Why U of L player held 'Louisville is soft sign' at Music City Bowl: 'That motivated us'

Tyler Horka | Mississippi Clarion Ledger

Show Caption Hide Caption Devante Peete explains what motivated Louisville in the Music City Bowl Louisville's Devante Peete says Mississippi State criticized the team at the Music City Bowl luncheon.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – In the final minutes of Louisville's 38-28 win over Mississippi State in the Music City Bowl, Louisville players held up a white board to an overhead ESPN broadcast camera. It had an alleged quote written on it.

"'Louisville is soft.' – Moorhead"

Louisville players believe they heard Moorhead call the team soft during a luncheon Sunday, the day before the game. The Clarion Ledger asked Moorhead in his postgame press conference if he had a comment about the sign.

"Louisville is soft?" Moorhead said with a perplexed expression. "I don't (have comment) because I never said it."

Moorhead wasn't the only one baffled. The ESPN broadcast crew seemed surprised by the signage as play-by-play announcer Tom Hart said, "Oh, a quote board ..."

Louisville quarterback Micale Cunningham is one of the players who held up the sign. He was the game's MVP after throwing for 279 yards and two touchdowns while adding 81 yards on the ground.

Did Joe Moorhead actually say Louisville is soft? pic.twitter.com/yAqsJ1pRZF — Yahoo Sports College Football (@YahooSportsCFB) December 31, 2019

Cunningham was not questioned about the sign in his postgame press conference, but senior wide receiver Devante Peete was asked about it. He said Moorhead gave Louisville bulletin-board material at the luncheon, which was held in a ballroom inside the convention center of the team hotel.

"At the event, the luncheon, I don't know if the coach said it by mistake, but he ended up saying that 'Those guys are like 7-6,'" Peete said. "And I think one more player said we're too slow or too small. That was our biggest motivation. That motivated us. That kind of hit our team hard and we felt some type of way. That brought some energy to the game."

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Louisville entered the game with a record of 7-5. A loss would have dropped the Cardinals to 7-6, but the Cardinals rolled past Mississippi State and improved to 8-5 with their 38-28 victory over the Bulldogs. Mississippi State had a chance to be 7-6 with a win but dropped to 6-7 with the loss.

Contact Tyler Horka at thorka@gannett.com. Follow @tbhorka on Twitter. To read more of Tyler's work, subscribe to the Clarion Ledger today!