What Jeff Brohm, Louisville Players Said After 38-31 Loss vs. Kentucky

Read what the head coach of the Cardinals, quarterback Jack Plummer, running back Isaac Guerendo, linebacker/safety Benjamin Perry and cornerback Quincy Riley said after their loss to the Wildcats.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Taking on Kentucky in their annual Battle for the Governor's Cup, the Louisville football program was unable to overcome costly late mistakes, falling 38-31 to extend their losing streak in the rivalry to five in a row.

Here's what Brohm, quarterback Jack Plummer, running back Isaac Guerendo, linebacker/safety Benjamin Perry and cornerback Quincy Riley had to say following the loss:

Head Coach Jeff Brohm

(Opening Statement)"

We didn't do enough to win. It was a disappointing loss. That is on us. Every loss is disappointing. This is disappointing. I thought we hung in there in the first half. We came out in the second half, take it down and score, give up an untouched kickoff, which is ridiculous. Then take it down and score to answer again and then give up two wide open wheel routes. A two-play drive is ridiculous. We are giving up way to many big plays on defense. Special teams need to more consistent. On offense, we can't have two fumbles that really hurt us. So, if you do those things, you are not going to win. So, we didn't deserve to win, they did. We have work to do. Now we have to go play a really, really good opponent and if we can't get those things corrected then it might not be a fun day for us. So, we have a lot of work to do this week."

(About going up 17-7 and possibility that team lost focus and what was the pressure point)

"Well, I don't know. There was a kickoff return when the guy went untouched. Obviously, we had too many guys into the boundary. They bounced it to the field, and he was untouched. It's bad. Then we respond again and then give up two wide-open wheel routes. Ridiculous. I don't know, there was a bust here or there. There might have been some coaching things we need to do better. There are a lot of things, as I look at it, probably need to be corrected and fixed. So, I am not going to blame it all on the players. I think we need to do a better job coaching and making sure we put our guys in a better position to make those plays. "

(About the two fumbles being good defense or carelessness)

"No, we didn't do a good enough job protecting the ball. We work ball security every day. Probably more so than any team in the country and have done a great job thus far of not fumbling the ball much this year – which is hard to do. Interceptions occasionally happen. We have done a great job of not fumbling the ball. We let one sneak out and they got a touchdown that shouldn't have happened. Luckily the call was in our favor. We were just trying for a few extra yards, but we can't let the ball come out. We are driving the ball down the field, and you have to secure the football. Quarterback starts scrambling and I know he is trying to get some extra yards and the first down, but you have to protect the football. You can't display it so they can put their helmet on it and punch it out. Attention to detail needs to happen. They made a couple of physical plays and knocked it out and it hurt us."

(About what went wrong on Ray Davis' touchdown)

"I can't tell from the sideline. He was untouched, which is ridiculous. We wanted to push him back because they were almost in field goal range. We pretty much had an all-out blitz called and someone didn't contain their gap and he snuck through. That sometimes happens when you are blitzing and hoping to get a negative play. But if one person does not do their job, it is going to create a crease. I am going to assume that is what happened just from looking at it from the field. When I see it on video, I will be able to tell you.

(On the penalties and the emotions of the game)

"Completely disappointing. We couldn't have talked about that garbage any more than we did. And the person who did it is a great player for us. He's a great young man… it can't happen. And it was costly – costly penalties. Just foolish, childish and our guys are better than that and that person is better than that too and I'm sure we'll get it fixed, but that stuff can't happen."

(Is there anything you've seen on the third down defense that teams might be taking advantage of?)

"To be quite honest, I think the last three games on defense have been subpar and we need to do better than that. So, it will start with me and our coaches first, we need to have a better plan. I think that's the main culprit, there needs to be a better plan put in place to make sure it doesn't happen and you give up 100 yard rushers and 300 yard passers and a ton of points in three straight games. So we've just got to get it fixed and we work it down to our players and we've got to put them in position to succeed and they've got to go make plays. Sometimes when you're doing something, there has to be a little change here and there. There has to be something they haven't seen, you can't just run the same thing every week against really good opponents. There's got to be some creativity and some coaching going on, so we need to make sure we do that."

(What was Kentucky doing up front to stem the blitzes on Devin Leary?)

"They had a couple of play actions where they were run-blocking and kind of keeping us on the line of scrimmage and allowing them a little more time to try to make the throw. We've got to get off blocks and we've got to cover better. There's too many guys running wide open. When some guys are wide open, it's easy to make the throw and that's what they did today. We've got to fix that."

(On the positive takeaways from the game today)

"I do think we played to the end. I do think that we found ways to respond in the second half when we're not playing our best. The fact of the matter is we just gave up too many big plays. You can't give up that many big plays. You can't give up those big plays on special teams. It can't happen and then the two turnovers were costly. So you add those things up and you're going to lose by seven points just like we did. I like our team, I think they want to win and we're going to have to just learn from all the mistakes we made today and try not to repeat them as much as we can."

(Does this loss hurt a little bit more than others and does it help to have the game next week against Florida State to help rebound from that?)

"Yes, this one hurts more than the others. We wanted to win this game, we put a lot of emphasis on it. I give Kentucky credit, they came in here and beat us. Congrats to them. We didn't do a good enough job and yeah it stinks. Our fans were great, they showed out, they wanted to win, they did their parts and we didn't do ours. So, we've got to look in the mirror and man up and work hard to fix it, because we have a top-four opponent that we've got to play next week down in Charlotte. We're going to have to play a whole lot more efficient football to have any chance to be in the game."

Quarterback Jack Plummer, Running Back Isaac Guerendo

(On what went wrong in the fourth quarter)

"I'll have to go back and watch and see, but we gave up a lot of big plays on offense and on defense. Those two fumbles were huge, giving them short fields. And then, just not doing the little things right and it came back to get us.

(On what created some of the second half mistakes)

"Just not taking care of the ball, just not focusing. I mean, we came out in the third quarter and played really well, had two really good drives, and then we laid the ball on the ground twice, and that'll lose you the game in college football."

(On getting back into one game season mode or this one hurting too much to do that just yet)

"Yeah, this one obviously stings. I think the guys on the team, we wanted to win this one probably more than any of the games on our schedule and it just means so much to the city. You know, we'll learn from it tomorrow and then at the end of the day, we got to flush it because we got a game on Saturday. The one game season, it goes both ways where if you win, you have to get rid of that high and go play the next game and if you lose, guess what? That can't affect your next game, so we got to flush that and just move on to the next game on Saturday.

(On Kentucky's defensive line applying more pressure than other opponents)

"They have good players up there. They did a good job getting after me a little bit. They had some big boys up there that were playing well. Nothing crazy that we haven't seen before, we played against a lot of good D-lines this year, but we would like to definitely have some plays back."

(On how much the kickoff return touchdown affected momentum)

"On the kick return, we went back to score right away and went back up 10 again, and then they cut it down to three and I can't really remember what happened after that. But you know, we feel like we were in a pretty good rhythm as an offense in that third quarter putting stuff together, and then we just had two fumbles, and that's kind of what lost us the game."

(On the two fumbles being the plays the team wants back)

"Obviously me turning the ball over is the one that sticks out to me, and then other than that, I'm sure guys, you ask anybody, they got a handful of plays they wish they could have done better but that's football. You're not going to play perfect every snap. We just have to be able to minimize the bad plays."

(On perspective of 10-2 season even with the loss)

"We really wanted to win that one, but 10-2 is a good record for college football. Obviously, in the two losses that we had, we could have won both of them. You always chase perfection, and it definitely hurts right now, but I don't know how it will feel later."

Linebacker/Safety Benjamin Perry and Cornerback Quincy Riley

(On the second half and giving up some big defensive plays)

"It wasn't anything special that they did. We just didn't execute as a defense."

(On giving up the final touchdown)

"I'll have to look at the film but from my knowledge of being on the field playing, an extra blocker came to that side. And we didn't fit right. We didn't fit the run right."

(On the importance of this game)

"This is my third year at Louisville, and I haven't beat Kentucky yet. And knowing what we have now – the weapons we have now, I feel like we should have finished. We didn't finish today and it's going to be on my mind until next year."

(On processing the game today and getting ready for an ACC Championship)

"24-hour rule and it's a one-game season. So we go on to the next one."

(On what to correct before Florida State)

"Execute and finish at a high level."

(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)

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