What Head Coach Scott Satterfield & Louisville Players Said After 47-34 Loss vs. Miami
Louisville fell short in their efforts against Miami, falling 47-34 to the hands of the No. 17 Hurricanes to begin conference play.
Here's what Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield, quarterback Malik Cunningham, running back Javian Hawkins & inside linebacker had to say following the loss:
Louisville Head Coach Scott Satterfield:
(Opening Statement)
"First of all, just give Miami credit. They came in here and did some good things offensively and put a lot of points on the board. This is a disappointing loss for us, obviously. We made too many mistakes. Not good enough on third down on both sides of the ball and we committed too many turnovers. We didn't create any turnovers and gave up too many big plays today. Those two plays in the second half, there were two, one-play drives that went for six. You have to make offenses drive the ball. We kept fighting, and our kids played hard. I told them in the locker room, you guys play hard. It's not about playing with the kind of effort that you need, you guys are doing that. It's just too many mistakes and I was proud of the way they just kept fighting all the way to the end there. We have to continue to learn and grow. When we do face adversity in a game, how we react and what we do with it. That's the part that we got to get a lot better at. It's the first loss of the season and it's the second game. We have a long season. So we have a lot of work to do and we're excited to get back to work tomorrow."
(How demoralizing were those two, one-play drives Miami had when you were trying to find some momentum?)
"Yeah, I mean it's obviously demoralizing. We came out of halftime and we didn't play great but we're still in the game so we felt pretty good about it. We get the ball back and so we go out in the first drive we go down to score, so now it's a one possession game. You're feeling good about it and the next thing you know, one play and they score a touchdown. So, it is demoralizing to have to give up a one play drive and then then you go back out. They hit another one and it's tough. That's where we have to be tougher. We have to be mentally tougher in those scenarios when they happen. The game's not over. It's still early in the second half. So there's a lot of ball left to be played. We have to get a lot tougher mentally. That's the bottom line."
(What type of breakdown caused those two, one-play drives?)
"Both of those plays were unbalanced looks, and so they take everybody and put them to one side of the field. Obviously, we're going to put some guys to the same side of the field. We were short-handed on the boundary on the touchdown run. We did a stunt up front, and we looped inside where we didn't have an edge to the defense. He took it to the sideline and outran everybody on defense. The second one was a running back out of the backfield. That was bad on our safety. He has that guy in man to man coverage when he comes out of the backfield. It was a play action pass with the quarterback stepped up. He outflanked the defense down the right side. Assignment error on that one, and an alignment error on the first one. The last one here, there was an unbalanced look, as well. We just cut number two loose down to field and nobody covered him."
(What do you think of how the team performed on third down and was it something Miami was doing or yourselves?)
"Early in the game they did some things that hadn't done on defense. There were some things that we were anticipating them doing, and they didn't do it. They made some good plays on that, but you're right, we are usually pretty decent on third downs and didn't do a very good job at all on that. Those were big drives where you're not getting a first down. Then we had to go for it (on fourth down) several times. We ended up doing okay in that regard. The third downs, you have to give them credit early in the game. We made a little bit of an adjustment and I thought we were a little bit better in the second half, but we still have to make those plays. I think we had six of them, I would say the first two, they were lined up in something that we didn't anticipate. The last three or four, it's something where we have to make a play for the first down."
(What's your assessment of play tonight, and what would you like to see him improve upon?)
"Well, I thought he played average tonight. I thought he did some really good things, obviously, and we got some great skill players. We missed a touchdown early in the game. We had Pfiefer wide open in the back of the endzone, he just kind of threw it in the dirt and he'll tell you the same thing. He knows he should've had that. And then being careless with the football. He flushed out of the pocket and he threw a pick, you just got to throw that away. And then right there at the end of the game, running around carrying the ball with one hand, we don't teach that, obviously. So, you got to take care of the football right there in that scenario, and we had way too many balls on the ground today. Not with just Malik, we had a couple of running backs that fumbled. We've got to come up with the football. We can't put the ball on the ground."
(Was there anything that Miami did offensively tonight that you guys weren't necessarily prepared for or hadn't seen on film?)
"They had a few wrinkles in the game tonight. Probably a little bit more unbalanced than what they had shown. We knew they wanted to run the football. Obviously, we knew they wanted to get the ball to number nine. He's one of the best tight ends in the country. Again, it comes back to just doing what we're supposed to do on defense, lining up where we're supposed to line up. Because the thing about defense, if everybody's doing what they're supposed to do, but if you got one person that's not, then it can be a big play. That's where all eleven have to do what they're supposed to do and play as one."
(You've had a lot of success, but at the same time you've given up a ton of points in 15 games. I think you've had nine, where you've given up at least 34, five with at least six touchdowns. Do you think your personnel is adequate or can you explain these away with breakdowns?)
"Well, we're trying to get better with our personnel, I can tell you that. We have to do a better job in the pass rush. We're not where we need to be rushing the passer up front. If we don't bring pressure, then we struggle rushing the passer when we're just bringing four. We have to get better pass rushers that can play, there's no question about it. And you love to have more speed. We have to get overall speed, and we are attempting to do that. So, if you don't have that, then you have to be on point with your assignment, you have to be with who you're supposed to be guarding, where you're supposed to be, what gap you're supposed to be in, and you have to do that. And when you're not, then you're going to give up a big play, and that's what happens. You can go back last year, you can go back tonight. That's really what it comes down to. Reading his assignment, covering the guy you're supposed to cover, hitting the gap you're supposed to hit. You're not going to be 100 percent on that, so then at some point you just got to get them down on the ground, play another day, but when they go to the house that's tough."
(When you guys came out in that second half offensively, you guys pretty much just gave the ball to Javian and let him run behind the O-Line. It seemed like he got Malik a little bit more comfortable. Things start rolling for you, a little bit. Was that the plan, do you guys think?)
"Yeah, we felt in the first half that we really could run the football. And we really thought we could have done more in the first half and then we didn't get any first downs. That third down was killing us in that regard. So in the second half, we came out, and we wanted to establish the run and we thought we did a good job with that. Like I said, we drove right down the field to score a touchdown and you're right back in the game. So, we felt really good about running the ball. Hawk had a great night. Kind of a workhorse night. He only lost one yard on 27 carries, so he had a really, really good night tonight. It's a shame it didn't come away with a victory, because he played hard out there tonight and it was fun to watch him with the football."
(About that first half, do you feel like that's more of an outlier for you all offensively, you're more of what you were in the second half?)
"Well, we like to be more of what we were in the second half, there's no question about it. Yeah, the third downs were certainly uncharacteristic for us. You have to get some of those third downs because that keeps your rhythm on offense. That's when you get in rhythm, that's when you can go down and go score and you give yourself three more opportunities. And we have a lot of big play threat people that we feel can go score. So, we got to do a lot better in that regard. But yeah, second half I thought we moved the ball a lot better and really felt more comfortable."
Quarterback Malik Cunningham
(You guys struggled in that first half, specifically getting first downs on third down which is something that you guys don't usually do. What do you think was the cause of that early on?)
"I would say, just as a collective group, kind of a lack of focus. We got penalties so much, and self-inflicting wounds really killed us on third downs in the first half."
(That's not something you guys usually do. So, as the quarterback when that's going on, what did you do or what were you trying to do to help change that for your group?)
"Just make a play and try to keep the guys encouraged throughout the game. But, we just couldn't execute in the first half."
(After you score those two touchdowns in the third quarter and they answer in one play, what does that do to you emotionally and does that take a lot of the steam out of you?)
"No. The whole time we were scoring and they were scoring, I was just trying to keep those guys in it. I mean offensively, we were still in it. I mean we knew we had to go down and score to help the defense. But, that didn't really affect us. We were just trying to score every chance that we got opportunities to."
(You guys came out in the second half and pretty much just gave Javian (Hawkins) the ball and kind of just ran behind that O-line. When you guys are able to run like that, do you feel like that kind of calms everything down for the offense?)
"Yeah it does. Hawk and the O-line did great up front running the ball. We were really impressed with the running game, we just didn't execute on those third downs."
Running Back Javian Hawkins
(You guys came out that second half and ran the ball all the way down the field. Talk a little bit about the O-line and how they helped settled you down that second half.)
"The whole game, they dominated, really. Mistakes as a team, we have to get better with."
(Talk about your 19-yard touchdown run. You probably ran about 60 yards all together. Reversed field and moved within one touchdown, and not only that, but they score in one play after all your hard work. Describe the play and the feeling, whether it was deflating at all, to have them come back so quickly.)
"The feeling was great. We talked in the locker room – even before going into the locker room – we knew what we had to do. We were going to fight until there was 0:00 on the clock. For them to score right after, it wasn't really deflating because we have a good mentality. We have to get back out there and compete."
(What did you see that made you reverse field?)
"I saw a lot of color on the right side and went backside. I knew my quarterback was over there, too, so if I came back that way, he'd give me that one block and we're in the end zone."
(That first half, you really struggled on third down, which was very uncharacteristic of you guys. What do you think went wrong that first half that allowed you guys to go 0-6 on third-down?)
"Us, mentally, we were not locked in. We have to come ready to work and just prepare better. We can't make mistakes against a team that's just as talented as us."
(When the offense sees the defensive side of the ball struggling like there was, is there much interaction between the two groups on the sideline? Are you trying to pump them up, or are you trying to avoid them to not bother them? What's that like on the sideline?)
"We're always pumping each other up. We're walking up and down the sidelines. You can probably see on the TV. We're brothers. We're going to win together and we're going to fall together. They mess up, we mess up. We tell them to pick it up. We have them, they have us, until there's 0:00 on the clock."
Inside Linebacker CJ Avery
(On busted assignments)
"It's extremely frustrating and something that we have to get fixed. Each man has to do their job and that's all it comes down to. We have to come back to work tomorrow and focus on that."
(What was it about Miami's unbalanced look that gave you guys trouble?)
"On one of the plays, it was that we just didn't have an edge. The other one was that they did a pop pass and a one of our guys didn't do their job and didn't take their man. It really was on us not doing our job."
(On the two touchdowns in two plays)
"It was definitely devastating, but as a team we have to keep competing and keep going. As a defense we can never give up, no matter what the score is or how much time is left on the clock. We always got to go."
(On containing the big plays)
"I do feel like we are moving in the right direction. Outside of those unbalanced looks, it really wasn't much. They had a little success, but it wasn't that much more success. Like I said, we just have to come back to work tomorrow and focus on getting better for the next week."
(On if the defense can solidify)
"We will get better, absolutely. Like I said, we are going to come back to work and we are going to get better for the next week."
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