Postgame Quotes - Louisville Game
Story Links
Sept. 13, 2014
Recap | Box Score | Notes | Photo Gallery 
ÂÂVirginia vs. Louisville
Sept. 13, 2014
Head Coach Mike London Quotes
Opening statement:
“I’m very happy for this locker room. It’s been a long time coming. I believe this team is a team that has great resilience and never quits. If you can have those components in a football team, you can go far.”
On the emotions after the win:
“I wanted it so bad, but I wanted it more for the players. To see a group of guys who have said ‘Coach, we are unified and committed to this program’ and see them execute and come out with a victory, I’m so happy for them.”
On the running game at the end of the game:
“In this situation, we just kept hammering away. Maybe we weren’t successful every time, but when it came down to making the clock run at the end, whether it was Kevin Parks or Taquan Mizzell, it was something we relied on to get the win.”
On Greyson Lambert:
“Again, he’s a captain of our team. He prepares hard and he hurts when we’re not successful. Today, there were things he did from a leadership standpoint that we saw in the spring and summer. He and Matt Johns are best friends and they don’t care who gets the credit. The University of Virginia wins today.”
On the fumbled punt return that led to the game-winning score:
“It’s about time it happens to somebody else [laughs]. I’ve seen it happen to us a couple of times. It’s great to have something happen in our favor and know that we deserve some of those breaks, too.”
On the defense’s performance:
“It’s no secret that our secondary is full of guys that have played in a lot of college football games. I believe that the amount of pressure that Eli [Harold] and Max [Valles] puts on people affects the way the quarterback throws the ball. When you apply pressure like that and you have guys that can cover, you have a chance to be a really good defense.”
Virginia Player Quotes
Junior Kicker Ian Frye
On the game winning kick:
“Amazing. It was surreal on the last kick. I thought to myself, this is what every kicker wants. I wasn’t nervous whatsoever like I was on the first kick.”
On the team:
“We are a completely different unit this year. Everyone works together and we keep each other up and excited for the next down.”
On the first ACC win:
“It’s unbelievable. It has been so long since out last win, and doing it here in front of our home crowd is great.”
Senior Linebacker Henry Coley
On the defensive adjustments:
“He didn’t make any adjustments, we just calmed down our emotions as a unit. They watch film the same way we do, so they knew some of our tendencies, just like we knew about theirs. We just played our game.”
On the playing with confidence:
“We play we a lot of confidence. You have to when you have a ranked opponent coming in to our stadium. We still have a chip on our shoulder because we feel like we should have wont he first game of the season [vs. UCLA].”
Sophomore Quarterback Greyson Lambert
On the opening drive of the second half:
“We were preaching in the locker room that we needed the opening drive to come out and extend the lead. We were really able to carry some momentum off that drive.”
On the win:
“We need every win. We prepared super hard this week. To be able to see all three phases of our game come together and contribute to the team victory is awesome.”
On his emotions:
“I was about to cry. It is amazing when we work so hard and the way we came together today. We stayed unified and made huge plays today. Football is an emotional game. I have never prayed so much in a football game before.”
Sophomore Safety Kelvin Rainey
On playing with a ranked team like Louisville:
“It’s not surprising that we can play at this level against a team like that. So, we went in to the game really confident.”
On the Virginia sideline’s mindset when Louisville went ahead in the fourth quarter:
“Our mindset was positive energy. We talked about it all week. We went back and forth against UCLA, but we decided that no matter what, our energy was going to stay high, and that’s what happened.”
On being surprised that James Quick fumbled the punt:
“I was surprised, but I just jumped on the ball. His mistake was a great turnaround for us.”
On recovering the fumble:
“I was a gunner on the punt team. The guy that was covering me was off, and I had been beating him most of the game. He just let me go and the ball was there for the taking. It popped up at a weird angle, and I just reached out with one hand and got on it.”
On UVa getting favorable bounces in the past:
“We definitely haven’t been getting those bounces in the past.”
On his teammates congratulating him back on the sideline:
“There was a lot of helmet smacking.”
Senior Wide Receiver Miles Gooch:
On how the win felt:
“It feels amazing. The team went crazy. It feels great to get this win with my brothers.”
On Greyson Lambert’s performance:
“I think it was a big step for Greyson and our team, and offense as a whole. Just as far as being able to go out there and make plays for each other was a big step for all of us.”
On his touchdown catch:
“I didn’t know that the play was going to go like that. Greyson just threw it up and trusted me. I tried my best to make a play for my boys.”
On the Louisville fumble on the punt:
“I can’t say we were due for a break, but that is just how football goes. It was great. We got the ball back, moved the ball a little bit, and [Ian] Frye made an amazing kick.”
Senior Running Back Kevin Parks:
On how big the win is:
“It is big, man. Especially coming off a season like last year. We will take a win whatever way we can. It was an ugly win, but we took it. We have to keep pushing from here and keep that momentum going.”
On being able to grind out the win and get a clutch first down:
“It was critical. We knew if we get a first down that we could run the clock down. We were being physical. It takes all four quarters. Three quarters isn’t the game. We had to keep pushing to the end.”
On Ian Frye:
“He was huge. He made some huge kicks. All facets of the game were working together.”
On his run to win the game:
“The type of player I am, I feed off of that. I told my running back coach [Larry Lewis] that I was going to do everything to get that first down for the team. You saw a little bit of emotion after because I’ve been waiting for that moment.”
On if he saw the students getting ready to rush the field:
“I didn’t even see it. I was just so happy with the win.”
Sophomore Linebacker Max Valles:
On forcing the punt:
“Our biggest thing is team unity. It was a tough play, but we bend but don’t break. So, it was great that we got back up and got a stop. Ian Frye did a great job. It was a great team win.”
On seeing the punt fumble:
“I didn’t even know what was happening because I was on my stomach and stretched out. But, I heard the crowd and I heard the announcer so I jumped out of my stretch and celebrated with the guys.”
On a bounce going Virginia’s way:
“Yeah that was great. Just getting the ball back and the offense doing what they did was just great.”
Louisville Head Coach Bobby Petrino
Opening remarks:
“That is a tough loss for us. We didn’t play well enough to win the game. That is the bottom line. We can’t take anything away from Virginia. They had a good plan and they played hard and they executed. I thought our defense played hard and had some good stops. Offensively, besides the opening drive, we didn’t do anything for two quarters and then finally, in the fourth quarter, we got on a roll and were able to take the lead. It looked like we had a chance to win the game and then we made another mistake. I told the team the mistake we made in the kicking game did not cost us the game. He is the same guy that made the great return that gave us momentum. When you lose a game like this, we will watch the video and there will be 15 plays individually that, if we would have made that play we had a chance to win the game. We just didn’t make enough plays to win the game.”
On specific issues with the offense:
“I think it really hurt us on third down conversions. We weren’t able to make the throws, we had some guys open, and then we dropped one. It was kind of an accumulation of the entire team’s protection, throws, catches. Just a poor job by me getting them ready to play.”
On Virginia’s defense batting down passes:
“They (Virginia) were doing a good job. They are a good defensive front. They were doing a good job when they couldn’t get there on the rush getting their hands up in the air. We’ve got to find the passing lane and we’ve got to finish our blocks with our offensive linemen so that when they leave their feet we drive it and don’t allow them to keep their hands up. So there are a number of things responsible for it, but there were certainly way too many batted balls and one of them resulted in an interception.”
On his team’s frustration:
“Yeah, there was frustration out there. That’s where you need leadership. That’s where you have to make plays. You get rid of the frustration by making plays and moving the ball. As a group on offense we need to do a better job of keeping our poise.”
Louisville Player Quotes
Senior Running Back Dominique Brown
On the loss:
“We had a great game plan, but we just weren’t executing. We were killing ourselves with mistakes and we just kept backing the offense up.”
On Virginia’s pass rush:
“They did what we thought they were going to do. They brought a good rush and we picked up on that, but we just didn’t execute collectively as an offense.”
On the QB switch:
“We are behind who ever is playing 110 percent, whether its Will or Reggie. Will came back out and put together a drive; we had some special teams help as well to get the momentum back. We started out flat and didn’t do much as an offense in the second and third quarters.”
On the turnovers:
“It was a lack of concentration by our offense. We can’t take anything away from [UVa], they were out there ballhawking, but we pretty much shot ourselves in the foot.”
Junior Linebacker James Burgess
On the defensive effort:
“We played really well as a defense, but there is always room for improvement. We could have done a lot better in a lot of aspects. Overall we flew to the ball, but we just came up short.”
On the pressure to make a play:
“We feel pressure every time we go out on the field to make a play. We try to hold the team to zero points every time. We always have the feeling that we need to make a stop every play, and we always have the urge to make a play every possession.”
On the postgame locker room atmosphere:
“There was a lot of motivation. Everyone is just trying to pick each other up and get ready for the next game.”
Senior Defensive End Lorenzo Mauldin:
On the defensive effort:
“Everyone on the sideline kept telling us that we needed to make a play and get the ball back for our offense. We had a couple mistakes but we need to build off of those mistakes. We just kept trying to keep each other motivated during the game.”
On bouncing back from the loss:
“When we recap on the losses that I have had at this school, we just talk about how we need to build off of them. If we carry today over to next week, we’re not going to be happy.”
On the postgame locker room atmosphere:
“There were a couple tears but overall we just know we have to build on our losses and mistakes. We start working again on Monday so we have to keep grinding.”
On the defensive spark:
“On the sideline people were telling me that I had been quiet and that I needed to step up. It started a little fire in me because the defense is looking up to me to make plays. When third down came and we got the sack, it felt good coming back to the sideline knowing I gave my defense a chance.”