Georgia Tech at Louisville
Sept. 21, 2024 | L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium
Postgame Press Conference
UofL head coach Jeff Brohm: (Opening Statement) “I am definitely proud of our football team today. It was a good team win. It took all four quarters and a lot of different things to pull off the victory. We were definitely tested in a back-and-forth game with a lot momentum swings. We hung in there like we were able to do at some points last year, play to the end, keep our confidence, keep our fight and not give in. We found a way to make more plays. The defense wasn’t perfect, but they made some big fourth down stops and, of course, the huge turnover. The special teams gave us the advantage that was the key. A huge, blocked punt for a touchdown really won the game and closed it for us. Then the offense couldn’t run the ball really well but made a few plays here and there. It was a tough conference game, and we found a way to win.”
(About close games being a culture thing to come up clutch or personnel oriented) “I think it is both. We have really good kids and coaches. We talk about it all the time. When you play competitive football at a high level, you are not going to dominate. It is not going to happen. Now, if you play a lesser opponent, you might. When you play really good opponents, it is just not going to be that way. You have to be able to hang in there and go back and forth and try to play the perfect game, but it is not going to happen. I just think our guys do that every day in practice and compete hard against each other. Some days the defense will dominate us in the scrimmage, other days we will dominate them. That is kind of how it works when the talent level is similar. But, if you really believe in yourself and a your team and what you are doing, you can find a way to win those games. We have in the past and, of course, we needed that today.
(About the game being a stick-to-it kind of day and how much of it is resiliency) “It was definitely that. The penalties hurt us. I think what we preach is that we do not turn the ball over and that gives us the advantage. Throughout all that, we didn’t turn it over and give them points. If you look what they did, they played good games and did some things. They turned it over for a costly touchdown and then they had a kick blocked. I think, you love to go out there and dominate and do great things but when you get into conference schedules and you are playing really good teams, you just have to find a way to win the football game. We definitely had to do that today. But we have many things to clean up and we will do the best job we can with that.”
(About pressuring GT’s QB Haynes King early and then again late in the game being a product of play calling or blocking schemes.) “It was a little of both. We definitely wanted to heat them as much as we could, and we knew we had to do that some. A couple of times he scrambled and creates a lane, and you are, like, ‘gosh do I really want to do that again?’ So that is the tough part. He can run and he can scramble, and he hurt us on some of those. We had to keep being aggressive and it got us in the backfield. It was hard to get a four-man rush all the time. He did some things, and we did some things to mix it up. We gave up some big plays but I do think we played to the end. I am proud of our defense.”
(On the transfer portal) “Well, the transfer portal is here and, whether everyone loves it or not, it’s part of college football, so you have to adapt, and you have to adjust, and for us, we are going to utilize any chance to get our team better if we can. We feel like that we’re the type of coaches and we have the type of atmosphere here that if anyone wants to come and try to achieve their goals, we’re going to help them do it. Whether they just got here, whether they’ve been here, our team knows that we’re going to bring in the best teammates we can to help them win. We’re going to be as fair we can and play the best players, and of course, if you’re ready, we’re going to get you in as well. With injuries, we had some today and we had some last week. At some point you’re going to play, so you just have to trust us. We don’t shy away from the portal. We’re open, obviously we want to get the right fit. We want to get somebody who really wants to be here and make a difference. I think that even though we’ve been active, we’ve been selective, and we’re open to it. I just think that’s a part of it now and you adapt and adjust, but we embrace it.”
(On creating continuity when utilizing the portal?) “That can happen, we – through the spring, through the summer, through even our vacation, fall camp – we’re working. We’re working with these guys and we’re speeding up the process. It’s not normal college football, where you take a break in the offseason. Our offseason is active with these guys to make sure they’re getting ready and we’re going to spend as much time as they want to do that. Whether they want to get here at six or stay until midnight, obviously we want to abide by the rules, but we will work our guys to help them get better and we will utilize our offseasons or it will not be successful.”
(Assessment of the team seeming to be out of rhythm) “I think the weather affected us – we had some guys cramp up, we’ve had some guys drop out, we had some guys get injured and we didn’t communicate as well as we should have to get guys in there - that happened a few times. We had a couple of calls where we thought we had the right personnel, and we adjusted and tried to get somebody else in there and the person wasn’t standing next to us. So that’s on us, we need to do a better job of that. At that point, I didn’t want them to get a cheap play, so we took a couple of timeouts even though we may have gotten somebody out there in time, but it would have been close. So, yes, there are some things to clean up there. We need to make sure we get better at having our substitution and our next set of guys on the sideline. And we need to do a better job upstairs of counting to 11 and making sure all are ready to go, because a couple of times it shouldn’t have happened, it was the first play of the drive, and we need to be better than that.”
Sept. 21, 2024 | L&N Federal Credit Union Stadium
Postgame Press Conference
UofL head coach Jeff Brohm: (Opening Statement) “I am definitely proud of our football team today. It was a good team win. It took all four quarters and a lot of different things to pull off the victory. We were definitely tested in a back-and-forth game with a lot momentum swings. We hung in there like we were able to do at some points last year, play to the end, keep our confidence, keep our fight and not give in. We found a way to make more plays. The defense wasn’t perfect, but they made some big fourth down stops and, of course, the huge turnover. The special teams gave us the advantage that was the key. A huge, blocked punt for a touchdown really won the game and closed it for us. Then the offense couldn’t run the ball really well but made a few plays here and there. It was a tough conference game, and we found a way to win.”
(About close games being a culture thing to come up clutch or personnel oriented) “I think it is both. We have really good kids and coaches. We talk about it all the time. When you play competitive football at a high level, you are not going to dominate. It is not going to happen. Now, if you play a lesser opponent, you might. When you play really good opponents, it is just not going to be that way. You have to be able to hang in there and go back and forth and try to play the perfect game, but it is not going to happen. I just think our guys do that every day in practice and compete hard against each other. Some days the defense will dominate us in the scrimmage, other days we will dominate them. That is kind of how it works when the talent level is similar. But, if you really believe in yourself and a your team and what you are doing, you can find a way to win those games. We have in the past and, of course, we needed that today.
(About the game being a stick-to-it kind of day and how much of it is resiliency) “It was definitely that. The penalties hurt us. I think what we preach is that we do not turn the ball over and that gives us the advantage. Throughout all that, we didn’t turn it over and give them points. If you look what they did, they played good games and did some things. They turned it over for a costly touchdown and then they had a kick blocked. I think, you love to go out there and dominate and do great things but when you get into conference schedules and you are playing really good teams, you just have to find a way to win the football game. We definitely had to do that today. But we have many things to clean up and we will do the best job we can with that.”
(About pressuring GT’s QB Haynes King early and then again late in the game being a product of play calling or blocking schemes.) “It was a little of both. We definitely wanted to heat them as much as we could, and we knew we had to do that some. A couple of times he scrambled and creates a lane, and you are, like, ‘gosh do I really want to do that again?’ So that is the tough part. He can run and he can scramble, and he hurt us on some of those. We had to keep being aggressive and it got us in the backfield. It was hard to get a four-man rush all the time. He did some things, and we did some things to mix it up. We gave up some big plays but I do think we played to the end. I am proud of our defense.”
(On the transfer portal) “Well, the transfer portal is here and, whether everyone loves it or not, it’s part of college football, so you have to adapt, and you have to adjust, and for us, we are going to utilize any chance to get our team better if we can. We feel like that we’re the type of coaches and we have the type of atmosphere here that if anyone wants to come and try to achieve their goals, we’re going to help them do it. Whether they just got here, whether they’ve been here, our team knows that we’re going to bring in the best teammates we can to help them win. We’re going to be as fair we can and play the best players, and of course, if you’re ready, we’re going to get you in as well. With injuries, we had some today and we had some last week. At some point you’re going to play, so you just have to trust us. We don’t shy away from the portal. We’re open, obviously we want to get the right fit. We want to get somebody who really wants to be here and make a difference. I think that even though we’ve been active, we’ve been selective, and we’re open to it. I just think that’s a part of it now and you adapt and adjust, but we embrace it.”
(On creating continuity when utilizing the portal?) “That can happen, we – through the spring, through the summer, through even our vacation, fall camp – we’re working. We’re working with these guys and we’re speeding up the process. It’s not normal college football, where you take a break in the offseason. Our offseason is active with these guys to make sure they’re getting ready and we’re going to spend as much time as they want to do that. Whether they want to get here at six or stay until midnight, obviously we want to abide by the rules, but we will work our guys to help them get better and we will utilize our offseasons or it will not be successful.”
(Assessment of the team seeming to be out of rhythm) “I think the weather affected us – we had some guys cramp up, we’ve had some guys drop out, we had some guys get injured and we didn’t communicate as well as we should have to get guys in there - that happened a few times. We had a couple of calls where we thought we had the right personnel, and we adjusted and tried to get somebody else in there and the person wasn’t standing next to us. So that’s on us, we need to do a better job of that. At that point, I didn’t want them to get a cheap play, so we took a couple of timeouts even though we may have gotten somebody out there in time, but it would have been close. So, yes, there are some things to clean up there. We need to make sure we get better at having our substitution and our next set of guys on the sideline. And we need to do a better job upstairs of counting to 11 and making sure all are ready to go, because a couple of times it shouldn’t have happened, it was the first play of the drive, and we need to be better than that.”
