What Scott Satterfield, Louisville Players Said After 43-24 Loss vs. Ole Miss

Read what the head coach of the Cardinals, QB Malik Cunningham and ILB CJ Avery said after their loss to the Rebels:

ATLANTA - It was far from a smooth start to the season for the Louisville football program, stumbling out of the gates for a rocky first half, resulting in a blowout loss at the hands of Ole Miss, 43-24.

Here's what head coach Scott Satterfield, quarterback Malik Cunningham and inside linebacker CJ Avery had to say following the loss:

Head Coach Scott Satterfield

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: I mean, first of all, just give credit to Ole Miss. I thought they came out and played out and played a really good game offensively and defensively, and we didn't play good enough, bottom line.

When we had a couple of opportunities there in the game and didn't take advantage of them, we'd get a holding penalty or we'd drop the pitch on an option play that probably would have scored.

We've got to do better with that, and then defensively the second half, we did not play well in the second half. Just missed some fits and missed some tackles, and we've got to get a lot better with that.

A team like that that's got a really good offense, you can't do that. They'll obviously take advantage of that and make some plays. I thought offensively in the second half we came out and did a lot of really good things, some really good nice drives. Cunningham played a lot better in the second half; receivers made some plays.

That's the kind of offense you want to see.

Q. That first half offensively, I know you guys had a lot of questions coming into the game; what do you think went wrong? It looked like it was just everybody was just at fault.

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Well, sometimes when you play obviously a first opponent you don't know exactly the things they're going to be doing defensively.

They had been talking about how bad their defense was all off-season and how good their offense was if they can get anything cleaned up. We knew things were going to happen and be different on defense.

We never got in a rhythm in the first half. We never got the sticks moving. And I think obviously when you do that, like we did in the second half, then everybody feels more comfortable, and you're in more of a rhythm and you can move the football and go score points.

We didn't have that in the first half probably for a lot of different reasons. It's not any one player. It was overall as an offense.

We've got to do better, and we did in the second half. That was the thing I was proud about with our offense. They came back in the second half had some really nice drives and went down and scored touchdowns, and that's where we've got to be.

Q. Was there anything said or done with Malik to settle him down and get him where you wanted him in the second half?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: No, I think our coaches did a good job at halftime of figuring out what we needed to do with trying to get some easier throws, which obviously you want to do that from the beginning of the game.

We didn't do it. I mean, we'll take the blame for that. And second half I thought we had some god things designed that enabled good completions, and he started settling in and played really well in the second half.

I take more of the blame than that for anything. I think the second half, the way the guys ran routes, caught the football, ran after the catch, I thought was really nice and good to see, and we'll build off of that.

Q. You struggled to get your running backs going today. You had to kind of run with Malik mostly. That was the reason for that and how do you fix it?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, I think the way they were playing their defense, they were three down defense and really keeping everything contained with the edges and in the middle, so really kind of presented itself with some cue runs and up-the-middle type runs with the quarterback, even in scrambles because if we're releasing four or five guys in a route and they've got eight guys covering, sometimes the quarterback is going to have to run.

That's what happened. I think that is why his carries were a little bit more today as opposed to what the running backs normally get carries-wise.

And then we probably could have stuck with the tailbacks more so, but then the game we're down two or three touchdowns so you've got to continue to spread out and try to throw the ball, get the ball down the field.

Q. You mentioned that second half was obviously much better; Malik was in rhythm. What can you do as a play caller to get Malik in rhythm earlier in the game?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Well, I think moving forward as we -- you're seeing these teams now there's a game under their belt, we're going to see kind of what teams are doing, how they're going to try to defend us.

This will be a great learning for Malik, too, and our offense to see how they defended us early in the first half, and they didn't change their defense. They stayed the same defense the whole game.

Our guys did a great job of adjusting and moving forward in the second half. Really and truly kind of what we did in the second half I think obviously is what you want to do against that, and if the game is in hand then we are going to be able to run the football.

I thought at times we had some really nice running lanes with the running backs off the edges, and we we're not able to stick with that and continue that just because the game got out of hand a little bit.

Q. What were the adjustments that you made at halftime as it specifically pertained to the offensive line? It seemed like in the first half Ole Miss was able to get a lot of pressure, even in three and four-man fronts.

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: You know, really it wasn't a lot of change up front as far as scheme or anything we were doing. I think what we were able to do was try to find some formations and some routes that were getting guys free, and now Malik is able to get rid of the football and not have to hold the ball.

That's probably the biggest thing. We didn't change anything up front. The guys continued to block the same way, and the guys did a better job in the second half I think really is what it came down to.

Q. There were a couple mistakes in that first half, like the trick play where Malik had blockers upfield probably could have gotten more; there's the pitch that Hassan drops. When you're seeing those live, what do you attribute those to, just a mental error thing?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Well, the throw by the quarterback, he got nine yards. I'll take that. Obviously you want to score on every play, but we'll take nine. The pitch was -- he took his eye off the ball. You've got to catch the ball. We do it every day in practice, catch the ball.

But he snuck a peek down the field before he caught it. That's almost certain a touchdown in that defense.

You know, you've got to let the guys go out there and play, and everything that you work on in practice and get better every single day, but we expect them to make all the plays in a game.

Obviously when they don't we're disappointed, they're disappointed, but we've got to get better with it. We'll still run that play again, I promise you.

Q. Negative 2 in turnover margin today. You mentioned the fumble, but you got your hands on some pass breakups but weren't able to get one on your own. How frustrating is that?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, I mean, you obviously don't like it. I think the one interception there we wanted to take a shot and get the ball down the field, and we had a guy out there, the backside safety came over and made the play.

It was a good play by their guy, and obviously the fumble, again, that's something we work on every day. He just didn't catch the football on that option that would have scored.

It is disappointing. It is disappointing we didn't get any turnovers. We tipped several balls and just didn't go our way. We didn't get an opportunity to catch it, to reel them in, and we've got to get better at that and we've got to create turnovers. We know that.

Q. Kind of a two-parter here. One, I know obviously the receivers are kind of a work in progress to figure out who's your guy, who are the guys out there, but what did you learn about them today? And obviously targeting played a big part in today. What were your thoughts on that in the first half?

SCOTT SATTERFIELD: Yeah, I thought, again, referring to the second half, I thought Braden Smith I thought played solid, played a good game.

I thought Watkins, he's a really good receiver. He did some good things.

I think Ahmari Huggins did some good things tonight. I think he'll continue to grow and develop as a player. I think he's going to be really good.

Marshon Ford was more involved, as well. I think he's going to be obviously a guy we want to throw the ball to, four catches.

I mean, we've got some guys. We've got some guys that can make some plays. We've got to do a better job of getting them in places to make plays.

As far as the targeting goes, I've never seen four targeting calls hold up in one game, two and two. And then it's hard, man. Like several times their quarterback went to go run and he's running right at our defenders and he goes to slide and our guys were running full speed at the quarterback.

It's hard to pull up. It's hard to avoid hitting him, and that was one of the targeting calls. And then he did it two or three other times and they could have called those probably, maybe not targeting but a defenseless player. I think that's extremely difficult to defend that.

It's unfortunate with all the targeting. I don't like it. It's not a good look. We want to keep the game safe. But when you're going helmet to helmet or you're lowering your head, the crown of your helmet to hit someone, we don't teach that, we don't want to do that.

One of our targets was on a block. TP was going to block a guy, and they hit helmet to helmet. I get sometimes it's going to happen; we don't like it. We're coaching against it, and we've got to get better with that because those penalties are crucial and they obviously hurt you.

Quarterback Malik Cunningham

Q. Malik, that first half obviously you guys weren't in any kind of rhythm offensively. What did you see what was going wrong? Seemed like a lot happened at once.

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: We just played behind the sticks a lot. We couldn't get the running game going at first. We had a few missed opportunities in the first half. I think I had like two missed throws on 3rd down that should have hit, that would have kept the drive going.

But second half we picked it up and we scored every drive we had the ball.

Q. I know you said this off-season you worked a lot on trying to fix your pocket presence and go through your progressions. How did you feel like you did today?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: I feel like the second half I really settled in. They were playing a lot of drop eight in the first half, so I was trying to make a lot of plays with my legs because the routes weren't there.

Yeah, that's pretty much it.

Q. You mentioned Ole Miss dropped eight in the first half. Was that more a product of them or do you feel like inexperience from the guys out wide?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, hats off to those guys. They had a great plan. The coach had a great plan, and we weren't expecting that. But second half we dialed some stuff up that beat drop eight; just next time I guess we've got to be more prepared.

Q. The interception, what did you see on that play and why did it not connect?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: It's my fault. The receiver didn't get over to the other half to hold that safety, but at the end of the day it's my fault and I take the blame for that.

Q. Coach Satterfield mentioned too that Ole Miss's defense they came out with was something you guys weren't expecting. What were you expecting from them at the start and what surprised you about it?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, I expected them to blitz us and get in our face, but I guess they thought different and just dropped eight the whole game, just rushed three and tried to keep me in the pocket, and they did a good job of that at the beginning of the game.

Q. When a team does something like that, when you prepare for them to blitz you and then they drop eight, as a quarterback how do you adjust? Is it more so what you talked to Coach Satterfield or Coach Pete Thomas about it or how do you adjust to that?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: Well, they both came up to me and told me that we were going to call some different stuff, so just sit in there and just dial things up, and that's what we did the second half.

Q. They told you that at halftime?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, halftime adjustments.

Q. How would you evaluate how the offensive line did tonight? You took a lot of hard hits and it seemed like there were some plays where you had some time to throw in the first half, but nothing was developing.

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, the offensive line did good. Hats off to those guys. First game, first game jitters, but that's not an excuse.

Just a lot of inflicted wounds, a lot of holding penalties. I don't think they were holding, but that's something they've got to learn from.

But I trust those guys, they trust me. What I done, I wouldn't be able to do what I did tonight. We've just all got to go to work. It starts with me, starting up front, too, as well. I've just got to keep leading those guys for the rest of the season, and that's what I'll do.

Q. Obviously a big question was the receivers coming into the year. What did you learn about those guys in their first game together?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: Those guys can make some plays. They've got potential to do a lot of great things, and we're going to need those guys on down the road because running is not going to be the only thing we have to do to win games.

We have to be able to throw the ball in the air, and the second half they showed that they can make some plays. A lot of veteran guys like J.J. and Braden and Justin and TY and Jordan, all those guys stood up and made some plays for me, and they're going to do that the rest of the season in order for us to keep winning.

Q. You guys have talked a lot about rhythm and kind of finding that balance between the pass and the run. It looked like you did a better job of that in the second half. What indicates to you that you guys are in a rhythm a little bit more and that just wasn't there in the first half?

MALIK CUNNINGHAM: Yeah, just keeping those guys motivated. A lot of guys were down the first half because we couldn't get stuff going, and when defense gets stops we'll go out and start behind the sticks. We got a targeting call so we was backed pegged up against our -- in the red zone, and when we had our chances we've got to capitalize on them. Even the pick, the fumble that was in the red zone. We've go to make those plays, because that was a walk-in touchdown and that would change the momentum of the game.

But we can't dwell on that. Stuff happens. We've just got to bounce back from it, and we've just got to come back to work tomorrow. You can't dwell on that loss. It was a real good team, good offense and a good defense.

Inside Linebacker CJ Avery

Q. C.J., what did you see -- it looked like Ole Miss' quick-pass game was just in that pace got a little bit of you guys in the first half and even in the second half. What did you see on the field?

C.J. AVERY: Like you said, they were doing quick-game RPO and was just getting behind our linebackers, and we've got to execute better as a defense.

Q. It looked like you got two pass breakups; looked like you could have picked off either one of those balls. Why weren't you able to?

C.J. AVERY: Well, I was going the opposite direction of the ball, the way that the ball was going. I had a different coverage, so I had to get to the left and I was just a little bit too far to the left.

Q. The targeting calls, there were four of them tonight. As a defensive player, can you explain, I guess, what you see in that split second where some people might see a hard hit but you don't really have much time to make a decision in there?

C.J. AVERY: Yes, sir, that's a tough situation. All of the targeting calls were -- that's the rule, so we've all got to play by the rules, and we've just got to be better with that.

Q. Malik said that Ole Miss threw out something different defensively than what they were expecting. Did Ole Miss do something similar on offense for you guys, as well?

C.J. AVERY: I don't think they did something differently. They did what we prepared for, we just have to execute at a higher level. It was really on us, all the points that they did get. I believe it was because we hurt ourselves.

Q. I remembered Coach Brown saying that you can try to replicate that pace and tempo in practice but you can't really get ready for it until it's out on the field. How noticeable of a difference is that on film versus seeing it live and going out there in person?

C.J. AVERY: I mean, it's tough. We just had to get lined up and had to -- like I said, the biggest thing for us was just execution. They're a really good offense. You have to give them credit. They're going to make plays. But we have to do the right things, and we have to make sure we execute, and we'll be fine

(Photo of Scott Satterfield: Brett Davis - USA TODAY Sports)

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