What Scott Satterfield, Louisville Players Said After 35-31 Loss vs. Florida State
LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Playing at Cardinal Stadium for the first time of the 2022 season, Louisville was unable to get the job done thanks to a multitude of missed opportunities and mistakes, falling to Florida State in the process.
Here's what head coach Scott Satterfield, running back Jawhar Jordan, offensive tackle Michael Gonzalez and inside linebacker MoMo Sanogo had to say following the loss:
Head Coach Scott Satterfield
(Opening Statement)
"First of all, give credit to Florida State. Their kids played hard, came out and played a hard-fought game. It was a very physical game tonight. Both sides had a lot of guys that got injured, including us even before the game. Tiyon was going to be a game time decision, he went through warmups and decided to hold him. He was close but not quite ready.
Trevor Reid went out on the first drive at left tackle and was not able to come back into the game. Wiggins went out second drive and with a foot injury and couldn't come back into the game. Tyler Hudson was in and out. There were a lot of moving parts out there when you think about it, it was a physical game. They had some guys that were out as well.
I think the first half we were in control of the game, battling on offense and defense. It was a close contest. Truly, we should have been up more, at least two more scores. We had turnover in the red zone and then the turnover at midfield when we're driving the ball, in control. We ran 47 plays in the first half. They came out in the second half and in their first drive, they had a six-minute drive and they ended up scoring to put them back in it. The kids battled, got back in the game and got back on top. They hit some big plays on us in the second half – more in the fourth quarter. To me, second and fourteen was the play of the day. Our defense got them to second and fourteen and they hit a post route on us to put them down inside the red zone and ended up scoring on us. That was a huge play, I felt we had a lot of momentum at that point in time. We were battling. We still had an opportunity. We got to midfield and went for it on fourth down. If we would've made the catch and who knows after that. Our defense stood up and held them to a field goal. They ended up missing the field goal, so we got another opportunity. With 1:20 left with one timeout, we drove down field, had a couple opportunities to make plays but we didn't make them. That's what it ultimately comes down to. The last play I think Malik was trying to hit Huggins-Bruce on the sideline. He was open but the ball kind of sailed a little bit and the defensive back made the interception there at the end. It's very hurtful and disappointing to not be able to win this game. We know Florida State is a good football team, but we were right there and went toe-to-toe with them and in control the whole game until late."
(About after having the lead at half, when Travis went out did the team let up at all)
"I did not feel that. I think they came out in the second half and went more to two tight end sets. I felt like they were slowing it down. We ran a lot of plays in the first half. I thought we were wearing their defense out. Well, the first drive they come out and two tight ends, slowing it down and running the ball more. Then they used play action where they tried to take some shots. That was their plan during the second half, maybe creating more opportunities offensively. I think they succeeded in doing that. We didn't try to take our foot off the gas, I can tell you that. We were calling plays to try to move the ball down the field. We didn't stop calling those. We were trying to take some shots down the field. We hit a cross to Ahmari-Huggins Bruce to get down there. Malik (Cunningham) had some good runs in there in the second half. We got stalled when we got down there in the Red Zone and had to settle for a field goal. We didn't score enough points, ultimately. Offensively there were over 500 yards and 31 points. We didn't hold them to under that amount. Ultimately, that was the end. Again, I mention that post that was a huge play in the game momentum-wise. When you have them second and fourteen and backed up and knocked that ball down and got a big stop and we get the ball back with the lead. I think that was a huge point."
(About the difficulty in defending Johnny Wilson)
"That is the big guy, right? That is what made it difficult. He is 6-7, 200-plus pounds, one-on-one with a corner over there. He is a hard guy to cover. We were trying to get more guys down in the box to stop the run. When you do that you are going to be vulnerable. We have to play better outside. We had a couple of pass interference trying to cover him on some of those skinny post routes that they were hitting. Last touchdown they hit, Brownlee was right there, it was great coverage, and they threw it way in the back of the end zone and they caught it. He barely had a foot in. That was a heck of a play. He is a weapon at 6-7. Our guys are not that tall so that is the most difficult thing. That ball was on the one-yard line and third down and we stuffed and stuffed and stuffed them and they had to settle on a fade in the back corner and they made it. It was pretty good defense but sometimes 6-7 is a little bit better."
(On the penalties)
"Three of them were false starts when we were getting ready to snap the ball and they yelled 'move" and moved their d-line and we moved right as we were getting ready to snap the ball, that was three of them. We had an offsides by Yasir (Abdullah), barely, barely offsides and then I mentioned those two P.I. penalties. We had two (penalties) in the kicking game and that is disappointing. We have not had any in the first two games and we had two tonight. We had a holding penalty on that, and we had two holding penalties on a punt return and another one. So, it was really all three phases that contributed to that and was not just one side of the ball with the penalties but again they hurt you big time.
(On whether they watched any film on Tate Rodemaker prior to the game)
"Well, I think it was a little different gameplan if you looked at the second half to what they did. They went two tight ends, running the football, keeping him in the pocket and taking shots. He is not going to be the runner; he did get around one time and got a first down and we lost contain on that one. Their plan was not to run him, their plan was to run the running back and (Treshaun) Ward had a big game with 126 yards. So, in the second half that was what they were able to do and also take shots. He is a good passer, and he was able to hit some of those balls in those tight windows. I mentioned the touchdown pass, that was a good throw. They were running some RPO's in the second half to where a skinny, a skinny post or hand the ball off were the option depending on what coverage we were in and he did a good job with that. We knew he could throw the football, but I do think they changed their gameplan in the second half once they knew he was going to be the guy.
(This is a tough loss at home tonight, what is your message to your team?)
"They're all one-game seasons. You've got to do the best you can do with whatever you're getting ready to play. Our focus will be on South Florida on Sunday when we get back in – everything we have to put into that game to out and play our very best game. You can't dwell on the past – win or loss- you learn from it, but you can't dwell on it. Then you come back, and you really focus on what you've got to get better at. And it's everybody, all the players, all the coaches, everybody's got to find something to get better at. Our kids fought hard, they played hard tonight. They got after it and, again, we've got to be smarter in what we're doing… it's the penalties, the turnovers again is what's disappointing. In the second half, I thought we didn't tackle as well either. Those guys hit some of those runs, we got guys there, we're just not knocking them down, we've got to get better at that."
Running Back Jawhar Jordan
Offensive Tackle Michael Gonzalez
(On overcoming offensive line injuries)
"We're always prepared. We got seven guys who can go out there and play and a lot of other guys who are working hard, so we're just always ready for that next man up opportunity. We just keep on fighting, and we play for each other and keep pushing."
(On making sure this loss doesn't turn into more losses)
"We just have to look back, watch the film. We had a lot of mistakes that we can look back and fix and we just got to keep on working. We can't let this set us back and hold us back from what we want to do. I know it's a tough loss, but we just got to stay together, work hard, look at the film, fix the mistakes, and come back next week against USF and play better."
Middle Linebacker MoMo Sanogo
(On how he would assess what happened in the fourth quarter)
"We got to finish. We've got to finish and limit explosive plays. That's what it comes down to: limiting explosive plays. We've got to be a more explosive team. We've got to limit their explosive plays, get off the field on third downs. We didn't do that. We got that stop there at the end but it should have never got to that point defensively."
(On the success of quarterback Tate Rodemaker in the second half)
"I think they switched their scheme up, and they executed where we didn't. They got some explosive plays on us in the passing game and in the run game. Kudos to (Coach Mike) Norvell. He did a good job of switching it up, giving a different look than he gave us the entire first half. He found success and we didn't. We've got to come back and fix that and finish games."
(On the problems that Rodemaker presented to the Louisville defense)
"It wasn't him. I think Norvell did a good job of making him feel comfortable. They were going to run the ball. They told him if you see the bang, throw the bang. If you see the post, throw it up and hope for a (pass interference). Then the receivers made some great plays and they caught us one time and hit the skinny post. That's just kind of what it was, it wasn't anything he was doing. I think it was more a great coach getting him to where he wasn't just going straight dropped back. About every single play in the second half was a running play. Even when he threw it, it was a called run play, the line was run blocking."
(On making sure things don't spiral out of control)
"Just finish. It's what's on the back of our shirts, it's what we trained all summer for. We weren't feeling tired at least on the defensive side. I can't speak for everybody but I know that we weren't feeling tired or lackadaisical. We were playing, so it's just going out there and finishing and executing plays. We got to work on that in practice and attack and approach practice the right way every single day and go into every single game ready for blood."
(Photo of Scott Satterfield: Jamie Rhodes - USA TODAY Sports)
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