Louisville 17, Boston College 14: Cardinals Postgame Quotables

Bobby Petrino opening remarks...

"I'm excited for us. The thing I'm most pleased with is how our defense came back. We worked extremely hard all week. They came out and played fast and physical. We had a really good plan for our defensive staff and the kids executed - we put a lot of pressure on them. You know, we talked all week long that we can't give them points and that's what we did. We gave them points with the offense and not being able to finish the game at the end with the ball. We put a lot of pressure on the defense—they responded. They made all the plays when the pressure was on and really dominated the game. I was very proud of them offensively. When you look at the first half I thought we did some really good things. We had good stats at half time. We were doing good on third downs - we had moved the ball. We left a few points out there in the first half, but the second half was not anywhere close to what you need win a game. We did move the ball a few times when we were backed up—to flip the field and work some clock—but we need to get the ball into the end zone. We had a nice drive going and actually called a fade into the boundary and he (Lamar Jackson) threw it to the field. He had been making good decisions on that drive, but made an error there. We had a guy that can really run fades for us, in Jamari Staples, against their third corner and that's where you need to attack—that's what you need to go after. He just needs to learn that because we did a nice job moving the ball and he made good decisions driving it down there—then to throw that interception into the end zone really hurt—because we didn't get even a field goal out of it. We will keep working at it. We need our offense to come back like our defense did this week."

Petrino on the back-and-forth style of the game...

"I think they are a very good defense, they are experienced. They made some adjustments out there. Their players were smart. They showed all year long they can play some defense. That is why I was happy with where we were at halftime. I felt we could come out and score a couple times in the second half and finish the game. But instead, we gave them some points on the board and really made it a close one. I was nervous about our defense because I felt they played well against Clemson—they ran the ball well, they made some plays, they got the ball in the end zone. So when you are looking at the scoreboard you are very nervous, but our defense just did a great job and came up with huge plays."

Petrino on getting a win...

"It is great getting a win, no question. It was not pretty—it was ugly. But there are a lot of positives there too. We have to build on the positives and try to put a streak together—which would start Friday night at Wake Forrest, so it is important for us to do a good job on our preparation. We are going to give them Sunday off, so they'll be off tomorrow. We'll bring them back in late afternoon on Monday, and practice Monday night—which will be a normal Tuesday practice for us, and we'll just get on that type of schedule."

Petrino on changing quarterbacks...

"I didn't have any thought of that at all. I think that when we didn't move the ball a lot of it was up front. We turned some guys lose and we had some negative plays. Against that defense, you can't have negative plays. There were times we drove it down there and then we had a misread, lose five yards, get a penalty, lose five more yards, and move the ball backwards. That's something that we have to really work on and get better. I was really disappointed in our penalties. We had a couple of them at the center, we had a couple of them jumping offsides. That, I think, hurt us just as much as anything."

Petrino on false starts by his center...

"He's moving the ball. He was anticipating. Again, little things that we do every single day. We've got to get that straightened out."

Petrino on whether the defense's success was due to their own effort or the opponent's offense...

"I think definitely a better effort. Our team played extremely fast and they played extremely hard. Someone told me that we held them to 71 yards. Now that's not the best offense we've faced all year, and they've had their issues all year, but we dominated them. And we needed to win the game. That's what we needed from our defense. I know we're going to put the video on and see them flying around and playing with a lot of enthusiasm, and making plays."

Petrino on what he liked from his offense in the second half...

"I liked the two times when we were backed up, that we were able to move the ball and switch the field, but we made some mistakes and we weren't able to go in and score. We weren't able to do that. We did do a good job of completing some passes when the pressure was on. It's really nice to have Jamari (Staples) back. (James) Quick's doing a great job for us. It was great to see (Javonte) Bagley step in and make plays for us. He's a guy who really didn't start playing football until he was a junior in high school. He's extremely talented, but he's kind of just learning the game. He keeps getting better. When Jaylen (Smith) got hurt, it was great to see him come in and make plays for us."

Petrion on Sheldon Rankins' fumble recovery for a touchdown...

"That was a nice run, a nice scoop-and-score. It was a really nice job. I think everyone gave him a hard time last year when he picked off that shuffle pass (against Wake Forest) and got tackled, so he might have spent some time working at it."

Petrino on the performance of Trevon Young...

"He's doing a real nice job for us. He's extremely quick. He's doing a good job of anticipating the snap and working hard in the video room to give him some tips, much like Elvis (Dumervil) used to do. Elvis used to study the quarterback, used to study the center. They'll have him get off and get on the edge. I'm really proud of him. I think he's done a great job for us and really has been our best edge rusher."

Petrino on his offensive line's play...

"Yeah, they didn't play well. They didn't play like we need them to. But, that's probably one of the best front guys and group of linebackers that we're going to face. They're very, very experienced. They're very smart. They did a good job. And we knew going in that it was going to be hard. No. 52 (Steven Daniels), he's just a really good player, and smart and he does some things on his own that really are hard for you - gap's covered, he goes to the next gap. He's not only just a really good player he's very smart. He's a lot faster than he was a year ago. He's trimmed down and he's having a great year for them."

Petrino on the tight end having zero catches on Saturday...

"We needed to use them in protection a lot today. That was the hardest thing. It was frustrating for our tight ends. They like catching the ball. They're good at it. They can run and catch the ball. But, they were utilized a lot in protection to try to help us get the ball out and convert some passes and some third downs."

Sheldon Rankins on the key to holding BC to 79 yards offense...

"We had to get after them, we came up with a great scheme and just knew we had to execute. Obviously last week didn't go the way we wanted it too so rebounding this week was big for us. Back at home, ACC game we knew we had to come out with a win."

Rankins on his fumble recovery...

"The first thing I'm thinking is just don't let it slip through your fingers. Then when I finally scooped it up the first thing I'm thinking is I hope nobody is behind me to tackle me. Then when I got into the open field it was good to see my teammates blocking for me, pushing me in the end zone. We came away with a touchdown."

Rankins on the feelings of the defense...

"We just knew that we had to keep plugging. This was a defensive game and they are the number one defense coming into the game. So we knew it was going to come down to defense. We knew we had to come out, maybe we aren't statistically the best defense you know better than them, but today we had to be the better defense and I think we did that."

Rankins on how bad he wanted the touchdown...

"About as bad as I want a sack really. As soon as I picked it up, I was just praying that no one was behind me to knock it out of my hands, and the rest is kind of history. You know, some natural running back ability came out, so I'm happy about that today."

Rankins on if his fumble recovery make Sportscenter's Top 10...

"First of all, I hope it's on Sportscenter Top 10, but just, I'm probably going to smile every time I look at it. Probably gonna watch it all night, tomorrow, the next day, it's one of those things that I'll never forget."

Rankins on how the defense took control...

"Yeah, just coming off of last week, guys knew we had to step up. Guys looked at the tape last week, you know, we didn't like what we saw. I won't get into the details of what we saw, but know it wasn't what, you know, we want to be as a defense. You know, our identity as Coach Grantham likes to say, so just coming into this week we had great practices, everybody was focused, went out there in warm-ups today, everybody was ready to go, and we came out and executed. We came away with the victory. Like I said earlier to someone else, we may not statistically be a better defense than Boston Collegebut today we knew we had to be a better defense than them."

Rankins on if he got a game ball...

"I didn't. I want somebody to bring it to me, but I doubt that'll happen, but it's neither here nor there."

Rankins on the strip sack play that led to his fumble recovery...

"My job on the play was to contain. So once I did that, I just kind of locked out and found vision on the ball, and as soon as I did that, the ball was on the ground. It just kinda rolled my way, and it's like God told me, 'Go pick it up, and have fun with it,' you know, and I did it."

Rankins on if he ever scored before...

"In college, no. High school, yes."

As a running back or a defensive player?

"Both."

Does Rankins remember the last time there was a defensive score like that at Louisville?

"A fumble return? No."

Rankins is told that he stripped and it was returned back...

"Oh yeah, wow. That's taking it back, ok. Sophomore year. Yeah. Glad to be a part of both of them then."

Rankins is told his official weight is 260 pounds...

"Uh, it's been about four years. It's been about four years since I've been 260 pounds."

So what is his official weight now?

"My official weight? I couldn't tell you. It's probably, it's anywhere between 300 and 305."

Rankins on his views on a "new start to the season" in the last six games...

"Not necessarily. We've always kinda had a "one game" mentality. Every game is a, you know, it's a one game season every week. Next week it'll be something different, you know, maybe we struggle next week, offense has to pick us up. It just comes with the territory of playing football, so we pick it up as one game season and try to execute to the best of our ability each week."

Rankins on if his approach changed due to the sloppy conditions...

"No, not really. I mean, when you think about football it just kind of, it just kind of comes with, you know. Most times it's raining, you know, most teams are gonna try running the ball and trying to not throw the ball, you know, it can get slippery, things like that. So we knew, rain or shine, we were gonna have to stop the run. That's what they hang their hat on. We knew we were gonna have to stop the run, get them behind the sticks and make their quarterbacks beat us, and we were able to do that."

Lamar Jackson on his ankle...

"I just felt a little tedious nag, but I still should have performed better."

Jackson on what he can do better...

"Make the right decision. I was trying, but at the same time I know I could have been better... and those turnovers were not good."

Jackson on the last throw, which was intercepted...

"It should have been to the back shoulder because both my guy and their guy were even, and I just floated it up trying to give my receiver a chance, but I made a bad decision."

Jackson on what it was like in the locker room after the win...

"All of us were really excited because we just lost last week."

Jackson is asked if he's happy because the team won or disappointed in his personal performance...

"I'm happy we won because everyone wants to win, but my performance and how the offense performed was not good. I should have been the leader of the offense so we should have just gone out there and gave the defense a lot of time on the field and we should have been running up the score."

Jackson on the Louisville defense...

"Our defense did do really good today."

Jackson on the BC blitz...

"Well they were sending a lot of blitzes and trying to mix up their defense and it was just throwing our offense off a little."

Jackson on the frustration of the offense against the BC defense...

"We kept getting too excited because we were thinking that we were about to score and we were getting anxious trying to make a big play instead of staying focused on offense."

Jackson on how they can improve with that...

"Practice in the Red Zone and just go harder."

Jackson on Devante Peete and their chemistry...

"Yeah. In practice he had been showing a lot of effort and had been getting open in practice, so I just knew that he was going to do the same thing in the game. The opponents that was guarding him were making it easy."

Jackson on learning the offense...

"I need to work on a little more so I can get some more passes off sooner instead of just running plays."

Jackson on how how comfortable he is playing alongside Reggie Bonnafon...

"Very comfortable. We are close and we have a lot of chemistry together and we talk about it a lot together."

Jackson on how Bonnafon is progressing as a running back...

"He looks pretty good, very good. He can run the ball and he can take hits and he delivers the blow."

Keith Kelsey on the scoop fumble and touchdown...

"I was happier than he was when he scored that touchdown. The athleticism to be that big and to see how the fans got loud. I was happier for him so I had to show him my love when he got there. It was a great play by Trumaine Washington with the strip fumble on the quarterback and then heads up play by Sheldon to just pick it up and run. We just had to block for him and he got there. Well you don't see that too often. Sheldon ran 4.8 when we did 40s at 300 something pounds. You don't see that very often, he's real athletic for his size."

Kelsey on having something to prove this week...

"It was really tough. Coach P got on us and we just went hard. Last week was over and we just had to come forward and work on a new game plan. Everything else is behind us and we wanted to have fun."

Kelsey on the defense winning the game...

"It felt great. To see the fans get into the game and get loud and the whole sideline. We had a lot of fun out there too. It's very easy when you have a lot of fun."

Kelsey on the defense's mentality in practice...

"We got just as good players as anybody else. We just had to keep that focus in the locker room, in the film room, and on the field because we know we have great athletes as well, but we just have to gel together as a defense."

Kelsey on where the defensive intensity comes from...

"It came from within. We've been playing football since we were young. We went out there and had fun in the rain, ran the ball, went out there and just did it."

Kelsey on the defense playing well and what it means to the offense...

"Offense is our brothers, we always got their back and they got our back. Defense's job is to go out there and help the offense and offense helps the defense."

Kelsey on Trevon Young's potential...

"Trevon is athletic too. His get up off the ball, we see it every day in practice and now he's finally getting to show his talents out there on the field and everybody can see him."

Kelsey on going through concussion protocols this week...

"It was a long process. Got to be very cautious on that because concussions are very serious nowadays. You got to take a lot of tests, get up early and just do a lot of tests. Overall it went good, I got to get out there with my brothers."

Kelsey on the defense's effort today...

"It was a pride thing, we know that wasn't us last week. We know we're supposed to go out there and play hard every week. Coach Grantham puts us in the right position every game and it's up to us to go out there and make those plays."

Kelsey on it being an ugly game...

"No, this was the type of game I like to see right here. The whole defense, the team in general, and offense too. Offense made a couple big plays today as well too so we can't overlook that."

Kelsey on the spotlight heading into Friday night's game...

"We're going to feel good, we know we have to play for each other and everyone in that locker room. We don't focus on anything else."

Kelsey on whether the coaches' messages were about effort or fundamentals...

"It was everything - effort, fundamentals and things we've been doing our whole life and been doing since we've been here so there was no excuse for that."

Transcripts provided by Boston College athletics.