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FEDEX ORANGE BOWL: WAKE FOREST v LOUISVILLE

January 2, 2007

MIAMI, FLORIDA

THE MODERATOR: FedEx Orange Bowl Most Valuable Player Brian Brohm, head coach Bobby Petrino joining us up at the podium.
Coach, pretty happy with your team's performance as your team won the FedEx Orange Bowl.
BOBBY PETRINO: I can't tell you how proud I am of our football team. It was a hard fought game. We've been talking for a long time about finishing, and we're certainly real proud of the fact that we won the game in the fourth quarter. I don't think you can say enough about Wake Forest. They have a great ballclub. They're very well coached. They play football the way it's supposed to be played, with a lot of class, and it was really a privilege to be able to play them in a big game like this. I just really liked the way our team fought and the way we played together as an entire team.
THE MODERATOR: Brian, the third most passing yards in Orange Bowl history. Coming into the game, is that something you could have expected?
BRIAN BROHM: Definitely I could expect that, but we really don't focus on the stats as much as just trying to score points. I knew we were going to be throwing the ball a lot, and we had to throw the ball to win there, and we did a great job of executing the second half.

Q. Coach, can you just comment on the drive when you went down 13-10, you went eight plays, 81 yards quickly with a couple passes. What were you doing different there that maybe you hadn't been doing?
BOBBY PETRINO: I thought the key was the way our offense got together on the sideline and said, "Let's go win this game." Our guys went out and we called it very aggressive. We wanted to start the first play off with a big play. Harry put a great run out, Ryan ran it right on them, Kolby Smith made a great play, and really what it came down to was getting the ball in our guys' hands and letting them find a way to win the game, and they really did that with a big 3rd down call going in. They were dropping nine, not giving us a lot of windows to throw the ball, so we called a run and blocked it real well. Kurt Quaterman I think made a great block and Kolby was able to get the 1st down and we got it in.

Q. We didn't get to hear you out on the field. Are you coming back next year?
BRIAN BROHM: I said it would be really hard to turn down. I haven't been thinking about it before this. I haven't been looking at anything. We'll let everything settle down, I'll sit down with coach and my parents and my family and see what the best thing to do is. Right now coming back trying to win a national title looks very appealing.

Q. Can you both just comment on what this win means for the program, for the city.
BOBBY PETRINO: It's just great for our football team and the fans that came down here. I mean, when you look up there and see all the red, just driving into the stadium and see all the fans and waving at the busses, doing all that is really awesome. I don't think that you can say enough about our fans this year from the very first Kentucky game to the Orange Bowl, how much support they've given us, just taking another step, and we'll take a little time off when we get back so the guys can rest up a little bit. That's the hardest thing about playing these late Bowl games is trying to figure out how much time to give them off before we start them up again. They certainly need a break.

Q. Brian, it was mentioned you had the third most passing yards in Orange Bowl history. No. 1 I think was Tom Brady and No. 2 was Matt Leinart. How does it feel to be running in company such as that?
BRIAN BROHM: That's a great feeling. Those guys are great quarterbacks and have done a great job playing the position, and just to be mentioned with those guys' names is a special thing.

Q. I know it's really early but talk about next year and the foundation that you have built for not just next year but in terms of the future about this continuing momentum.
BOBBY PETRINO: We're going to miss the senior class. It's a special group, the first group we went out and recruited. To watch them grow and mature and go from being guys that played as true freshmen and guys that were already here that were red shirted, we were really fortunate to be able to add a couple junior college players in Nate Harris and Zach Anderson that became leaders for us and came right in and did everything right on and off the field. So we're really sad about seeing them go.
We have to do a good job of recruiting. We've got some holes to fill.
I really liked what I saw as we were preparing for the Bowl game and practicing in the Trager Center from a lot of our red shirts. They've got about eight days of spring practice in already, so that was good for us.

Q. It was I think 10-10, 13-10 there, a couple of fumbles and a missed field goal. Did you feel Wake could kind of guide you to play their style? What did you think at that point?
BRIAN BROHM: I think they did a good job. Wake was kind of controlling the ball there in the first half, keeping it out of our hands, keeping us off the field offensively. Our defense did a great job of stopping them, not letting them get a lot of points. Once we got that touchdown drive to put us up, that really got the momentum going back in our favor.
BOBBY PETRINO: I was concerned about it, but with the turnovers, we had really four turnovers when you count the partially blocked punt and the missed field goal, that's like turning the ball over four times, and then that always can haunt you. But our defense just hung in there and they had a couple chances where they made big plays and we were able to keep them from scoring touchdowns and give our offense a chance to go score and win it in the fourth quarter.

Q. Brian, Coach Petrino mentioned the offense getting together on the sidelines, what was said and who was in charge? What prompted that?
BRIAN BROHM: Basically we just all got together and we got into each other's faces and said, "Let's go win this game and not wait around and wait for somebody else to do something. Let's go make plays and do it right now."
BOBBY PETRINO: I think Jeff did a great job and Coach Summers with the enthusiasm. The guys upstairs said, "Let's get them to go. Get some enthusiasm. Get them going."
We know how to play fast, talked a lot about tempo, our guys were getting in and out of the huddle and playing at the fast tempo that we like to, and I think our conditioning kicked in, too. We practiced extremely hard for the game and conditioned hard when we were at home, so I think that helped us, too.

Q. Coach, you mentioned about next year and a lot of people are going to look at this as a springboard for being a contender for a National Championship, but how important is having Brian back to making that happen? Not to put too much pressure on him?
BOBBY PETRINO: Go ahead, put pressure on him. It's fine with me (laughter).
We'd love to have Brian come back and Michael come back, there's no question about that. But the one thing we did before we started practicing before the Bowl game is I brought Brian in, we talked a little bit, we said, let's just not even discuss it, not talk about it until after the Bowl game. They really just need to find out where their draft status is, and then sit down and see what the best decision is to make. You certainly don't want to take an opportunity away. I'd love for then to come back and see if we can win one more game.

Q. And one follow-up, was the Gatorade bath premature?
BOBBY PETRINO: I thought it was premature. I was a little upset about that, then I found out who did it and let it slide. I did say after he did it, "You're coming back."

Q. What did you think about Brian's performance tonight and just his performance over the year with all the adversity, the injury and then he plays and then the other injury and then this?
BOBBY PETRINO: It shows how tough and competitive Brian is because we started the season out, and he wasn't playing as well as he would like to, simply because he didn't have his legs, wasn't able to condition like everybody else in the month of July because he developed shin splints from the knee injury. It doesn't matter what you say and what the trainers say about the pull and the swim acts and all that, when you're not out there conditioning like you need to for football it's just not the same.
Then we got to Miami, Brian is hot and feeling sharp and right on the money, and I didn't know what the heck he was talking about when he kept going like this in the game. I said, "No, we're not calling option." And then the thumb goes down.
He probably played sooner than maybe a lot of guys would have when he came back for the Cincinnati game, and certainly didn't play as well as he would like in Cincinnati and Syracuse, but the whole idea was, let's get that out of your system and get ready for the West Virginia game.
You just can't say how well he's played the last four games. He's been as sharp as you can be.

Q. Your brothers both played on that Fiesta Bowl team. What's your sense what this Orange Bowl win means for the U of L football program?
BRIAN BROHM: This is huge. It's just another step in the direction of ultimately reaching the goal of a national title. We not only got to a BCS Bowl game but I think it's huge that we came in here and we won it. It's good for all the guys on the team to come back. We all know how to do it now. We've been here and been on the big stage, and it's a great experience for everybody.

Q. Did you include yourself with all the guys?
BRIAN BROHM: Yeah (laughing).

Q. Can you both comment on Harry Douglas.
BOBBY PETRINO: Harry has had a lot of good games for us. He always looks like the fastest guy out on the field. He's done a nice job of catching the ball and tucking it away before he gets hit. The timing between him and Brian I think has been excellent.
You can't say enough about Mario, either. Mario has played the last half of the season with shin splints and a stress fracture, just played on toughness and had to take a lot of time off between the Bowl game. They're a good tandem and they are coming back for sure.

Q. Can you talk about the duo from Tallahassee in that first class that you recruited with William Gay and Kolby Smith, and talk about how they progressed in coming in and playing right away, and what you saw tonight in the fact that Kolby made big plays in the fourth quarter and then Gay gets the interception at the end.
BOBBY PETRINO: It couldn't be written any better than that. The first time I heard I was the head coach at Louisville, those were the first phone calls I made, Kolby and William. I had been recruiting them for the other school I was at. They're very, very good football players, great kids. William has already graduated in three and a half years and Kolby will graduate this spring. To see them come out and do that, they both played as true freshmen. William was our nickel and did start a couple games, and Kolby was our 205-pound fullback. We had a tailback that 248, 250 and 225. So he played that because he was the toughest guy out there and it was great to see them both have the type of success they've had.

Q. Big deal down here has been Nick Saban's link to the University of Alabama job. I wonder if there's been any contact between yourself and the University of Alabama or vice versa?
BOBBY PETRINO: No, we're in Miami, and the rules in Miami are what? I'm just kidding (laughter).
No, there's been absolutely no contact whatsoever.
THE MODERATOR: Congratulations on your victory.

End of FastScripts

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