Louisville Cardinals College Football Pregame Quote, 11/04/2019

Alright, good afternoon. Coming off a bye week last week, but we had a really, really good session last week practice wise guys were upbeat, obviously coming after a big win against Virginia and guys got a lot of confidence. Just a bounce in their step, I think that’s awesome to see from our guys and then including last night. We got to practice last night and they were flying around. That was fun. I think right where we are in this point in the season. This exciting time for us. We know we got four really good teams we got to play in the month of November and we’re excited about that and we talk about how we’re going to finish what we remember before this year and, and so it starts with Miami. We know Miami is a team coming off a huge win this weekend against their rival game, Florida State and you know, man, he’s got the number one defense flying around. That side of the ball is extremely impressive. You know, starting up front with their four D-lineman. The defensive end leads the league in sacks and tackles for loss, very long, explosive player, but their D tackles get a lot of push as well. I’m at you know, it kind of fits. I think it all fits together what they do defensively and very aggressive in the back end, a lot of man coverage. A lot of good athletes back there running around and probably two of the better linebackers in our league that have played the most ball. Probably the most experienced linebackers we’ve faced this year. In 55 and 56 there and actually got to play against them their freshman year and I was at App State they can play this and they were freshmen and they were really good back then too and it has gotten better. So, strengthen our team obviously defensively and they played a couple quarterbacks on offense and (Jarren)Williams I think had a great game this past week I mean it there you know can throw the ball stretch the ball down the field and we had some guys to throw it to out there as well so there’s a lot of good athletes running around and obviously it’s a tough challenge for us. I don’t think we’ve ever gone to Miami won a game and so it’s a great opportunity for us to change that this week. Open up questions.

Do you like how the schedule is broken down for the bye weeks?

Yeah, as a coach we’re going to spin it in a positive way and no matter what we have no control of when the bye is going to happen, but yeah, with the way it worked out this this year, you play four get a bye week, play four, get a bye week. This point the season, everybody’s beat up, every team’s beat up. You know, this point in time where you love to be able to have some depth and play up some more guys. But it came at a great time for us to heal up some of the guys. Blanton’s (Creque) out our kicker. You can’t heal that up kind of injury he had, but as far as just bruises and those type of things. Guys really took advantage of that last week living in the training room and I, you know, again last night it showed everybody flying around Froggy, you know, feeling good and I think that’s what the bye is all about in this point in time of the season.

Do you think Miami is one of the better teams this season in the ACC?

I think it’s because of their defense. You know, if you play that kind of defense, you give yourself a chance to win games and just look at the Georgia Tech game what Georgia Tech’s offense did. Georgia Tech strip fumbled, fell on it in the end zone. They faked a punt for a touchdown. They manufactured that win and kudos to those guys for doing that but when you play great defense like they do they sacked teams they tackle for loss. Then you give your team a chance to win now other phases of the game have to step up and be able to make plays, but yeah defensively we played some good defenses this year as we go back and look throughout the season, but they’re right up there with some of the best we’ve played this year, but how they cause havoc in the backfield so they disrupt the running game with the penetration up front as well obviously as the passing game because you hold the ball, you got to get sacked. I mean, 100%, you can’t hold the ball and so we did a great job of getting rid of the football.

With Blanton (Creque) being out, how has Ryan (Chalifoux) looked in practice?

He’s done a good job all of last week. Last night he kicked the ball well. It’s obviously different in practice than when you get into a game. When it’s time to play, with the lights on we will see how he performs. But he has done well, we have a lot of confidence in him. He feels good about his ability. So much of kicking is mental. I think that as long as he has the confidence to know he can knock them down. I won’t hesitate to put him out to kick field goals and kick extra points. We have all the confidence in the world that he will go out and make it.

Did he have a lot of work during the season?

He has. We have worked him throughout the year. In the Virginia game, he got the chance to go in and kick an extra point and he nailed it. Kickers, they have live times in practice where they get to kick but they also kick a lot of times after that as well. He’s obviously had a lot of work and now he’s the guy. Now when it’s practice time and we’re calling for the ones, he’s the first guy out there. He’s done well with that. He’s knocking them down and that’s all we can ask for. We will see how it goes the last month with him and hopefully he will make them all.

Over the previous two seasons, the offensive line here has struggled. This year it has been one of the more consistent parts of the team. How did you get that going?

I just think a lot of it is what we do offensively. Our scheme. We’re not a team that’s going spread out and throw it 50 times a game. When you do that, you expose a lot of things. I think for us, we want to run the football and try to protect them. We basically only run two schemes up front in our running game with inside and outside zone. We try to get really good at that and give them confidence in that. That’s what we have been working on since day 1, since we got here. In the passing game, we had given up some sacks but a lot of that hadn’t been on our offensive line. I think they’ve done a really good job of that. But they have. That was probably the biggest question mark, in my mind coming into the season, was the offensive line and how were they going play. They’ve really exceeded expectations up front and we will need them to continue to play well. Obviously this next month, and quite frankly we lean on those guys. We really do. We haven’t thrown the ball a lot these past two games. We’ve really ran the football against Virginia. Who has a really good defense last week. To me, that’s how we won the game. I think our defense played really well. We ran the football in the second half there. Created some good drives and really controlled the game in the second half. That’s how we got up two touchdowns.

With Miami’s strong front 8, are you looking to maybe take some more shots downfield?

Yeah I think so. You’re going get some one on one opportunities out there. Of course Miami knows that as well. I feel like a defensive back from Miami from the time they are born they know how to play man to man coverage. I feel like the kids they recruit are good at that, given I was down at FIU for two years. You got to watch a lot of high school practices. They don’t play zone. I call it a breathalyzer defense, they were right here. Checking the breath of that wideout. He’s right in your face and those kids have a lot of confidence in that. You have to be able to take advantage of that. When it’s one on one and no help over the top. It’s you verses him and we got to go win that. Our quarterbacks have to go and make a throw to give your receiver an opportunity to make a play. Then it comes down to making plays. But you have to be able to take some of those chances. You have to throw the ball downfield and hope you’re able to hit some of those plays. If you’re able to hit some of those plays then you’re right in the game. This year, we have hit a lot of big plays over the top and Clemson we didn’t. You have to be able to hit those plays when you take those shots.

Going back to the offensive line, Renato Brown is playing, Cole Bentley is moving around a bit as well, how much do you feel like it is helping their play as their depth gets better?

We have started to play a little more guy, which is good, because as you start to hget down to the end here you need a little more depth if a guy gets dinged up by this time of the season. Cole came in and played well against Virginia and to his credit. T.J. McCoy has been playing a lot more and Cole came in and started practicing a lot better. He got the opportunity and made the most of it. I think that’s what its all about. He is a great story on being resilient and continuing to work. I’m proud of Cole for that, we all are. It shows our guys, that when things don’t go your way you can get bitter or you can get better. Cole obviously choose to get better and he started working harder in practice and we rewarded him with a start against Virginia and he played well. But yeah we have created a little bit more depth there up front, and I think Adonis Boone is a guy there that has gotten a lot better throughout the whole season, from the start of the season to right now. We feel confident in playing him as a guard and tackle, really, he is that guy who is kind of a swing for us. He is a young sophomore player, who has a bright future ahead and were excited about that. But were trying to create more depth up front there and that will help us the rest of the year.

You mentioned Ryan Chalifoux extra points, James Turner had the kickoff in the last game, how will you handle that and will Ryan Chalifoux handle both?

No, I think we will stay with what we did at the end of the game. If you have one thing that you need to concentrate on, I think our guys get better at that. At this point in the season, I really wouldn’t want to put that much on Ryan. Now I think he could do it, but if we could split that, I think that would be the best for our team.

Marlon Character started the last game, what did you guys see in him to give him that nod?

Marlon is probably one of our most athletic players in the secondary. He can run, jump he’s quick, for him his mental capacity is really what was holding him back. He has been practicing better, he is another one of those guys who has been putting the work in. He has been a special team’s player, who is getting better and better on defense and Coach Brown felt, let’s give him an opportunity and he went out and played well. He went out and had a lot of tackles played some balls well, so hopefully that gives him some confidence too and say hey ii can do this and give me that chance. He will only continue to get better and better, and we are proud of Marlon as well.

What would you say about Bowls and say this could be the first game that makes you bowl eligible; do you talk about that?

No, we don’t talk about it, because it really doesn’t matter. We met on Sunday and I brought it up, and said look everybody knows, were at five wins and you guys get another one we are going bowling. We all applaud that, and we all want that, but we must focus everything on Miami. We don’t to focus on the bowl and then not win another game. So, everyone’s focus is on Miami and the things we are doing right now. So, all the preparation is all about going out there and trying to beat Miami. Then at the end of a season, we hope everything we have done is enough to warrant a very nice bowl and then we will go and enjoy that but, right now all our focus is on the task at hand and that’s the Miami Hurricanes.

Scott you know the question is coming, how’s the quarterback health and any idea who is going to get the nod this week?

I think again the bye week was a great time for those guys. I think it was great that neither of them got any setback in the Virginia game and both those guys were healthy out of that. Last night they were both running around feeling good. Micale Cunningham will get the start and Evan Conley will be ready to go. We will see how that goes throughout the game. But, the good thing for us is that both those guys are healthy, and the encouraging thing is, they are probably as healthy as they have been in the last month.

Back on the quarterbacks, obviously Coach [Frank] Ponce as been with you forever it seems like. Obviously Taylor [Lamb] played well for you guys at App State, Zac [Thomas] as well. Micale [Cunningham] has grown as well. What does Coach Ponce do that helps those quarterbacks so much?

Coach Ponce does a great job with those guys. He’s very consistent and he coaches them all the same. He’s hard on all of them throughout practice. When they get an opportunity to make their presence known in playing a game, they are prepared. He’s very thorough and consistent. He’s very detail-oriented as well. When those guys get out in the game, they know what they’re getting ready to see, so now they just have to perform and make the plays. He does a great job with them. His track record speaks for itself and goes back to when he coached quarterbacks with me. Our guys have always been toward the top of pass for efficiency every year, usually taking care of the football and making good plays. The way he teaches them, he does a great job. Coach Ponce was a high school coach and high school teacher for 15 or 16 years. When you’re dealing with the high school guys, you’re developing them from the time they’re in the ninth grade – 14 years old – to when they become a senior. He does a great job teaching them and I think that translates to really good quarterback play over his career coaching them.

In the current world, when more and more teams are infatuated with passing the ball, you like to run the ball a little more old-school. How did you become that comfortable with that, and why do you think you lean that way?

I like to win. That’s what I like to do. If running the football will help us win, then that’s what I like to do. I like to throw it. There’s nothing more beautiful than watching a football go in the air and your guy catching it and going to score a touchdown. If you go back and look at the history of football, and who can run the football and who can stop the run, those are the teams that usually win on a consistent basis. There are teams that throw the football really, really well that’ll go out and beat a team they’re not supposed to beat, but over a long period of time, they don’t win as many championships. The other night when we beat Virginia, it was nasty weather day. The wind’s blowing, but you have to be able to run the football. If you try to lean on the pass too much, and the quarterback’s having a bad day, what are you going to do? If you can’t run it, there’s nothing you can do. If you’re having to run the football, and helping your quarterback out with that, then he can have a lot of great stats too and be efficient. I want to have an efficient offense and be able to take what the defense gives us. If we look at our stats at the end of the season, I hope that we’ll be balanced in the amount of yards we have rushing and throwing. Usually that’s what ends up happening. You can look at the Wake Forest game when we threw the ball really, really well and had a lot of great plays in that game. This Virginia game, against a really great defense, we were able to run the football for over 200-something yards. You’ve got to be able to do both in this day and age of college football. If you can establish the run, you’re going to demoralize the team that you’re playing if they can’t stop it. That’s the way you want to win championships.

Now that you’re at this point in the season, you mentioned you’re not focused on bowl eligibility, even though it’s the elephant in the room. Do you feel like there’s a sense of urgency with this team just to make sure they’re still staying fresh and doing the things they’re supposed to do to play good football because of those goals still being there?

We’re 3-1 in the last four-game stretch, and we’ve gained a lot of confidence from that. The guys are feeding off of that. They like the way that feels. They’re staying in the moment and coming to work every day. Just like yesterday’s practice, a Sunday practice, they were flying around. It was a great practice, and it was the best Sunday we’ve had. That’s what you want to see as a coach, guys that are flying around every single day, saying ‚ÄòWhat do you have for me today, Coach?’ We’re putting our game plan together now so tomorrow when these players get to the meeting room they’re going to be eager. That excitement and that joy is how you get better every single day, and that’s what we want to continue to do. We want to continue to be a great football team and continue to get better. To me, we’re not even near where we can be as a football team yet. We’re going to continue to strive to be there by the end of this season. And that’s going to happen because of they way they’re coming to work every day. By winning some games, it has given them a lot of confidence that by continuing to work hard and get better, you’re going to have more fun than we’ve had all year.