Watch: Jeff Brohm, Mark Hagen and Louisville Players Preview Cal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Making the trip down to Blacksburg to face Virginia tech, the Louisville football program was able to overcome yet another slow start, rallying from a 16-7 halftime deficit to score three unanswered touchdowns and knock off Virginia Tech 28-16 this past Saturday.

Next up, Louisville will come back home to L&N Stadium for a matchup with Cal. Kickoff against the Golden Bears is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 8 at 7:00 p.m. EST.

Prior to their upcoming matchup, head coach Jeff Brohm, defensive line coach Mark Hagen, defensive tackle Rene Konga and center Pete Nygra took time to meet with the media. They discussed the previous game at Virginia Tech, previewed the upcoming game vs. Cal, and more.

Below is the partial transcript from Brohm's press conference, as well as the videos from Hagen, Konga and Nygra's press conference:

Head Coach Jeff Brohm

(Opening statement)

"First I'd like to say that it was great to have a great crowd at our away game at Virginia Tech. I thought our team saw them and could notice them, and it was a great turnout. [The fans] were into the game. They definitely showed out, just like they did at the Miami game when they went down to that, so we appreciate all their support there. Going onto our next game against Cal, it will be a very tough opponent. They’re well coached, they have a good young quarterback, they can throw the football, they play aggressive on defense. Once again, we will have to improve on our mistakes we made this past game and try to find a way to play cleaner football, if we can, and more efficient on both sides of the ball. But I do think that we played hard, played to the end, we found a way to win and hopefully we can make some improvements as we go forward and find a way to win against a good California team."

(Updates on Isaac Brown and Duke Watson)

"Isaac [Brown] will be out for a while, so he will not be available this game. Duke [Watson] - we are working to get him back, we’re hopeful that he can play this week [and] we’ll see how this week of practice goes."

(On Cal QB Jaron-Keawe Sagapolutele)

“He’s a good young quarterback. He can throw the football, he was highly recruited. I think he went to Oregon briefly, maybe during their bowl prep, didn’t get some reps and wanted more action, wanted to get on the field early. He’s very good. This is a good quarterback who can throw the football, he can see the field, he’s accurate. That’s what they rely on is his ability to be accurate, make good decisions and the passing game has been very effective for them. So, he definitely has a bright future, and we’ll have to play good defense.”

(On his halftime speech Saturday)

“I think the goal is always to start fast and to come out and play a good first half. We have not been as sharp. I think every game is different. When you come in at halftime, you kind of get a feel and a pulse of the team. There are some times you can get after them and get them going, and there’s other times you can bring some life back into them by describing the situation and how we have to overcome it and laying it out for them, so I just think every week is different. I thought this past halftime, we had our heads down a little bit and some people were disappointed and frustrated - and I wouldn’t say ready to give in - but you just have a little bit of anger that’s built up. I thought we needed to get the juices back going, [so] that we can play football. It’s only 30 minutes of a game and we can come back and execute and play much better if we’re into it and if we want to do it. If we believe in ourselves and play with confidence and go out there and play to win. And I think we did a much better job.

We’re going to face good football teams in the conference. I would love to win every quarter or every play, but it’s not going to happen, so you’ve got to try to win more than they do, you’ve got to try to score more than they do, and you’ve got to try to make less mistakes than they do. If you do that, you will have a chance to win, and I think our guys have got to just keep playing. We’ve got to keep playing hard and we’ve got to keep believing in them no matter what the score is.”

(On his confidence in Keyjuan Brown)

“It was great for Keyjuan [Brown] to play well - we needed him to. He’s practiced well. He’s been injured a little bit and finally got back healthy. I think he understands his role: he’s got to be ready when his number is called, he’s got to be able to produce when we put him in, he’s got to be able to block and be physical and run the football downhill. He’s taken care of the football very well. He’ll definitely have to carry more of the load now, and I think he can handle it.

(On the stakes getting bigger each week)

“I think for us, internally, we talk about a one game season a lot and the importance of the next game. I think if you do that as much as we do, you don’t have to talk about all the things going on around you as much. I think [the players] are fully aware - and I’ve talked about the stakes getting higher and higher every week - so, they’re fully aware that the stakes are higher each and every week. We talk about that because we want to stress the importance of “However hard you worked last week, no matter whether things went great or not, you have to work even harder this week. Everything matters and if you want to continue to work your way up the hill, you’ve got to win the next football game.” That requires a lot of hard work, a lot of preparation, a lot of concentration and focus, and you can’t let your foot off the gas. That can sometimes happen as you play a long season, every once in a while you want to take a breath and relax a little bit - which is fine as long as it’s very brief because you’ve got to get back to work - and that’s myself, our coaches, our players. There is a lot to play for. Every game matters, there’s a lot to play for [and] that’s what makes it fun and if you win, you’re giving yourself a chance. We just want to try to continue to improve and play our best football that we can every time we step on the field. We know it’s not going to be perfect, but we’ve got to try to make it as great as we can every game.”

(On Miller Moss and deciding when to scramble)

“We work it as much as we can. I think game action really is when you can see it full speed live, when everything matters, every different situation arises. Maybe you’re playing good at the time, maybe you’ve had a rough stretch, but you’ve got to continue to move the chains and get first downs. If we can do it by air, great; if we can do it by handing the ball off, great. But every once in a while, when we call pass plays, it’s not going to be open. They’re going to cover it. The protection is going to break down. The receiver is going to get bumped off his route, he’s going to run the wrong depth maybe occasionally. You’ve got to be able to step up and go through your progression. If it’s not there, the clock’s got to go off, and you’ve got to go get us some yards. If that can be two yards, five, 10, it doesn’t matter, but you’ve got to get us some yards. I do think in the course of a couple scrambles, if you’re moving up, sometimes there’s some room up there to run, and we’ve got to take advantage of that. Two games ago [against Boston College], he scrambled inside the 10-yard line for a touchdown. In the latter part of the game, I think he made one or two runs that got us some key yards - one was a first down. Like I said, after the interception, there was one time I thought he could have scrambled and got us yards on a key third down. But we’ve just got to continue, and he’s got to continue to watch it on film. We’ve got to practice it as much as we can. He’s got to picture it in his head over and over again. That’s one of the hardest parts about playing quarterback. He is a thrower, and we’re not going to ask him to run a whole lot, but the protection is going to break down and something’s going to happen. Two to five times a game is what I tell him every game, before the game, “hey, two to five times, you’re going to have to go run and get us yards.” One game it could be two, one game it could be five, one could be more, maybe less, but it’s going to happen. So, it’s got to be in your head “use your legs, let your feet and eyes do the talking as you’re going through the progression.” A lot of times, if you can get yourself moving forward, you can naturally take off and get us some yards. We’re hopeful that any quarterback that we have can do a good job of being smart and getting us positive yards if he can.”

(On how things change without Isaac Brown available)

“Yes, we do go into each game different. I mean we’ve been short at running back, in our opinion, multiple games this year, and it affects our thinking going into it. We’re hopeful to be as healthy as we can with the ones available, but if not, we’ve got to have an alternate plan ready to go. Really, it’s about who are our playmakers? How do we get the ball in their hands? How do we spread the ball around? You can’t throw it every play, you can’t run it every play, but you have got to have some balance. We’re hopeful to get Duke [Watson] back if we can this week, which I think would really help. Not having Issac [Brown], things happen like that all the time, you’ve got to be able to overcome it.”

Watch: Jeff Brohm, Mark Hagen and Louisville Players Preview Cal

Head Coach Jeff Brohm

Defensive Line Coach Mark Hagen

Defensive Tackle Rene Konga and Center Pete Nygra

More Cardinals Stories