What Jeff Brohm, Louisville Players Said After 29-26 Overtime Loss vs. Cal

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - The Louisville football program's hopes of contending for the ACC Championship and making the College Football Playoff have been dealt a crushing blow, with the Cardinals suffering a 29-26 overtime loss at home to Cal.

Here's what head coach Jeff Brohm, quarterback Miller Moss, defensive end Clev Lubin and center Pete Nygra had to say following the loss:

Head Coach Jeff Brohm

(Opening Statement)

“Disappointing game. This one stings and hurts and it is supposed to. We have a lot of things we have to go back and work on and find a way to get better. There were a lot of dumb penalties that have hurt us throughout the year and just continue to happen – just dumb, just really dumb. Some of them might be a little questionable, I understand that, but just really dumb penalties. We have to make better decisions. We have to stick in there and play tougher. We need to make catches when your number is called and block when you are supposed to – all those things. We need to coach better. We have to be tougher coaches. If something is not working, we have to figure it out and get it fixed and make it work. We need to demand that our players work hard to get it done. On defense, we let them throw all over us. One receiver got open whenever he wanted to and that was not a good plan to cover him. We finally faced a good throwing quarterback like I said we would, and we will continue to see as the season progresses. The next three games will face good throwing quarterbacks, and we are going to have to play better. We had a chance at the end to win, and we have to be the tougher team and buckle down and find a way to win. Mental toughness and physical toughness and we have to be tougher as coaches, so that is disappointing.”

(On making changes or tweaks at this point in the season)

“These are our players, so we’ve got to get our players to do the job better. And if that’s not working, we’ve got to figure out a better plan to help them do the job better. That’s what we’re here for to coach and to find ways to win. You’re not going to win them all, but you’ve got to really work hard to get things fixed. We had plenty of chances in the second half to come through and make a play and we did not. And some of them need to be made, just to be quite honest, so that’s disappointing.”

(On Jacob De Jesus consistently getting the ball)

“I thought 'the quarterback can throw the ball', we knew that. When I saw him warming up, I said ‘yep, we’re finally going to face a really good quarterback’. And he threw all over us. The disappointment is when they throw to one guy that much and you don’t have a plan to cover him better, and you don’t cover him better, even at the end to allow their best player to be one-on-one for an easy throw in the corner. We need to coach better; we need to play better.”

Quarterback Miller Moss

(On what the biggest issue was for the offense throughout the game)

“I don’t know, I’ve got to watch it. I know coming into halftime, that was the emphasis. We were moving the ball pretty well and just had to finish drives. We felt like if we were able to do that, we’d be pretty successful, but we obviously weren’t able to do that enough to ultimately come out with the win.”

(On mistakes that prevent drives turning into touchdowns)

“I think we definitely had our opportunities, obviously had a penalty there in overtime which goes from a first and 10 on the 13-yard line to second and 17 on the 40-yard line. I think that’s kind of a microcosm of how the redzone played out the entire game. Like I said, it’s hard to point to one thing right now but obviously, it wasn’t good enough to come out with a win.”

Defensive End Clev Lubin and Center Pete Nygra

(Lubin biggest focus in the fourth quarter to get stops)

“Just trying to keep them in front of us. They were throwing a bunch of different looks at us from the wide receiver’s standpoint and getting the ball out real quick, so just trying to channel that in and not let anything get over our heads.”

(Lubin on how they try to not let this loss affect the rest of the season)

"I think we did a great job last time being in this predicament. I think this team is full of fighters, so I know we are going to come back and want to come out and win the next game. Obviously, this is a tough one especially with the way our season was going and the expectations we have for ourselves, but truthfully, we just got to move on and try our best to continue to win games and finish out the season strong."

Head Coach Jeff Brohm

Quarterback Miller Moss

Defensive End Clev Lubin and Center Pete Nygra

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