Everything Louisville coach Jeff Brohm said after losing to Notre Dame

Louisville couldn’t go back-to-back against Notre Dame. The Fighting Irish beat Jeff Brohm‘s Cardinals, 31-24, in South Bend on Saturday.

Here’s everything Brohm said after his team’s first loss of the season.

Opening statement

“It wasn’t a clean day for us, and unfortunately that’s not a good day for us having to go on the road, especially at Notre Dame. Give Notre Dame credit. They came ready to play. Made enough plays to win the football game. We had some critical mistakes in key situations that hurt us and some turnovers that hurt us. As coaches, we got to be better. Got to put our players in a little better position to succeed and make sure those things don’t happen again because there is going to be a tough stretch of games coming up and we got to be sharper as we move forward.”

On the final fourth down and the delay of game before it

“Give the crowd credit. We wanted to make sure we get the first down, so we did switch the personnel. It got loud. You couldn’t hear the call in from me. He finally got it and got up there and unfortunately the clock was winding down and he didn’t see it. So that can’t happen. We have to have a better way in situations with no timeouts that we got to get the first down to figure out a way to get a first down in that personnel. So that’s on me.”

On if Notre Dame forcing turnovers was the difference

“It was a combination of a lot of things. Without question, the turnovers hurt us. I think situational football, two fourth downs we didn’t convert hurt us. So we gotta be better there. And then the defense, we started slow. To have a plan to defend the quarterback and allow him to run like that, it’s not good. We adjusted finally and got it fixed but that’s happened in too many games. We got to be better than that. Snap it over the punter’s head, which hurt us as well. There were numerous things. Didn’t play a clean football game, and you don’t do that you’re not going to beat Notre Dame.”

On not getting any points after a long drive at the end of the first half

“That’s on me. We called a play on the edge instead of going up the middle and we weren’t able to get around the edge good enough. Probably have a better plan to get a lead blocker and run off tackle or something like that. We run a lot of play-action on fourth down so we wanted to mix in a run or two. It didn’t work.”

On why Louisville was so messy against Notre Dame

“You give credit. You’re facing a good football team. You’re in a loud environment where the noise affects things, and we didn’t handle it well. We worked all week, the noise and doing those things, it was really our first road test. In this environment, it was a tough road test. You have to play cleaner. We did not. So that falls on me. We have to prepare and work that better and make sure that situationally we are much better regardless if we are home or away.”

On Louisville’s offensive tempo

“We went no huddle and lined up on the line of scrimmage to go quick. We got the ball out quick. We got enough quick passes to keep them honest and move the chains. We had a little lull there in the third quarter when we tried to throw it deeper but as couldn’t protect long enough. We got to be smart. We kind of adjusted and said, hey, I know those plays are open but we aren’t blocking long enough.

“We got some momentum going there and thought we had a little more momentum and then we had the costly fourth down deal that hurt us. But you know what, we got a costly 15-yard penalty before that as we were driving down. I couldn’t see it. I couldn’t tell if it was a blindside block or not. But it was a 15-yard penalty and it backed us up and made it tougher. So the penalty hurt us.”

On Louisville wide receiver Caullin Lacy

“I applaud Caullin. He’s a competitor. Probably was cleared for the first day today as far as any contact. He practiced with a colored shirt on. We couldn’t touch him. For him to come out against this opponent and compete, my hat’s off to him. This is a guy that you want on your team. He gave great effort. He’s got to help us win more games, and we got to keep him healthy. But I’m definitely proud of his toughness.”

On his message to the team after losing to Notre Dame

“The message was simple. We got beat. We didn’t play good enough. We didn’t play clean enough. There were some critical mistakes we made in situations. I liked their effort. We played to the end. We had some chances, but against good teams you can’t be that sloppy at times. We were sloppy. So I got to make sure we figure out a way to figure out that sloppiness, be sharper, be more efficient.

“The quick run where they scored 21 straight pints, we were not good on defense. Fortunately for us, we made some changes to be better in the second half. It wasn’t good enough overall. Special teams, defense, offense. That’s a good team in general. They beat us. We can’t play like that if we want to win.”

On freshman Isaac Brown’s performance

“He’s still young but you know what, he’s a competitor as well. This is a guy who hasn’t missed one day of practice since he’s been here. He goes hard. He doesn’t know everything. He makes some mistakes at times that hurt us, just being confused. But man, when he runs and goes hard and knows what to do he’s explosive and can break tackles. Just need to continue to get him schooled up. It’s not easy. He’s green. But he never complains. He goes hard. He can be coached when you need more out of him. But proud of him as well. He’s definitely somebody who needs to touch the ball. We got to make sure we’re smart with him. Pass protection, he’s not quite there yet. But we got to figure out a way to be better at that.”

On Notre Dame’s three sacks

“When you get down, you got to throw more than you want. We had some drop backs and play-actions we tried to push up the field some, especially in the third quarter. They were getting heat on us. OK, we’re going to have to run the ball. We’re going to have to get it out much quicker. We’re going to have to adjust. It’s tougher when you don’t have the lead because you can’t really do what you want to keep them off balance. They knew we were going to have to throw the ball and get some quick points. So when that happens, we got to figure out a way to be better. That plays perfectly for a defense, especially when you got a good pass-rush. They have a really good defense. Strong. They got some NFL players on their roster. We couldn’t block as much for a while there until we started getting it out faster.”