What Jeff Brohm, Louisville Players Said After 38-21 Loss at Pitt
PITTSBURGH - Traveling to the Steel City for a matchup with Pitt, the Louisville football program was unable to overcome critical mistakes and crucial injuries, getting upset 38-21 for their first loss of the season.
Here's what head coach Jeff Brohm, quarterback Jack Plummer, wide receiver Jamari Thrash and linebacker T.J. Quinn had to say following the win/loss:
Head Coach Jeff Brohm
(Opening Statement)
Well, we got beat today. I'll take the blame for it, I'm the head coach. You think you have your team ready to play, you think you've covered all the bases, make sure they understood what's happened before in the past. You talk about it, you address it, but obviously it wasn't enough. I gotta do a better job of getting us ready to play every week. We talk all the time every week that it's gonna be a battle, and if you don't do all the small things right, and execute, and play tougher than they do, you're not going to win the game. That didn't happen today. First half, we got some things going early, and then started to get stalled a little bit, and then the ball started hitting the ground. The ball hit the ground a lot. Luckily, we recovered a few, which can happen, then we started to turn the ball over. When we turn the ball over like that, it's hard to overcome. We couldn't overcome it. We worked a wet ball drill day, worked on ball security, obviously not enough. That was the difference in the game, was turning the ball over. Like I said, we got to regroup. Understand that, from here on out, the schedule gets tougher every week. Every team will be ready to play, and we've got to get better. Disappointing day, give the other team credit. They won, we lost.
(On what went wrong with the redzone turnovers)
Well, it's disappointing to turn the ball over that much. I think, obviously, I gotta put our quarterback in a better position to not turn it over, but he can't hold it that long and take a sack when you're in field goal range. That can't happen. We can't put the ball on the ground like those times before, and we can't throw interceptions. Can we make some safer calls? I guess we'll try. But, I think not being as consistent in the running game as we would like to, I just think we need probably more balance. It takes the pressure off the quarterback. It wasn't just him. We weren't able to make contested catches. We had plenty of chances one-on-one for big plays, and we didn't make contested catches. It was just a combination of a lot of things, but like I said, that's my fault. I didn't us ready to go.
(On if guy weren't as locked in as they needed to be following the Notre Dame win)
You know what, actually, I thought we were locked in. I thought we were ready to go. I'm gonna stand up here and say obviously we got to do better at that, and we will. But I do think the juncture in the game, when we started to get sloppy with the ball, we're starting to put the ball on the ground and turn the ball over, that was the difference. That gave them momentum. I didn't see them put the ball on the ground. So we got to do a better job. We got to practice it more, and we can't have that happen. I don't care if it's wet, sloppy, whatever it is. We have to take care of the ball, and we can't turn the ball over and stop drive with just silly turnovers.
(On how much the game was affected by losing Jordan, Brown and Brownlee)
Those are three really good players. So, I'm not going to lie and say it didn't affect us. Next guy has to step up and play well. Not saying they didn't, we'll have to look at in more detail, but those are three very good players without question or two quarters. ... I thought they did try to pick at Storm (Duck) a little bit, but he can play and get it done. He's just got to be more aggressive. But like I said, I think it all started to kind of go downhill when the turnovers started
(On going for it on fourth and one on the first drive of the second half)
Well, I thought we could get a half yard. So obviously, I was wrong, or obviously the play calling wasn't right. We've ran that play numerous times. You'd like to be able to bang it up in there with two tight ends on that side, and just come off the ball. We came back later on third and one, and threw a deep play action that I'd like to score touchdown on, but he caught it then he fell. So obviously, it was a bad play call and it was bad decision, because it gave them a field goal.
Quarterback Jack Plummer and Wide Receiver Jamari Thrash
Linebacker T.J. Quinn
(Photo of Jeff Brohm: Charles LeClaire - USA TODAY Sports)
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