Head Coach Bobby Petrino Previews UK Game

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - After a disappointing loss to Pitt last Saturday, the University of Louisville football team will close the regular season on a high note when the Cardinals face intra-state rival Kentucky at noon on Saturday in Commonwealth Stadium.

The Cardinals (6-5) will be looking for their fourth-straight win in the series and their third-straight victory in Lexington after the Cardinals won 27-13 in 2013 and 24-17 in 2011. It will be the 28th meeting in the series between the two rivals, with the Wildcats holding a 14-13 series advantage.

This will be the second time the two teams will meet to close the season after Louisville's 44-40 win over the 'Cats in the 2014 regular-season finale at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium. This will be head coach Bobby Petrino's sixth meeting against UK as the head coach of the Cardinals, but the impact of this rivalry dates back to when he was an assistant in 1998 for former UofL head coach John L. Smith.

"I think it was right away, I remember when I first came here and moved out into Glenmary and walked out of my front door and saw a Kentucky flag right across the street and the hair in the back of my neck stood up and thought how could this happen, what is this but that is how it is," Petrino said. "Louisville being the big city, lot of Kentucky fans live right next door to you, then get to go to a basketball game you know and see that atmosphere and that competition. Then my first game out here at Papa John's Stadium was a very hot game, they were packing guys to the hospital, (Tim) Couch was throwing touchdowns and (Chris) Redman was throwing touchdowns, I remember all of that. So it doesn't take you long to understand about a rivalry."

Petrino, who owns a 6-1 all-time record against UK, wants his team to embrace the game and the excitment that centers around the rivalry with Kentucky, who owns a 5-6 overall record and is looking to become bowl-eligible with a win.

"Yeah I think it is what it is now and it is rivalry weekend and that is when we are going to play it. Let's enjoy it, let's get ready for it you know and it doesn't really matter what it was before, this is where we are at now. What we need to do is take care of our business leading up to the game and then go out and play."

After a difficult 45-34 loss to Pitt last Saturday, the Cardinals are trying to avoid their first 6-6 season since 2007, and head into the post-season with a little momentum.

"I have never really thought one game defines a season," head coach Bobby Petrino said. "I think you play one game at a time and then when the season is over, then you go over and look at everything and see where we could have done things better or what we did well, what the issues are for next year. So we are just going to play one game at a time but this is a big game, this is a game for the state of Kentucky and has always been something I have enjoyed coaching in."

The Cardinals fell behind 42-24 at the half against Pitt, but battled back to make it a one-possession game before the Panther kicked a late field goal to end the Cardinals' four-game winning streak.

"Unfortunately, we're not consistent enough right now offensively to handle that," Petrino said. "We got into a situation where we were one score away and had opportunities, had plays there, and didn't make the plays and ended up losing the game at the end. It's not how we expect our defense to play, it's not how they've played all year. There have been a lot of games this year where the defense has bailed the offense out and found a way to hold them to one less point and we've had a good team win. I think it's a total team loss. You win together and you lose together and that's how football is."

The Cardinals will return to the practice field on Tuesday afternoon at 3:50 p.m.

(Opening Statement)
"Obviously a very disappointing loss last Saturday. One of the things I've always believed in football is it's the offenses job to score one more point than your opponent scores and it's the defenses job to hold them to less than one point so you can find a way to win the game. There is a lot of years where we would have shootouts and go back and forth and the offense would have the ball last and win the game.

Unfortunately, we're not consistent enough right now offensively to handle that. We got into a situation where we were one score away and had opportunities, had plays there, and didn't make the plays and ended up losing the game at the end. It's not how we expect our defense to play, it's not how they've played all year. There have been a lot of games this year where the defense has bailed the offense out and found a way to hold them to one less point and we've had a good team win. I think it's a total team loss. You win together and you lose together and that's how football is. Yesterday we came in we watched the video, made corrections, and now it's time to move on and get ready for this game coming up on Saturday. It's obviously a huge game for us, Louisville/Kentucky, certainly a rivalry game and certainly one we're looking forward to. I know our guys will come out and have a lot of energy. We need to practice well, practice with good focus, not sure who will start at quarterback. In the game the other day, they made good plays at times, they made bad plays at times. We have to get out on the practice field and figure it out on the practice field. With that I'll just open it up for questions."

(If there are similarities between Louisville and Kentucky)
"We don't really look into what's similar. We're just trying to prepare for the game and watching what they do schematically, what their players abilities are, how they play and what we think we need to do to win the game. That's something as a staff we've never really thought of.

(On Kyle Bolin and Lamar Jackson's performances)
"Kyle took us down and got us a lead, made some good throws, did a nice job on a naked, threw a touchdown. He came back in one series and got the ball to Jamari down the middle, the next play a touchdown pass in the end zone. But he missed some things in the run game, he missed some things in the quick passing game that he normally wouldn't do, and then the interception we all know about that. Lamar came in, I thought had some energy made a real nice play before half to get us in the end zone which gave us a chance. We did have great energy in the locker room, you're down like that but there are guys in the locker room that are walking around telling everyone we're going to find a way to come back and win the game, showing great leadership. I don't think there was one player on our team who didn't play hard and compete in the second half and try to find a way for us to win. We have to build off of that, that's what we have to take and build off of."

(On low number of carries for running backs)
"That ends up being one of those things where part of the game plan was to come out early throwing the ball. We know they like to run their linebackers through and play an umbrella type coverage. We did that pretty effectively, then that 2nd quarter everything got out of hand in a hurry. It wasn't just the defense, we had a couple punts that didn't go as far as they normally would, we had a three and out on offense with bad field position. Then it's a time where it's hard to call runs. You're trying to go fast and trying to find a way to get back into the game, and we did, but it just wasn't one of those days where we could execute the game plan that we went in with."

(On Jamari Staples injury status)
"We're hopeful that he'll get ready to play. The good thing is it's not a head injury, it's a shoulder. He's been in getting treatment, I think he's going to come out and talk to you all here in a little bit, but I'm hopeful that he'll find a way to get ready to play. He certainly had a great, game, you talk about someone competing extremely hard, making plays, doing everything he can possibly do, run after catch, probably the best we've seen him run after catch and the more opportunities you get the better you get at it."

(On going in to the last game not knowing who the starting quarterback will be)
"That's hard, but it's kind of how it played out. You would have like to see us come out last week and play and do everything right and it not be an issue. We made some errors, decided to make a switch to get some momentum went in there he did some good things. I don't think we can make a determination by sitting in our office. I think we need to get out on the field and go out there to practice, see who's doing the best job of leading and who's doing the best job in their preparation to determine who's going to be the starter."

(On whether one game can determine a season and what does this game mean to this team)
"Yeah I have never really thought one game defines a season. I think you play one game at a time and then when the season is over, then you go over and look at everything and see where we could have done things better or what we did well, what the issues are for next year. So we are just going to play one game at a time but this is a big game, this is a game for the state of Kentucky and has always been something I have enjoyed coaching in."

(On how much the game means to the community and the state)
"Yeah I think it was right away, I remember when I first came here and moved out into Glenmary and walked out of my front door and saw a Kentucky flag right across the street and the hair in the back of my neck stood up and thought how could this happen, what is this but that is how it is. Louisville being the big city, lot of Kentucky fans live right next door to you, then get to go to a basketball game you know and see that atmosphere and that competition. Then my first game out here at Papa John's Stadium was a very hot game, they were packing guys to the hospital, (Tim) Couch was throwing touchdowns and (Chris) Redman was throwing touchdowns, I remember all of that. So it doesn't take you long to understand about a rivalry."

(On whether these games stand out more than you first game you ever coached)
"Yeah I pretty much remember every game, pretty much."

(On how he likes the game at the end of the year)
"Yeah I think it is what it is now and it is rivalry weekend and that is when we are going to play it. Let's enjoy it, let's get ready for it you know and it doesn't really matter what it was before, this is where we are at now. What we need to do is take care of our business leading up to the game and then go out and play."

(On his first impressions of Kentucky)
"Defensively, I think they are good. I think they do a good job, people do not get a lot of yards rushing on them or passing on them. They have had good success on third down so I think it is a great challenge for us. Offensively they ran the ball really well last week, they have had games where they have thrown it well so I think it is important for us to do a good job getting ready and like all games you have to go in and stop the run first."

(On whether he addressed the team about pregame antics from last year)
"Yeah none of us want to see that, none of us want to see that and that is not how it should be in football. It is always hard for me to understand when there is a big game on the line and somebody gets a 15-yard penalty. I was proud of some of our guys in pregame because there were some guys that were surrounded, they kept their poise, they got hit in the facemask and didn't do anything back so I was proud of their poise in that."

(On whether his record against Kentucky is a source of pride for him)
"Yeah, I really don't think about that because each team is different and it is about the players. It is not like my record, it is the players that played here and guys that played in the games and I was fortunate enough to coach some of the great players that played here and competed here and found ways to win with that team. That is the one thing that you always talk about and this is going to be our seniors last regular season game but the last time this group plays together, this team plays together and you always have the memories of the particular teams that you coach and the guys that played on them."

(On whether it is a big thing for the seniors to never lose against Kentucky in their career)
"Yeah I think it is, I mean I think that is something they take pride in and something that they would like to accomplish."

(On whether he will talk to the team to prepare them for the hostile environment)
"Yeah first you have to deal with the noise and we have to be able to execute and not make mistakes. So part of practice will be being able to work and do that and then you just have to focus and concentrate and not let the outside influences distract you and that is part of being a football team that can go play on the road and play in big games on the road. I think we have some advantages in the fact that we opened the season in Atlanta at Auburn in a huge atmosphere, loud, loud crowd. We played at Florida State you know so it shouldn't be unfamiliar to us."

(On Boom Williams)
"Yeah I think he is a really good player and his ability to run. We have got to be able to tackle him, that is one of the things we are working hard at is tackling better. We missed some tackles in the open field the other day so that is a concern for us."

(On Traveon Samuel impact)
"Yeah, you know one of the things that is funny about that is that during practice last week I said to our assistant coaches, 'Traveon is going to have a good week this week.' He is the fastest guy out here practicing, nobody is covering him and he looks faster than he has all year long. We actually inserted him in the game to run that route and it was one of the routes that showed up in practice and he ran a great route and made a great catch. I think he is going to be a dynamic player before it is over with, I think it will help when we use him more and use his abilities more. I have always felt like when you are a good offense and you are experienced on the offensive line that you can do almost anything. You can put new plays in, you can run trick plays, you can do this and it all works. When you have (Travis) Leffew, (Jason) Spitz and (Eric) Wood and (Renardo) Foster, you know big Kurt (Quarterman), they just make it all happen because they know the game so well and nothing is really new to them , but it is kind of hard for them now to do that because it is all new, it is all new to so many guys. It is hard to put a play in, execute it for three days and then have it work in the game."

(On the offensive lines performance on Saturday)
"Yeah it was a step back for the offense as far as executing and getting parts of the run game in. You know there were some things we did really well, we threw the ball 350 yards and scored 34 points. It wasn't like the defense scored points or we got them in special teams, the offense drove the ball and went and scored points so there are some positive things there too but again I talk about sacks. Sacks are about the eleven guys on offense, all eleven guys contributed to sacks whether it's the quarterback holding in the ball not knowing the pressure is coming or our lineman not picking it up. It is the entire group and that is where we are not consistent in where we need to be at."

(On Lamar keeping his eyes downfield)
"Yeah you can develop it in practice and games, you now being able to concentrate and focus downfield. I think there is a number of quarterbacks out there having great years this year that I remember two or three years ago them struggling and understanding how fast the game is, how quick people blitz, and how people disguise. So it is all just learning and growing up and getting better."

(On Kentucky struggling against running quarterbacks and Lamar's impact)
"Hopefully he will be able to run the ball, that is something that is one of his strengths and is certainly something I think he is good at. He does a good job of running the football where it is called plays or improvising off of drop-back passes."

(On Lamar Jackson's attitude)
"Yeah he has a great attitude, I think he has really worked hard at practice, he has been very positive, he has worked hard on the technique and fundamentals that we are working to get better. He has never pouted, that says a lot right there and that is all the quarterbacks, I have felt all of them have been very good with their attitude and their ability to encourage each other. So it is a good group, it is a fun group to be around and coach.

(On whether this would be a good win for both programs given the seasons they have had)
"You guys think about these things a lot different than I do, I just think this is a game, this is a rivalry, this Louisville and Kentucky. Let's go prepare, let's practice hard, let's go out and compete hard and play the game and enjoy the game, enjoy the atmosphere. You know have it fun for the crowd, have it fun for the people that can call a better play than I can. That is one of the things I have always know is that I call a play and there is 55,000 people in the stands that can call a better one. I remember one time going with a buddy of mine who was an electrician and at the time he was fixing gas pumps and I drove with it, I think it was over Easter, my wife went skiing and he got called out. So I went with him and watched him do his job, I couldn't say one word to him and he got in the car and said to him, 'man you have a great job.' He said what are you talking about and I said, 'I have no advice for you, I don't know anything that you just did but everyone knows what I do.' Everybody can be better at what I do so I just look at it as let's go play, this is fun, we have a good team, I like the guys on our team, let's go coach hard and go play the game and enjoy it."

(On anything that stands out about Commonwealth Stadium and the crowd)
"It will be fun to see the new stadium, I have not been in it since they re-did it. The number one memory I have back there is getting all ready for the game and the lightning struck and the rain came down, they emptied the stadium and here is my first game coaching college football and I have to stand in the hallway and wait for an hour and forty minutes. About fifteen minutes into it my little brother is in there coaching the offense back and forth and Eric Shelton finally said, 'Coach we got it, relax.' So I kicked the coaches out of the room and said just let them relax and let's stop coaching for right now and get ready to go play the game."

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