University of Louisville Head Football Coach Bobby Petrino
Oct. 10, 2016 Press Conference
Opening Statement
“I thought we had a good bye week; we came in and practiced hard last week. Really what we do on those practices is we spend half the time going back to camp drills and working it hard against each other then the other half of the practice against Duke so we get ahead in our preparation there. I did give the players a couple days off over the weekend and then came back last night and had meetings and had a practice last night. We will go out today and this will be our normalTuesday practice. Overall, I feel good about the way they handled the bye week. We did a good job getting our work done in the classroom and I think it was a good time to get some guys back for Friday night and hopefully healthy and ready to go. We are looking forward to the game Friday night. It seems like a long time since we have played here in our Stadium so it will feel great to be back here in our home. When you watch Duke on video, they are a good football team. They play good defense, they are very disciplined, they are very well coached, they run hard to the ball. Offensively, they have a young quarterback, they have some big wide receivers, and offensive line does a good job and understands what they are trying to do. So we are going to have to do a good job, come out and play our game and play the game of football the way we have the first 5, but that will all depend on our preparation here this week in practice.”
Q: If you’re going to have a bye week, was that a good spot for it?
A: Well you’re going to have a bye week but yeah I thought it fit in pretty good with our schedule. It was a very intense 5 weeks, two real big games, so it was good to take a little breath and get a little rest and then come back and get focused in for the stretch.
Q: How good are the refresher courses at this point in the season?
A: Yeah I think it is good. I think it is really good to go back to some of the drills that we do. It is good for our players that are playing in the games, its good for the young guys to get extra work and reps that will help us down the road. Its always a long season so you have to keep bringing those guys along and developing them. Its good to go back and go goods vs. goods because it is very fast and physical look so I think that helps you too.
Q: The way things have played out… whats the overall picture for you?
A: There is going to be a lot of things happen in the game of football so what you have to do is play one week at a time. We still believe in our heart that our goals are sitting out there for us and we have a chance to go get it. But to do that, we have to line up and win this game this week and really focus on doing that. Otherwise, it means nothing. We understand that we have zero room for error and we have to take care of our business week in and week out and then maybe we’ll still have that opportunity but we aren’t guaranteed anything. But you do know that a lot of things change. There’s upsets happen all the time, so we have to make sure that we take care of our business.
Q: How do you see your team in the ACC and how the ACC is going?
A: "Yeah. There's going to be a lot of things happen - that's the game of football. So what you have to do is play one week at a time. We still believe in our heart that our goals are sitting out there for us and we have a chance to go get it. But to do that, we have to line up and win this game this week and really focus on doing that, otherwise it means nothing. We understand we have zero room for error. We have to take care of business week in and week out and then maybe, we will still have that opportunity. We're not guaranteed anything, but you do know a lot of things change and there are upsets that happen all the time, so all we have to do is make sure that we take care of our business."
Oct. 10, 2016 Press Conference
Opening Statement
“I thought we had a good bye week; we came in and practiced hard last week. Really what we do on those practices is we spend half the time going back to camp drills and working it hard against each other then the other half of the practice against Duke so we get ahead in our preparation there. I did give the players a couple days off over the weekend and then came back last night and had meetings and had a practice last night. We will go out today and this will be our normalTuesday practice. Overall, I feel good about the way they handled the bye week. We did a good job getting our work done in the classroom and I think it was a good time to get some guys back for Friday night and hopefully healthy and ready to go. We are looking forward to the game Friday night. It seems like a long time since we have played here in our Stadium so it will feel great to be back here in our home. When you watch Duke on video, they are a good football team. They play good defense, they are very disciplined, they are very well coached, they run hard to the ball. Offensively, they have a young quarterback, they have some big wide receivers, and offensive line does a good job and understands what they are trying to do. So we are going to have to do a good job, come out and play our game and play the game of football the way we have the first 5, but that will all depend on our preparation here this week in practice.”
Q: If you’re going to have a bye week, was that a good spot for it?
A: Well you’re going to have a bye week but yeah I thought it fit in pretty good with our schedule. It was a very intense 5 weeks, two real big games, so it was good to take a little breath and get a little rest and then come back and get focused in for the stretch.
Q: How good are the refresher courses at this point in the season?
A: Yeah I think it is good. I think it is really good to go back to some of the drills that we do. It is good for our players that are playing in the games, its good for the young guys to get extra work and reps that will help us down the road. Its always a long season so you have to keep bringing those guys along and developing them. Its good to go back and go goods vs. goods because it is very fast and physical look so I think that helps you too.
Q: The way things have played out… whats the overall picture for you?
A: There is going to be a lot of things happen in the game of football so what you have to do is play one week at a time. We still believe in our heart that our goals are sitting out there for us and we have a chance to go get it. But to do that, we have to line up and win this game this week and really focus on doing that. Otherwise, it means nothing. We understand that we have zero room for error and we have to take care of our business week in and week out and then maybe we’ll still have that opportunity but we aren’t guaranteed anything. But you do know that a lot of things change. There’s upsets happen all the time, so we have to make sure that we take care of our business.
Q: How do you see your team in the ACC and how the ACC is going?
A: "Yeah. There's going to be a lot of things happen - that's the game of football. So what you have to do is play one week at a time. We still believe in our heart that our goals are sitting out there for us and we have a chance to go get it. But to do that, we have to line up and win this game this week and really focus on doing that, otherwise it means nothing. We understand we have zero room for error. We have to take care of business week in and week out and then maybe, we will still have that opportunity. We're not guaranteed anything, but you do know a lot of things change and there are upsets that happen all the time, so all we have to do is make sure that we take care of our business."
