Louisville-Florida State Postgame Quotes
September 17, 2016 | Football
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Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino
(Opening statement)
“That was a good team win. Our defense did an unbelievable job of stopping the run, pressuring the quarterback, getting the ball back for the offense. Our special teams made some really big plays – Jaire Alexander – he got those runs, because we blocked. We challenged our – we call them our SWAT team – we challenged them this week to do a better job of getting Jaire started. Alphonso Carter had a couple of really big blocks on those plays and certainly had a big effect on the game. Offensively, I felt good. I felt like we were consistent. I felt like our offensive line did a good job of removing them from the line of scrimmage and everybody that had an opportunity made plays, so I'm just happy that it was a great team win.”
(Was there a point this week when you saw something that made you feel like Louisville might control the game?)
“We just practiced hard and worked hard and our guys took the field with a lot of confidence. There's no question about that. I really like the way we went about our business and everything leading up to it, but you could see they had confidence in each other – they trusted each other – and that's what gives you a chance to be a good team.”
(On how the wide receivers were able to get open)
“I think we just worked hard on running the ball and anytime you run the ball, you have a chance to get some guys open and throwing the ball. Our guys came into the game ready to play fast. And Lamar was anxious to throw the ball down the field and show people that he's a great passer, which he is, and to do that, you have to block, you have to protect, the guys not getting the have to run their routes full speed. Again, it was all 11 guys doing their job on the field.”
(As good as the first half was, it looked like you had more of an edge in the second half...)
“Yeah, that was great to see. We know all about them coming back and not just against us, but against other teams and what they were able to do. We didn't talk about it at halftime. We just talked about finishing, playing one play at a time, working on the process and letting the scoreboard take care of itself. But I thought the three-and-out was huge and then going and scoring right away was big. The touchdown before half was big. I thought that two-minute drive really helped us.”
(On Brandon Radcliff's progress and how he's become so effective)
“He came into camp in great shape and the fastest I've ever seen him look. I think a year ago, I screwed him up by wanting him to be a little heavier, and we decided on a weight this year. He came in in great shape. He's seeing things and cutting real well. We did say going into the game that we're going to need to get some other yards rushing besides our quarterback. We worked hard on those plays and hard on him running the ball. Our receivers did a good job blocking downfield for him when he broke through. But he's a really good football player and I'm really happy for him because every day in practice he works as hard, or harder than anybody.”
(On Lamar Jackson's performance)
“I'm just proud of how he prepared for the game… how he was able to stay calm. He's got tremendous confidence. He's a great competitor and he really prepared for the game. Obviously you get nervous because he's so young, and you got all these things going around - and more interviews than he should have to do but we do them anyway. But, he was able to you know focus, concentrate and just a tremendous leader by the way he plays the game.”
(On Lamar Jackson's long run near the end of the game)
“I thought their defensive ends were doing a good job on one phase of our option runs where they were kind of holding the point and coming back out on him and mixing it up, so we decided to change just a little bit and do a guy running across, and he could either give it to Traveon (Samuel) or kept it and went downhill. The defensive end widened, he made a great read, and hit it full speed - that was a pretty amazing run. He looked fast. He had a great cutback. He got the ball in the end zone. I thought that was a pretty exciting way to finish.”
(When you were putting together your game plan against a team like this, could you have envisioned something this?)
“We just envision the right - that's one of the things as an athlete and coach what you're trying to do on your visualization is, you do everything right. You make the right read, you make the right cut, and you make the right throw. We try to keep all negative thoughts out of our minds, so I'm going to say yeah.”
(As much confidence as you had going in, you beat the number two team in the country by six touchdowns, do you have to manage their confidence now?
“Yeah, certainly. First of all, we got to do a good job of taking care of our bodies, so we need to keep our mind and our bodies clean tonight. We've got to take care of ourselves. Tomorrow we'll come back and watch the video. They might not know they won the game that much, because we will be very critical, very hard on them and they need to be hard on themselves. You need to really watch the video and see if you utilized your technique right. See if you played hard every play and then we'll go out and run and get right back into our normal routine. But, I like this team. We've got good leadership. I've been saying that all year long that we got a team that loves each other and they have strong leadership, and they're not afraid to say that.”
(It seems like this team made a statement today, but do statements matter anymore?)
“I don't know, I mean, we just play. We're just going out and playing and working to win games and we'll get prepared for next Saturday. We know it's a tough place to play on the road and it's our next game, so it's the most important one this year.”
(What do you think made the defensive line so effective today?)
“We're pretty good on the defensive front and they do a good job utilizing their technique, we're quick. We did a good job, I think, keeping guys fresh and some of our quickness and our ability to move and angle really gave us an advantage and we were able to get in the backfield a few times and make negative plays. Anytime you're creating negative plays, it really helps you in putting them behind the sticks and making third down harder. So I was excited about how well they did.”
(There were a lot of plays at Syracuse where the offense stopped itself, how much of an emphasis did you have this week on just cutting out the mistakes and what did you see?)
“Yeah that's really what we said to ourselves is that we can't hurt ourselves. We need to catch the football. We need to not have unforced penalties. We didn't over emphasize the drops from a week ago, we did work hard on what we call “words and blanks,” which is when you catch the ball, look it all the way to the tuck and then I can see whether there are any words looking at me or the ball is blank. So it's a great way to teach our guys to focus and concentrate and look it all the way to the tuck. So that was the only thing we really emphasized on catching the ball was “words and blanks.”
(With (Dalvin) Cook, obviously the past two years giving you fits. Today 16 carries, 57 yards, besides personnel, what was different with the game plan around him?)
“We worked really hard on setting edges, not letting him get outside, because he is so fast and such a big threat. We worked hard on running full speed to the ball and I think you show up a couple times, where he made the first guy miss, the second guy miss, but three and four were right there following. They just played with a lot of great effort and a lot of toughness and concentration.”
(It seemed like the offensive line really established themselves early in the game. You were able to run the ball effectively and protect Lamar when he was in the pocket. Just talk about their play today.)
“I'm excited about our offensive line. They keep working hard. They're a group that really likes each other. They take a lot of pride in how they practice and that pride shows up in the games. We're probably going to put the video on and see that we didn't do everything right and that we missed things that could've help us score more points. We've got good leadership there with Tobijah (Hughley) he really does a great job of communicating, making things happen and then our guys played with better pad level and finished, so it was good.”
(In the process of building what you're building here, how important was it to get a win over Florida State, one of the two big powers in this division)
“Yeah, it's a good win for us. We look at the start of the season and we know that everything has to go through Florida State and Clemson. Besides everybody else has really good players and we have to play those games and win, too. That's the beauty of being in this conference, is everybody we play is going to have really good players and be very well-coached so you have to come to play each and every week. It's a lot of fun. I enjoy it. Again, I can't tell you how proud I am of our players and our assistant coaches. Our assistant coaches have been working on this game for a long time - since last winter. I think their hard work and dedication really showed up.”
(Follow up to that, how much were you guys watching Florida State since last winter?)
“A lot. We spent a lot of time on it. You pick out a few games each year where you're going to focus on over the winter, over the spring and summer and make sure that you get well-prepared for it. And this was one of those games that we picked out. We wanted to make sure we looked at all aspects of it: from the start of the game, third downs, second half. Second half was something we studied a number of times. Like I said, those guys worked extremely hard. Our assistant coaches are doing a great job at leading these young men. I couldn't be happier with our staff.”
Brandon Radcliff, Senior, RB
(On establishing the run) “Well we worked on it all summer, that was the big task for us to do because last year we were struggling in the run game, and this year we came a hundred miles per hour trying to pursue our run game and get it better than it was last year so I feel we did a way better job in emphasizing the run game.”
(On did you expect this) “I mean even with as hard as I worked man, I couldn't picture any of the wins and how it's going right now. We work so hard man, that I feel this is the way we wanted and we plan to do it.”
(On seeing the final score) “Like I said, it was a great experience, but we worked extremely hard and tried to do everything we would do with any opponent, the name is just different, we're just trying to score. As Coach Petrino said, you ask him, he'll say you want to score any time you get on the field and that's what we're trying to do.
(On what does it mean to beat Florida State) “I mean as soon as we got in the ACC, we had a hump to get over. And that was Florida State and Clemson. I know those are the big teams in the ACC, and we were looking forward to this, we worked hard, these are the types of teams you work hard for and that it's going to be a battle when it comes to that time, but I feel if we work hard, we have a lot of veterans, a lot of guys that work hard every day, and will never quit and never back down.”
(On the difference between last year for you) “I just feel my explosion, like he said I'm still fat I got to lose a little more weight, and I feel like that's it for me.”
(On getting national attention after the win) “I mean obviously just that Louisville comes to play. We got another opponent that's a great opponent in Marshall, and we just want to share with them that we're a serious football team and that we're not going to take anybody lightly.
Jaire Alexander, Sophomore, CB
(On Coach Petrino saying Wednesday that Louisville would eventually run back a kick) “It was pretty exciting to go out and practice the same schemes you've been practicing and you do it in a game and it becomes a success, you have to love it.”
(On what he saw on the punt returned for a touchdown) “The blocking was excellent. All week coach stressed blocking and it was there. That's what made it so special.”
(On when he believed he would play a significant on special teams) “I would say around the first game this year. I watched a lot of film to see what I can do better. I practiced catching the ball with two hands, maybe one hand sometimes, practice fielding the ball, and on game day execute.”
(On almost having a second punt returned for a touchdown) “My legs were heavy. When I was running I caught a cramp in my body. The second one I just saw green grass, pretty exciting, great blocking on that one as well.”
(On what returning a punt for a touchdown does for his confidence) “Obviously, that builds my confidence up. Knowing that with the right blockers anything is achievable, I have to keep progressing and going up from there.”
(On what the feeling is like being caught from behind) “It was like ahhh, oh wait, hold on cramp, cramp. That was the feeling right there but it felt good to put the offense in field goal range because we can score points.”
(On if he thought Louisville would dominate Florida State) “No, actually I didn't. Big shouts out to Florida State, they're a really good team and we just come out there and execute and that's how we got the win.”
Lamar Jackson, Sophomore, QB
(On evaluation of Offense) “What the offensive line? A+. have to be an A+. Our receivers? A+. I didn't see any drops and it wasn't like last week. But me? D. Have to be a D. I threw an interception goal line. I think it was 7 incomplete passes I did; Bad balls. But overall I think, probably like an A. I'm going to give an A to them because our team did a pretty good job on offense.”
(Reflection time for your performance) “I guess it's just helping us win, you know? We're just taking it week by week. I don't really look at that.”
(On the long TD run) “Well I'm going to take it back to the sideline first because after the interception I threw. I told my team I owed them four touchdowns I think I told them. I was like I'm determined we have to score right here. And then the offensive line, there was a huge hole, and I knew I just had to hit it.”
(On how much better is the O-Line) “Everybody knows what they are doing. You know they're mature, and they be pumping me up before the game. They'll be like bro we got you. And that's a great line. I tell them they're like All-Madden. Isn't anything wrong with that.”
(On receivers being as open as they were) “It made my job a lot easier. It made them look good. I mean we've got a lot of good players, great players.”
(On James Quick's confidence) “It's the same Quick. Like last year, I think he got hurt first game, so that's why he came back slow, but now everything is 100 percent Quick, and he's showing it.”
(How big is Radcliff?) “It's crazy, because we talked about it, and he was kind of upset at first, like the charlotte game, we were taking out. He's like bro I have to get my yards right. I was like we've got two big games coming up, Syracuse and Florida State. That's where you'll shine at, and he did.”
(Watch Teddy Bridgewater when he played?)
“Yeah.”
(On his relationship with Teddy Bridgewater) “I watched him. I watched him a lot. He was talking to me I think two days ago. He was like Heisman on campus and stuff like that. And I was like it's pretty dead. He was like you have to crank it up and bring Louisville on. He was like turn the whole crowd up. He said something like that.”
(On was a statement made with the win) “Well I'm going to tell you what my team told me. They were like, we aren't taking our foot off the gas. You know that goes for anybody we are playing. Trying to score every time we get the ball.”
(On handling the increased attention) “You know it's crazy, but it isn't anything to me. You have to stay humble. Stay humble, and stay calm. Everything is calm to me.”
(On scoring so quickly) “We practice that. We practice what we are going to go out there and do. In practice we try and perfect it. We go out there and they all know it's coming, so we perfect it and we score.”
(On handling the Heisman talk) “I try not to pay attention to that. I try to keep that out of my mind. I'm not the type to get hyped like I said before. I'm just chill.”
Florida State Head Coach Jimbo Fisher
(Opening statement) “First of all, I would like to give credit to Louisville. They did a great job in the game. They played extremely well – took care of the ball, made plays, defense tackled well, did a great job up front. They found the inches we didn't find. We had some opportunities early in the game to make some plays and we didn't match the in some scoring situations. I also thought a key part of the game was when he had it 14-10, I felt very good. I knew they would be emotional coming out. They played well and got some good scores and then we were able to get the drive and make it 14-10, and I felt pretty confident. The middle of second quarter we weathered the storm and were right back in the game. I knew it would be a heck of a football game. Then we gave them, they had a 3rd and about eight or nine yards and they get it. They got a big conversion and scored. We come out and had a play, exactly what we wanted to call, and we went the wrong way -- just created a fumble in the backfield, stepped the wrong way. I think it was going right and it went left and knocked the ball out. They got the momentum in the game and we could never turn it back. Then right before half, them getting that two-minute drive, and then in the second half, we never did get the momentum. They got the momentum and we could never change it. That's why I say, you don't play with fire and let teams get ahead of you. And we knew that. We felt like we weathered it. It was right there in the middle of the second quarter when they got a hold of us. Hopefully, we'll learn.”
“We have to create better habits. It starts with me and ends with me as the head coach. We got to fix it, look at your issues, what you got to do, find it, correct it, and we'll coach them better and they will play better. We have to put them in better in situations. They did a good job up front. I thought their defensive front did a really nice job on our offensive line and they did a good job blocking us for the most part. Their quarterback is a really good player but the receivers, backs are all good players. They've got a really good team and Bobby does a good job coaching. But, it's one game. Now we got to look at it. We have to do a better job – third down was another issue. We got too many third and longs, had too many pressures on third down that we didn't convert. We felt the first time down, we had the first possession, third play, thought we had a big play, and we didn't pick up a blitz on the backside. We had it accounted for, we just didn't block it. We missed a field goal on that drive. Then we got it 14-10 and it was good. You can't stop playing right then. You've got to keep fighting for those inches. We'll keep growing as a team. Some of our young guys have to grow up in some key situations on the road in a very good environment, a very good team. Like I said, Louisville is a very good football team. We've got to grow some and get ready for South Florida and get ready to play on the road again next week.”
(On the performance of the Florida State defense) “They were making plays. We had as good a week of practice we felt going in. one of the best weeks of preparation- assignments, alignments, everything. You just got to make it to the field. We have some young guys in key situations and guys were under block when they weren't supposed to be. Fundamentally, we got to find ways. We'll look at the film and see if we could have done some things differently. They got momentum and on offense we could have matched and had a couple things and we didn't do it. Then once they started controlling the offensive line, and stopping the running game and keeping the balance, they got to us. They did a good job.”
(On how the team handles a loss like this one) “You look, it's one game, one loss. Whether you win a game or lose a game, it's one game. Look at what you did well, look at the things you did poorly, and correct and move on. Don't dwell on it.”
(On if he thought Louisville could score 63 points) “No. I felt we would match and score and go right with it. But, it's part of it. That's ball. They did a great job.”
(On what he begins to look for on the sidelines as the game goes on) “Guys who are competitors, they're fighters, and will stay right in the game. You got to keep coaching them and keep putting them in position, got to ask them to do the right things. And that's what you've got to look for. You've got to keep fighting for those inches. You've got to find those competitors. I don't think our guys were not trying to go out. I mean, they were whupping us. They were beating us and we as coaches got to do a better job of coaching them and getting them in better position.”
(On the difficulty of handling Lamar Jackson running the read option) “Exactly right, it would come off, and we had assignments for it. We'll look at the film.”
(On having a hard time with Lamar Jackson and the read option) “Exactly right, we had assignments for it—we will look at the film, we will look at the film. He did a good job.”
(On Deondre Francois taking shot, after shot, after shot) “We got pressure early, and some things I did not think we'd have pressure—thought we had solidified the down and our protection did not get to third and long early. We had some shots at some plays—the one play when Travis (Rudolf) caught in the second half—for a gain across about the 30 yard. We had that about the third play of the game—and had that the same way, and maybe more open, but just needed protection. And it's not anybody—guys don't make mistakes on purpose—they don't try to miss a block or anything. We've just got to coach them better and do better.”
(On being worried about Deondre (Francois) going through a game like that early in his career) “It's part of it—if you want to be the guy you have got to grow up and be in that. The good thing, the whole first half he was in a good place—he had the one mistake -- the fumble was on him. He went the wrong way. We knew exactly what we were going to call and he was coming off (snaps his fingers). I felt really good at that time because he was seeing things even when they were giving pressure. This is what they did, this was the read, I mean—he was dead on—what he was giving me back, what he had going on. We were not protecting as well. And then he had the one little hiccup (with the fumble) and it just started their momentum. When you are in a game where you can't get behind too far, you can't have those hiccups—you have got to try to play perfectly.”
(On how good Lamar (Jackson) is and what makes him such a great player) “He's a really good player. He's athletic, they are dynamic, they've got good play-makers around him, they've got a good system. He can run it, he can throw it. I mean he's just a really good football player and they are coached well.”
(On solutions for their offensive line) “We have got to look at who got beat and when they got beat. We'll look and see. We have a good group of younger guys and you can't put them out there like that. That is what happened to us at the end of the game. We have got some good young players and we gave up a touchdown by getting too many guys off the ball—on one of our touchdown runs at the end. Little things like that—guys are talented enough—but they are so tough, they have got to learn the basics to get ready—and take it to the field. We are not disappointed with them—it is just where they are at in their development.”
(On missing key players) “It makes a different—but that's ball. That's not their fault—that's our fault. We have to have players to keep making plays—and do what we have got to do. I mean, that's football—go deep and develop young players.”
(On this being the kind of loss—where everything comes under scrutiny) “I look at every position, every week. Guys, I'm not going to panic. I'm going to look at it, get better, and move on. We are going to do the same things we do every week. There is no reason to panic. We've got the same players. We've got the same coaches. We've got to go out there and do a better job and get the right guys on the field and put them in a position to be good and do the right thing. We look at every position every week. I scrutinize every position every week.”
(On Logan (Tyler) missing the direction of the punt) “Yes he did—he missed the direction on the punt—didn't get enough hang on that and then our inside guy somehow got walled off. I don't know why. And then on the second one—we had perfect containment—all of a sudden a guy jumped inside and runs right down the sideline. Our gunner can't get blocked. We just made mental mistakes. That us coaching—that's me as a head coach—we've got to coach better.”
(About this being a fluky loss because things just kind of got out of hand) No, I didn't say fluky. We just need to play better. I mean, we will find out with the amount of games we have left. I mean we played a good opponent. We played a good opponent. We played a good second half's the last few weeks so we have played good football. We played a good quarter and half here, but we have to be more mature. We have to minimize it. You are going to have ups and downs at games you have to minimize it to where you can manage it and when it time to manage it, you actually make habits. I'm not saying fluky. They flat out beat us. I mean that it now, we just got to line up and play football.”
(On finding competitors on the team) “I didn't see guys trying to hide, I didn't see that, but I mean people just need to man up and go play and hopefully we get better.”
(On the message after the game) “All the little things make a difference. All the little things matter when we actually have them. All the time in practice we would have a 10-minute span where things just don't go well. This guy takes a turn, this guy takes a turn, this guy takes a turn and we go look at it, but there is just not one guy. It kind of spreads and all of a sudden you get 12 possessions in a game and three guys make a serious mistake. That's 25 percent of your offense that could be gone or our defense or whatever it is and we can't play that way. They can't accept playing that way and we have to practice better to do that. We have created those outlets. We have to learn not to have those things. We have to keep educating.”
(On controlling what a team can control) “You have to control what you can control. You got to do things right as a person. You have to score when you have the ball and right now there is not a lot of time to look forward and do anything else. You have to make things a passion and a priority. We have to get all of our rest, make sure we are getting our preparation, our film time, our practice time and we have to correct them. We have to make sure we get back to winning again. Being a good athlete, doesn't make you a good player. You have to study formations and notice key points in the game. All this stuff is not cliché, that's what separates the good teams to the other team. Remember Kansas City, remember Tom Brady when it all went wild, everything was moving back, but at the same time there was an earthquake emergency and you have to correct that.”
(On guarding Dalvin Cook) “We didn't guard anyone. I actually thought he ran pretty decently and I like our scheme coming in. We had a few plays. We just didn't make the block and we had to make plays to get the ball and we got out. We just had to change plans. He had a couple of runs the 2nd half. We had a couple nice runs where we had passes and runs. Then when we had our shot/play action, we didn't make plays down field.
(On Petrino play calling) “It was pretty good. They work. They work and they executed. They did a really good job. They did good plays and had good protection and had shot down field. Big plays and turnovers make a big difference. We had two turnovers. That one turnover was critical when it was 21-10 before half time. Turnovers are big. Like they were able to hit big plays and a lot of them were runs. Like the first play, we gave them 25 yards and we had two guys there to tackle him. Once you get those inches going, it is hard to get changed and they did a really nice job during the football game.
(On Lamar Jackson's numbers) “He is dual threat and everyone around him is dangerous and he can throw.”
(About talking to his staff postgame) “We have to reorganize and look at why this happened. Now we have buckle up and give those guys some stability around them and let them know we will do our job right.”
Alec Eberle, sophomore, C
(On the loss)
“We have to do a better job of preparing; the pressures they're going to throw. Whether it's once, twice a game; or four or five times a game. So like I said we have to communicate better and listen to our coaches and techniques.”
(When it's 14-10 were you worried about winning)
“I can go ahead and say that when it was 14-10 I wasn't worried. At halftime, I still wasn't worried. In my head I was thinking to myself and told the guys we're going to come back and win this game. This is nothing to us. We compete. We've been here before, you know, we're not quitters. Like I said before halftime a couple things happened to sway the momentum away after halftime. It's hard once that momentum starts flowing like that, it's hard to switch it. We have a younger team. We're trying to build the confidence up for ourselves so I think it's part of the training process. We're all going to get better. We're all going to keep maturing and I think that as the season goes on, we're just going to get better in that situation.”
Auden Tate, sophomore, WR
(On the loss)
“It wasn't any specific thing. Missing blocks, not catching the ball. It was a big thing of taking turns. It wasn't really one thing.”
(On the team's miscommunication)
“That starts with practice. We've got to be more on ourselves, not just coaches on ourselves, but as a team when we practice, we have to correct everything. We see something go wrong in practice, we have to get it right, right then - that way stuff like this doesn't happen in a game.”
(Did you notice anything in practice not happening?)
“I wouldn't necessarily say I noticed it, but you can never get too good at something. You can always correct anything, because it's the little details that matter. That's what really led to this outcome today.”
(What happened after scoring to make it 14-10 that made things unravel)
“After that we just didn't' take advantage of that momentum. We had miscommunications and we all just took turns messing up… wide receivers messing up, running backs, O-line too. It was all collectively. We all just didn't really do what we had to do.”
(Do you feel like you should be playing more?)
“I wouldn't say that, because even with that I missed two blocks today that people probably wouldn't notice. Blocks that I probably could have broken through for running, so I still have to get better at the little things. At the end of the day, it doesn't matter, the score still is what it is.”
(On the maturity of the team)
“I just think it's just us taking the next steps as a team, not having coaches correct us - having the players correcting the players, because when it gets to that point, it's just everybody on the same page. So I think that's what we really have to get to.”
(What was the mood like in the sidelines and in the locker room)
“Going into halftime, we were still hype because we have been in this position before. It was nothing new so we were really just used to it. We weren't down or anything, we were just trying to get back on the same page, but things didn't work out.”
(What does this wakeup call do for the rest of your team?
“It does a lot. We can't always do that little comeback thing that we always do. We have to come out fast, we have to start fast. We can't always get hit first and then have a responsive hit. We have to come out hitting. So I think that's what we have to do as a whole - offense and defense.
Jacob Pugh, Junior, LB
(What happened? Do you feel like the there was confusion with the defense? Did you guys have a hard time stopping Lamar both on the ground and in the air?)
“We just we didn't communicate like we should -like we did throughout the week, and then we got out on the field and everything just went like blank. We should've gotten more pressure up front too. We didn't get enough pressure up front so I feel like he was just free tonight. He just had his night.
(Is Lamar Jackson that good?)
“Lamar is an outstanding player - don't get me wrong - but he had his game. He's a great player. We couldn't take it from him.
(Can you talk about the lack of communication while playing, how does it go away?)
(It's just the noise, the pressure all. I mean it was a lot we had a lot to do and we just didn't communicate and like I said we didn't get enough pressure up front.”
(When it was 14- 10 did you guys think you had survived the worst of it and now you can settle down?)
“Yeah. We still had two whole quarters left, the game wasn't over. And I feel like we still had a chance for the comeback. Like I said, if the defense would have done our job we would have stopped them. The offense would have put points on the board.
(Is this the type of loss to hurt a team?)
“Louisville is a great team, don't get we wrong. We've just got to communicate and take onto the game field what we did in practice.”
(Are you shocked by this being the most points FSU has ever giving up?)
“Am I shocked? Yes I am. It was embarrassing . We aren't going to let it happen no more.”
Travis Rudolph, junior, WR
(What does this loss do for you guys in the locker room as far as your psyche and how you guys respond next week?)
“Honestly, I feel like all of us players are taking it hard. “We prepared for this game, but you know we've just got to build through our adversity and know that we're going to bounce back.”
(How much credit should be given to Louisville, are they that good?)
“Louisville's a great team. I feel like every opponent we face is a good team. As for today, they played a better game than we did. Simple as that.”
(What do you want to see from your teammates going into this week? After the Oregon game after the Houston game, you guys just have a whole season to go? What are some things you want to see from your team?
“The main thing is I just want us to stay together - just stick through this adversity that we're dealing with right now. It's just one game. We've got a whole full season left, so we just got to bounce back.
(Deondre Francois had a rough night - how was he after the game?)
“He was very responsive. I mean the whole time when we were down he was just telling us like it's on us. We've got do what we've got to - control what we can control. He was just showing how mentally tough he was because I know it had to have been frustrating that he couldn't get throws off and stuff - just getting psyched like that.”
(What was it about this game that made it so hard to execute?)
“We had a good game plan, but we had a lot of self-inflicted wounds honestly.”
(How do you handle a loss like this?)
“It's tough but once again, I'll just say we've got to bounce back. We've got to look forward to the next game. We can't control what just happened so … we just got to deal with it.”
(Do you think you guys went head over heels and took somethings for granted?)
“No, wasn't head over hills. Like I said it, was just that Louisville was the better team today honestly. We just had a lot of self-inflicted wounds and we just have to correct for next week.
(How is Deondre Francois doing? What was his takeaway after this game? What did you guys talk about after this?)
“Deondre is taking it well. He just told us all we have to bounce back… it's just one game we have a whole season to look forward to.”
DeMarcus Walker, Senior, DE
(What were some of the keys that you guys were missing that Lamar Jackson was able to break free and able to get in the end zone a couple of times.)
“Just weren't keeping eyes on him and we let him by a few times. And we have to make sure we bring him down to the ground and we just didn't.”
(How do you guys respond from a loss like this?)
“It starts with me. From now on, I'm not letting anything get away. I know what it takes to win a national championship. I've seen the older guys show me the ropes of winning one. And I can't be friends… there is no off the field stuff going on. I can't be cool when it comes to being on the field. I've got to demand what's right and what to do as a national championship team. And from now on I'm giving 100 percent… going to step up my leadership skills. If it's the smallest thing, I'm getting on it because I don't want to experience this ever again. You'll never see someone outhustle, run for the ball, lead, out work me from now on ever. Ever.”
(What does a game like this do for the team's psyche?)
“We just have to control what we can control. After this plane touches down I'm going to worry about self-order and who ever we play next. I don't even know, but like I said when we touch down. I promise, I promise you're going to see a different team a different identity.”
