Coming off a loss at No. 16 Notre Dame, the No. 22 University of Louisville football team and head coach Jeff Brohm are set to return home to face SMU Saturday at Noon on ESPN.
Suffering its first loss of the season, Brohm noted that he and his team are looking to get better with each coming week, and that it is crucial to build off previous games regardless of the outcome.
"We're always concerned that we need to get better. When you face good football teams you aren't going to win every play. There are definitely some things that we've done better - we handled the crowd noise better until the end of the game when it got loud and messed some things up for us. We've had some penalties, but we've been pretty good at keeping the penalties down and we must try to continue to have as few as we possibly can," Brohm said. "There are all kinds of things to clean up, but you're going to have that when you're facing really good football teams every week. We just have to find a way to be sharper with the turnover battle, try to limit big plays, execute in critical time situations, have a good plan for that, and be better. It's a lot of small things that add up when you're facing good teams that you can't have."
The Louisville head coach spoke to the needed experience of playing in close games and the common denominators that will propel the Cards to win in their upcoming ACC conference games against quality opponents.
"One I think is mindset. You've got to have tough young men that are going to compete to the end and play hard on every snap. We try to build that and enforce that and really ingrain that into our guys: 'just keep playing as hard as you can, have a good attitude, and play to the end and good things will happen.' I do think we will try to be aggressive and if we make mistakes, it might be by being overly aggressive. Hopefully that wins more than it loses, but it doesn't always happen. I do think our guys know we're going to not be scared to adjust and adapt throughout the course of the game if we've got to do things to win. We had our chance in this game [against Notre Dame] even with everything that happened. To get the ball back with a chance to go down and at least tie the score with a touchdown. Unfortunately, the short yardage situation, we weren't able to convert. I like our makeup. I know that from here on we've got really good teams."
Caullin Lacy, a key offseason addition, returned to the lineup after missing the first three games. The former South Alabama standout wide receiver had been dealing with a collarbone injury. Lacy showed flashes of what Brohm and his staff hoped he could add to the offense, bringing in five receptions for 71 yards.
"I give Caullin a lot of credit. He's wanted to come back. He practiced before he was cleared, even though we had a special-colored jersey on him. He was basically just cleared to go [on] game day. He hadn't been hit or touched on it and he played hard. I just think that's what we have gotten from him since he's been here. He's a tough young man, he's a competitor. He wants to go out there and do great things. We've got to make sure we identify the things he's really good at and make sure we do that with him because there are certain things he's better at than others. He is a strong runner and he's a competitor and we'll need him out there."
The Cards were without star cornerback Quincy Riley, who has been dealing with an injury in recent weeks and looked to other corners in the secondary to step up. Brohm is hopeful that the corner group will learn from this past week's performance in order to combat the speed that SMU brings with their receivers.
"Well, unfortunately Quincy [Riley] wasn't able to play, so we're hopeful to get him back this week. We'll see, I can't tell right now. Taz [Tahveon Nicholson] was able to play with an injury; I give him a lot of credit; he hung in there and he played a long time. Corey Thornton had hand surgery two weeks ago and he plays with a cast; he hung in there and played the entire game. That position is a little thinner and a little banged up, but they played hard. For the most part, I thought we did a really good job at corner," Brohm stated. "There were one or two times that we could have maybe done a little bit better, but they did a pretty good job. We busted a couple man coverage deals - it wasn't on our corner, it was on some other people - that we need to clean up, that hurt us. I really think that we can get them healthier this week. We'll need every one of them because these guys [SMU] have speed at the skill position."
Brohm knows he and his defense will have their hands full facing the SMU offense this week that has scored 42 and 66 points in their last two outings, respectively. SMU comes into this game 4-1 after winning their ACC opener against Florida State.
"Right now they're (SMU) hot and they've got momentum. They're trusting each other, they're executing at a high level. Like I said, the quarterback [Kevin Jennings], settling on him - the offense has taken off. This is a young man who's a six-foot quarterback; he can throw it, he's got a great arm, he can run, he throws well on the move, he can escape the rush. You have to affect him or he's going to get it to those playmakers. He's got plenty of speed at the playmaking positions and I just think, the last two weeks, they have played as good as anybody in our conference by scoring points and being aggressive on defense, especially in the third down package. Right now, they're gelling and playing at a high level."
Brohm spoke to the prowess that SMU's defense has displayed thus far this season in forcing opposing offenses to commit turnovers. The Mustang defense has forced fourteen turnovers in five games, which leads the country.
"I think they're very sound on first and second down; they don't give up a lot of big plays throughout that. On third down, they get very exotic, and they come after the quarterback. They affect the quarterback, so they made him get turnovers in those situations. They do some things that other teams aren't as aggressive doing, so I give them credit. They're well coached. Right now, they're believing in what they're doing. When your offense is having success, it gives you the flexibility to play more aggressive, which they have done and it's definitely showing on video."
Overall, Brohm and his team will look forward to the opportunity of facing another quality opponent this weekend as they continue their ACC conference schedule.
"It'll be a good test for us. I'm looking forward to having a good week in practice and putting it all together and having a good plan of going out there and trying to execute."
Louisville will kickoff against SMU on Saturday at 12 pm ET in a game that can be viewed on ESPN.
