UVA coach Bronco Mendenhall talks with reporters after the Cavs’ last-minute 32-25 loss to #5 Louisville.
Opening statement:
“Tough football game today, great football game today. I loved how my team responded from beginning to end. I loved the improvement that they made and are making. I like the unity they are showing. I like the improvement and execution that they demonstrated. I like their mindset and focusing on each other and what we could control and not on our opponent and what anyone thought of them. They gave us a great chance to win. My staff did a nice job of preparing them and the players did a nice job of executing. They made one more play than we did today. It was great coverage. There’s really nothing I could tell our corner to do any better than what he did. Just right at the end there, their guy made the play and we didn’t. But there were all kinds of plays being made from beginning to end to put us in that situation. We played to win, we do every week, regardless of who we are playing and that was demonstrated. I was lucky to be part of that today. However, our team wants to win and I want to win and we’re working toward that. We’ll take whatever we can and everything we can from this game and improve on it and learn and grow and continue to move the program forward. But again I was lucky to be the coach of the University of Virginia today and be part of this football program and this team. The players tried as hard as I’ve seen the team try for as long as I’ve seen them try.”
On what Kurt Benkert showed on the last drive: “Resiliency. We’re not a staff nor am I a leader that labels a player and then gives up on him. We have a very simple mantra – you fall forward. That’s where the learning and growth happens. That’s where the development comes. He’s learning to be resilient, he’s learning to be poised, he’s learning to finish games. There are quarterbacks all over the country, ups and downs are kind of a part of the position and really the ones that can handle that and can keep going on poised, confident, and controlled are the ones that are the magical leaders and the ones that really help football teams. I think he’s one of those and will be one of those.”
On the two-point conversion decision in the fourth quarter to go ahead: “I suggested it to the staff members, Coach Anae and others upstairs. Basically the feedback back from Nick Howell is you’ve got to go with what you feel. And I wanted to win and I didn’t want to go to overtime. I wanted to win now. I wanted the team to know that I believed in them and that we weren’t going to rely on anyone else, that we had an opportunity to show how we’re going to play and how the program is going to be run. And they executed it really well. Coach Anae made a great call. It was executed really well under pressure, under duress against a great team, and it was a really nice drive.”
On defending quarterback Lamar Jackson: “We rushed anywhere from three, four or five. We had about as much defense as we could hold in preparation for a game and it took everything that we had. We had a decent idea of what their protection was. That doesn’t mean if you are unblocked that you’re going to tackle their quarterback, but we were able to affect him and affect him for a long time.”
On what can be taken from this game and how it can help the team move forward for the rest of the season: “Again, we don’t focus much on the opponent, most people do. So if that is the No. 5 team in the country and that is the possible Heisman trophy winner, then I’d say we are making progress in almost every area of our team.”
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