Strong Previews Saturday's Game at North Carolina
October 03, 2011 | Football
Oct. 3, 2011
| PRESS CONFERENCE | SATURDAY GAME INFORMATION |
| FREE AUDIO | Matchup: Louisville (2-2) at North Carolina (4-1) |
| Strong | Chichester | Date/Time: Saturday, Oct. 8 / Noon |
| FREE VIDEO | Site: Kenan Stadium (63,000) |
| Charlie Strong | TV: ESPN2 |
| PODCAST | TV Talent: Bob Wischusen (pbp), Bob Davie (color) |
| Podcasts Here | Radio: WHAS (840/790 WKRD); SIRIUS Ch. 112 |
| GAME NOTES | Radio Talent: Paul Rogers (pbp), Tony Stallings (color), Doug Ormay (sidelines) |
| Louisville vs. UNC Notes | |
| SELECTED QUOTES: Charlie Strong • Josh Chichester | |
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville head coach Charlie Strong met with reporters on Monday to preview this week's road game at North Carolina. The Cardinals and Tar Heels will kick off on Saturday at noon at Kenan Stadium in Chapel Hill, N.C., and the game will be televised nationally by ESPN2.
Louisville enters the UNC game at 2-2 overall following a disappointing 17-13 home loss to Marshall on Saturday at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium, while UNC is 4-1 overall after a 35-20 road win at East Carolina on Saturday night. In last week's loss to the Thundering Herd, the Cardinals struggled in every phase of the according to Strong, who provided more insight on Monday into what led to U of L's frustrating performance.
"It's so hard for me to stomach that loss," Strong said. "I've been involved in a lot of games and it's so hard to stomach because we just didn't prepare our football team. We did a poor job of coaching and our players did a poor job of playing. For us not to go out there and play with energy and emotion and play fast and play as a team and play for one another is unacceptable and it can never happen again. We had the crowd ... we called out our crowd and our crowd was there. Our fans were unbelievable. It was just a poor, poor performance for us as a coaching staff and as players."
Strong talked in length on Monday about the Cardinals' lack of toughness, lack of smart decisions and lack of discipline. He attributed much of Saturday's struggles to those areas and the impact they had on the outcome.
"I tell them all the time that I want a team that's tough. I want a team that's smart. I want a team that's disciplined. We did not get that on Saturday," Strong noted. "You look at the toughness and we did not win the line of scrimmage. We talk about running the football and they outrushed us and they out-toughed us on Saturday up front. You talk about a team that's smart and we committed way too many missed assignments. On defense alone, we had 24 missed assignments and that just shows you right there where the focus of this football was. And you talk about discipline ... eleven penalties. I know I say it all the time. How many more times can our offensive line get a procedure penalty? How many times can they throw the ball up and we get a pass inference? How can the defense be offsides? How can that happen? Then you get a personal foul in your kicking game. All three phases - offense, defense and kicking game - we did not play well."
Strong made it clear that one of the primary reasons for the team's lack of focus and execution on Saturday was the inability to move past the rivalry win at Kentucky on Sept. 17. Despite a bye week between the UK and Marshall games, Strong said his players allowed that victory to take too much of their focus during last week's game preparation.
"We had two weeks to get ready for a football team. Yes, you were patted on your back after the Kentucky win. Put that game behind you and go get ready for the next one. We didn't do that," he said. "We didn't put that game behind us. We still lived off of that game. I saw it coming and I didn't do anything about it. In pregame warm-ups, I saw it coming. I started to blow the whistle and take the team off the field, but I thought maybe they'd get it going. That never happened. I saw it coming and that's my fault. It's my fault for that performance and that can never happen again within this program."
The performance last Saturday was especially frustrating for Strong because it followed what appeared to be another step in the right direction for the program. After leading the program to its first bowl bid and bowl win in four seasons in 2010 and after ending the losing skid to rival UK two weeks earlier, Strong was not happy with the momentum that was lost with last week's loss.
"We took a step backwards. We talk about moving this program forward, but we took a step backwards because of our performance," he said. "Not to take anything away from Marshall. Doc did a good job getting his team ready to play. He did a good job of bringing his team in there and beating us. But that should have never happened. When we played at Kentucky, we were totally focused and nothing was going to take their minds off of that game. Out here on Saturday, they were looking at the fans and high-fiving and several groups were jumping around and yelling. I don't need that false enthusiasm. I need guys that are locked in, focused and ready to play."
One specific group Strong mentioned on Monday that did not play well enough in the loss to Marshall was the Cardinals' seniors.
"Our seniors didn't play their best football on Saturday. I went down the line yesterday in the meeting and pointed out every one of them," he said. "From a pass interference to a guy hitting another guy out of bounds to a guy not blocking to a guy having only one tackle. All that plays together and that was our senior group - the guys that we say are the leaders of this team. That didn't happen on Saturday."
Strong also addressed the Cardinals' quarterback situation entering the UNC game. Last week, freshman Teddy Bridgewater took all of the snaps and was 20-for-29 with one touchdown pass, one touchdown run and two interceptions in his first career start. Junior Will Stein, who started Louisville's first three games this season, did not play because of an injury suffered in the win at UK.
"Teddy played pretty well and he threw the ball well. Will Stein is day-to-day and he's getting better each day. Last Saturday, he wasn't 100-percent but if something had happened to Teddy, we probably would have had to play him," said Strong. "If we can get Will to keep improving each day this week, by Saturday we hope to have him at 100 percent."
Now, Strong and his coaching staff look to get the Cardinals ready for a challenging game at North Carolina. Along with last week's win over ECU, the Tar Heels also have wins over James Madison, Rutgers and Virginia this season. Their lone loss was a 35-28 defeat at No. 25 Georgia Tech.
"North Carolina is a very talented football team. Their receiver, (Dwight) Jones, has about 35 catches. He's tall and they just throw the ball up and he's goes up over people and takes it from them," said Strong. "Their offensive line goes 6-7, 6-2, 6-2, 6-7, 6-7, 6-7. They're very tall and it's going to be a task for us. They're a strong and powerful football team. Defensively, they have a defensive end who is projected in the top five of the NFL Draft, so they've recruited well. They have some NFL prospects, so it's going to be one of those games where we have to go play and see where we are. We'll see if we can bounce back from losing and go on the road and play. It's really going to show us what the character of this football team is and what we're made of."
