Louisville has a tough task this weekend at Oregon State. I caught up with quarterback Adam Froman to ask him about preparing for that game and other pressing topics for the Cardinals (1-1).

On the Louisville offense so far: "The second half of the Kentucky game was much more consistent. That's the biggest thing with our offense, is just more consistency. That second quarter against Eastern Kentucky, we scored 21 points, and that's tough to do against any team. So that's what we're capable of. In the second half, we had a great drive but had an interception and kind of went downhill from there. We've seen a lot of good things; we've just got to be consistent."

On receiver injuries: "Whenever you've got guys you've worked with since the spring, summer and fall -- that starting group you're used to working with, you know everything about each other -- and you've got to change that up, it's going to effect the offense. But that's part of football. You know a guy or two will go down on either side. I think we've adjusted pretty well. We've had some guys step up, and we're going to continue to do that throughout the season."

On lack of big passing plays so far: "It depends a lot on what the defense gives us and what defense they're playing. But we've got to make them happen, too. We haven't made enough big plays. When they're there, we've got to hit them. When they're there, we've got to catch them. As a whole offense, we have to get all 11 guys on the same page. We had a long touchdown to [Doug] Beaumont, and we've had like seven or eight passes over 16 yards. That's pretty good, but we've got to keep making those plays."

On whether defenses are stacking the box to stop the run: "I wouldn't say they're stacking the box. We have a great running game with Bilal [Powell] and Vic [Anderson], and as a quarterback, I'm a threat to run, too. I think teams are very conscious of it. I don't think they're loading the box yet, but they're very conscious of it."

On dealing with road environment at Oregon State: "I think we're going to get the speakers out [Thursday] and start blaring crowd noise in. We're going to have to get used to it. We're going to have to use silent counts, hard counts. It's a distraction if you let it be a distraction. I think our team is mentally strong enough that we can go out there and kind of put that out of our minds. But for some of the young guys, it's going to be kind of a wake-up call."

On whether young players will be nervous: "It'll probably happen. But the freshmen we've got playing for us have done a great job so far. They came out in that first game and we had a packed stadium with almost 60,000 people, and they did a great job of not coming out with a deer-in-the-headlights look. They came out and played and executed their assignments. Freshman mistakes are going to happen. We have to try to limit them, and have the older guys calm them down and carry the weight a little bit. I'm sure there are going to be a couple guys who are like, 'This is big-time football. I'm not sure I can do this.' But once you get that first hit out of the way or the first catch, first touch, whatever it is, they'll be good to go."

On the need to score points to keep up with Oregon State: "Our defense has played pretty great so far. After that first quarter in the Kentucky game, I think they've only given up 10 points. That helps an offense immensely. But Oregon State has got some pretty explosive players. And when you have an offense like that, they're going to score points. Things are going to happen. As an offense, we have to be able to bounce back. If they score a touchdown, we've got to come right back. Having confidence going in there that we can do that is going to be huge for us. We've got receivers that have been really working on their confidence a lot. Those first two games hurt them -- we've had nine dropped balls or whatever it was -- but I think they've really been working this week. Their chins are up and they're ready to go."

On going back to the West Coast (he's from Santa Rosa, Calif.): "I can't wait. I can't wait to get that fresh air. I may have my parents bring me some In-N-Out."