What Did Louisville's Coaches Say About BC?
Andy Backstrom (@andybackstrom)Publisher
Louisville head coach Scott Satterfield spoke to the media this week about the Cardinals' Week 5 matchup at Boston College, as did offensive coordinator Lance Taylor and defensive coordinator Bryan Brown.
Here's what they said about the Eagles:
HC Scott Satterfield
Opening Statement: "This week, obviously back on the road playing in the conference again. We’ll need to play well obviously, for a conference game and then having to go up to Boston on the road, obviously a challenge when you play on the road in the ACC. But it comes back to us. Focus on what we can control, which is how we prepare. I thought we did a great job of that last week with being very intentional in how we prepared. We’ve got to do that again this week. Our guys have to be focused each and every day with the game plan that we're putting in and how to execute it, and then obviously go up there and play fast. It's a 12 o'clock kick again. I thought our guys did a great job with that last week. That was our first 12 o'clock game that we had. It's a big difference when it's 7:30 to 12:00, having to wake right up and you’ve got an eight o'clock pregame meal. It’s the same thing we're going to have to do this week on the road against a Boston College team that that has not done as well as they would have liked so far."Offensively, obviously they have one of the best players in our conference with Zay Flowers. They’re going to do everything they can to get the ball to him. He is fast, he can run, he can catch, and he runs great routes. I think he's one of the best receivers in our league. They struggle a little bit protection wise, and they've given up some pressures there, but their quarterback (Phil Jurkovec) is a talented player. He's a big kid, he's got a really good arm, he can throw it. The issue of protection, I think, is probably one thing that has hurt them the most this year offensively.
"Defensively, when you turn the film on, there's a lot of guys back from last year. I think they're a very, very solid defense. They're where they're supposed to be. They don't get out of position. They do a really good job running to the football. They're a good tackling team. It’s a good defense, it really is. They did lose one of their best defensive players No. 11 (Shitta Sillah), the defensive end. He's an outstanding player, I remember him from last year, had a couple of tackles for loss against us last year. I think he's out for the season now. But really all the other guys are back, and it's an old defense, a lot of graduates that are on that defense. Just another challenge for us to go on the road. We need to get a conference win. So we need to have a great week of practice and looking forward to that."
OC Lance Taylor
Q: When you fire up the film on Boston College, what’s the first thing that stands out to you on that side of the ball?"I’ll tell you what, they are an extremely disciplined, well-coached, hard-nosed football team. They are where they’re supposed to be, when they’re supposed to be there. They’re in the gaps that they’re supposed to be in. And, in pass coverage, they’re going to make you be patient. And that’s one of the tests that’s going to be great for us this week. Can we continue to consistently improve as an offensive unit? I think each week we’ve gotten a little bit better—more yards each week, more points. But then the consistency has to show up this week. And taking care of the football."
DC Bryan Brown
Q: When you’re facing an opponent like Boston College—they have solid quarterback, great receivers, but their weakness so far has been that offensive line. Does that get you excited preparing for an opponent like that? And how do you prepare?"I think, traditionally, Boston College has always been able to run the football. Right now, I think they’re averaging 60 yards per game. So we want to make sure we continue to put an emphasis on that because that’s been their MO for I don’t know how many years now. They still have guys that can run the football. They’ve got guys up front that can move people as well. We want to make sure we continue to put an emphasis on that.
"As far as those guys passing the football, they’ve got some really good receivers that are really solid. I mean, you start with Zay Flowers, who’s probably one of the best receivers in the ACC. He has speed, very quick. They’re going to try to get him the ball in any way possible. We gotta make sure we know where he is each and every down. If we can do that and tackle well again, like we showed this past Saturday, we should be in for a really, really good fight."
Q: Given how you guys performed against a pretty solid USF offensive line, and couple that with the fact that BC’s offensive line has kind of struggled a bit, is this a game where maybe you can see yourself dialing up the pressure a little bit more?
"I don’t want to give away our game plan. But I think we’ve just gotta do a great job of being able to read our keys and play fast like we did this weekend. When we’re able to pin our ears back, of course, and get after the passer, we’re really good. I think we’re Top 30 in pass defense right now, Top 15 in sacks. If we can do that and get those guys to be one dimensional, I feel pretty good about our matchups and things of that nature. We just gotta go play and see where the chips fall."
Q: Can you speak to their quarterback, Jurkovec, a little bit? And then their running game, you mentioned, Garwo was kind of the guy. But they’ve got a couple freshmen they used against Florida State. I’d expect you’ll probably see them.
"Quarterback, he has a strong arm. I mean, a true NFL arm. He can get it to their receivers or tight ends as quickly as he needs to. He does a good job scanning the field, and he does a good job seeing coverages, even post-snap. … He has a really strong arm, can get the ball to his receivers, whether it’s down the field, across the middle, crossing routes, curls, comebacks—he throws it all. He has a really, really talented arm. He can pull the ball down and get you some yards in the run game as well, if need be. But he’s a smart football player. We have to be on our Ps and Qs with him.
"As far as the running back goes, the two behind him—the young guys, [Xavier Coleman and [Alex Broome]—they have some speed. Garwo, he’s going to be a downhill runner that wants to run you over. And he wants to seek contact. These guys, they’re going to try to shake you and juke you and things of that nature. And they don’t mind lowering their shoulder as well. I think they have a good core group of running backs, and especially the young guys that we’ll be seeing for the near future at BC."
