Watch: Jeff Brohm, Steve Ellis and Louisville Players Preview Boston College

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Heading on down to Miami for a primetime weeknight matchup against the No. 2 in the nation, the Cardinals started fast and were able to finish strong, using that to stun the Canes 24-21 this past Friday night at Hard Rock Stadium.

Next up, Louisville returns home to L&N Stadium for a matchup with Boston College. Kickoff against the Eagles is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 25 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Prior to their upcoming matchup, head coach Jeff Brohm, cornerbacks coach Steve Ellis, offensive lineman Trevonte Sylvester and cornerback Jabari Mack took time to meet with the media. They discussed the previous game at Miami, previewed the upcoming game vs. Virginia, and more.

Below is the partial transcript from Brohm's press conference, as well as the videos from Ellis, Sylvester and Mack's press conference:

Head Coach Jeff Brohm

Opening Statement

“It’s time to get back to work. Without question, we had a great feeling on Friday night after the game. It was a big game for us. We had a great fan turnout at the game. Our players came ready to play and we played a full game to the end. We squeaked it out there at the very end. I’m proud of our team and our effort. It was a good performance by us. It was good to see us do that after the two weeks off. With that said, it’s one win and it only counts as one, so we must move on and get ready for our next opponent. In my opinion, every week, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. You got to prepare well, have a good plan, and execute. You got to do a lot of things right to win. That’s just how college football works. You get about 10 to 12 possessions a game. You got to make them work. We were able to force four turnovers against Miami. That helped us win the football game among some other things that happened. We’ve got to play efficient football and try to get leads. Obviously when we get a lead, it helps us play good football. This was really the first game that we had a lead other than maybe Eastern Kentucky. We’ve got to continue to try to play good early on, take care of the football while we’re doing it, continue to find ways to get better, and find ways to win.

(On the O-line play against Miami)

“Well, I think that just like everything, when you lose the quarterback’s going to get the blame, the offensive line is going to get the blame, coaches will get the blame, which they should. And that’s magnified and when you win it’s magnified as well. Do I think we played better on the offensive line? Yes. I think having more balance and being a little bit healthier in the backfield probably helped us as well. I think we had a few new wrinkles I thought that probably helped us as well. I thought we got the ball out very fast, which helped us as well. But there are going to be times we’re going to have to drop back and hold it longer and throw the thing down the field, so we’ve got to continue to get better, and that’s an area that we’re going to work hard to do that. But our guys play hard, they practice hard, we just got to continue to clean things up and be as efficient as we can play after play and I think that will help us hopefully show improvement as we continue to move forward.”

(On Chris Bell)

“Well, the great thing about Chris, to be quite honest, he’s been with us since we’ve been here. He was here before we got here. Meanwhile, he could’ve taken his talents elsewhere throughout the time, he stuck with it and I’m just telling you, the importance of sticking with something, being comfortable in a system, being comfortable with the coaches and players, and the workouts, and everything ties together. You know what? He didn’t have the most catches the last two years, I’m sure he wasn’t happy with it. We brought in a transfer, and they did a really good job, but he had quite a few and he contributed and did a great job. And now he knows he is the guy, and we’ve got Caullin and other guys around him, but he is the focal point and because he’s practiced hard for years now, and he continues to practice hard. I’ll reiterate that he practices hard every day, and that carries over to the game. If he continues to do that, and we keep him healthy I think he can continue to go out there and play well, and I know our quarterback is very comfortable throwing to him.”

(On the secondary)

“I do think we have gotten better on defense. I think our plan is better. I think we understand it in more detail. I think the communication and being on the right page when the ball is snapped has been more efficient. That all pays off. That was a good quarterback [Carson Beck] and a good team [Miami]. We got off to a 14-0 lead - we kind of kept the lead, for the most part, during the entire game, even though it got closer and they thought they needed to throw the ball more than they had in the past. I’m just telling you, when you can take a team out of their comfort zone and make them do things that they would rather not do on a consistent basis, the quarterback felt like he had to make a few more plays. Because of that, he kind of forced the thing up the field a little bit and we were there to make the play. That’s a great quarterback, I just think because those circumstances happened and we made them do something that they hadn’t done all year - they have had the lead in every game, and very soundly the lead in every game - they were forced to have to throw the ball more than they wanted and we took advantage of that. We made the play when it was there, which doesn’t always happen. We kind of tease our defensive backs “there’s a reason you’re a defensive back and not a receiver,” but they proved us wrong in this game. They caught all of them, even one that was a penalty and got called back. They caught all of them, and they did a great job. So, great job by our defense and they really came through for us.”

(On Boston College)

“It was 20-0 we were losing [against Boston College last year]. In the fourth quarter, we were down by 10 and we had to fight and claw to get back. If our guys don’t remember that, then there’s something wrong with them. It’s the same coaches. They have, unfortunately for them, had a couple of close losses that have hurt them, but they easily could have won. They have a good quarterback play, a solid running back, the leading receiver in the ACC. The defensive scheme gave us some problems last year, so we’re going to have to play well. I think that every team in our conference is competitive. You see it across the board every week, and we’re going to have to play well to win.”

(On the offensive wrinkles against Miami)

It was kind of a one-sided conversation, but I like to listen to other people’s opinions and shoot some things down to kind of have some fun with it. They probably did. You know what, I think in general we wanted to get more people involved and I wanted to make their coach think a little bit as well about what could happen or what may happen. I wanted to put them on their heels a little bit. I thought against this good team we had to have a few new wrinkles. I thought for the most part it was advantageous to us. For us generating rushing yards is important, however we can do it. Generating confusion and making teams think while we’re doing something can help us. Every little thing matters - trying to run the ball, pass protect, move the chain, convert on short yardage at the goal line. We must continue to be creative with that. So, I do think this opens some things now that we can utilize to have a changeup whenever we need to. Without question, our players enjoyed that and had fun with it. For this game, it worked. Believe it or not, when we beat Iowa when they were number two in the country, we played three quarterbacks in that game. Our starter was Aidan O'Connell. We had another quarterback who was good at the zone read stuff and we used him for that. Another quarterback was not good at it, but he could run the ball if you just told him where to run with a lead blocker and we did that. I just think it’s important that we coach and it’s important that we do a couple different wrinkles every week and have it ready to go and have the guts to call it when we need to.

(On Trevonte Sylvester returning)

You know what, he loves football, he understands our system, he plays hard, he has good feet, he’s a good athlete. That covers up a lot of things when it comes to maybe lack of weight. But he did a good job for us, and he competes. We adjusted a few things, it wasn’t drastic, but we adjusted a few things up front. I thought for the most part, it helped us. There are some areas that we for sure need to continue to clean up, but having him back, who has been with us for a while, it’s just like getting anybody back at another position: it can help your team. I think he loves football, he loves to compete, he’s been a great teammate, and we need him to continue to progress and play well and be as competitive as he is.

(On Miller Moss)

“I’ve talked about Miller (Moss) before, where this young man really cares. He works hard, just like Tyler (Shough), he is coming here his last year to make a difference and prove to people that he can be a productive player. I can’t talk more about the work ethic he puts in to do that. With him, you know every player is different. The guys that care so much can sometimes press during the game because they want to make every play and they want to do things right; they must be able to pull back from that and play a little looser but be smart as well and don’t think that they must do that. Right now, he’s not the most mobile quarterback in the world and when a play breaks down, he’s got to be able to get up in there (the pocket) and get us some yards, or occasionally tuck it and run it, which we’ve talked about every game. I don’t think he had any rushes, other than some sneaks, so we’ve got to continue to work through that. If he does have to get outside, he has got to throw it away unless someone comes open. He doesn’t need to force it. There were a couple of times it was a little close there (throws in the Miami game). I think he must continue to make good decisions. What he can do is, he’s an accurate passer, he can see things, he’s played a lot of football. If we can get some things open and spread some things out for him, I think he can deliver the ball accurately. Sometimes I tell him; “Look, every play is not going to be open right away, you’ve got to be able to have some patience and allow things to develop, and work through things.” And he’s continuing to do that, and I think these guys (Miami) had a good pass rush and he knew that. So, I think sometimes just relaxing in the pocket, having great poise, and standing in there firm and strong. I tell him every time, I say “Every throw, I need you to throw with conviction, follow through, snap the wrist, be on balance and if you do that, I’m fine.” If you do that, I’m fine, but you can’t get caught going backwards and being indecisive too much. That’s easier said than done, you’ve got people coming at you from all angles, you’ve got blitzes coming, sometimes it’s blocked and sometimes it’s not. You’ve got to know where that outlet is. We’ll continue to work through that, but that’s with every quarterback, even the one’s in the NFL, you have got to continue to work through that every week. But I thought he came ready to play. He was accurate with his passes, he played a good, solid football game. We just got to continue to play good around him. I thought it helped that we were able to run the football and had some balance and didn’t have to throw the ball 55 times in the game.”

Watch: Jeff Brohm, Steve Ellis and Louisville Players Preview Boston College

Head Coach Jeff Brohm

Cornerbacks Coach Steve Ellis

Offensive Tackle Trevonte Sylvester and Cornerback Jabari Mack

More Cardinals Stories