Louisville Cardinals College Football Postgame Quote, 12/02/2023

JEFF BROHM: Credit them. Their players, their coaches. They played hard and they found a way to win the game.

For us, it was disappointing. I’ll take the blame for the loss. I would have liked to have played a whole lot better than that on offense. I thought our defense played really, really well the entire game, gave us a chance without question. Our special teams played really well, and we were not up to par on offense, so that’s my fault.

Once we had to kind of rely on the passing game a little too much, we couldn’t execute very well, so that was disappointing.

We’ll have to figure out ways to fix that moving forward. I’m sure we’ll have another tough game in the bowl game coming up, but disappointed today, but I do think we had a lot of guys that played hard and quite a few guys that played really well, especially on defense and special teams.

Unfortunately offense was not good, and that’s my fault.

Q. You guys had an incompletion in the end zone there in the fourth quarter and I was curious did you consider challenging that call, the incompletion on the drop?

JEFF BROHM: Well, I would hope that they reviewed it. We had some time there. I was told it was an incomplete pass. That’s all I know on that one.

Q. When they went to the wildcat and Toafili had success on the back-to-back plays with the touchdown, why did that happen? You guys had obviously been very good against the run against them. Why did that allow them to have some success?

JEFF BROHM: Well, quite honestly, our adjustment to wildcat the first couple times was not good, so that part I did not like. That’s on us as coaches. After that we adjusted it to something more aggressive, and we stopped it every time, so that was not the best coaching on our end, and then of course we didn’t execute it, but we switched that plan up after that, and unfortunately it cost us.

So that was not the best coaching on our end, and then of course we didn’t execute it, but we switched the plan up after that, and unfortunately it cost us.

Q. Jeff, when you talk about the offense just having a rough night, does that come down to just like keeping Jack upright? He was getting tons of pressure. When you look at the game, what do you think was the biggest failure for the offense?

JEFF BROHM: Well, these guys pressed us across the board on the slot, on the outside. They challenged routes, and we had to earn our completions. We got a few. We missed a couple plays early we could have hit.

We kind of dropped one in the end zone right before the end of the fourth quarter that we need to catch. We let the one kind of slip out of our tight end in the end zone, as well, that we need to catch, and after that we didn’t execute.

Once it turned into a heavy pass-oriented game in the fourth quarter when we were down, we were really dismal with that. So just goes to show that if we don’t have balance, we have a long ways to go in the passing game.

Q. How would you evaluate how Jack played tonight? What do you think he struggled with?

JEFF BROHM: Well, it wasn’t his best game. I think early on, he did some pretty good things. Missed a few throws here and there. Didn’t pull the trigger a few times. But not until the interception in the end zone, that’s when the wheels started to come off a little bit.

You’ve got to go back and look and figure out ways to not allow that to happen again, but like I said, he played hard. He hung in there.

Like I said, once we got to where we were pass oriented trying to come back, they were good pass rushers. We got pressure on the quarterback. Could he have stood in there a little longer, made a couple of those? Probably.

But, you know, the balance left us, and really all year when we’ve had to throw it a whole lot, we have not been as efficient as we need to be. We’ve got work to do.

Q. How much do you attribute just the offensive mistakes and miscues to being self-inflicted as opposed to what Florida State was doing defensively?

JEFF BROHM: Well, I’ll give Florida State a whole lot of credit. We knew they were going to press us on the outside, press us on the slots, challenge routes, play downhill. They were very active, and we needed to run the ball.

We had a hard time getting some yards with the run early on. Finally broke a few on a couple drives early in the second half that helped us. Got us in position to take a lead, to get some points, and we stalled in the red zone.

We had some chances. Like I said, we probably had ‚Äì they weren’t two easy catches, but we had two balls that we can easily catch to score a touchdown.

I think once we threw the interception on 3rd down when we’re in scoring territory and right in the game, that’s when the wheels started to come off, and we were extremely inefficient after that.

Like I said, that’s on me. I need to do a better job.

Q. How much, when you look back on this game in terms of the building of this program, how you want it, how much will you point to some of those plays that you feel like you could have made in terms of a championship game, you’re not going to get a lot of opportunities and you have to seize those opportunities?

JEFF BROHM: Well, like I said, the way I saw the game on the field, I haven’t watched the film, but our defense really played well, and we needed them to. The team was playing their third quarterback.

But we played pretty well overall other than the wildcat couple plays that really cost us. They played to the end, so I’m proud of their effort. They kept us in the game. Our special teams ‚Äì okay, we maybe had one punt that we shanked, but other than that, got us the advantage, got us the ball in scoring territory.

Then we couldn’t convert. Like I said, we had chances to convert, and we have to make those plays.

Sometimes guys got to understand you’ve got to make contested plays. You’ve got to make contested plays with people kind of holding on to you, grabbing on to you, hitting you as you catch the ball, hitting you as you throw the ball.

Against good football teams that’s how real football works, and we were not able to make those. And like I said, after that then we really started to stink it up on offense in the fourth quarter.

Q. Jeff, just big picture, what was this experience like being here, playing for an ACC Championship, and what did you say to the guys in the locker room after this?

JEFF BROHM: Well, you know, I was very optimistic with our team after the game because I was very proud of their performance. I thought they played very hard. I thought there were a lot of guys that prepared hard, wanted to win, quite a few guys that gave really good performances.

Unfortunately we had a handful not play up to par, and like I said, I think you’ve got to play better on offense.

So that starts with me as the head coach. We’ve got to figure out ways to create a few more big plays. We’ve got to figure out a way when we have to throw the ball a lot to be more efficient.

That was what was disappointing. That’s what cost us. But I do think our guys wanted to win. They were up for the challenge as far as facing an undefeated team in a championship game.

We had some moments. We score a couple of those touchdowns late in the third quarter, early in the fourth quarter, it’s a different ballgame, but we didn’t. When that didn’t happen, they took advantage of it, and things went south.

Q. You touched on it a little bit just now, but overall how do you feel like this team handled the moment being it was the first time the program has gotten to the ACC Championship game?

JEFF BROHM: I thought they handled the moment well as far as they were jacked up, ready to play. They had a good week of practice. It was not fun losing our last game, as well, but we knew this was going to be very challenging. We were going to have to play well in order to win.

I think we were right there in the game with numerous chances. Stalled in the red zone for field goals early on, which you can’t do against good teams. Didn’t convert when we had a chance to score, and I don’t know, maybe take the lead or tie the game. I can’t remember what the score was. And really get some momentum going. Didn’t happen.

Then once we had to try to make plays in the fourth quarter, we didn’t make any.