What Scott Satterfield, Louisville Players Said After 26-13 Loss at Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. - Thanks primarily to a listless passing game and a trio of offensive turnovers, the Louisville football program was unable to finally take down Kentucky, losing 26-13 for their fourth-straight loss in the Governor's Cup.
Here's what head coach Scott Satterfield, safety Josh Minkins, running back Jawhar Jordan and defensive end YaYa Diaby had to say following the loss:
Head Coach Scott Satterfield
(Opening Statement)
I think, first of all the difference in the game tonight was the turnovers. We had three, and we did not create any. Going back and looking at this season, when we've done that, we have not played well and we've lost those games. When we've created turnovers, and taken care of the football, that's a good formula for wins in the makeup of our team. I thought Kentucky did a good job with that, creating those turnovers, particularly the two of them that backed us up in their territory, and put our defense in a bind. I was proud of our defense. I thought our defense played well. We gave up the 70-yarder in the first half, other than that, we held them pretty good in the first half. Second half, they hit a few more plays on us, started handing the ball to Rodriguez and started grinding out once they got the lead.
I was proud of the way the Jawhar Jordan played. I thought he played an excellent game. Pound-for-pound, he's one of the toughest players in college football. To go out here and get 145 yards rushing against a really good defense. I was really proud of him and T-Huddy (Tyler Hudson). T-Huddy's been doing it all year. Another really good game for him, making the contested catches that he was able to make getting in the end zone. We just didn't have enough firepower on offense, bottom line tonight. We've been dealing with a lot of injuries on that side of the ball. Caleb Chandler gets knocked out of this game as well, Malik (Cunningham) comes in not fully healthy. We felt like we needed a spark when we put him in at the time. We really wasn't getting a whole lot going with Brock (Domann) at that point in time, so let's put Malik in there. We end up generating a touchdown right before halftime, that's great momentum for us heading into halftime. Second half came out, and just really didn't get anything going. We get sacked on the first play, and really, the third quarter, did nothing. Again, putting our defense in a bind. Our defensive had to play a lot of a lot of ball in that second half. Overall, I think it just comes down to not doing enough offensively, and turning the ball over three times like we did. That's the difference in this game.
(On what he saw from the third quarter)
I think Kentucky does a really good job of keeping everything in front of them. We needed to be a little bit more patient, and trying to try to take the stuff underneath, still thought we could run the ball, we ran the ball pretty good. But in the throw game, just didn't really generate much. We're throwing into coverage, and that ended up biting us a few times. They've got some good length on the perimeter, both outside linebackers are 6-5, they're kind of dropping them off in those zones. It makes it very difficult to find windows in there. On Malik's pick, trying to hit T-Huddy on a little skinny route, and the backers float up underneath it, end up getting the interception. To me, that was the difference in the game. We didn't generate much offensively throwing the football. We ran the ball pretty decent tonight, but it comes down to those throws. When we got behind, that's really when it makes it more difficult, because they're gonna run the clock out and run the football. They want us to try to force it down the field, and not be patient, which is a catch 22. We're running out of time, but we also have to get down the field. They did a good job with that, and we obviously did not.
(On how many snaps Cunningham took in practice this week, and how limited he was in the game)
He didn't take hardly any this week, or the last two weeks. He's been living in the training room trying to get healthy. He took some snaps yesterday, so did not take anything prior to that. He felt pretty good about it yesterday. Of course, Brock had been getting all the reps this week in practice, so we were gonna go with Brock. We wanted to play Brock most of the game today, but felt we needed a spark. And Malik wanted to play, to his credit. He's beat up, and he's like, "coach, I'm ready to play." We felt we needed a spark to put him in, and he did. He generated a spark. We took it down the field, he scored a touchdown. But again, you're limited and he's limited, in what he can do because he's not full speed. It's not a complete Malik, but I appreciate the effort and the toughness that he showed to be able to go out there and play.
(On if he re-injured his shoulder)
Yeah, on the tackle on that (interception). He hit his shoulder right into the ground again, and just couldn't get his zip on the ball. He comes to the sideline and he couldn't throw.
(On if the early scuffles threw them off)
I don't think so. I think it was little both ways tonight. You're gonna get that in a rivalry game. There's a lot of emotions going on out there. Guys are fighting on both sides, and sometimes you're gonna get a little bit extra curricular, you're gonna get a little bit of pushing at the end of the play, and that type of thing. We had that a few times, but it came down to not making plays on offense, in my opinion. For us, we didn't score enough points, the bottom line. And the turnovers
(On if this result puts a damper on what they've been able to accomplish down the stretch)
We've had a good back half of our season. We've had some great wins, and done some really good things. (We're) 5-1 at Cardinal Stadium this year, that was great and awesome. You go back and look at it, you can really just see if you go back - and a lot of you guys will, the losses, what did we stack up? It was the turnovers, and we didn't create as many. In all the wins, we won the turnover margin. One of the best teams in the country in turnover margin. That's why we won those seven games. That's the one telltale stat that we can look back for this season to see, man, this makeup of this team, when we do that, when we take care of the ball, we create turnovers, we're gonna be a hard team to beat. I think that's what it showed.
But it also showed a lot of fight by our guys this year. When we were down and out after the BC game, could have easily folded the tent, packed up the season and been done. A lot of people said that's what we would do, and we didn't. I'm taking away a lot of resiliency from this team, and the fight that they have. Even this game, it is not going great for us, and we're still trying to freakin go out there and play and win this game. Did not come out in our favor, but that's what I'm gonna take away from this team. That's how, for me, I'll remember these seniors, and this group of guys that stuck out and went through so much. Everything they've gone through with the coaching transition, the COVID year, and then to have this season like this, I'm proud of them. We want to finish off on a high note in the bowl game. We're looking forward to that, we got time to heal up. Hopefully we'll heal up over the next four or five weeks. We're gonna meet with our players, we'll find out who's gonna be available for the bowl game, and who's playing and who's not. We'll do a lot of recruiting. Like we said this past Tuesday, there's a lot of things that are going to be happening in December. It's go time for the next three weeks until signing day.
(On how you manage the roster late in the year when players are already starting to be hurt or entering the portal)
It's very difficult. In this day and age of college football, it's extremely hard. Roster management is one of the hardest things we have to deal with. We've created this, and we've created the the portal, which is getting ready to open up. There'll be guys that are jumping in the portal for every team throughout the whole country. We'll find out kind of where guys' heads are at. There'll be guys that, throughout the country, that love their program, that are happy there, but they still may get in the portal and test the waters. That's the reality we're living in. It is hard to deal with. We're gonna meet with our guys, we're gonna figure out and find out who wants to be a part of this team, and then we'll move forward with our practices as we head throughout the weeks of December, and hopefully get a good idea.
Safety Josh Minkins
Running Back Jawhar Jordan
Defensive End YaYa Diaby
(Photo of Scott Satterfield: Jordan Prather - USA TODAY Sports)
You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:
Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report
You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter
