What Scott Satterfield, Louisville Players Said After 31-7 Loss at Syracuse
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - The Louisville football program's 2022 season did not get off on the right foot, getting blown out on the road to ACC rival Syracuse.
Here's what head coach Scott Satterfield, offensive guard Caleb Chandler, quarterback Malik Cunningham and middle linebacker MoMo Sanogo had to say following the loss:
Head Coach Scott Satterfield
(Opening Statement)
Obviously, very disappointed in how we came out and played tonight. We did not execute very well offensively with with some penalties that really hurt us. We get down in the red zone they're not getting into the end zone, you got to be able to get there. We got a penalty that took us back five yards there, and we got it back to the two but didn't punch it in. We only have four possessions in the first half, and three out of the four we had penalties on those possessions. That really hurt. Defensively, we missed a lot of tackles. (Sean) Tucker on the long screen pass was a one-on-one missed tackle. We had (Garrett) Shrader hemmed up several times, third and long and he gets out, scrambles, gets first downs, and again had some missed tackles on that. Give credit to Coach (Dino) Babers, and particularly those two players that made a lot of plays. They're tough, hard runners to bring down. We didn't get any turnovers tonight, so we couldn't help ourselves in that regard. Once we got down there at the end, just pressing a little too much. They had a great interception on a long post ball in the end zone that we tried to take advantage of - that was the backside corner (Garrett Williams) that made that pick. I thought that was gonna be a big play. Then the other interception was 3rd and 18 I believe, and just forced it down the field. You got to hit the underneath route. Again, disappointed coming in here. Wanted to play a lot better than this, obviously. We have to regroup now with a quick turnaround to head down to Central Florida.
(On what the Syracuse defensive line was doing to be so disruptive)
Well, they're an aggressive defense. Their defensive line did do a lot of twists and stunting. But it wasn't just their D-line, they bring linebackers a lot. Whether it be one linebacker, or two off the edge. They're an attacking style with that. I thought early on, we were picking it up pretty good. I think maybe the second half there, when they probably knew that we have to throw the ball a bit more, that I thought they got a lot more pressure on us. A couple of our guys gave up pressure off the left side there when Malik fumbled. We got one back, and we lost the other one basically off the left side - both of those. But I'm not sure if it was a D-lineman or a linebacker coming off that edge. But when you can pin your ears back and knowing it's a pass, it's gonna be a lot more difficult to pass pro.
(On the efforts from Tiyon Evans and Tyler Hudson)
I thought they played well. Obviously, we did not get in a good rhythm. Not having ball enough really, just to get in that rhythm and get it going. We never could get anything going like we're used to doing, and I give them credit. They had a lot to do with that. But I thought Tiyon played well, ran hard, had a big long touchdown run. T-Huddy (Tyler Hudson) caught the ball well. We made some really good plays tonight. We just had to do a better job with the sloppiness. The penalties, the turnovers. Obviously, it's hard to win when you do those type things.
(On how difficult it was to tackle Shrader)
We had pretty good coverage on those third downs. We've got guys coming, and several who were blitzing to try to get in there on Shrader. He would scramble to buy some time, and then he'd get off an edge and then hit the open field. He's a fast runner, we knew that from his time back when he was in Mississippi State, and then he showed it last year. I think he was close to an 800-yard rusher last year. They like to be able to do that. He's a tough guy to tackle in space, he's a big guy. We came in not wrapping up several times, and I thought he was able to break those tackles and extend those drives. Those are huge plays on those third downs, to be able to get our defense off the field. Just gotta do a better job tackling
(On the key to fixing missed tackles)
You got to tackle, which we have. You got to continue to do that. You gotta wrap up. Some of our guys tonight as I was watching, and we'll know more when we watch the film, but just flying in with with just a shoulder and not trying to wrap up. Just get a shoulder tackle. You can't do that with these big runners. You got to do a better job wrapping up. We just go back to fundamentals. We got a short week, we know we're going to play another really good team that's that's tough to beat on the road.
(On the plan for the week with a short turnaround)
We'll get back in, we'll watch this film and evaluate it. Get back with the guys in the afternoon on Sunday, and put this one to bed. Learn from it, grow from it and move straight into Central Florida. We're gonna have to work tomorrow, Monday, Tuesday. Wednesday, and then we're leaving out on Thursday. You can't you can't have physical practices as much this week, just because you have such a short turnaround. So it's a lot of mental, and we got to do a great job of getting the guys back. Getting them back confident to know that we can go out and play well, and learn from these mistakes right here. To go out and play a much better game on the road. It's going to be a tough place to go play.
Offensive Guard Caleb Chandler
Quarterback Malik Cunningham
Middle Linebacker MoMo Sanogo
(Photo of Scott Satterfield: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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