Strong Reviews Last Saturday's Governor's Cup Win
September 19, 2011 | Football
Sept. 19, 2011
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Louisville head coach Charlie Strong met with reporters on Monday to review last Saturday's 24-17 road win over rival Kentucky in the annual Governor's Cup showdown. The Cardinals will have a bye this week before returning to action on Oct. 1 at home against Marshall (3:30 p.m., ET).
"This was an outstanding win for our program and all three phases of the game played well," Strong said. "Any time you go on the road, you talk about your focus, you talk about your emotion, you talk about competing and you talk about confidence. It was a young group going to a totally different setting. So what I did on game day, which we usually don't do, is I took them over to Commonwealth on Saturday morning and we did our walk-through just so once our guys came into the stadium, it wouldn't be new to them."
One of the primary objectives for Strong and the Cardinals entering last Saturday's game was to control the environment and not allow the crowd to be a factor. That started with keeping the Wildcats out of the end zone early in the game and by taking the lead as early as possible. Louisville accomplished both of those and held the lead for the final 47 minutes, 53 seconds of the game.
"I told our guys, defensively, we had to take the crowd out of the game," noted Strong. "When you look at it defensively, the crowd got loud there at the beginning of the game when they hit a couple of big plays, but we were able to hold them to a field goal. At the end of the second quarter, they ended up scoring a touchdown and the crowd got loud. Then, with five minutes to go in the game, the crowd got loud. But other than that, we kept the crowd at bay so we didn't let the emotion of the crowd control the game. Our defense was able to control the game."
The keys for the Cardinals' defense in controlling the game were winning the battle at the line of scrimmage and not allowing any big plays. After being hurt by two game-changing plays the previous week against FIU, U of L allowed only one play of more than 25 yards against UK. Louisville also finished with a clear advantage on the ground rushing for 181 yards while holding Kentucky to just 35 yards.
"Defensively, you look for week-to-week improvement. We didn't give up many big plays at all," said Strong. "The one play they got was a screen there at the beginning. Our front seven controlled the game. I put the game on our front. I told our defensive line and I told our offensive line, 'If we are going to win this football game, we have to control the game up front.' Both the offensive line and defensive line were able to control it. We were able to get sacks. We wanted to make sure that we were not going to let the quarterback get going."
With the defense doing its job, the Cardinals offense also made the key plays to not only take a first quarter lead, but hold that lead until the final whistle. Along with its best rushing of the season, Louisville also made clutch plays in the passing game despite a first quarter injury to starting quarterback Will Stein. Following the injury, freshman Teddy Bridgewater and sophomore Dominique Brown both took snaps and were key contributors as the Cardinals halted their four-game losing skid to the Wildcats.
"Offensively, we had three explosion plays and no turnovers, which was critical," said Strong. "When you're on the road, a turnover will get (the crowd) going. We were able to get one on defense and did not give up any on offense. Then, we ran the football on a good defense with 10 starters back. We were able to get over 140 yards rushing. It was critical for us."
After the win on Saturday night, Strong talked with reporters about changing the culture on the University of Louisville campus as it relates to the rivalry with Kentucky. On Monday, he again addressed that with reporters while encouraging the current Louisville fans to make an even bigger statement for their program.
"We are going to change the culture here. The only way it is going to get changed is that we are going to have to do it within this football program," said Strong. "If you're talking about winning games, that helps. It helps on campus with how people feel about themselves. You as a football player are looked at. I made a statement about we have students here on campus that do wear the Kentucky outfits. I say to them, 'If you're not good enough to go to school at Kentucky, why even wear Kentucky attire. They're telling you, you're not good enough, so you're here at Louisville. Support us.'"
With the bye week ahead and a home game with Marshall next on the schedule, Strong talked Monday about the immediate future of the program and what is expected of this team following last Saturday's win.
"We have to get it going here," he said. "The only way we can get it going here is to change the culture within our program, because if you win in football, everything else changes for you. We'll get that done, but we have a long ways to go. We know where we need to be. The thing about this game is we can get so much better. We have to get better. Now, a challenge has been issued to this football team. After this game, you can watch this program. Either it's going to take off or we are going to take a step backwards. We are in no position to take a step backwards. They have had their 24 hours to get over it. Now, we're in a bye week and it's all about fundamentals, technique and getting players ready."
