University of Louisville Football Post-Game Quotes
October 31, 2009 | Football
Oct. 31, 2009
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Louisville Head Coach Steve Kragthorpe
(Opening statement) "Obviously, it's a good win. They've got a pretty good football team and it was a little bit similar to the Iowa game. They took Iowa down to the wire 24-21 and had a chance to score at the end of the game and now Iowa is 9-0. (Arkansas State head coach) Steve's done a great job down there. He's built a nice program there at Arkansas State and he's doing a nice job. I'm proud of (Louisville quarterback) Will (Stein) and the way he played. I thought he performed well for us today. He did the things we asked him to do and managed the game well. So, again, it's good to get the win."
(On his expectations of Will Stein entering the season) "My expectations of Will going into the season were if this opportunity presented itself, that he'd go win the game and that's what he did. That was my expectation of Will and that's what he did today. He's a guy that's always prepared. He's a guy I've watched play for a long time and he's a guy that performs well in practice. He did a good job for us today and he did everything we asked him to do. We didn't scale anything back. We were going to be aggressive and attack these guys and I thought Will did a good job with that. We knew he could do it and I knew he could do it. I had total confidence in him and I think the team had total confidence in him. That's just how he operates in practice and he's a very good practice player."
(On the importance of the run game on Saturday with Stein making his first career start) "It was good. If you look at what he did early in the game, we were going to be aggressive and throw the ball down the field. We knew if threw the ball down the field we had guys who could go get it. That was one of things we felt like we were going to have to do early in the game because they're a pressure team with eight- and nine-man fronts when you get in two backs. We said we were going to take our shots down the field and see if can hit them and if we can't then we'll at least loosen them up a little bit. Again, Will did a good job of managing the game. They brought a lot of variety with their different blitzes and he did a good job with his run audibles. He was well prepared and ready to play."
(On the importance of Brandon Heath's interception return for a TD) "It was huge and it was a great play. I think one of the keys that we talked about coming into the game was we wanted to put pressure on their quarterback. We knew that he was a little bit of a hot and cold guy. If you let him just stand back there and pat it a couple of times, he's good. If we got pressure on him, he might throw it to us and we got him to do that. I thought our four-man pass rush pressure was better, we got some nickel blitzes that were good and Chris Campa about decapitated him on that one play. That was a great play by Chris, but that's one of the things we wanted to do is try to get some pressure on him. Just like any quarterback, when you pressure them, they may throw it to you."
(On the play of the defense) "They got us with three or four big pass plays and a couple of wheel routes, but I thought we did a good job of knocking down the run. We did a decent job on third down situations. We came up with some timely plays down in the outer part of the red zone like the play where Jon Dempsey's sack knocked them out of field goal range. Obviously, the play Brandon made was a big play."
(On the Cardinals' injury situation and whether he's frustrated) "You know, it's everybody. I talked to (Arkansas State coach) Steve (Roberts) before the game and they've had nine season-ending injuries. It's just football. These guys are fast. They're physical, big and strong and they're knocking the dog out of each other. It's just part of the game right now. Guys are going to get beat up. To me, if we're going to play 12 games, what they ought to do is start the season a week early, play four games and everybody have an open date. Then, play four more games, everybody have an open date and then play four more games. It's tough to play this many games in-a-row for everybody. But it's particularly tough for us because we have to play 11 in-a-row. You just don't have enough time to get guys healed up."
Louisville QB Will Stein
"I knew I had it in me. I always knew that I could play at any level. This year I've been doing well in practice. I did pretty well in the spring and the coaches had trust in me to go out there and get a win and I'm thankful for the opportunity."
(On being nervous) "I swear I don't get nervous. I get butterflies when I'm getting ready, but I'm never nervous. I've been playing this game since I was in kindergarten."
(On coming to Louisville) "I looked at a lot of schools. I looked at some Division III schools, some Division II, and I almost went to Dayton. Coach K came to a lot of my games as a senior because his son was a freshman. My dad contacted them, especially Greg Brohm to see if there were any walk-on spots available. I always wanted to play at this level and I didn't want to go to a smaller school. They've got the best facilities, the best coaches, and the best atmosphere. They allowed me the opportunity and I seized and jumped right on it."
(On asking Coach Kragthorpe for a scholarship) "I want to play first and I'll ask for that later. I'm all about playing. If I'm allowed to start and not have a scholarship, then I'll pay to start, I don't care."
(On finding his comfort zone on the field) "We established a running game. I knew we would run the ball well and we scored on the ground. I knew that they couldn't stop us. They have a really good defense and we watched them on film all week. They have a big front four. I'm glad we ran the ball well, because if we had to throw it all the time I'm not sure we would've had the same outcome. I started getting comfortable on the second drive. On the first drive I felt really ready to go and once I completed the first pass I was fine."
(On how he felt about his overall performance) "I think I did pretty good, for my first college start it was pretty good. There were some things that I probably should've read differently and some throws that should've gone to different spots. That's football, you don't get all of them. Overall I think I did pretty good. I managed the running game pretty well and made some good checks. If I had to grade myself I'd give it a B."'
Louisville RB Darius Ashley
"First of all thank God. Will is 5'9" and he might be somewhere on full scholarship if not Louisville. Everybody knows how talented Will is and he shows it in practice everyday. He is as big a competitor as anybody on this team. Everybody had full confidence in him and knew he'd go out in this game and perform well."
(On Will Stein in the huddle) "He's a real leader, especially to be a redshirt freshman. That can be real intimidating to move seniors around who have been here for a while. He did a great job taking control and when he's in the huddle you wouldn't know he was a redshirt freshman."
(On small guys in the huddle) "Will showed today, Trent's shown over his career, and Doug has shown over his career that they can perform. It really doesn't matter what size you are. They are competitors and game in and game out they go in there and get it done."
(On the touchdown run) "It was great blocking first of all, especially by the offensive tackle Byron Stingily. Joe Tronzo did a great job and Maurice Clark did a good job sealing the corner. After that it was pretty easy."
(On feeling comfortable running in the middle) "I feel comfortable running inside. It's just the course of the game and the plays that I have to be in on. I don't think its anything in particular."
Arkansas State Head Coach Steve Roberts
(Opening Statement) "We're obviously disappointed that we didn't complete the win, disappointed in our effort in the first half especially. We played very passionate football at the end of the ball game but not at the beginning. When you come into a team like Louisville and into the BCS conference you have to play your best. Unfortunately we didn't do that. Had some drives, had some big plays on both sides of the football offensively and defensively did some really good things but didn't do a lot of things. We had opportunities that we didn't cash in on. Disappointed, but we are 2-5, the season is not over. We are doing a great job of being prepared and playing hard and still great things can happen to this football team."
(Did their speed give you a problem, it seemed like Ashley was giving you problems?) "They did a really good job of getting to the corners a couple of times. They got great players we knew that coming in, they got tremendous speed, he's (Ashley) a heck of a player
(About Will Stein) "He played very well, we knew he could throw the football well. We knew that after watching him play against Cincinnati last week. We knew what he was capable of doing. It didn't change their gameplan, it didn't change the stuff that they were running did a few things a little bit differently but nothing across the board. He did a great job."
(Did you have any trouble on the line it looked like they were chasing Corey Leonard around?) "We had to continue to play a lot of people, we had some guys get hurt. The offensive line is what it is. We have got to continue to get better and better every week.
(It looked like you were having a hard time establishing the running game was it the offensive line or was it Louisville guys up front?) It was a combination of both. We are not as physical as we need to be and they are pretty good at stopping the run.
QB Corey Leonard
(On factors in the outcome of the game) "The two picks, regardless of what happened, you can't mistake free football. You're going to have things that go against you, if you can control and win the turnover battle, you're going to be alright. We got ourselves in a position to tie the game at the end I thought I put us at a huge disadvantage with that pick right there in the fourth quarter. If I cut down on the turnovers myself, we could be in a better position to win."
LB Demario David
(On speed being a factor) "We had a few missed assignments. They played probably at about the same tempo as a lot of the teams we play. It really wasn't speed that killed us. It was just the number of mistakes. We must win games, and we lost it."
(On the Disappointing Aspect of the Game) "We could always play with a little more passion. It was a must-win game. It was a disappointment to the team, to the fans; a disappointment to the community."
(Impression of Will Stein) "He played an outstanding game."
RB Reggie Arnold
(On the Running Game) "It was everything: running, breaking tackles. I really wasn't there to help out the team and get the running game established."
(His Feelings on the Season Being 2-5) "It was very disappointing. We lost it. Coach wanted it to be about sport, so it's very disappointing considering how we have 5 games to go, and we have got to get those wins at all costs."
