Louisville Postgame Quotes
September 07, 2014 | Football
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Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino Quotes
(Opening Statement)
“The first thing I told the team was that we took care of our business. We did what we were supposed to do. It was a really short week. We came out and practiced hard on Wednesday and I was impressed with our effort and how hard we went. Thursday we cut it down a little bit. We wanted to make sure we got to the game fresh. We showed maturity as a team. These games are sometimes hard to play. Especially coming off of a game like Miami where we had so much time to prepare and it was so intense. But we showed maturity and we did a nice job preparing for it and they came out and executed well. We got to play a lot of guys. I think that was the best thing about the night is that we wanted to make sure we played a lot of players. Guys that helped us win the Miami game (and) that didn't get to play in the Miami game were able to play tonight so I was happy about that.”
(On L.J. Scott)
“One of the things we wanted to make sure we did was get L.J. in the game when the game still meant something. Our plan was to get him in that third series. It was really good to see him run hard, run fast. We've seen that all spring and in practice. We just didn't really play him that much against Miami. That was really us just having a comfort zone with Dom (Dominique Brown) carrying the ball and his experience in a big game like that. We're certainly going to need him. I think (Brandon) Radcliff did a good job too. So I was happy with the way our running backs ran the ball.”
(On Will Gardner from week one to week two)
“He seemed much more confident out there. He was relaxed and he really understood what we were asking him to do. You could see him going through his progressions. That's something we've been working hard with him on since the Miami game is really seeing the safeties and going through your progressions and reads. I thought he did a good job of that.”
(On Reggie Bonnafon)
“It was good to get him in. That was kind of a decision that we talked about all week long. Do we go ahead and play Reggie or do we try to hold on to a redshirt? We made the decision that we're going to need him because it's a long season so let's stick him in the first series of the second quarter. It was good to see the way he executed and threw the ball well. He ran the ball real well and had a lot of confidence. That's the thing I liked so much was the confidence. Then you could see the players rally around him.”
(On playing two quarterbacks)
“We've done that before and it worked out pretty good that time. I don't know. We have to evaluate the video and see and continue to work hard in practice. He earned the reps in the game by how hard and how well he's practiced.”
(Why has Reggie been so successful as quickly as a true freshman)
“Since the first day he came here I have been impressed with his maturity, his knowledge of the game, his willingness to study, and work hard. He is very talented, he still needs to pick up the timing, get the ball out of his hands a little bit quicker. He has the arm strength to be able to complete late passes. Anticipating throwing the ball before guys are open is what we're trying to get him to do a better job of. He opens up our offense a little bit with the ability to move around and run the ball. That was good to see how well he executed that phase of the offense.”
(How nice was it getting to play four quarterbacks)
“It was good they all worked extremely hard in practice, so it was good to see them all get in there.”
(How the starting defense played)
“They play extremely fast, they really understand what the game plan is. We are fast but they play fast, because they know what they are doing and they don't hesitate. They communicated really well out there. That what I was really watching to see how the communication was with this high speed no huddle offense. I thought they did a good job of communicating and when the new defense came in you saw just the opposite. Their communication wasn't what they needed to play that fast. I have been really happy our defense.”
(Going into the season did you have some information about your defense?)
“We felt like they were pretty good. We go against them every day in practice and we were glad it wasn't live on the quarterback in practice. We have some guys who can really rush the passer and then you see Burgess playing so fast, then Kelsey, and Keith Brown. They are playing really well at linebacker against the run.”
(How did you think the first team did with the two minute drill?)
“I wish we would have got the ball in the end zone. That is what we wanted to do, I think we made a couple mistakes in understanding what they were doing defensively and what side of the field we should have focused on. That kept us to a field goal instead of a touchdown. The first one in there that Gerald could have made a great catch on play but they hit him well and the ball came out. It wasn't bad movement of the ball and getting a field goal. It was a great experience.”
(On having a first real road game)
“Yeah it's going to be a real challenge for us. Virginia is playing well, I watched their defense against UCLA some this week, I took some time and watched that. They are very good on defense. They are long and fast and they basically shut UCLA's offense down. We have to do a great job with our preparation. We go on the road for the first time and we need to be able to handle that and be real businesslike. We need to do a good job of playing hard. Understanding that it is probably going to be a fourth quarter game.
(On if Michael Dyer playing next week)
“I'm hoping so. He just told me in the locker room, 'I'll be ready next week, coach.' I hope he's ready.”
Reggie Bonnafon
(How the first completion helped)
“That always helps. Me personally, I like to get hit first; you know to kind of feel the game but yeah the first completion it felt pretty good”
(On self-criticism)
“There are some things that I could work on. Our coaches do a great job of watching film and even when we're doing good, there's something we can work on so tomorrow I'm sure I'll have a list of things I can work on going into next week”
(On your role on the team)
“Right now, just to help the team win; whatever that is and whatever the coaches think I need to be at on the field. I'm willing to do it to help our team win”
(Comparing his style to Will Gardner's)
“I think a quarterback is a quarterback. Some people have different, dual threat, pocket-passer, anything like that, but at the end of the day, I just think that a quarterback's job is to control the offense and put points on the board so I don't think I do anything different than Will”
(How he felt when he first got out there)
“Believe it or not, I was just chilled out, relaxed. I put in all the work, the preparation, camp and everything so when you get to this point you know you put in so many reps that once you get out there in front of all those people at Papa John's. It's fun”
L.J. Scott
(On running hard)
“That's something that's been instilled in me ever since I played pee wee football. It's probably the one thing ... if you were to ask me one thing that my dad has taught me, that stuck with me throughout the way, never stop your feet. I guess it's paid off.”
(On his hometown roots)
“I'm definitely happy to be the guy to, if you will, put the city on my back. Marion is a great place. I love where I'm from, they love me and I'm glad I can be the guy that gives them the positive light that they deserve.”
(On his and Dominique Brown's relationship)
“Dominique Brown, he and Michael Dyer both being the senior running backs, I learned so much from them that when I do something not only do they see me be successful but they also know that their leadership is reflecting in how I play. So when I do something it's definitely heartwarming to look over and see my captain is as excited as I am. A lot of people think that in football you're competing for positions when one person has success maybe the other is not as happy for you but, it's definitely not that case in our meeting room.”
Will Gardner
(Do you think your confidence just came from the experience having one game under your belt?)
“Yes sir. Just knowing what to expect and getting out there just playing full speed.”
(Were you worried about complacency against maybe a lesser opponent?)
“That's the biggest thing is just knowing your assignment and executing it. It doesn't matter whoever we are playing you have to play to your ability and to your opponents' ability. I felt like we did a great job of that tonight, especially knowing the game plan and executing it.
(What do you get out of a game like this opposed to a nationally televised game?)
“You have to learn to stay focused when you're not in there. You still want to sit on the sidelines and see defenses, and still learn to grow and get better every snap. This biggest thing when you're not in is getting mental reps.”
Jamon Brown
(You guys ran the ball well tonight, talk about kind of paving the way for that.)
“We do have a stable of running backs that run very well and it's our job every week that we do what we are supposed to do which is opening holes and obviously when we open the holes they have good turnouts. For the most part, the ultimate goal for the offensive line is making sure that we come out play physical, play aggressive, and open those holes for the running backs.”
(You have two totally different games, one last week on national television against a school with a great history, what do you get out of a game like this?)
“A game like tonight is really where you focus on yourself, when I say yourself, us as a team getting better at technique, getting better at the system we are learning, just getting better at little things. So you take a game like tonight and focus on yourself to really grow.”
Murray State Head Coach Chris Hatcher
(Opening Statement)
"I told them after the game it is what it is, we played a superior opponent that had us out-manned at certain positions and a very good opponent at that. The 25th ranked team in the nation, I think that they deserve to be a little higher than that but I'm not a voter. They can get at the point of attack, that's where we were hurt early in the game. They were so big and physical. We couldn't run the football against a five man box. We can't do that. We had a lot of trouble and couldn't get much of a pass rush early in the game. So again, we played an opponent that was better than us. They took care of business like they should have but I really was pleased with our efforts starting at the very end of the second quarter. We had a great offensive drive that ended on a missed fourth down conversion. Our defense came out of the two minute drill and held them to a field goal and then the second half we held our own. I really thought that offensively we got in the groove, I thought KD (Humphries) played well and we caught the ball really well. Defensively we slowed them down, got some stops, some things we didn't do in the first half. So I was proud of our effort. I was proud of the way we played there in the second half. Our goal at halftime was to win the second half and we were getting beat. We got beat 21-14 and just so you know if we had scored there we were going for two we were gonna try to win the second half. But that was kind of our mantra coming out the break. Our guys really bought into it. We played our first team a good bit we played a lot of back ups there in the fourth quarter. But we needed the game reps, we're off this week and we didn't play our first team about a half a game a week before. We got some good quality situational work there in the second half.”
(On Janawski Davis)
"He played really well he almost busted a punt return on the first return of the ball game. He's doing some really good things out there, we kind of tricked them a little bit on the pole cap formation and we called them there early to cut the lead 14-7. I think that just made them mad but again we were battling early on and we could have shut it down right there 14-0 but we kept fighting. He played well. I thought Harness played good, Jesse finally broke out, had some good plays and you know I thought the running backs ran hard. It wasn't much doing in there but I thought we ran the ball hard and defensively I thought the linebackers did some nice things. It was really good to see a couple of our freshman defensive linemen get in there and get a little pressure on the quarterback so that goes well for the future."
(On KD's confidence)
"Well, we evaluate each week and then again I haven't seen the film. I thought CJ played well it was a different type of game when KD came in, at that point the game was out of hand and sometimes that calms the nerves a little bit more but he got in the groove. KD is a good player, I told y'all that from the get go. We had a great battle there but you know as we do it, whoever practices the best that week gets to start and we'll go back and we'll look and we will see how it goes this off week. But I really was pleased with him and I thought that CJ did some nice things. Don't get me wrong again, it was a different game from the first half and the second half we really got to go back and evaluate that."
(Is it an open competition again for the quarterback position?)
“It's open every week in every position. Unfortunately for us we don't have a lot of depth so some positions are more secure than others. We'll go back and see, like I said we have two really good quarterbacks so we'll go back and evaluate. Like I said the first half has a little bit more pressure than when the game has already gotten away from you.”
(On Roman's injury)
“I don't think anyone is seriously injured. We're beat up a little bit yes, it was kinda like playing that brick wall back there. I don't think it's serious, it's a leg injury but to what extent I don't know.”
(On the rest of his offense)
“You have to put it into context, look at the opponent that we're playing. We're playing Louisville, it's a big game. It's tough to prepare for these guys. Our players are smarter than people give them credit for. They watched the Miami game and they saw the film. I think we competed extremely well. I believe a couple of guys towards the beginning got caught up in playing in this type of atmosphere and didn't handle it real well. As they game went on we got better. The worst that could have happened, happened. We botched a punt early on, we have a walk-on true freshman snapping the ball there. I think that we'll learn from that type of thing and won't get caught up in that type of environment. We played Union and Louisville, we have Western Michigan next, and it's all so we can find out who we are when Jacksonville State rolls around. That's when we really have to be at the top of our game. We used tonight as a gauge to find out what kind of team that we have.”
(On the special teams, focusing on Pokey Harris' performance returning kicks and punts)
“Other than our punt operation I thought we held our own. I thought we covered kicks extremely well, their kick returner returned one against Miami. Greifenkamp is kicking the ball than I've ever seen him kick the ball. He has great confidence. I think we covered the punts well when we got them off. I thought overall we held our own. We almost had a punt return we just missed one block there. Then we got an onside kick, we were offsides but you know we'll learn from that. That probably made them (Louisville) mad that I onside kicked it, but we were trying to win the second half.”
Murray State QB #2 KD Humphries
(On having a positive second half and how it helps the next game) “We just have to play fast and do what we're coached to do all through the week. Then, it will all come together. Playing fast is what our offense is about, we're speed racers. We just need to execute, do what we do and do it fast and have fun with it.”
(On Louisville being effective in slowing down the offense) “They're way bigger and way faster than us, so it was tough for us and our line. Mostly we felt like our skills guys could compete with them. Put our five skills guys with their guys in a box and it was a difficult matchup for us. Our line and defense held up in the second half and gave us positive plays running the ball.”
(About second half play, first game this year) “Second half, we just came out and the coaches said they wanted to win the second half. We went out, played hard. We didn't win the second half, but we gave a whole lot better effort than the first half. So that was our goal and we pretty much played way better than we did the first half.”
Murray State LB #40 Travis Taylor
(On Louisville as an overall team) “They put their helmets and pads on just like we do. We just went out there and played football. We didn't play Louisville, we just played football.”
(Talk about how difficult that was to keep seeing fresh guys and talk about how it affected their offense more) “Well, we just had to adjust. We knew that they had fresh legs, that's the reason why we run them. We practice fast, so they can keep bringing them in, we're going to keep adjusting, keep playing.”
(On Louisville's offense) “It was alright, it wasn't outstanding but we made mistakes and they executed.”
Murray State WR #9 Janawski Davis
“Louisville has a great team. They just joined the ACC, so it was something to look forward to -- coming out and playing them tonight. They played like we did. They put their pads on like we put ours on, so we just came out to play.”
(On having a bye week after a tough loss) “We're anxious. We're coming to practice next week like we have a game on Saturday. We're going to prepare on break, heal up and go back out against Western Michigan and come hard.”
(About Davis getting two touchdowns and a punt return last weekend being a good start to your season) “Yeah, it's a pretty good season start, but I'm not the only one out here doing it. I got the help of my teammates.”
