Bryan Brown, Ashton Gillotte Preview Boston College
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Coming off of a much-needed bye week, Louisville (3-3, 1-2 ACC) will be looking to get back in the right direction after back-to-back heartbreaking losses - most recently at home vs. Virginia.
Next up, the Cardinals will be back at home in Cardinal Stadium to host Boston College (4-2, 0-2 ACC) - who is also looking to snap a two-game skid. Kickoff against the Eagles is scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 23 at 4:00 p.m. EST.
Prior to their upcoming matchup, defensive coordinator Bryan Brown and defensive end Ashton Gillotte took time to meet with the media. They discussed the fourth quarter collapse against Virginia, how they moved past the game and adapted from it, and more.
Below is the transcript from their press conference, as well as the video:
Defensive Coordinator Bryan Brown
(On what they learned from looking back at the fourth quarter against Virginia)
The one thing that I thought about the fourth quarter, I think the guys lost a little focus to finish the game. Being up 17, we're not a senior-laden team, we're a really, really young team, and we have to understand how to finish games. You got to close games out, and that's one thing we didn't do. Whether it was from a player standpoint, and my standpoint as well on the last drive. The fourth quarter in general, we got to finish games, and I have to do a better job of making sure that our guys are prepared in every single situation. We got to execute when it's time to execute. We have to know is 4th and 6, and not 4th and 9, or 4th and 10, understanding the numbers game. Threes out, I got to make sure I work to the new number three, and things of that nature. We've done a great job practice-wise the last week and a half. Learned that our guys are gonna continue to fight. They're playing hard, and we just got to execute down the stretch in order to win football games. I know one thing, I wish I would have called a couple of pressures in that last drive. We kind of knew what they wanted to do. The receiver did a great job - especially on the 4th and 9 play - not going inside, because that was his route, and he actually just sat down. He was supposed to go back inside in the middle, and he saw the middle close, and he sat right down on the hash - which was a great adjustment by him on the fly. We're gonna learn from that, and I think our guy's have and we're gonna continue competing and fighting to the very end
(On if he agrees with Scott Satterfield's comments on Monday that they should have brought more pressure)
Well, I think we brought a lot of pressure throughout the game in general. I think he's talking about that fourth quarter, because we had a multitude of sacks, especially in that third quarter. He was talking more so about that that fourth quarter. Like I said, I wish I brought a little more pressure, especially on that last drive. We brought some pressure throughout the fourth quarter, but that last drive is what I was talking about. Especially when the guys are backed up a little bit, and not just playing coverage. But absolutely.
(On why the three-man rush didn't work late against Virginia, considering it worked against FSU and UCF)
The one thing, if you go back and look at it on some of those three man rushes, sometimes the ball was getting out immediately. You're not able to get to there on the quick game. The other times with the three-man, those guys are keeping the tight ends in and chipping them. So now, when you keep six guys in some with a three man rush, sometimes you probably won't get there. So that's where I have to do a better job of, "hey, I got to bring a little bit more pressure, because those guys are chipping and staying in, protecting a little bit longer." That's on me, so I got to do a better job with that.
(On how they move past a game like that)
Well, the one thing that I did, was of course on that Sunday we cleaned it up, and watched it again on that Monday. Then the guys, we came back and practiced on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. I went out and recruited on Monday. But yes, I watched it a lot. My dad always tells me you, "you're only as good as the last one, but you have to learn from mistakes. Because if you don't learn from mistakes, it's just a mistake. So that's one thing that I did. I watched it a ton, and continue to watch it and just say, "hey, where could we have been better in certain situations throughout the game?" Whether it was that last drive, or whether it was early on in the game. We didn't execute on that first drive. It's 3rd and 16, and we give up a first down, and now they go score points. If they don't get that, they don't win the football game. Because now, that's seven points off the board. We got to do a good job of not letting it get to the end, where it's a close game. To where if we make some plays throughout the first half, even in the second half and fourth quarter, we're not even talking about us losing that game right now.
(On if they will continue to use the three man rush going forward)
It all depends. Everything is about situations. So, yes, sometimes we will drop eight and rush three at times in certain situations. It all depends on down and distance, as well as situations of the game. But we've done it this year, bringing more pressure by bringing five, bringing six. We have continued to expand our package as much as we could with the off week. We lose a guy like Monty Montgomery, who's in a lot of our third down packages, it limits some of the things that you're able to do. Not having him, for sure has hurt a little bit. So now, we've got some guys that's been in there that this past week, has been working a lot more. Hopefully we'll be able to use some of that moving forward.
(On how healthy they currently are)
We came out of the bye week pretty healthy. Ashton was banged up in the Wake Forest game, came back and played last week. As of right now, we're pretty healthy going into Boston college, minus Monty. Hopefully we can stay that way until game time.
(On how he would assess the safety position)
You look at what Kenderick Duncan and Q (Qwynnterrio Cole) has done, being a first year player here at Louisville, they've done some really good things, and does some things that they most definitely could work on - and have worked on. The one thing that those guys that continue to do, they continue to fight, they continue to practice, continue to come in and watch film more and more. That's all I'm asking these guys to do, is continue to try to get better each and every day. We are going to try to get (Josh) Minkins and some more guys in to be able to help those guys, because when you play 90-plus snaps a game and special teams, that's a lot of plays. They get tired a little bit, now your legs kinda wear down as the game continues to go on. You will be able to see Minkins - he's much more healthy now, and practicing a lot better. He'll be in the game this weekend.
Defensive End Ashton Gillotte
(On how healthy he feels now)
(The bye week) was really good. It helped me do what I need to do, and treat what I need to treat. I played in the last game, and I'm expecting to play this game. I'll be back at full capacity.
(On how he would assess his play so far this season)
I've never really been - like I critique myself, I'm always gonna be my worst critic. I'm alway gong to be hard on myself, but I'm never gonna say I was doing great or anything, because I can always be better. Just looking back myself, I just gotta continue to improve.
(On what he believes he has to improve upon)
In pass rush, I would have to say just keying on hands. That's a big jump from high school to college. High school, you can kind of just run by people, and you don't really have to focus on hand placement and stuff like that. If I can key in on getting hands out of the face, and just continue to work, I think will help.
(On how they rebound from the tough loss against Virginia)
You got to move on as a team. Obviously, it hurts, and we didn't want it to end that way. But we've been high spirited, and just trying to get back on track and focus on the next opponent.
(On what stands out about Boston College's offensive line)
They're surprisingly quick. Something that you don't normally see with a lineman, is lateral quickness. They can't usually adapt to speed, but they have an athletic offensive line, and they're strong. We just got to keep playing to our keys, and just know that they're gonna be moving faster than previous lines.
(On Boston College's running game)
I know they got a great run game, and it's definitely going to be something we need to contain and focus on. But really, we play within our system, the coaches are planning and making game prep - coach Brown and coach Ivey are working well with us to get us on track to be able to deal with this offensive line and their run game, and make them force the deep ball. Because this team likes to take shots. If we can get them to throw the ball, sometimes he'll miss a target and we can use our athletes and take advantage of it.
(Photo of Bryan Brown: John Sommers II - Special to the Courier Journal via Imagn Content Services, LLC)
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