Louisville 47, North Carolina 35 UNC Coach Larry Fedora

 

 

Louisville  47,  North  Carolina  35     UNC  Coach  Larry  Fedora   Opening  Statement   “Not  the  way  we  wanted  to  open  conference  play.  First  of  all,  we  need  to  give  credit  to  Coach   Petrino  and  his  staff  and  the  job  they  did.  They’ve  got  a  heck  of  a  football  team  and  Lamar   Jackson  is  every  bit  as  good  as  everybody  says  he  is  and  thinks  he  is.  The  guy  is  pretty   special.  He  made  some  things  happen  today  that  most  people  can’t  do.  Then  we  gave  him   some  opportunities  that  you  can’t  give  the  guy.  I  thought  special  teams-­‐wise  we  did  really   well  –  we  had  a  game-­‐changing  play.  In  all  four  phases  I  thought  there  were  a  lot  of  really   good  things  on  our  special  teams.  Offensively  there  were  probably  about  four  to  five  drives   that  we  would’ve  loved  to  finish  off  the  way  we  could  have,  but  we  didn’t  do  that  for  one   thing  or  another.  Defensively,  I’m  not  sure.  We  weren’t  even  close  to  receivers  when  their   guys  were  catching  the  ball.  I  don’t  know  that  you  can  say  that’s  because  of  Lamar  Jackson.   We  have  to  do  a  much  better  job  on  that  back  end.  I  thought  our  guys  did  a  pretty  good  job   of  constricting  the  rush  lanes  and  not  just  letting  him  scramble.  I  don’t  think  that’s  what   beat  us  today,  it  was  just  that  he  was  able  to  put  the  ball  on  people  that  were  wide  open.”     On  defensive  struggles   “I  think  what  is  concerning  is  the  mistakes  that  we  are  making,  and  the  mental  mistakes.  It’s   not  so  much  physically.  There  were  a  couple  things  –  a  guy  comes  up  to  make  a  tackle  and   he  makes  him  miss,  that’s  just  ability.  There  were  too  many  mental  mistakes.  When  you   have  guys  that  are  that  open  in  those  situations,  there  is  definitely  a  breakdown.”     On  quarterback  switch  at  halftime   “We  just  decided  to  go  with  Brandon  [Harris]  and  Brandon  was  doing  a  really  nice  job  there.   We  were  going  to  give  him  a  chance  and  he  came  out  and  did  a  really  nice  job.  Chazz   [Surratt]  probably  could’ve  gone,  I’m  not  sure  he  would’ve  been  100  percent  at  that  time.   We  will  see  how  it  plays  out  tomorrow.  The  plan  was  to  start  Chazz  and  then  play  it  by  ear   from  there.”     On  offensive  play  today   “I  thought  Brandon  [Harris]  came  in  and  did  a  really  nice  job.  I  thought  both  quarterbacks   did  a  nice  job.  I  thought  the  offensive  line  –  that’s  a  patchwork  offensive  line  right  now  –  did   a  great  job  in  protection.  There  weren’t  that  many  times  when  I  felt  like  our  quarterback   was  pressured.  I  thought  our  receivers  did  a  better  job  of  getting  open.  We  didn’t  run  the   ball  effectively,  but  there  were  a  couple  of  big  sacks  that  took  a  lot  of  that  away.”     On  Lamar  Jackson   “When  you  are  in  a  one-­‐on-­‐one  situation  with  him,  he’s  going  to  win,  and  there’s  times  when   you  are  in  a  two-­‐on-­‐one  in  open  space  and  he’s  going  to  win.  There  aren’t  a  whole  lot  of  guys   who  can  do  that.  That  guy,  he’s  special  now,  he  really  is.  He  sat  back  there  and  threw  the  ball   like  he  was  in  the  NFL.  He  threw  great  passes.”  

 

Louisville  47,  North  Carolina  35     UNC  Players     Gr. QB Brandon Harris On his performance last week “I was upset. I am never upset with the coaches. At the end of the day, the coach is going to give you a play out there and you got to find a way to make it happen. Anytime a coach gives you a play you have to execute.” On more passing in the offense “We wanted to come out fast and start fast and physical. Be smart. I thought our coaches today did a great job in putting us in positions to make plays. There are a couple of plays we wanted to get back there and a couple of penalties we don’t want to have. As a quarterback it is your job to execute and I thought they did a great job to put us in positions to make plays today. We just fell short.”   Fr.  QB  Chazz  Surratt   On  opening  up  the  playbook:     “On  film  we  thought  we  could  take  some  shots  on  them  early,  so  yeah,  definitely  as  me  and   Brandon  both  gain  our  confidence,  our  playbook  is  going  to  open  up  a  little  bit  and  we  felt   like  as  an  offense  we  had  some  opportunities  to  take  shots  on  the  field.”       On  his  confidence:   “I  always  have  a  lot  of  confidence  going  to  play.  I  felt  like  I  was  ready  to  play  as  well  as  our   whole  room  was  ready  to  play.  Our  coaches  do  a  good  job  getting  us  prepared  to  play  the   game.”     Jr. TE Brandon Fritts On the offense’s improvement since Week 1 “I think it was just momentum really. Not getting big plays last week hurt us but getting big plays this week and building off that a little bit to keep the momentum going and it kind of got people fired up and ready to go.” On failing to convert twice on 4th and short: “It hurts. Football is a game of inches. Sometimes it works and some times it doesn’t. You got to come back the next day and watch film, fix it and hope it doesn’t happen again. I went to reach out for the ball and I fumbled it. I probably won’t sleep tonight thinking about that one. That really sucks. There is nothing I can do about it now.” On Brandon Harris’s performance “He did a great job. It is not easy coming in second half and not throwing a pass in the first half. I texted him last week after the first game: ‘Keep your head up. We still believe in you. We are still behind you no matter what happens.’”

 

  Sr.  WR  Austin  Proehl    “I’m  just  going  to  start  off  by  saying  I’m  proud  of  our  offense.  I’m  proud  of  our  team.  I  think   you  got  to  take  your  hat  off  to  Louisville;  they’re  a  great  team.  They’ve  got  a  bunch  of   playmakers  and  they  made  plays.    You  can’t  say  much  more  than  that.  Lamar  (Jackson)  had   a  great  game.  He’s  a  great  player.  You  continue  to  make  plays  and  we  have  to  continue  to   score,  but  I  am  proud  of  our  offense  and  I’m  proud  of  the  way  we  continue  to  fight  until  the   end.  We  have  a  bunch  of  young  guys  making  plays.  Hats  off  to  Thomas  Jackson,  Anthony   Ratliff-­‐Williams.  When  your  number  is  called  you  have  to  make  plays  and  that’s  exactly   what  they  did.  I  think  this  brings  excitement  for  what’s  to  come  but  obviously  we  still  lost   the  game.  We  have  to  put  our  heads  down,  we  have  to  come  to  work  tomorrow,  Tuesday,   Wednesday,  Thursday  and  go  up  to  Old  Dominion  and  win  a  football  game.“     On  the  quarterbacks   “I  give  Brandon  (Harris)  a  lot  of  credit  for  coming  in  and  throwing  the  way  he  did.  I  think  he   did  a  great  job.  Chazz  (Surratt)  did  a  great  job,  too.  In  the  first  half  I  think  he  controlled  the   game,  moved  the  ball  up  and  down  the  field.  I  think  they  both  did  a  great  job  of  continuing   to  compete  even  when  adversity  hit  us;  we  got  in  3rd-­‐and-­‐long,  3rd-­‐and-­‐medium  situations   and  they  continued  to  fight.  I  give  them  both  a  lot  of  credit.”   Jr. WR Thomas Jackson On how explosive plays and momentum help the offense: “You can just tell the [Louisville] defense is on their heels, you can tell they’re tired and it gives you confidence when he is throwing the ball and you’re catching the ball. It’s a really good thing, especially if you haven’t been moving the ball how you want to, if you have a big 30-yard gain, it kind of clicks and everything starts falling into place.” On if he saw a change in Brandon Harris’s focus in practice: “He just seemed more relaxed. He got the things he needed to get fixed, fixed. He had a fantastic day, both him and Chazz [Surratt], and that’s huge for everybody because it starts with the quarterback, starts from the line and then moves out from there. So, Brandon, I thought he had a very good week of practice and I thought he did really well today. On what this game does for momentum moving forward: “I think it’s really big, especially for guys like Anthony [Ratliff-Williams], who last week I don’t think he had the game he wanted. And this week, he comes out and if we would have won, he might be the player of the game. Going forward, he’s going to have a lot of confidence and we have young guys, Dazz [Newsome] is going to have a lot of confidence, Roscoe [Johnson] – it’s going to be good because we have more depth now. We know we can trust more guys in the game. So, going forward, we’re going to be more confident going into games.”  

 

 

 

Louisville  47,  North  Carolina  35     Louisville  Coach  Bobby  Petrino   Opening  Statement    “That’s  a  really  good  win  for  us  on  the  road.  It  was  a  hard-­‐fought  game.  I  was  really  proud   of  our  players.  In  the  first  half  we  didn’t  get  the  ball  in  the  end  zone  like  we  want  to.  We   moved  it  around,  but  we  had  to  settle  for  field  goals  instead  of  touchdowns.  That  always   makes  the  game  close.  I  thought  their  offense  executed  and  made  some  really  good  plays.   Proehl  kid,  I  used  to  watch  his  dad  play  all  the  time,  and  go  up  and  watch  him  practice  when   they  would  work  out  up  in  Flagstaff,  Arizona.  But  man,  he  is  a  player.  You  got  to  really  take   your  hat  off  to  him.  He  made  some  great  plays  for  him  and  got  open.  I  was  really  happy  with   our  team  though.  We  talked  at  halftime  about  coming  up,  putting  it  all  together  and   competing  extremely  hard.  I  thought  our  defense  had  some  huge  stops  down  the  stretch.   The  offense  moved  the  ball,  and  then  to  take  it  and  go  99  yards  at  the  end  of  the  game  to   score  was  something  that  I  was  really  excited  about.  Lamar  had  a  great  game.  I  thought  he   threw  the  ball  really  well,  made  great  decisions  and  accurate  passes.  It  was  amazing  when   he  can  take  off  and  run  and  score  us  touchdowns,  too.  What  a  player  and  what  a  great   competitor.  He’s  just  a  great  competitor.  I  thought  our  O-­‐Line  grew  up  as  the  game  went  on   and  got  better  as  the  game  went  on.  It  was  great  to  see  our  running  backs  get  going,  and   Malik  Williams  had  a  great  game.  Reggie  [Bonnafon]  made  some  really  good  plays  for  us.   Our  tight  ends  contributed.  Dez  [Fitzpatrick]  got  in  there,  Jaylen  [Smith],  Seth  [Dawkins].  It   was  good  to  see  the  ball  getting  moved  around  and  different  guys  making  plays.”     On  play  of  Jaylen  Smith     “I  thought  he  did  a  really  nice  job  today.  He  ran  hard,  he  made  them  miss  tackles  and  he  cut   back.  Unfortunately,  he  had  a  bad  injury  last  year.  Didn’t  go  in  spring  ball.  I  think  it  was  a   real  credit  to  him  and  how  hard  he  worked  this  summer.  He  came  to  us  last  year  at  the  first   of  August,  and  he  was  really  out  of  shape.  This  year  when  we  tested  in  August,  he  was  one  of   our  best  guys  in  shape.  It’s  just  a  credit  to  his  hard  work.”     On  UNC’s  defense     “I  think  they’re  a  really  good  football  team.  I  think  their  defensive  line  is  tough.  Their   linebackers  are  tough.  They  have  good  players  in  the  secondary.  I  just  think  they  made  us   work  extremely  hard  for  us  to  move  the  ball.”     On  UNC’s  kickoff-­‐return  touchdown   “We  didn’t  tackle  them.  We  don’t  like  to  kick  the  ball  in  the  middle  of  the  field,  and  we  didn’t   really  get  to  the  lane.  They  did  a  good  job  on  the  return.  That  guy  [Anthony  Ratliff-­‐Williams]   was  a  hard  guy  to  tackle  on  the  return.”