POSTGAME QUOTES: Houston 36, Louisville 10
11/18/2016 12:00:00 AM | Football
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HEAD COACH Tom Herman
Opening Statement
"Another great team win; offense, defense and special teams. Defensively, they will get a lot of credit and deservedly so. Three turnovers, 11 sacks and extremely disruptive over all. Special teams set the tone early when they popped out the first kickoff and scored on one play. Our offense took advantage of some of those turnovers, and we took advantage of the fake punt conversion.
It was a little rocky in the third quarter trying to find a way to get a few first downs, and the defense kept us in it. The offense may not have scored a whole lot in the fourth quarter, but we took a lot of time off the clock. We scored a field goal which made it a three score game with them needing three touchdowns and all two point conversions as well. We were able to run the clock out there the last couple of series.
Unbelievable win. It's important to know that we have not gone anywhere. We have been here all along. We were banged up, tired and exhausted in the month of October. That's not an excuse, that's reality, and our guys fought through it and fought through the adversity. They never wavered or stopped having confidence. This is what happens when you get the band back together; get everybody healthy, everybody fresh and everybody doing their job for the love of their brother. As hard as these guys play, and as talented as they are, we can play with anybody in the country, and we proved that again tonight.
That was a heck of a football team in Louisville and a heck of a player in Lamar Jackson. Nothing has changed. He's the best player in college football, and our defense did a good job of putting pressure on him. That is a really good football team."
On capitalizing in scoring position
"Anytime you get a short field or momentum and you have a little break go your way, it is a powerful thing - especially in college football, maybe not in the National Football League because they are grown men and that's their job. Momentum is a powerful thing when you're dealing with 18 and 22-year-old guys. What an unbelievable crowd too. Look at how many false start penalties they had. The crowd was loud and in it. They continued to be loud in the third quarter when we gave up a score and our offense had a few three-and-outs. Hats off to our students and fans. We set an attendance record tonight. Goes to show you how powerful this stadium can be when filled, and how it can directly impact wins. Thankful to have the turnout we did tonight."
On after the game storm
"It felt smothery. Emotionally it's a great feeling because you know you have made your fans very proud and they are very excited and want to relish in the win with you. That's a great feeling. "
"As a head coach, I have business to do. I have interviews and all of that good stuff to do so credit to the security staff for keeping me upright, not falling and getting me in the right place at the right time. I really need to see the investment in our team that our fans have and how excited they get when we win big games like that."
On field rushing expectations
"I'm not going to tell them when to get excited and when not, that's certainly not for me to judge. It's our expectation; nobody in that locker room was surprised. It's understandable because of the month of October that we had. Nobody waivered in our locker room, but there may have been some doubt by some people that maybe we were not as good of a team that we knew we were. If they think it's worthy, then it's worthy."
On emotional experience with seniors
"This program wouldn't be where it's at without them. 6-0 against top 25 teams, 3-0 against top 10 teams, 2-0 against top five teams. They're the winningest senior class in the storied history of this great football program and that's for a reason. They are a bunch of men of character in that class. We as a coaching staff, we as a football program, we as an athletics department, we as the University of Houston, and we as the City of Houston owe those guys a tremendous depth of gratitude for the sacrifice that they've made for this program, for the University and our city. I told them I love them and I thanked them for everything they've done. I think that love and appreciation was reciprocated as well."
On sending the seniors off with a win at home
"It feels great, they deserve it. It's hard to win football games, and we played good enough tonight to win. It's a great moment for them that they will remember forever. Last I checked, we've got another game next week too. We're going to celebrate this one, but we've got a chance to win 10 regular-season games and put ourselves in a position for a good bowl game so we can truly send them out the way they deserve to be sent out. This was just a step in that journey of sending them out, being their last home game, but there is still a lot of football left for those guys.
On dominating top-caliber teams
"Our guys have embraced the underdog role. They came here with bad facilities, bad everything. They chose to come here for a reason. They chose to come here because they knew they would be the underdogs. Most of these guys are two and three star recruits, who have had chips on their shoulders their whole careers. You want to say they `get up' for big games, but that's not the case. We played hard against Navy; we just didn't play good. We played hard against SMU; we just didn't play good. When you start diving into our two's and three's like we did in October, we just aren't built yet from a development standpoint to win week after week with our key guys missing. But when we're healthy and fresh, and we have that chip on our shoulder against big time opponents, our guys have an added motivation. Knowing that they were two and three star recruits that nobody believed in and they came to the University of Houston, we're fixing those day-by-day and getting better recruits. These guys love to play with that chip on their shoulder, and it's fun to watch."
Discipline of the team tonight
"Excited to see that when our ones are out there and we're fresh and healthy, but the guys that we count on play-after-play are there. Not only are they good players, they're disciplined players. We kept talking about the mistakes that we have made with the couple of losses that we had and we concluded that it was our guys trying to do too much by doing things they aren't trained to do. It was defiance or discipline; it was a lack of responding to adversity. So for them to go out and play a game to this magnitude -- especially with it being so loud -- we only had one penalty for five yards and Louisville had a number of penalties, a lot of them being false starts from the crowd noise. I'm really proud that our guys played that disciplined and locked-in."
The way that Greg [Ward Jr.] played the game
"He played a great game. He missed some throws that he knows he missed, but we knew we were going to have to throw it in order to win. If we couldn't run effectively against Tulane and Central Florida, then we probably weren't going to run it against one of the top-ten defenses in the country. Our game plan was to throw the football and win it. He played within himself and made really good reads. He scrambled when he needed to scramble and he didn't force balls. We protected the football on offense with zero turnovers and offense leave for the second week in a row. When you protect the football and play with it within the system, good things happen."
Having a mature quarterback
"Greg Ward Jr. has been in a bunch of these games now and he's won them all. To have that experience and to have the knowledge of how to play in these games and how to execute the game plan and what he could do. The things that he could have done to lose the game he stayed away from. He didn't force balls, reverse field, lack responsiveness to adversity, or try to make chicken salad out of you-know-what. He took what was there and he missed some throws, but didn't get down on himself. He knew we were going to come back to the throw game. Credit to him for playing the game as poise as I've seen him play in a long time."
On how this team bounces back from adversity
"They are grown men. They are mature and still learning how to be great leaders. The adversity that hit us for a few weeks there taught them that sometimes adversity is the best teacher. We had multiple discussions with them about how to handle this and where to go from here. They responded well. A credit to their coaches. Their coaches that are around them, much more than I am, are great teachers. They teach not just the game of football, but how to lead, to be men of character and how to respond to adversity. We saw the second half of Central Florida was that "ah ha moment" where we realized that great, positive leadership can go a long way. We displayed that in the second half, against Tulane, and in this game the leaders came to the forefront."
On how this win compares to others
"The Central Florida game was probably my proudest win for the team in terms of responding to a ridiculous adversity. Our backs were up against the wall, probably farther than they've ever been in our two years here. This one is up there, no doubt. A lot of our big wins have not come in this stadium, like the Peach Bowl and the win against Oklahoma was in NRG Stadium. The Temple game was in this stadium and that was a huge win. Then, this one. I believe it's our highest ranked opponent ever on campus, and to be able to beat them handily makes me really proud of our guys and of the University of Houston."
On punter Dane Roy's pass
"It felt like it was in the air for nine seconds. That's something we've been practicing since the third or fourth week of the season. We put it in once it was established that Byron Simpson was going to be our deep snapper. He wears 89, an eligible receiver number. Credit to Jason Washington, our special teams coordinator, for coming up with the idea to shift everyone over to make him the end man on the line of scrimmage. It helps when the punter is 6'7 and can see over some of those guys. It was well executed, and a product of preparation. We've practiced that play twice a week for 10 weeks. When we called it, in arguably the biggest game of the season, our guys executed."
On Linell Bonner's pass to Chance Allen
"It was a great call. I thought Major Applewhite called a great game. We knew we needed to stay aggressive. When you're up 21 points on the No. 3 team in the country, as a former play caller, human nature is to get conservative. Major [Applewhite] did a great job of staying aggressive in his play calling and knowing that we needed those plays in the game plan to move the football. If you remember, we called the exact same play against Navy last year. We threw a lateral to Demarcus Ayers and Linell Bonner was on the receiving end for a touchdown. Major [Applewhite] dialed it up at a perfect time and Linell threw a good pass. Again, that was a play we've been practicing for weeks."
On how he handles distractions and his confidence entering the game
"There's no distractions. There's open, honest communication amongst our team. I love the guys in that room like I love my own sons. I mean that. I'm always going to be honest with my sons and I'm going to let them know any information they need to know. That keeps them at ease. They know never to worry about anything unless it comes from my mouth.
"My wife texted me earlier today and she asked if I was nervous. I said, `Not really.' She asked why. I said, `Because our kids are going to play very hard.' If our best shot is not good enough to win, then so be it. I knew that our guys were going to play like they did tonight. I knew they were going to play inspired, impassioned, and with genuine love in their hearts. I knew if we combined that passion, energy and love with execution, we can play with anyone in the country. I don't know that I expected it. I don't know if I was confident. I knew that, through the week of preparation, we were healthy, fresh, excited to play and going to give it our best shot. Sometimes you give it your best shot and it's not good enough. I've been on some teams like that, and it's an awful feeling. You would need the other team to implode to win. That's not the case here. Our best is good enough to play with anyone in the country. I think we proved that again tonight."
On what the win means to the program
"Renu Khator, our great University President says it all the time, athletics is the front porch of the University. To have that kind of exposure on national television against a team the caliber of Louisville, is validation to where this University and program are headed, and the things we can accomplish in the future."
HOUSTON QUARTERBACK Greg Ward Jr.
On the feeling after the win
"Words can't explain how I feel. It goes back to the times I was pressured in practice by these two (Ed Oliver and Steven Taylor). They had me running for my life most of the time. The grind that we went through finally paid off."
On Meeting Tom Herman on the field before the game for Senior Night
"Dang, it went by fast. I never thought being a senior would come by this fast. Just seeing all my brothers in front of me, the dudes I came in with, seeing all them run to their people and giving their parents the flowers, it meant a lot to me. It was a great feeling just giving the flowers to my momma and seeing my daughter run to me."
On if he took the game personal against Lamar Jackson
"Not at all. It wasn't about out-playing Lamar, it was just about going out there and winning and just doing it for the team. I wasn't worried about them. It was just all about us."
On his thoughts on the game
"It was just truly a blessing that we won. God put us in a game like this, and we seized the moment. I'm happy. I'm thankful."
On the crowd's loudness throughout the game
"That truly helped our defense too. Our defense would have played like that if there was nobody in the stands. The crowd did a heck of a job. We just fed off their energy, and they gave us an extra boost. "
On the team's bond
"I just believe that our team humbled ourselves and went out there and trusted each other and played for each other. We weren't worried about rankings or anything like that. We were just worried about going out there and getting a win."
On punter Dane Roy's pass
"Throwing better than me all game. That was the best pass of the night, honestly."
FRESHMAN DEFENSIVE TACKLE Ed Oliver
On the fans
"It was electric the whole time. You could feel it."
On whether this win is the best moment of his time at UH
"No, far from that. I think the end of two-a-days (was the best moment). We were prepared for this. At the end of two-a-days I could see the light at the end of the tunnel. This was special, but there is a lot going on behind the scenes that you don't know about."
On the fake punt
"I have seen that play hundreds of times."
On sending off the seniors with a win for their final home game
"We did this thing where we wrote our `why' down, and I remember writing about sending the seniors out with smiles on their faces. We just have to go out and get the next one and the next smile."
On if the team threw Lamar Jackson off his game
"He definitely didn't look like himself. The game plan we had drawn up was amazing. It obviously worked. We believed in the coaches. I do believe it got him a little riled up."
On the game plan
"Ferocious."
On how it feels to accomplish the win on national television
"Exposure. Showing the world once again that Houston is a great school, place to be and environment. We work hard for everything we ever had and ever will have. We are go-getters no matter the task."
On if they noticed any frustration from Lamar Jackson
"It was so loud you couldn't hear words. You could see he was yelling at his offensive linemen. You couldn't see what he was saying. I'm guessing he was yelling at them for false starting."
On breaking Louisville's will
"I wasn't worried about breaking their will. I was worried about us going on the field and executing. I remember before every drive, telling the defense it's a business trip every time we step in between the white lines. We handle business. We are filling out our resumes tonight."
SENIOR LINEBACKER Steven Taylor
On the fans
"They gave us a lot of energy. Louisville had a couple of long drives, and obviously we were a little tired, but when the fans are so in-tune with the game, you forget how tired you are. You want to make those guys happy and turn the crowd up. "
On fans rushing the field
"It was crazy. I felt like a rock star. It reminded me of the American Championship game last year. It was fun actually getting to talk to the fans, take pictures with them and show our appreciation. It was a really good deal."
On the fake punt
"I didn't expect it. I was ready to go out there and play more defense. It was a relief for our special teams units to get a first down and for us to sit back down on the bench. It felt good. I'm happy that we executed it."
On if they shocked Louisville by being the most physical team
"We played them last year, so we gave them a little taste of what we were coming with this year. If they were shocked, I guess you can say they didn't prepare."
On his last home game
"I can sum it up in one word: unbelievable. It felt great. I couldn't write a better script."
On Ed Oliver
"This guy is an alien, beast, whatever you want to call him. He's not from this world. He holds down our court and opens up a lot of gaps for us. He's a phenomenal player."
On the destructive defense that was played
"Honestly, we just wanted to stick to the game plan and be aggressive. That's the type of game style we play. We just executed the game plan, and that resulted in 11 sacks."
On the game plan
"Gold."
On if they are surprised by the stats for the night
"Honestly, we just try to do that every week. It just felt good to accomplish it and show the world that we are capable of coming out, being aggressive and doing good at that."
On the fans
"Shout out to our fans. they came out ready. They go unnoticed. They played a really big part in this game."
On how the team is already ready for big games
"We prepare for chaos. We don't let the rankings, media and hype affect our game. We believe we can compete with any Power 5 school. When you step in between those lines, the hardest competitors and the most-hungry team at the end of the day is winning."
On if the University of Houston is a Power 5 school
"On paper, no. Off paper, yes."
LOUISVILLE HEAD COACH BOBBY PETRINO
Opening statement
"We got beat by their offense; we got beat by their defense; we got beat by their special teams. It was a bad job of coaching on my part. I didn't do a good job of getting our team ready to play, and they out played us, outperformed us, (and) they out coached us."
On how and why Louisville lost
"I don't really know. It was right from the start. We ran the first kickoff back. We're not supposed to run the ball out of the end zone. We ran it back, fumbled. They did a good job executing; getting the ball in the end zone. We weren't able to handle their pressure and their speed early offensively and get any points on the board, so, our defense was on the field for a long-time, and they executed and made plays against our defense. We didn't tackle as well as we needed to, so it was really one of those games where you just get your butt beat."
On what contributed to all the sacks on the offensive line
"We had bad communication. We lost our technique, we had some assignment errors, we had some communication errors, and sometimes we just got beat one-on-one. It was a combination of everything."
On fumbles from this game and the previous game
"There's no question it's killing us. You open the game with a fumble, and they take it in and go score. Then, we are starting to drive the ball, and we turn it over again. Then, we're in scoring position and fumble it again. I don't really get it. We worked harder this year, we spent more time this year on ball security than any year I've ever coached, and we're just not doing a good job of taking care of the football."
On the big picture
"We have to regroup and get ready for our next game. We got out-played. We got out-coached in this game, and we just have to find a way to come back and play the type of football we're capable of playing in our last game of the year."
On Houston playing on both sides of the line
"Defensively they brought a lot of pressure. They blitzed from both sides of the field and disguised it well. Timed up the cadence; did a good job of it. They just gave the quarterback enough time to throw some quick passes, and they executed on third down. We weren't able to get them stopped."
On the team receiving penalties
"We get behind: You start pressing, and you're undisciplined. We had some undisciplined plays. You're not going to win games when you're undisciplined like that."
On opening in the second half
"I don't know if we would have had enough time to make it back anyway. We got so far behind in the first half, but we come out and showed some life: take the ball down and drive it. Then we come back again, and it looks like we're going to go, and turn it over. You start looking at the clock and wonder if you have enough time and, you start pressing. We're not a team that can throw the ball every single down, or we get exposed. We have to be able to mix it up with running the football and having some balance."
On the team's slow starts
"We have a lot of games where we've had great starts and had scored on our first series every time. It's just the game of football."
On sensing frustration from quarterback Lamar Jackson
"There was frustration there. There was frustration on the protection. There was frustration (with) himself; missing a few throws. That's one of the things on the sideline. There definitely was frustration, and it grew. I thought maybe that first series of the third quarter we go it switched and going, but the turnover did get us."
On rankings and the playoff
"We blew it. We had an opportunity sitting there. You can't take anything away from Houston either. They did a good job. They executed well. They played well. It was one of those situations where they were better than us tonight. There's no question about it."
LOUISVILLE SOPHOMORE QUARTERBACK LAMAR JACKSON
On game getting out of hand
"It was just miscommunication and we lost our focus out there. It was crazy but we played a good team."
On frustrations throughout the game
"We went out there and before the game we had a lot of confidence but as the game went on we were just beating ourselves, the whole game. We just played a good team, that's all I can say."
On trying to will his team back into the game
"We scored a lot of points before, even in just a quarter. You know they scored 31 point on us in the first half but we just got to go out there and keep grinding and it just didn't end up that way."
On `running for your life' from the defense
"I wouldn't say running for my life, it was just a lot of miscues."
On pressure from the defense
"They run a lot of pressures on us, it was a good defensive line we faced and a good defense. That's all I can say."
On Houston's crowd
"We've played against a bigger crowd before, we beat ourselves really."
On how disappointing it is to have a chance to make the playoffs and miss it
"Very disappointing, you know we lost. Its always disappointing when you lose a game but you got to move on. You can't worry about it now, its over."
On breaking up teammates on the sidelines
"You know how brothers fight man, family always do that. We got back together and everyone is talking, it wasn't nothing."
LOUISVILLE SENIOR DEFENSIVE TACKLE DEANGELO BROWN
On what went wrong tonight
"I mean there are a number of things but you can't make excuses. The other team came out to play. Especially a team like us, we are ranked high and you know everyone wants to beat us. We didn't show up today so we got to come back stronger the next week."
On feelings after the loss
"I mean it hurts man. Everybody on this team wanted to do great things. Everyone on this team wanted to go to the playoffs and keep winning. It hurts, I can't say nothing else."
On recovering from this game
"We got to figure out how to just keep moving forward. We got a big game coming up against Kentucky next week. They are going to come out and do the same thing; beat us and dominate us so we got to come ready to play."
On the loss to means to team
"In the game of football you can't turn the ball over. At the same time we can't let them drive on us. If we win together as a team we lose together as a team so it was a team loss, we aren't going to point the fingers at anyone. We just got to come back next week stronger."
On takeaways from this game
"We learned we have to keep our focus. We got to learn that everybody is going to come out and give us their best effort. When you are a top team in the country everybody wants to beat you, everybody is looking at Louisville and have that game circled on their schedule and we got to realize that."
LOUISVILLE SOPHOMORE SAFETY DEE SMITH
On how the game became so far out of hand
"We started the game off pretty rough. We had a turnover and gave them the momentum that they needed. We didn't react to that well."
On being frustrated from making mistakes in the game
"It was very frustrating. When you come off of a win like we did against Wake Forest and then come out and play the way we did its always frustrating for a team."
On whether the team was just flat or unprepared
"We were very prepared for this game. We just didn't come out and execute the way we were supposed to, compared to how we used to."
On playing with a possible chip on his shoulder due to the team's ranking
"We did let that get to us too much. We paid too much attention to the rankings instead of playing our game. We were just trying to do too much."
On how the team reacted during the game when things weren't going well
"We could have reacted better. Some of my teammates didn't react the way that they should have, and some did. We just couldn't get on the same page tonight."
On being surprised with Houston using with trick plays
"We weren't really surprised. Our defense is just a swarm type of defense and always going to run to the ball. They just knew how we were going to play and used it to their advantage."
LOUISVILLE SENIOR RUNNING BACK BRANDON RATCLIFF
On whether lack of focus or energy was the problem
"I couldn't tell if that was it. We were just trying to focus on getting back in the game. At the end of the day, they were just making more plays than we were and they were capitalizing on things that we should have. They played a great game and we fell short."
On whether worrying about rankings was a distraction for the team
"I hope that wasn't the problem. As far as the ranking, it is what it is. I'm sure there were a lot of people that were waiting on this moment. For me being the captain, I was trying to focus on the task at hand and that was Houston. Our focus was not the rankings."
On if people were waiting on Louisville to lose
"We were a high-ranked opponent and we had a target on our back. Everybody is going to come out and play their `A' game against us. We didn't go out there and play our `A' game and the results showed that."
On many turnovers in the game
"That is just all-around focus. That is out of our character. It hurts us because we work hard at making sure we don't go out there and do the things we did. As a competitor that hurts, those turnovers could have easily affected the game in a different way than it did tonight."
On being shocked with the game's outcome
"Our ambition was to go and make that Top Four ranking. We still think that we are a Top Four team. As I say every time `in college football, it is hard to get a win every week.' There are great teams out there. Houston is a great team and they have my utmost respect with how they went out there and handled their senior night. We are going to bounce back regardless. We are going to take this loss and it will build our character. You will see our character when you see how we come back out there and handle our business in these last few games."
On whether this game could hurt quarterback Lamar Jackson's chance at winning the Heisman
"Of course not, he is the best player in the nation. Nobody can question the effort that man goes out and plays with every week. I don't care what you say; nobody touches him on that field. To me, he is the best player out there and I'm not just saying that because he is my teammate. We stack him up against anybody and nobody will touch what he does on that field."
On frustration coming from the sideline during the game
"That is just the competitive spirit that we have as a team. We are all brothers, there is no frustration with each other, we just wanted to go out there and win the game. As brothers we argue with each other but we are just trying to get each other's mind on the right path which is going out there and winning."
On when it set in that the team would not be able to come back in this game
"The whole time we still tried to go out there and make the best of our opportunities. We always felt that we would be able to come out there and get the `w.' We are a great team and our hopes are always high."
On not being surprised with Houston's speed on their front line defense
"They played a great game and didn't show us anything different that what they have been doing. They went out there and played how their coached told them. They worked great out there as a team and they got the win."
On Lamar Jackson being sacked eleven times
"We will have to watch film to tell what the problem was. He was out there running for his life but it is a full out team effort. We don't know what the problem was out there. Our job is to go back meeting rooms and get that corrected so it wont happen again."
