Petrino, Gardner talk U of L's Murray State win

It's fair to say Bobby Petrino was in a good mood after Louisville's 66-21 win over Murray State on Saturday night. The Cardinals looked confident and ready after a short week of preparation for the Racers.

Petrino had a short press conference after the game -- about six minutes -- so I'll combine his comments with starting quarterback Will Gardner's below.

A few key pullouts from Petrino's comments:

* Michael Dyer told the coach he'll be ready to go for the Virginia game next Saturday.

* The staff debated this week whether to redshirt QB Reggie Bonnafon before deciding against it.

* Will Gardner was "much more confident" on Saturday.

Here are the full transcripts:

PETRINO

Opening statement: The first thing I told the team was that we took care of our business. We did what we were supposed to do. It was a really short week. We came out and practiced hard on Wednesday and I was impressed with our effort and how hard we went. Thursday we cut it down a little bit. We wanted to make sure we got to the game fresh. We showed maturity as a team. These games are sometimes hard to play. Especially coming off of a game like Miami where we had so much time to prepare and it was so intense.

But we showed maturity and we did a nice job preparing for it and they came out and executed well. We got to play a lot of guys. I think that was the best thing about the night is that we wanted to make sure we played a lot of players. Guys that helped us win the Miami game (and) that didn't get to play in the Miami game were able to play tonight so I was happy about that.

On L.J. Scott: One of the things we wanted to make sure we did was get L.J. in the game when the game still meant something. Our plan was to get him in that third series. It was really good to see him run hard, run fast. We've seen that all spring and in practice. We just didn't really play him that much against Miami.

That was really us just having a comfort zone with Dom (Dominique Brown) carrying the ball and his experience in a big game like that. We're certainly going to need him. I think (Brandon) Radcliff did a good job too. So I was happy with the way our running backs ran the ball."

On Will Gardner: He seemed much more confident out there. He was relaxed and he really understood what we were asking him to do. You could see him going through his progressions. That's something we've been working hard with him on since the Miami game is really seeing the safeties and going through your progressions and reads. I thought he did a good job of that.

On Reggie Bonnafon: It was good to get him in. That was kind of a decision that we talked about all week long. Do we go ahead and play Reggie or do we try to hold on to a redshirt? We made the decision that we're going to need him because it's a long season so let's stick him in the first series of the second quarter.

It was good to see the way he executed and threw the ball well. He ran the ball real well and had a lot of confidence. That's the thing I liked so much was the confidence. Then you could see the players rally around him.

On playing two quarterbacks: We've done that before and it worked out pretty good that time. I don't know. We have to evaluate the video and see and continue to work hard in practice. He earned the reps in the game by how hard and how well he's practiced.

On why Bonnafon's succeeded as a true freshman: Since the first day he came here I have been impressed with his maturity, his knowledge of the game, his willingness to study, and work hard. He is very talented, he still needs to pick up the timing, get the ball out of his hands a little bit quicker. He has the arm strength to be able to complete late passes.

Anticipating throwing the ball before guys are open is what we're trying to get him to do a better job of. He opens up our offense a little bit with the ability to move around and run the ball. That was good to see how well he executed that phase of the offense.

On the starting defense: They play extremely fast, they really understand what the game plan is. We are fast but they play fast, because they know what they are doing and they don't hesitate. They communicated really well out there. That what I was really watching to see how the communication was with this high speed no huddle offense.

I thought they did a good job of communicating and when the new defense came in you saw just the opposite. Their communication wasn't what they needed to play that fast. I have been really happy our defense.

On the first team's two-minute drill at the end of the first half: I wish we would have got the ball in the end zone. That is what we wanted to do, I think we made a couple mistakes in understanding what they were doing defensively and what side of the field we should have focused on. That kept us to a field goal instead of a touchdown.

The first one in there that Gerald could have made a great catch on play but they hit him well and the ball came out. It wasn't bad movement of the ball and getting a field goal. It was a great experience.

On having a first real road game at Virginia: Yeah, it's going to be a real challenge for us. Virginia is playing well, I watched their defense against UCLA some this week, I took some time and watched that. They are very good on defense. They are long and fast and they basically shut UCLA's offense down.

We have to do a great job with our preparation. We go on the road for the first time and we need to be able to handle that and be real businesslike. We need to do a good job of playing hard. Understanding that it is probably going to be a fourth quarter game.

On if Michael Dyer will play next week: I'm hoping so. He just told me in the locker room, 'I'll be ready next week, Coach.' I hope he's ready.

GARDNER

On differences between first and second games: I feel like I had a lot more confidence. Big runs, we got big runs makes the quarterback's job easier. That was fun, too, seeing guys break out.

On complacency vs. Murray State: That's the biggest thing -- knowing your assignment and executing your assignment. No matter who you're playing, you have to play to your ability and not play down to your opponent's ability. We did a great job with that tonight.

On reserves playing a lot: Four quarterbacks got in and all our running backs. Lots of receivers, lots of offensive linemen, that was a big thing getting guys experience.

On returning to game for two-minute drill after sitting out most of second quarter: You have to learn to stay focused, even when you're not in there ... It's tough, but you have to do what you have to do. When that time comes, you go in there and don't miss a beat. We have to score that last drive.

On working through fumbles from last week: We would work during individual periods. When we'd take drops, Coach would come in and try to hit the ball out of our hands and work on protecting the ball while we're still in the pocket. I had to grow from that and just get better at it so tonight I wouldn't turn the ball over.