confidence. I'm just nervous about all the noise and the crowd things you deal with when playing on the road. The experience Ray got tonight was valuable. Now I feel that we've got two backs we can play; Gives us a chance to make some yards."
"I think defensively we settled down. We got them in third down situations and got them off the field. And offensively, the difference was in the beginning we had a couple big passes and then I thought we took control of the offensive line and we started running the ball. When you're running the ball and playing defense we're going to do pretty good."
(Did You Change Your Defensive Strategy Seeing that Froman was Starting the Game?) "No, it didn't make a difference. We knew he was a good athlete. He ran a little zone play, which they hadn't done, so they did a nice job. They had us on our heels. Steve (Kragthorpe) does a great job with those kids. That's a tough situation when you're changing quarterbacks. Trust me, I know. I've been through that. Last time we were sitting here, I was playing with a first time quarterback."
Defensive End Greg Romeus
"We got a lot of production from the ends. We really took last week personally. I think we ended up with only one sack. We really take that pressure upon ourselves and defense goes through us how hard we work is how hard the defense works. Defense is what wins the games. It's nice to work hard all week and get a win."
"I think from working hard at practice we came together as players and we told everybody we need to start practicing hard because last week wasn't acceptable for our defense. They had some good offensive linemen, but we weren't going to stop and we're going to go out there and let it show up that we work hard in practice. Finishing in the fourth quarter is what we pride on. Last year we finished five games in the fourth quarter. I think seeing that, that games coming down to the fourth quarter we need to go out there and just punch people in the mouth."
