Louisville-NC State Postgame Quotes
October 18, 2014 | Football
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Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino
(Opening statement)
"That's a good win for us. We had to fight hard, it certainly didn't come easy. I did like the fact that we started fast - a good opening drive, we got the ball in the end zone. Obviously, it's great to have DeVante (Parker) back. Michael Dyer, I thought played really well. He got the start because of the way he practiced. We could tell in practice on Tuesday that his quickness is back, he's going full speed. He really worked hard at it and then to be able to come out and have a great game is really good to see.
"We battled on defense. We still did a lot of great things on defense. I wish we wouldn't have given up the one two-minute drive. Our defense did a nice job. In special teams, I thought we held our own. With the wind, there wasn't a lot of return game out there, but Eli's (Rogers) return was a big return for us."
(About DeVante Parker being sharper than anticipated)
"Yeah, he really was. I thought he played really well. I was really impressed with the way he ran after the catch. I thought he'd get open, I thought he'd catch the ball, but I didn't expect to see that many yards after the catch."
(About how different the offense is with Parker playing)
"Well it obviously makes us a lot better. When you get one-on-one coverage, and you've got a guy that everyone believes in. And he'll win and catch the ball. We left a few out there. I thought we had a few more that we could've ... some touchdown passes that we missed. But it was good to see things start executing and getting better. I think that's the biggest key is that we got better."
(About Michael Dyer being close to playing well and breaking out)
"I think he's really battled the injury, and he's worked hard at it. And it was frustrating for him; there's no question about that. We tried to get him in there and get him some work in some of the games, but he just wasn't himself. So to see him in practice this week, you know, and we're watching video on Tuesday night; every coach goes, `That's a little bit different, that's a lot different.' And he just kept working real hard, and it's great to see him come out and have success when it took him a long time, really, to get back from it."
(About Dyer possibly starting from here on out)
Yeah, I mean we'll see. I always tell our players they earn their playing time on the practice field, and we've tried to really live by that. And it's shown up this year, so we're just going to keep working on that.
(About Aaron Epps getting the start and how he played)
"Yeah, you know you always have to watch the video to really see how the offensive line played, but I was excited for Aaron. He's worked extremely hard. I think he did a good job when you look at the way we protected the quarterback for the most part, and we got our running game going better. He's a guy that works extremely hard in practices. Always has a positive attitude, and it's good to see him come in and have success."
(About what made James Sample so effective today)
"James is a good player. He's a good football player, and we're really happy that he's here. I think he got here in the last part of July. And since he's been here his maturity, the way he learns, and studies is something you don't see out of a guy that just gets here. I think he made a huge difference in our defense the minute he walked in the door just because of the way he approached the meetings and approached practice, and how quickly he learned. But he can run and tackle, and he does a good job of playing the ball."
(Was this the offense he expected at the beginning of the season?)
"Not yet. We're just a work in progress. We're trying to get where we're better. It's fun to see us be better out there and feel more comfortable with mixing things up and calling plays and doing that, but we still have a long way to go to get where we need to be."
(Does the bye week come at a good time?)
"It's kind of a bye week because you play on a Thursday night, but yeah I think that's one of the things I'm really proud of about our football team. We played eight straight games, we played five in the month of September...played on a Monday night, then the next Saturday...played on a Friday night. So, I've been real happy with their work ethic and their attitude and now we need a little break so they'll get a few days off here early in the week.
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(Was he happy with Will Gardner?)
"Yeah, you have to watch the video, but he did some real good things. He got us in the end zone - particularly right before the half, which was great to see. We left a few out there. I think we missed a couple early where we had chances for big plays or touchdowns. But he was good on the sidelines and he did a good job of being into the game"
(On the idea of a feature back)
"I think the thing I've always felt about college football is the running backs are the guys that take all the hits and they're the guys that get nicked up and you need to have a good stable of them. Brandon Radcliff - he couldn't go in the second half. He's been battling a turf toe and it really got sore so he couldn't even go back in there of kickoff return in the second half. LJ's battled an ankle. Dom's battled an ankle. So you've just got to keep working them. They understand that they go to practice, practice hard and if they get hot, we're going to give them the ball."
(Is he concerned about Lorenzo Mauldin and what is the extent of his injury?)
"Yeah, all I heard was he felt a hamstring and I didn't get any other communication about it."
Charles Gaines
(On NC State's performance)
"NC State came out with a lot of formations and a lot of shifts. They had a lot of fast tight ends and full back receivers. We had to slow down and get our game plan up and just listen to what coach was saying on the sideline."
(On DeVante Parker's offensive plays)
"DeVante Parker is a monster. You have to bracket him but I think that's the worst thing to do, if you play him man to man that's even worse. "
(On Gerod Holliman Interceptions)
"As long as I know Hollman is behind me, it just gives me more comfort. Some plays I just tell him to back me up and as my teammate he respects that standpoint and what I can bring to the game. He tells me to do my Thing, and we both make plays. I love what he's doing."
Will Gardner
(On Michael Dyer's performance)
"Michael ran the ball great tonight, big play. He was explosive and I was excited. It's good to watch him run like that and I was very proud of him."
(On the offense's performance)
"I feel like we ran the ball good tonight, the past games we have not and a lot of that has to do with me. I just have to hit guys when there wide open."
(On DeVante Parker's health)
"When I talk to him he says he's good and that he is ready to go. He had over 100 yards tonight so he's getting there. I expect to see bigger things in the future."
Keith Kelsey
(On tonight's win)
"It's just a great feeling when you know a team is trying to come to your house and take what you have. When they come into end zone, you just punch them in the mouth and tell them, you can't score."
(On UofL's execution)
"Coach prepared us as well as he could and we just went out there and executed."
(On keeping NC State out of the end zone)
"You can be at the one yard line, or the 10 yard line, we won't let anyone score on us."
Aaron Epps
(On how he would grade his performance in his first start)
"Well my effort is always going to be high. As far as playing fast and assignment-wise I'm always at least at 90 percent. Usually, it is my technique that I'm working on now."
(On what effect outside criticism has on the team)
"We don't let the outside get to us. There's no pointing fingers - at the end of the game as long as we get the `W' that's all that matters."
(On whether he thought someone was beating him out for the starting position)
"It was ultimately coach's decision. It wasn't anything else. My work ethic has always been hard since I got here."
(On whether he believes tonight's win against NC State was the best the offensive line has performed all season)
"I would say it's comparable to the Miami game. We feel as if we haven't been the same since."
(On whether DeVante Parker is 100 percent back from injury)
"He's back, he's back."
(On whether he thought tonight's performance was what he was expecting from the offensive from the beginning)
"Yeah, I feel like we're going to be alright. We have some things that need to be fixed but overall I think we're going to be just fine."
(On whether he feels his performance tonight will lead to a permanent starting role)
"I hope so. As of right now, it's my spot to lose, that's how I see it."
NC State Head Coach Dave Doeren
(On overall game)
"It was a hard fought game. We came down here shorthanded and I'm proud of our players for how hard they prepared. I thought we had good unity at our hotel and leadership by our players. I'm really proud of how a few guys played today. We're not making enough plays and I have to do a better job of helping our guys make plays. It's timely things and little things here. Louisville did a good job, that's a good football team. Parker had a huge impact on their offense and we needed to take him away. When you go through the adversity we have as a program, you can either sink or grow through those kinds of moments. We're going to hit the reset button with our bye week and look at everything and try to get everybody back healthy. Not just physically but also mentally and get them rested. We have a four game deal here where we have opportunities to still accomplish our goal of going to a bowl game and that's where our mind set will be. Looking forward to that opportunity."
(On LB Aririus Moore return and trying to pressure Louisville QB)
"This was Airius Moore's first game and he played so hard. It's disappointing the way things went down in the game because he played good. I'm proud of him he's a disruptive force and it's a lot of things that he'll learn. We're not getting pressure with the front four so we had to bring an extra rusher. It hurt us at times. We were thinking about blitzing but that leaves less people in the back to tackle. We have to really work hard on our third down defense. We have a bye week so we can come up with creative ways to get pressure."
(On the offensive line)
"The staff did some things to help them. We had some things to learn. Joe Thuney is a good player for us. Rob (Crisp) and him have good chemistry with each other so there's no question that his return helped. It helps the rotation because we can get balance and give guys breaks. Our whole line had a pretty good day. There were some bright spots in the beginning of the game. They battled, a lot of people didn't give us a chance with what we're dealing with. I'm proud of our guys and we just need to keep going."
(On the timeout in the first series of the third quarter)
"There was something that we saw that could hurt us at that point of the game. Obviously, I hate to burn a timeout period, we burned two later. I'll take it, it was me. They called a timeout and brought it back in to run the ball and we didn't have the right defense in the game. In that point of the game I didn't want to give them a big play. Our punter is a good punter, in the first punt of the game I don't know if you remember they got quite a bit of pressure on Will (Baumann), they roughed him actually. It just looked like our guys weren't ready for what they lined up in and I didn't want to have a punt blocked.
(On the defensive timeouts)
"That's what I'm talking about. They called a timeout and then we called a time out and obviously that's on me. I communicated something that I wanted and it didn't get communicated the right way. I didn't want to be in that defense against what they came out in. They were going to run the ball which they did and then we stopped them but it cost us a timeout."
(On the next series of plays)
"It's first and one on the one and they get into what we call a bear defense. Where they bring in extra d lineman and pack it in. We thought we would be able to get Matt (Dayes) wide open. It was a run pass play where if he is not there you throw it away or you run it in. He tripped and I asked Jacoby why he didn't throw it away and he was like I wanted to but I was tripping and I didn't want to throw a pick. He made a good decision not wanting to turn it over but when you call that kind of play obviously you don't expect that kind of stuff to happen. We thought we could score with either a walk in or have to throw it incomplete and have second and one on the one. It was four downs for us we were going to go for it anyways so in that kind of situation play action is a good play and it just didn't work out."
(Shad made his first start what went into that decision)
"We thought being in two backs this week that, they are really good at defense. We found some things on film. Matt is really good at the perimeter and Shad running the zone it was just a way to use their two skills together."
Senior WR NaQuan Brown
(Did it feel like progress compared to Clemson and Boston College)
"Yeah, but we still got to get the W, get the wins."
(On Airius Moore)
"I was real proud of him, he was a true freshman. I expected a little jitters in his system but he came out for the team, so I was really proud of him."
(On the fumble)
"I knew he was down, but he just gave it to him because he gave so much effort. You just have to give it to him."
(On the bye week this week)
"We just have to get tired of losing. So we're going to come out ... everyone is going to stay together. Come out and start early, we've struggled with that. Have to start early in the game and we should be able to beat all these teams."
Junior QB Jacoby Brissett
(Coming back from the 1 yard block)
"It was stupid; I should have thrown the ball away. I was tripping but that's not an excuse. I was just trying to make sure we got some points tonight and I got hit from behind and fumbled. But you know I mean that was a bad job on me getting sacked like that."
(Failing to convert little short plays)
"We were one or two plays away from winning this game. But at the end of the day I have to, that sack, I can't do that."
(Coach's halftime pep-talk)
"It was just mostly going out there and finishing it up. Now on offense we did pretty much whatever we wanted to do, defense was doing a great job of just playing the way they want to play and uh, keeping them from putting us in a tough position where we would have to just air it out every play. I mean coaches tell us to finish it up, we're right here on how much we were down. Seven I want to say, or whatever that was and I mean we were one play away from winning the game."
(Confidence level going in to bye week)
"This was a tough one. This was one we definitely could have won. These last two we definitely could have won. It was all on my play, I have to play better and I mean we'll regroup and get everybody's mind fresh and we'll be ready to go.
Sophomore TE David Grinnage
(On his contribution to the effort today)
"I mean, it's a team game, I needed to be in the right positions at the right times. Just got to make a play for my teammates and deserve it, because without my teammates I wouldn't be able to go out and make those plays. Like Shad making a block for me to go out and catch the ball. Without them I wouldn't be able to do it."
(On coach's talk at half time to get the team going)
"We had plays that were working, we just had to actually get them. They were open and we just knew we had to come out and play harder than we were in the second quarter for us to be able to finish that game strong."
(On how confident he will be after the bye week and getting four wins)
"We're really confident. We can come out, but it's not going to come easy. We're going to have to work for it. We're going to have to do everything in our power to win those games."
Freshman LB Airius Moore
(On how he played)
"I think I can do a lot better. I definitely didn't make enough plays, and we didn't make enough plays as a team to win the game."
(On the mood in the locker room after the game, and the players being confident)
"Oh yeah, we are confident. I mean the biggest thing as a team is were trying to get this team to a bowl game and continue to work hard and fight."
(On the effort today)
"I think everybody gave great effort, it just wasn't good enough to win. But I mean, that just means we have to try harder and come back. We're going to continue to work hard."
(On what did coach say at half time to get team back into the spirit of the game)
"He just told us that we had to want it more than the other team. And I think we did, but we just didn't make enough plays. Sometimes the ball didn't go our way, but you have to continue to play through that."
(On what he has learned through this process)
"The next man is up. When your name is called, you have to produce because the team is counting on you."
(On having any jitters going in)
"I mean I've played before, I haven't started a game, but I was a little nervous. But after the first play, it goes away."
