What Scott Satterfield, Bryan Brown, Louisville Players Said After 48-21 Win vs. Wake Forest

Read what the head coach of the Cardinals, their defensive coordinator, quarterback Malik Cunningham and outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah said after their win over the Demon Deacons:

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Thanks to a blistering third quarter defensive effort, the Louisville football program obliterated No. 10 Wake Forest to the tune of 48-21, extending their win streak to three games.

Here's what head coach Scott Satterfield, defensive coordinator Bryan Brown, quarterback Malik Cunningham and outside linebacker Yasir Abdullah had to say following the win:

Head Coach Scott Satterfield

(Opening Statement):

“First of all, I just want to say how proud I am of our guys and everyone in this building, players and staff, for continuing to fight and continuing to battle. I told our guys in the locker room a month ago, nobody believed in them, backs against the wall. We didn’t listen to them. We continued to fight. We continued to get better. We continued to grow as a football team. To be able to come out here against the No. 10 team in the country and dominate like we did says a lot about them. It says a lot about their character and integrity and what they have inside of them. We are not there yet. We have to continue to get better and continue to fight. I cannot say enough about them. We have a lot of respect for Wake Forest. Coach Clawson and Sam Hartman, they do a phenomenal job there. They are an incredible team if you just look back at what they’ve done over the years and in the past three years in particular. How they take care of the football. How they don’t have penalties. They don’t beat themselves. And for us to come out and do what we did in the third quarter was remarkable. I have never seen anything like it. I have been in this game for a long time. I have never seen a team to have that many turnovers. It was different guys. That is what was so special about it. We sacked them eight times with eight different players. That is incredible. That is a total team defense. Six different players got turnovers today. It was incredible. Then, offensively, I thought we moved the ball. I thought we did a great job offensively. We said we have to score a touchdown and don’t want to settle for field goals. They played really good on offense too. We moved the ball and did what we needed to do early and then the defense just kind of took over. It was another total team effort and it takes a total team effort to beat a team like that they way we did. I am just so proud of our guys. We want to continue to get better as a football team. We know, everyone has talked about it, about the back half of our schedule. We know it is tough. We know what is in store for us. We will celebrate this tonight -- we have to. Obviously, it is hard to win football games. So, celebrate this and then tomorrow we will get on JMU (James Madison University). They had a week off last week. So, we are excited to get ready for them.”

(About the adversity and then the Gatorade bath)

“It was awesome. That means we are doing something good. I really didn’t want it, and not because it is cold but because I just expect for our guys to go out there and play well. I expect them to go out there and play like we did. For me, it is like, it is a great win over the No. 10 team in the country. But for me, I expect our guys to do that. So that is one of the main things that we wouldn’t normally do. In my mind, that is the way I was feeling. I am so happy for our guys. If they feel like they need to give me a bath, I will take it. They did a tremendous job so let’s celebrate it.”

(On whether you saw any film on being able to turnover Wake Forest)

“We talked about this on Tuesday in the press conference -- that we have to mix it up defensively, we have to bring pressure from all different sides, we will have to drop eight at times. We needed to continue to do different things, we couldn’t just sit and play the same defense or he (Sam Hartman) will pick you apart. I think our defensive staff did a phenomenal job of mixing it up, mixing up those pressures and I think that is why we had eight different guys get sacks. So it was not just Yasir (Abdullah) or YaYa (Diaby), it was a bunch of different guys coming from all over the place and I think that confused Hartman a little bit and not knowing where they were coming from. When that happens, you are going to throw into some coverage or you are going to get strip-sacked because you don’t know where it is coming from. It was a great defensive game plan, and our kids executed it. We knew coming into to this, we said it on Tuesday that we have to get turnovers. I mentioned this two years ago in the game here when they were No. 1 in the country in turnover margin and we won the turnover margin in that game. We ended up winning that game 45-21 or something like that but we knew we had to do that. Never dreamed that we would get eight but I think we had to get in the back field and mix it up for Hartman.”

(On how the team has bounced back the past month)

“We were very close in those games, we were very disappointed we lost. Florida State, we won by four and Boston College we lost by one, you know we are still right in those games and did not make enough plays. Defensively, we gave up too many big plays and that is what we have done a great job in the last few weeks and that has been the difference. I really believe that has been the difference, not giving up those big plays that go for six (points). We take each game one game at a time, we can’t look at if we are sitting here 6-1, we can’t look at that like we are robbed that we won six games. It does not matter what our record is. When this week comes around, this is all we are focused on. If we were 2-3 or would have been 5-0, we still would have had to focus on the next opponent. In this world we live in, you are only as good as your last game. You have got to focus everything you have on that one opponent and I know it is very cliché but it is one game at a time, 100 percent all focus on that. What you do in that game will determine whether you win or not. We have been playing very good complimentary football the last three weeks.”

(On where this win ranks in your career and comment on Kei’Trel Clark’s game)

“It is a huge win, they are the No. 10 team in the country over there, it is a huge win. I turned on the ACC Network last week after our big win against Pitt and all I saw was Clemson and Wake Forest on there, it was all they talked about. We are trying to gain some respect in the league and the way to gain respect is to go win. You are not going to get respect if you don’t win. Maybe they will talk about us tonight on ACC Network. I hope so but we will see.

“Kei’Trel Clark, I thought he played a really nice game tonight. Really all those DB’s did because that is a tough draw to cover those receivers with what they have been able to do this year. They still got a few plays on us but our guys hung in there and battled all night and for those corners to step in front there. (Kei’Trel) Clark, Quincy Reilly had two tonight, tremendous job by those guys. It all starts up front with that push that we got on the quarterbacks so that is why I think it was a total team effort and not just one guy.”

(What was the message to the officials on the way out and to the players at halftime?)

“I was just frustrated. I was frustrated with some of the things and the way they went. (Sam) Hartman fumbled, they called it our ball and then they come back and they come back and say ‘well no, it’s forward progress.’ Let’s review that, that’s why we have cameras – which they didn’t. And they went down and scored on that particular drive… I was frustrated with what was going on in the game, but I told our kids at halftime ‘we’ve got them right where we want them.’ We were fired up. I felt like the score wasn’t indicative of what it should have been, I felt like we should have had the lead, so we felt really good about it at halftime and we were so close to creating some turnovers. I just felt like in the third quarter we were going to have the opportunity to start creating turnovers and we did, it just started happening. Our guys were fired up at halftime to get back out in the second half and go finish the game.”

(On the fans storming the field)

“It’s great. The fans that were here today, we talked about this on Tuesday. I said you guys just hanging out in the Ville on Saturday, come check this game out, it’s going to be a good one. And for the ones that were here, they got to see a great game. That was fun, the crowd was into it and their fired up. We’re getting these pick-sixes and everybody’s going crazy. Then that crazy song comes on in the fourth quarter… I love it. It’s awesome. And then for everybody to storm the field like that. That’s college football at its best. I love that, because they’re going to remember that. ‘Hey when I was there, they beat No. 10 Wake and we stormed the field…” These are memories the guys will never forget and remember for the rest of their life. I’m happy for the fans, the city of Louisville to get to experience that.” 

Defensive Coordinator Bryan Brown

Quarterback Malik Cunningham

(What does a win like this against the 10th-ranked team in the country mean for this program?)

“This one is big for us, the program, my teammates, the city. I just want to thank the fans for coming out and being loud today. We really appreciate that; we’re going to need them for the rest of these home games. We won that game early in the week; we won it on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and on Friday and just came out and executed on both sides of the ball with what the coaches wanted us to do. Hats off to the defense for holding Sam (Hartman) to five or six turnovers. That’s just credit to the defense.

(What’s your reaction to getting one turnover after another?)

“It just goes to show how much work our defense puts in. On both sides of the ball, we’ve struggled some this year, but the defense has been picking it up lately. They’ve been carrying us for sure, so just give credit to those guys for getting us the ball back on our side of the field.”

Outside Linebacker Yasir Abdullah

(Sam Hartman’s not a freshman, he’s a fifth-year senior who is one of the better quarterbacks in the ACC. Do you feel like you got to him, that you shook him up a little bit and he started making bad decisions?)

“Yes, of course. We were working on this during the whole week. Just punching the gaps to get there as fast as we can.”

(What’s your reaction to see all the fans jumping over the walls and rushing the field?)

“This was my first experience like that in college. It’s crazy, it was surreal. I love our fans and I love this school.”

(Photo of Scott Satterfield, Wes McGriff: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports

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