Louisville-Missouri State Postgame Quotes
September 08, 2012 | Football
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Louisville Head Coach Charlie Strong
(Opening Statement)
“I am very pleased with the victory today, but what is frustrating is that we played hard but we did not play smart. We had nine penalties, and if you look at last week, our offense ran pretty well and then this week we sputtered offensively in the first half. We never got in sync and we never got into rhythm. Defensively, we were able to make some plays. We were able to get off the field on third down and we created two turnovers. The same thing was with special teams, they were never able to get into the flow of the game. We had many penalties in our special teams. We have to play better; we have to play smarter. The preparation was not there. As a coaching staff, we did not get our team ready to go play.”
(On what he thought the penalties were attributed to)
“It is all about your mindset when you go play. I just do not think these guys had the right mind set to go play for 60 minutes.”
(On if the penalties and lack of focus was similar to the Marshall game in 2011)
“We did not lose the game, but we lost the game to Marshall. It was not to that level because we won the game. We just did not play smart.”
(On if he thinks the defense can get pressure with just the front four)
“Well, you can get pressure, but teams are smart and getting the ball out quicker. It is all three-step and getting the ball down the field. We were able to get one sack. We were able to get pressure four or five times where he was able to get away from us. We have to do a better job of containing the quarterback and when we get opportunities, we have to be able to finish and make the tackle.”
(On the play of Calvin Pryor)
“He ended up with two tackles on special teams and then he had the big interception. Calvin, each week, is getting better and better. He started as a true freshman, so we feel like he is a player that has a lot of ability. He is very rangy and can cover a lot of ground.”
(On if expected to see that kind of play from Calvin Pryor so early in the season)
“Oh yes, because he started last season, so you would think he would improve and get better, which he has been able to do.”
(On if he anticipated throwing the ball as much)
“They gave us the throws if you look at it. The coverage they played allowed us to throw the ball. We would like to run the ball more than what we did today, but we never felt like we were able to open up the holes. They were able to get off a lot of blocks and crowd the run. They loaded the box, so the throws were there for us.”
(On the performance of Nate Nord)
“Nate is doing very well. He is improving. He had the drop, but he was able to come back and make a big catch for a touchdown. He has worked so hard and you do not want to see him get down on himself. He was able to bounce back and catch that pass. I think that gave him a lot of confidence. He is playing better, he is blocking better and he is doing everything we are asking him to do.”
(On asking Nate Nord not to quit the team before the season started)
“I felt like that was a young man that could help our program. He had already graduated, so I told him that he had another year and I wanted him to come back and be successful on the football field. 'You (Nord) have already been successful off the field with your degree. You can give a lot to this football team.' I said 'you do not really want to quit.' He did not seem to really want to quit, so we didn't really have a discussion.”
(On the fair catch penalty against the Cardinals)
“An official on their sideline said the guy waived it for a fair catch. He said he saw the signal. I don't question the officials. We just have to play smarter.”
(On the diversity of the offense with 10 different receivers making catches)
“Teddy is doing a great job spreading the ball around. I think similar to last week, the receivers are catching the ball and Teddy is finding the open receivers. It's so good because now, if you watch Teddy, he is looking down field, and he can feel the pressure, but does a great job getting rid of the ball.”
(On kicker Matthew Nakatani's 45-yard field goal)
“Kenny Carter on the sideline said he can make it. I asked if he was sure because in practice he hasn't been making it from that distance. I said, 'let's go ahead and put him in there and kick it.' To see Nakatani make it and to see the players on the sidelines telling him it's his turn was so pleasing.”
(On whether he feels better about the Cardinals' kicking situation after this week)
“I would like to say that. When you look at Wallace, he has a stronger leg than Nakatani. Nakatani is very good in close range, but Wallace has a very strong leg. We need to get better at kicking the ball off. We have the leg to do it, but it's just the matter of not trying to kill the ball every time. We need to just kick the ball and place it.”
(On whether he was concerned about a letdown after last week and how much of a letdown did he see)
“What we try to talk about all the time is who we are. We have to get better at our fundamentals and better in our preparation. When we go to play, we need to make sure we don't play down to anyone's level. It's all about us each week getting better. You can see it happening. Today, we played hard, but we didn't play smart. An example would be our penalties. We had a false start penalty, another penalty on the punt and holding calls. We need to be a disciplined football team. A week ago, we had zero penalties and today we had nine. We need to play smart and disciplined and play within ourselves. Let's do what we have to do.”
(On whether Teddy is surpassing expectations)
“He is a really great football player. He has been able to get better week by week. He is placing the ball in the right spots and the receivers are catching the ball. You also have to look at how we've been running the ball so well. This takes the pressure off of Teddy. He's seeing the receivers' left wide open and throwing the ball where it needs to be. We need to keep improving at the wide receiver position because today, we dropped some balls. Nord and a couple other receivers dropped passes. It's about a total team effort and being in rhythm.”
Matt Nakatani, K
(On coach's confidence for him to kick the field goal)
“Coach has had a lot of confidence in me this week. I have kicked a lot of field goals this week in practice, and I have made a lot of those kicks too. I knew come game time, I would be ready to go.”
(On whether he was nervous for his first game experience)
“Not much. I went back to my high school days. Same ordeal and I had the same routine, which turned out to be great. “
(On knowing if he was going to be the starter)
“Yeah, Coach Carter came to me on Tuesday and said that I better be ready to go. I told him that I was ready, and I have been ready. I made my kicks all week, so I'm glad I got the start.”
Nate Nord, TE
(On his side of the story about quitting prior to the season starting)
“I was real banged up. I just came off shoulder surgery and tore my peck combined with knee problems last year. It was just me going up there to talk to Coach Strong and tell him about my frustrations. He really reassured me and told me how much the football team needed me and how big of an asset I was to this team. He talked me out of stopping football. I don't think I would have actually gone through with it. It was just a frustrating time for me. “
Senorise Perry, RB
(On concerns of coming out flat after playing rival Kentucky last week)
“I wasn't too concerned going into the game, but once we got in to the roll of the game, you could tell we were moving slow. We came out and made a few adjustments, then came out strong for the second half.”
(On Nate Nord saying Coach Strong had to get on the players before the game)
“Yeah, he did because we were moving too slow. We weren't playing like the number 23 team in the nation.”
(On how pleased he is with where the team is at right now?)
“I am pleased with the position of our rankings right now, but we could still be a lot better as a team. We have a lot more things to improve on to better execute.”
(On rising expectations and if you feel the pressure)
“Expectations are going to continue to go up, we just can't buy into complacency. We can take the next jump, but we have to be more physical. We have to go out and play like the team we know we can be and execute. We can't sit back and be complacent.”
(On Charles Gaines impact to the team)
“He makes the offense a lot more explosive out there. Having CJ (Charles Gaines) out there helps affect the coverage and helps get our run game started. He had that big 55-yard catch, and we are just glad to have him out there. “
(On if the run game was less effective today and why)
“It wasn't less effective, we just had a few miscues out there. We can get better throughout the week though. It was little things we could have don't better....bursting, blocking schemes, etc.”
(On playing North Carolina last year and his role last year)
“I played a little bit, but my role was on special teams. We are going to watch film on them tomorrow, and get ready for the weekend.”
(On revenge against UNC after last year's loss, and does the team focus on that?)
“The media makes a lot of it, but we don't pay too much attention to that. We just go out and play.”
Hakeem Smith, S
(What is different about this year's team?)
“This year, we won't let ourselves not worry so much about looking at a game as a small opponent. We can't come in here and get upset by a team that's not as good as us. It's self-motivation and Coach Strong talking to us before the game helps us work on that.”
(How hard is that to do after playing a big rival?)
“Some people see that as the atmosphere and the crowd being into it. If the fans aren't going to be in it as much, we have to bond together to get each other going.”
(What did the team do different defensively against the up-tempo no huddle offense then last week)
“We were able to communicate better and get everyone lined up. We got the defensive line to be able to play more. Last week, they couldn't play as much with the no huddle offense Kentucky ran. We were able to communicate much better this game. “
(On Coach Strong saying the team sputtered to a win, and not being happy with a 28-point win)
“It shows we have high expectations we are trying to live up to. We are better than what we showed out there. We have to work harder in practice, and bring that to the game with us.”
Missouri State Head Coach Terry Allen
(On the game overall)
“I think they are deserving of their top 20 ranking ... great control of the line of scrimmage defensively, which kept their offense and our defense on the field way too long in the first half. I was not disappointed in our defensive play in the first half, thought we played a little bit better offensively as the game went on.”
(On the team's outlook for the next game)
“The great thing for us is that we get to come home. Last year, when we had to do the Oregon and Arkansas thing, we didn't get to come home and now we get to come home against a team that embarrassed us with the number of points scored two years ago. I think our football team is excited about that. I know I'm happy for the games to be over with. We came out of it with relatively no injuries, except our pride and we can heal that.”
(On the offense in the third quarter)
“You got to give them a lot of credit, Charlie's no dummy and they were able to defend this early, with rushing four. We need to run a football at that and we didn't settle down at the end a little bit at the end of the second quarter, started running the ball into the play action off of that and then a couple times when we had the chance, we gave up two sacks. In a controlled environment, I think that we can be effective offensively.”
Ashton Glaser, QB
(On the offensive struggles early in the first half)
“They were doing some different stuff up front than we expected going into it. They were pressing the outsides and running some cover three. We didn't see them doing that at first and we tried to adjust to it.”
(On the offense after adjustments)
“We have some things to work on. We are starting to get better, but we had some foolish penalties. We had some missed throws and we had some dropped passes, just some things that we have to get better at.”
(On what they learned from their first two games)
“I think we learned a lot from it. Offense and defense both took some stuff from it. I think we are just excited to get to go back home and get one at the house. It would be the first one for me so I'm pretty excited about it to.”
(On playing at home)
“I think it will be fun. It will be nice to have fans cheering for you instead of booing you the entire game.”
(On where he goes from here and what he learned)
“I have to make sure that I do what I'm taught to do. I sometimes catch myself trying to do more then I should. I just need to stick to the plan.”
(On his interception)
“I didn't really catch the safety and I thought I was throwing a touchdown. I didn't even see him at all.”
Cadarrius Dotson, WR
(On his thoughts on the first two games of the season)
“It's good to go home. We get to focus on the next opponent. We got these two games out of the way, so I think it is going to help us.”
(On their performance)
“I think we go out and fight hard every game. The score doesn't show that. We want to win the games and not just be content with being close and being in the game. I think we got some good things both offensively and defensively that we can take from this.”
(On his thought of Ashton Glaser)
“He knows what is going on out there. He is able to figure out what the defense is doing and he is able to do that real quick. I think that will help us in the long run.”
(On the team's first touchdown)
“It is good to score. I wish we could have scored some more though and made this more of a ball game there at the end. It's good to get it out of the way.”
Caleb Schaffitzel, S
(On how the defense played)
“I think the defense came out there and hustled hard. Our team is never going to give anything less than their best.”
(On if they proved something)
“We learned today and last week we could hang with the big teams. We have a really talented team with a lot of potential. We need to take what we learned from these two games and put them into the season to help us come out next week.”
(On Teddy Bridgewater)
“He is a talented athlete. He looks around and reads the defense. He is a good player.”
