Petrino and Cards Ready to Turn the Page
October 13, 2014 | Football
LOUISVILLE, Ky.- Playing four of the last five games on the road, the University of Louisville football team returns home to face NC State on Saturday, Oct. 18, at 3:30 at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium.
Louisville has been perfect this season at home, winning all three contests, including two in the ACC with wins over Miami and Wake Forest. Louisville is averaging 39.0 points per game at home and allowing just 14.7 points per contest.
"It's good to be home," head coach Bobby Petrino said at his weekly press conference. "One of our goals was to win all of our home games, and we have an opportunity to do that this week."
Louisville is trying to rebound after a disappointing 23-17 loss at Clemson last Saturday in Death Valley. The Cardinals had the ball one the Clemson one-yard line in the final seconds, but were stopped on fourth down to drop to 5-2 overall and 3-2 in the ACC.
"It was a real disappointing loss," Petrino said. "We played real well on defense. We played fast. We tackled well, and made a lot of plays. I thought Will (Gardner) came in and gave us a lift. Our timing was better and we were able to get the ball down the field."
The Cardinals' defense has been lights out and continues to lead the nation in total defense and rushing defense. Louisville allowed the powerful Clemson offense to 229 yards, almost 261 yards below their average. The Cardinals are allowing just 230.7 yards of total offense and just 60.2 yards on the ground.
"Well, I truly believe we do," Keith Kelsey said if he believes the defense is one of the best in the country. "We put in hard work and sacrifices on the off season to get to where we're at and believe in what coach Grantham installed in us, and we just want to execute it."
Having lost seven starters on defense, no one could have predicted the Cardinals would be the No. 1 defense in the nation. However, the players have bought into defensive coordinator's Todd Grantham system and it has paid off.
Kelsey said, "Well, I mean no one really expected us to be where we are right now, so it really just gave us more motivation to go out there and prove a lot of people wrong and we're just surprising a lot of people and there's still a lot of work to be done."
The Cardinals have only given up six touchdowns all season, and haven't given up a touchdown in the last 17 quarters. Louisville hasn't given up a touchdown since the third quarter of the Virginia contest on Sept. 13,
"Well we don't really pay attention to it," Kelsey said. :Coach Grantham might mention it to us after a game or something. Right now I think it's 17 quotas, and we're just trying to keep that streak alive and just play hard."
The Cardinals suffered only their fifth loss in the last 33 games, so it's something that the Cardinals mist adjust too and put it behind them immediately.
"You always think about your attitude and sticking together," Petrino said. "That's one of the things I talked to the (team) the most about last night. We need to stick together. Let's be honest, defense has been playing lights out, doing everything real well, offensively, we're not doing our job well enough to win games like that on the road, in that type of environment. I think they understand that the biggest thing we have to do is be a team and stay together."
The Cardinals have five games remaining, and still need one more win to advance to postseason play for the fifth consecutive year. It's important that the Cardinals put the Clemson loss behind him, because NC State has dropped three in a row and anxious to get to a bowl.
