WKU Football vs. Louisiana Tech Postgame Quotes
Sept. 10, 2015
FINAL SCORE: WKU 41, Louisiana Tech 38
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WKU FB HC Jeff Brohm Postgame LA Tech 9-10-15
WKU FB Brandon Doughty, Marcus Ward Postgame LA Tech 9-10-15
WKU FB D'Andre Ferby, Kylen Towner Postgame LA Tech 9-10-15
Head Coach Jeff Brohm Quotes
On defensive performance...
"Well, I'm proud of our defense. We've worked hard as a staff, as players to try and correct some issues we had last year. Our players have continued to get bigger in the weight room, get stronger, study film and work in practice on different ways to stop different things. Our staff has put a lot of time into it. Like you said, the numbers aren't great, but I thought they played well. [The defense] stopped them in key times. [The defense] held them early on in order to give us a lead, and against that team, it's important to get a lead. They're very exotic on third downs, their blitzes, and if they would've had the lead, it would've maybe been a different story. Very proud of their effort, and while we still have a ways to go, I think our players are better prepared. They're bigger and stronger. They've got a little more confidence, and we just have to keep working to get better."
On using a three-man front on defense...
"Our philosophy sometimes now against the spread is you either need to drop a lot to play the pass or you need to blitz more than they can block. We probably dropped a lot today. I was a little disappointed. I thought we had some sacks in there. We could have got him [Driskel]. We let him escape, which is a little unfortunate. So, we maybe could have done a few different things and changed some looks. I think they got to some of our looks a little bit, but we had a plan going in. We tried to stick to it. It worked well early on. They caught wind of it a little bit and then they made some plays. Overall, I'm happy with the way the defense played."
On Brandon Doughty....
"What I talk about right now is that in two games he has zero interceptions. To us, that's two good defensive football teams. The first game, we weren't in a great rhythm, and he could have tried to do too much and he didn't. He stayed within himself. He's matured as a quarterback. We've talked all offseason about how you [Doughty] may get some good numbers sometimes, or you may not, but what you're going to have to help us do is win the game regardless of what it is. By him not turning it over, that's why we won the game again. I know it's very cliché, but when you have no turnovers, interceptions and you have the ability to score or a field goal or a punt with our team, we need every opportunity to win. I think our guys know that. Every one of our games is proven to go down to the wire. That's what makes it fun to watch and fun to play in. Tremendous job of making good decisions, getting the ball out of his hand, driving it up the field at times as well and making big throws. It wasn't like it was dink-and-donk. He made some big throws as well, but definitely took care of the ball and made good decisions.
On second-half performance...
"Well that's what we've improved upon and that's what we talk about a lot amongst ourselves. We were a bad second-half team last year. The stats prove it. The results prove it. We wanted to work hard on having a better plan the second half as a staff. Our players are understanding that we've got to play our tail off in the second half even harder. Normally in the second half, the team that plays the hardest and believes in themselves the most normally is going to come out on top. I think our guys have really improved on that. Really, to win two games where we came out the second half and played pretty good, that's really good to see from our team."
Brandon Doughty and Marcus Ward
On the significance of the game...
Doughty: "Whenever you can beat a team from the West (Division) who won it last year, it's definitely important. We can't make it more than what it is. It's a huge win for us and we can enjoy tonight, but we have to focus on Indiana tomorrow. I thought we played well. I thought the offense came out and played with a lot of energy. I thought we got the ball rolling early and it really carried over. (Coach Brohm) called a really good game plan. I just thank God every day. I give him all the credit...and the offensive line. Those guys are great."
On if last year's 59-10 loss carried any extra emotion...
Doughty: "This one meant a little bit more to me because I played pretty bad in the last game. It really did. It held a little bit - I'd be lying if I said it didn't hold a little be more significance to me. We kind of thought about it, but we had to put the game behind us from last year and just execute. I think we did that tonight."
On freshman RB D'Andre Ferby...
Doughty: "I think he's a heck of a player. He's more than capable and he's ready to step in if we need him. I'm praying for Leon and hopefully everything is OK. If he's out, we're going to have to lean on Ferby and Anthony Davis. Hopefully we get (Anthony Wales) back. Yea, we lost our 1,500-yard rusher, but there shouldn't be a hiccup. There shouldn't be a drop off at all because those guys are capable."
On the defense's big play...
Ward: "It helps when you get turnovers. I think we won the turnover battle, and that usually tells the tale of the game. We won that battle and we played exceptional on special teams. That's a huge boost. We gave up some things and we'll go back to the film and fix those things. There were too many big plays. But, as far as the whole game, I thought we played exceptional. We held our ground in the end and just did exactly what Coach (Brohm) tells is, to be a second half team."
LA Tech head coach Skip Holtz
Opening Statement:
"It was a game that lived up to its billing. For a game that was on national television it was an explosive football game. Unfortunately we came up on the losing side but I'm proud of our football team. They never gave up when it had adversity and they continued to compete. Guys like Trent Taylor, Paul Turner, Kenneth Dixon and Jeff Driskel, I just can't say enough for how those skill guys that competed and gave give us a chance to get back into the game. It wasn't one of our better defensive performances but I give WKU credit with that. Their quarterback threw great balls down the field. I thought they were balls where it was half a step away from main coverage. Their receivers made plays and it was a great football game. We played a really good football team. I give them a lot credit. Jeff did a great job preparing and they were focused and they played a great game."
On missed opportunities:
"I'm so proud of this team in the way that they just continued to compete. It's easy to say `we dropped the ball and didn't make it and just hang our head and there's two minutes to go and the game is over'. Instead we went back to the sidelines and said, `let's get a stop and get it back in it'. Even when we scored I didn't think we executed with our onside kicks as far giving our players a chance to come up with something. We have some guys that will compete on this football team. As a head football coach, we have to get some things cleaned up. Our kickoff team was awful. This is two weeks in a row that we gave up a touchdown. We put a bunch of starters on our football team but for some reason they took them off for the third kickoff and they went down and scored. Those are some type of things that I have to get straighten out. That's where I feel really bad as a coach. We have an obligation to do what we can to help these players and there was few things that we could've done better as a staff."
On the decision to go for the first onside kick:
"We weren't having a lot of success on getting three-and-outs. If I knew that we were going to kick it like, I would've kicked it deep and use our three timeouts."Feelings on where your team is at after this game:"I feel that we have some competitors. I feel some of our young guys that have to grow up. As I said yesterday, I think how we handle this game is going to be more important than the outcome itself. It's certainly not the end of the season since we're only two games into it. What we have to do is take the mistakes and learn from them and become a better football team because of it. It's not going to get any easier as we head to Kansas State next week."
