What Jeff Brohm, Louisville Players Said After 21-14 Win vs. Indiana
INDIANAPOLIS - Louisville had to fight off a furious comeback attempt by Indiana after a hot start, but the Cardinals were able to hold on long enough, capturing a 21-14 win over the Hoosiers at Lucas Oil Stadium.
Here's what head coach Jeff Brohm, quarterback Jack Plummer, wide receiver Jamari Thrash, safety Cam'Ron Kelly and linebacker T.J. Quinn had to say following the win:
Head Coach Jeff Brohm
(Opening Statement)
Well, it's great to come out with a win. I thought our guys competed hard for four quarters. It was touch-and-go in the second half, but we found a way to toughen it up when we needed to, and to get a great stop. Tremendous job by our defense and our coaches. They had a good plan there on the goal line. Then on the half yard, you run a naked (bootleg) on first down to take a little chance and put it on our quarterback to get outside. He did a good job running it to get a first down. and then we ran and got some first downs when he needed to. To me, that's a sign of a pretty decent football team. We got to build off that. Of course, we loved to play better in the second half. I think we talked about, a lot, the onside kick was coming to start the second half. It was talked about a lot, but obviously, the plan wasn't good enough. We got to do a better job of that, because we did recognize that that was probably coming. So that was disappointing. But they played hard to the end, so I'm proud of them. As we tell our team every week, every game is gonna be like Georgia Tech, and now they're gonna be like Georgia Tech and Indiana. From here on, that's how it's gotta be. You got to be able to be toughen up to hang in there, and make more plays than they do, figure out a way to score more points than they do. It's good to get out with a win.
(On how beneficial it is to overcome adversity early in the season)
Well, it's great. I like the make up of our guys. They really play hard, they work hard, they're coachable. I think our coaches are tough enough to realize that we make a lot of mistakes too, and we got to fix those every week, and put our players in the best position to succeed. We'll have to continue to make corrections from this week. But, that's a great starting point. If we can figure out a way to be just a little more efficient for 60 minutes and not have lapses, then maybe we can have a big win. But until then, it'll be a back and forth affair, and we gotta be the tougher team in order to come out with a win.
(On what they were expecting on the goal line)
When it was at the two, we had an idea that it's probably going to be a pass, or play action, or get out on the edge. When he got to the half yard, we thought quarterback sneak, and then when the big back came in that was the second choice. We worked on our goal line package, we a lot of big bodies in there. We stemmed at the last minute to try to get them to snap at early. I don't know if it affected a little bit or not, but we got in there. Because of the movement, we got in there quick, penetrated and stopped the run We really did a great job with it. That's not easy to do, that's just all out effort. Some good coaching by our defensive coaches, and we had to have it to win
(On T.J. Quinn making the play)
T.J. is a great leader. I was lucky to play with his dad. He was hard nosed, tackled, played to the end, and never complained one bit. His son is just like him. Very productive, is a great leader by example. He'll tackle and hit you. It's remarkable how similar he is to his father. But he's just really embraced his role. He's a great teammate, he wants to win, and he carries a lot of self confidence. If you're gonna run it at him, he's gonna tackle and he's gonna hit you. Great, great team effort there by the defense.
(On the pressure Indiana was able to get in the second half)
Indiana does a lot of things on defense. We called them in the first half on some play actions with that, and hit them on some big shots. Second half, they got through there a little bit. Whether we were a little more conservative, or whether- we attacked and moved the ball. We threw an interception when we probably could have ran for the first down, which we should have done. It just didn't seem like we had the ball much in the second half. A lot of things to work on and improve on. Indiana's a good football team. Every game I had against them at Purdue basically went down to the wire, even if we won by more than single digits. It's normally at the end just finding a way to win. But that's a balanced team. They got a good quarterback, really good running back, and a solid defense. They'll win some football games.
(On his thoughts regional rivalry games, and Indiana cancelling the future games in the series)
I think everybody's got to do what's best for them. I know from my standpoint, it's always been we love playing in-state rivalries. We love playing regional games. It's not only great for the players, but it's more importantly great for the fans. They can get to the games. They know a lot of people on the other side. It means a lot to them. There's some bragging rights. For my opinion, I would love to play as many as we could with anybody regionally, because it makes for great competition. You don't have to travel far, and all your fans can get there. We'll try to proceed forward, and get some more on the schedule that all of our fans can come watch.
(On his mindset late in the game)
Well, I was disappointed in the onside because we talked about it so much. So I probably was out of control then. Defensively, I thought we played hard. You're eventually going to make some plays. Number 12 (Jaylin Lucas) is just a dynamic player, the quarterback's a solid football player. He had a double move on us at the end to get down in range, which we play tight coverage, so eventually they're going to hit one of those since we were stale on offense in the second half. That hurt us. I just think we just buckled down at the end. Like I said, go get the stop, running the ball to win, get some first downs when you have to run the clock out is a good finish.
(On the lack of pressure in the second half)
We have some packages together to get pressure. Yes, there have been times where maybe we'd like to get more. I think we called some single dogs or blitzes by linebackers, didn't land a whole lot. They were able to get the ball out quick. Probably not a whole lot of all-out blitzes, which we have a plan for that every game, but you got to be a little cautious and careful. Sometimes when you get a big lead, you probably pull back on that naturally more than you like to, even though we're trying to still play aggressive. I just think that we got to continue to work on it. We want to try to get more pressure and sacks. Really. the goal was just to keep them out of the endzone. I just think we got a look the whole thing.
(On Jack Plummer's abilities as a runner)
When we recruited Jack way back at Purdue, the thing that stood out was he was athletic. He could run around and scramble, make some plays, and he's pretty good passer as well. He was under-recruited, and we got him to come to us. We talk about it every game: two to five times when we call pass, you're gonna have to run the ball. It's not open, they have good coverage, somebody falls down, you get pressure. So that's got to be in your mind. I thought overall, he did a really, really good job (running). The one time we threw the interception, he's trying to make a big play and he could have ran for the first down. From there, it was 'let's be smart.' You don't have to force the touchdown passes, just be efficient.' When we got that last drive, we could have ran the ball there, but on first down we ran a naked with him. It was a bootleg to get them on the edge and he did a great job. They had it covered, but they didn't cover him. Then he made another good run as well, and then we ran the ball with out running backs as well and got some yards. That was a good job by our offensive line and offense to move it at the end. Jack, he's gonna continue to get better. I think he had a really good first half. He was efficient, he's throwing the ball, he's putting it on the money. We just got to continue to find ways to score points.
(On how encouraged he is by the 3-0 start)
Well, like everything, you want to win every time you step on the field. While we talk about long term goals once, we really don't talk about anything other than it's a one game season. I think we put a lot into this game. We knew it was an important game to win this. The start was great to see that we were jacked and ready to go. Then the finish was good to see at the very end. We buckled down when we had to. With conference games start now again, we gotta be ready to play. It's a lot of parity in every league. There might be a few elite teams around the country, but everyone else is almost the same. It's just a matter of who's going to be more efficient, who's going to continue to get better, who's going to keep guys healthy, stay together and play hard for four quarters. That's what we got to do. Luckily, we get to go back home and do it next week. I do want to say that I think the fan support at this venue was great today. They were loud, they were in full force, we could hear them and they made a difference. We appreciate all them coming up.
Quarterback Jack Plummer and Wide Receiver Jamari Thrash
Safety Cam'Ron Kelly and Linebacker T.J. Quinn
(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Scott Utterback - Courier Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK)
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