Everything Jeff Brohm said after SMU-Louisville

Louisville head coach Jeff Brohm met with the media after the SMU Mustangs beat the Cardinals, 34-27, on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say about the second straight loss for Louisville.

Opening Statement: “Disappointing loss without question. So that falls on me, that falls on coaches. The plan was not good, it was not executed. Way too many mistakes. A really bad performance, especially on our home field. We have got a lot of work to do. That is what makes football a team sport, a tough game. You can either suck it up and find ways to fix it and improve or you can pout about it, sulk and feel sorry for yourself. So we have to look in the mirror and get a better plan together so that we can start better, play better in all three segments and then finish better and that did not happen today.”

On Louisville’s struggle slowing down SMU QB: “I thought that there was a lot of miscommunication. It starts with coaching as far as running what is called and being able to not have so many adjustments that are made when they go to empty, when the motion guys in. We need to have a simpler plan to make sure our guys can play what the call is. So, there was some confusion there. The inability to tackle and wrap up well so the tackling was not good. It starts with us, so we have to fix some things.”

On whether they discussed blitzing more on defense: “Yeah, it was talked about all week and it was not carried out. We have to call a better game and make sure we are way more aggressive and that we have a consistent plan that doesn’t have adjustments when they do something different and that starts with us.”

On whether they considered kicking a field goal on 4^th and 1 in the fourth quarter: “I wanted to get the touchdown, that falls on me we didn’t get it. We have been bad the last two games on fourth and one. Running up the middle is not going to be an option anymore. Throwing the ball, getting on the edge is going to be what has to happen because we can’t get yards pounding up the middle and that is disappointing. But that is the fact of the matter, so we have got to be better as coaches to recognize that and have a better plan because we passed it on fourth and one later and got a big gain. When teams sell out, we need to be more aggressive.

On Louisville’s offensive line struggles: “The last two games have not been our best. We have struggled at right tackle a little bit. We had an injury today at left tackle that might be a long one. So, we have some new guys in there and we have to play better there. Now with that said in order to balance that out, it seems like when we need to move the ball and throw it, we have to get the ball out quicker. We have to be able to mix in the run. We have got to be able to do some different things to not ask those guys to pass protect as much because we were not as sturdy these last two games as we need to be.”

On Louisville’s opponents getting off to fast starts and what allows that: “Quite frankly, we need to coach better. The plan had too many adjustments for different formations and empty sets and things like that. I don’t want to get into too much detail, but it needs to be simpler and sound and then carried out. But we can’t blame it on our players, the plans need to be better. That falls on us and me. We have to go to work to make sure that part doesn’t happen again. We have not gotten of to fast starts and it has been costly.”

On the reversal of the fumble call: “I was surprised at it (the call) and I thought it was a fumble. Some games you get calls and some games you don’t. We didn’t respond very well and we need to be better. There are a lot of things we need to be better. It was not a good day on the football field for us. We fought back and gave ourselves a little bit of a chance but when you play good teams you have to be way more consistent. We are not doing that right now and that means we need to coach better.”

On Louisville bouncing back after two losses and not letting it get off the rails: “That is why football is a great game to play. It teaches you great lessons that last for a lifetime. You will go through hard times. You can be a man enough to identify what the problem is and figure out how to fix it and then go to work and get getter and have the same energy and determination to get that done. Or you can wallow a little bit and feel sorry for yourself and point the finger at somebody else. Or say is it really worth it? That is what you have to do.  If you are going to play the game and spend a lot of time doing it, these things are going to happen.

“You will have some tough days. You try not to have them but you are. You have to respond. I have to do better, the coaches need to do better and the plan needs to be better. Then, we have to figure out a way to simplify it so that we can execute it better. Then we have to, in my opinion, when guys are not performing the way we want, then rotations need to be made to get other players in the game right away – immediately. I don’t see that happening. So we have to make sure that there are other guys who can play the game just as well and if we need to be changing things up more to create competition that needs to happen tomorrow.”