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LSU vs. Western Kentucky
October 24, 2015
WKU QUOTES
Head Coach Jeff Brohm
Opening statement ...
"I'm definitely proud of our football team. I think we came here ready to play. We battled, and we gave them a football game. Of course, you want to win and it would have been great to do that, but that's an outstanding football team. They are 7-0 for a reason, 4-0 in the SEC for a reason. They have good talent. I thought our guys not only battled and played well at times but to do it in these types of conditions on offense is tough. You know, I'm a former quarterback. It's tough to throw in these types of conditions. For our quarterback to execute at that level, our receivers—yeah, we had some dropped ball, but—we caught some as well. Our offensive line did a great job as well against a heck of a defense. I was proud of our effort. I think we will learn a lot from it. We cherish the opportunities to play tough competition. That's our goal each and every year, and that's how you get better. I think our guys will learn a lot from this game, and hopefully, it will make us better."
On the change of the game plan due to the weather ...
"It wasn't ideal. We are a throwing team. When it's raining cats and dogs, it's a little tougher than a light sprinkle. We tried to be aggressive. We couldn't take as many up-the-field shots as we normally do. It was just tough to hold onto the ball. Some things were slipping away. We had to be a little smarter and try to get some completions and get into a rhythm—pick and choose throwing up the field. It makes it tougher, but it is what it is. They had to play in the conditions as well. We fought our way through it for the most part."
On the third quarter ...
"I thought that if you took away and a few big plays, they came out with a score, and we came out with a score. Then, we fumbled a kickoff or something like that. A few things happened—they had some big plays that hurt us. Other than those, we did a pretty good job stopping them. Because they run the ball so well, they can get some play action off of it, and they did. It hurt us, but their quarterback has improved. He did a good job throwing the ball up the field, seeing things, running the offense. They beat us."
On the message he gave his team at the half...
"Well, we were going to come and compete and battle and do whatever we could to find a way to play intense football the entire game. You never know what can happen. I thought for the most part, we did that. We felt good coming into halftime, the game was close. We were able to move the ball at times. We were able to stop them at times. Unfortunately, they kind of worn us down in the second half and made more plays."
WKU OFFENSIVE PLAYER QUOTES
On playing in the rainy conditions ...
"It is tough. We really didn't practice it all week. It was raining, but that's Mother Nature. It was God's way of saying, ‘Here's some adversity.' I think (the rain) was in their advantage, because they can run the ball and slow it down. I was just trying to throw it and sling it around. But it was frustrating early. It didn't help that it was a mud field. People were slipping on their routes. On the interception, (Nicholas) Norris slipped on his route. I tried to throw it before that, but stuff happens. Overall I was proud of our guys. I thought we competed. I thought we moved the ball when we wanted to. I hate to make this excuse, but if the rain wasn't there I think we would've have been better on offense for sure."
On facing LSU's defense ...
"Across the board, they're SEC guys. They're defensive line was an athletic, long bunch. They gave us a little bit of trouble. We had to try to get the ball out of my hands so I wasn't sitting back there getting smoked by those guys. Kudos to them. I thought our offensive like played well throughout the game especially in those conditions. We thought we could try nickel and dime them down the field, and take our shots when we did. Coach (Jeff Brohm) made a heck of a call on the Antwane (Grant) touchdown. We're pissed off tonight, but our goals are still there moving forward. It should hurt tonight, but tomorrow it should be Old Dominion. We just have to move on."
On the offense's struggle in the third quarter...
"We had miscommunications. We had adversity, but I think that's good for us. We need that. It helps us keep together as an offense. When things like that happen, we just try to move forward, look forward to the next play and keep our foot on the gas."
On the team's mindset in the huddle during the rain...
"We just tried to stay focused and keep sticking to the game plan. It was tough conditions out there. We didn't plan for any rain all week. After seeing (the rain) we thought, ‘Now we really have to really lock in and focus.' You have to snap the ball better, catch it. We had to run our routes better, and try to catch the ball and look it in. Those conditions obviously adjusted what we wanted to do as an offense, but we did some good things out there. We have to get better though."
WKU DEFENSIVE PLAYER QUOTES
On the defense's performance ...
"We came out in the first half and did a great job really stopping the run. In the second half we didn't do so well. (LSU) made big plays on us. We were in the right spot. We just didn't execute the plays."
On the attitude of the defense during LSU's big plays...
"It was very frustrating. On third down (LSU) threw it up to their receivers and the receivers just made plays. It was very frustrating because you really want to get off the field on third down. We just have to work harder next game."
On the mindset after the defense's penalties...
"We just knew we had to pick it up. On the first call we really didn't think it was a pass interference. We just have to pick it up. We knew we had to still play the rest of the game."
On facing Leonard Fournette...
"(Fournette) is just another back. He's a great back, but he's a man. Everyone can get tackled. There is nothing exciting about that."
LSU HEAD COACH LES MILES
Opening Statement...
"The opponent proved to be a quality opponent. Congratulations to Coach Brohm and the Western Kentucky team... I think they are very quality. They made us earn a victory tonight. It's interesting when the opponent keeps playing and throwing the football and we keep answering. I thought we improved in several spots. I think early on the defense played very well. We made some mistakes with coverage in the backfield that really cost us big plays. I thought special teams were pretty good minus the onside kick. We punted the ball with coverage. We kicked the ball well. We kicked it off and hit land marks. Our special teams have improved. I think this a team that needs an open date to relax and get healthy. We look forward to playing and getting back in our conference."
On the secondary's performance tonight without Tre'Davious White...
"He (Tre'Davious White) got nicked in a freak accident that involved our players. We expect him to be back. He probably could have played tonight. We could have pushed him, but we didn't really need to. Now we have two weeks before we play. It will work out well. I think we missed him. The good news is that anytime you put a young guy in and he makes some young guy mistakes, you have the opportunity to improve him and coach him. So what we did, with victory, we built some depth. I think we will benefit as we go forward."
On LSU's passing success with the weather conditions tonight...
"Early on the weather conditions were terrible. If it had stayed that way, no one would have had any success in the air. It turned out to be a pretty nice night to me. I kind of enjoyed it myself. I don't think that affected our throwing at all late in the game."
On Brandon Harris' performance tonight...
"One thing about him (Brandon Harris), if he goes to scrambling, you better cover your guy. He maybe open and it doesn't make any difference where in the stadium he is. He just has a strong arm. He can find an open receiver a long way away."
