Petrino: First ACC season "a great gauge"

The University of Louisville football team is done with its first season in the Atlantic Coast Conference, and the experience provided a valuable learning lesson for U of L coach Bobby Petrino.

The Cardinals (8-3) won five of their eight conference games and beat pseudo-ACC member, Notre Dame, this past weekend. Each of their three losses were decided in the fourth quarter, and a few of Louisville's wins took three-plus quarters to settle, too.

That's exactly what Petrino expected.

"I thought we had some great battles," he said. "It's a competitive conference. We won some in the fourth quarter and, unfortunately, we lost a couple."

Related:The Week 14 ACC Power Rankings

Related:U of L helps Notre Dame's TV ratings

From those games, Petrino found a strong recruiting compass for U of L. Matchups against Clemson, Florida State, Miami and Notre Dame gave Louisville's coaches a glimpse at what kind of talent they need to sign to keep up with the ACC's Joneses.

The current talent on Louisville's roster obviously stood up well in the first year in the ACC. The Cardinals never looked out of place, even against reigning national champ Florida State or yearly powerhouse Clemson.

Now U of L needs to find players to replace departing seniors like DeVante Parker, Lorenzo Mauldin, Michael Dyer and Terell Floyd.

"It was a good gauge of what we need to do," he said.

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Not worried about UK

For the second day in a row, Petrino insisted that U of L isn't concerned about Kentucky's hunt for bowl eligibility. Saturday's noon game at Papa John's Cardinal Stadium against Louisville is UK's last chance to win its sixth game and become bowl eligible.

On Monday, Petrino said his team was focused on itself. He brushed off another question about it on Tuesday during the ACC coaches teleconference.

"All we're concerned about is ourselves," Petrino said. "We need to go out and have a great week of practice and really focus and do a great job preparing and go out what do what we need to do."

Bonnafon receives honors

Freshman U of L quarterback Reggie Bonnafon was named the ACC's rookie of the week after his performance in Louisville's win over Notre Dame. Bonnafon ran for two touchdowns and threw one to DeVante Parker in helping the Cards win 31-28. It's the second time this season he's won the league's rookie of the week award.

Because Tuesday's press conference was so short, here's the transcript of Petrino's teleconference:

Opening statement: We're coming off a good win at Notre Dame where I was very proud of our players and our assistant coaches. We're very excited about the game coming up this weekend. We host Kentucky at home. Our Senior Day. A group of seniors that have won a lot of games around here, helped develop our program. We're looking forward to the weekend.

On U of L's first year in the ACC: I thought we had some great battles. It's a very competitive conference, kind of what we told our players going in: everybody is going to have good players, everyone is going to be very well‑coached. It's going to come down to the fourth quarter. We won some in the fourth quarter. Unfortunately we dropped a couple, too. It was exciting for us. I think it gives us a great gauge in what we need to do in recruiting.

On UK's bowl eligibility at stake this weekend: Yeah, really all we're concerned about is ourselves. We need to go out, have a great week of practice, go through the preparation that we always do, do a good job of focusing in, worry about going out and performing the way we're capable of performing.

On UK: I think they have a good football team. They have a quarterback that can throw it and run. Good speed outside by their wide receivers. Can go up and make catches. We got a great challenge there. Defensive front. They can rush the passer, make plays. We know it's going to be a challenge for our team. Again, like I say, it's up to us to do a good job in our preparation.