DALLAS - Twelve Conference USA teams are in action in Week Nine, all of which are conference matchups, and all of which are on Saturday. Rice, coming off a huge win at UAB looks to stay in the West Division race when they kick off the weekend by hosting North Texas at 1 p.m. CT on ESPN3. WKU looks to win its third straight when it hosts Charlotte at 3 p.m. CT on ESPN+ in a battle of a couple teams tied atop the East Division at 2-1 in C-USA play. Saturday ends with a bang as 6-1 UTEP travels to Florida Atlantic, who is also tied atop the East Division, at 5 p.m. CT on ESPN+. UAB and No. 23 UTSA are both on byes this week.
Every week head coaches take to the podium to answer questions from the league's media members - let's see what they're saying this week:
CHARLOTTE
Head Coach Will Healy’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement
“The sun came out on Friday morning, in case you were wondering, I think it was a tough second half for us on Thursday. I take full responsibility for that. It was a tough one to get over. We haven’t been beaten like that in a while, probably since Western Kentucky beat us like this a year ago. You had a lot of really good opportunities in front of you and when you don’t take advantage of them it’s frustrating as a coach to not get our guys prepared to take advantage of that moment – then you move forward, it took me really until Saturday morning. It was you know, be the example of positivity, how do we get this football team better, how do we find ways to get this football team to gel and how do we get this football team to work through some of this adversity. I could feel a little bit of a hangover on Saturday with the guys. Yesterday and today -- Today, they were fantastic, unbelievable. I think that sometimes that I’ve gotten so caught up in the process of things and it’s probably been too serious and I’ve wanted them to get back to encouraging one another and have fun playing football because we’re blessed to do what we do. [And] We’re really blessed to learn the lessons that we get to learn from this game. Challenged them, they’ve responded. We’ve got tremendous leadership and now on to an incredible task.
“I can’t say enough good things about Tyson Hilton and the program that he’s built at Western Kentucky. Obviously being at Austin Peay, very familiar with the history and they’ve had some great coaches go through there. Tyson’s taken it over and taken it to the next level - done a phenomenal job. He’s changed offensive coordinators, changed their identity offensively. They’re breaking every national statistical record known to man. They’ve got a lot of weapons. They’ve taken an offensive coordinator from Houston Baptist that was tearing up everybody at the FBS level playing teams from Houston Baptist. He brought over his quarterback and a couple wideouts. They’ve taken a transfer back and they did some more transfers wideouts. They’ve had a pretty solid offensive line for a while. I think defensively, they’ve done great job against us the last two years. I know he’s lost his defensive coordinator to South Carolina, but I think they’ve picked up right where they’ve left off. Really solid in all three phases. They’ve played some very good football teams – Army and Indiana. I think they played UTSA as tough as anybody played them. [We] had an opportunity to play there and it’s a tough place to play. Great talent, very well coached, got a ton of respect for them. I am really excited to see how our football team responds and how well we can play Saturday.
On responding after a second half shutout:
“How does it look? I think it’s the energy you bring into this building. It’s your work ethic at practice, it’s the chip on your shoulder, it’s your motivation to do a little bit more than what you’ve done to get a little bit different result and it’s continuing to harp on the attention to detail on the accountability things that can get you beat in games like that. To me, you hope you’re not at a point right now where you have to hit the reset button and we’re obviously not. When you look at things, you’re 4-3 and 2-1 in the conference. You still have a lot of goals and it’s awesome that we’re at a point in time in this program where there’s frustration by being at this point. These guys have created that. You’re a victim and a product of your own expectations that you have created. I know it’s not always been the expectation here. I think it’s keeping those things in perspective. You know we lost a football game and making sure that football game doesn’t get you beat twice. These guys have done an awesome job at that. I worried about it on Saturday. I’m not worried about it anymore by seeing how they’ve worked.
On replicating game speed in practice:
“I think that you can practice the speed, but sometimes the speed of your look team, your futures team it’s not executed as well as what you’ll see on Saturday. So, it’s difficult and I think that everybody doing their job to the best of their ability during the week of preparation is really important. I’ve seen full speed game reps show up on the special teams side in the looks these guys are getting, it’s been more difficult for them in practice and they’ve failed at it in practice but in the games have achieved success. So, they’re buying into that and I think that we’ve made unbelievable strides just from a culture and program perspective of getting great looks from our futures teams. But it’s always a little bit different. It goes fast in the game, these guys play really fast and execute really well. It’s this quarterback – he’s been in this system awhile. So he knows it, he knows how to execute it. He’s executed it really well. It’s a lot like Chris [Reynolds]. He’s comfortable with what we’re doing offensively. And the players are little bit different. Obviously, they’re starting guys and it’s us going up against our futures team. It’s a little bit different but the speed I think we’re getting ready for. The execution, you got to make sure your look team is doing a good job of finishing plays and executing at a high level.”
FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Head Coach Willie Taggart’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On the team's preparation leading to their first road win:
"I thought our guys were so focused on all the little things and it was throughout the week. I thought coaches did a great job harping on all the little things, from tucking your shirt in, to running on and off the field, to running to the ball. And it made a difference in the ballgame."
On running the ball against UTEP:
"It's going to be a matter of will. We want to do something that we have to do. That's who we are as a football team. If we can do those things, good things happen to us. It'll be a challenge for our guys, but a challenge that our guys are up for."
On trying to win the turnover battle against UTEP:
"It's always important. That's our goal each and every week, taking care of the football. And on defense, trying to get at least three takeaways. Our guys strive to do that."
On senior LB Caliph Brice's performance:
"It was great for Caliph. It was cool because he said he was going to do that. He spoke it into existence before the game even started. These guys go back home, some for the first time since high school, and get a chance to play in front of their friends and family. He told me earlier in the week he was going to have 15 to 20 people there so I knew he was going to be locked in and ready."
LOUISIANA TECH
Head Coach Skip Holtz’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On the UTSA game:
“Last week was disappointing with the way we played. If you look at it statistically, it was a very even game with both teams having 400 yards. We were sloppy when you look at the way we performed. They played hard, but we gave up an uncontested deep ball in the second play of the game. It was just a lack of communication between a safety and a corner. We gave up a zone play that went right up the middle of the field untouched for 50 yards where we fitted a little too tight with our safeties. We had 3rd and 23 and held them to about six yards and then gave a 15-yard penalty and an automatic first down which led to seven more points. We had the pick-6 that went for seven. Then, we had the fumble on the kickoff return that went for seven points. When you look at it, we had five plays that we gave away that led to 35 points which good football teams don’t do. We were minus-three in the turnover battle. We did not create any as a defense, but did have three. I commend UTSA. They have a good team. They’re very mature. They don’t make a lot of mistakes. They don’t beat themselves and that’s exactly what we did Saturday. We had eight penalties in the game and the red zone still becomes a bit of a problem. We have to be able to stop some people and make them kick field goals once they get down in the red zone. We have to shore some things up.
“There’s definitely some things we can learn from and improve. The players want to win. They need to win. We’ve gone through the month of October now without a win between the losses and the open date. This is one last opportunity to win in October. Guys like Keivie Rose, DJ Jackson and Deshon Hall. The linebackers in Tyler Grubbs, Trey Baldwin, Ezekiel Barnett. BeeJay Williamson continues to play well. We just don’t have enough guys playing at that level right now. That’s where we have to go practice and we have to get better. There’s some good individual performances. It’s the same thing offensively. Joshua Mote and Abraham Delfin. We talk about them every week. They’re just playing really solid football. Those guys are juniors that have played a lot of football and are very mature football players and are really doing a nice job with it. Marcus Williams Jr. continues to shine. It was nice to see Keyon Henry-Brooks get started a little bit. He’s going to have to play a little bit of a bigger role for us as we’re going forward. The receivers continue to step up. Smoke Harris had his first 100-yard day since he’s been here. Tre Harris and Samuel Emilus continue to play really well. Jacob Adams is really playing a strong role for us here in the last couple of weeks. Cesar Barajas averaged 47-yards a punt which is the first time he’s done that. What we see in practice every day is what he showed up and did on Saturday. It was nice to see him show up. From a special teams-standpoint, our punt team held them to their lowest average of the season in under 34 yards of net punt. Our kickoff team did a really nice job, but we had the fumble on the kickoff return. There’s some positive things, but not enough of them. There are things we certainly have to get cleaned up. We have to do a better job of playing smart football. It’s disappointing to lose. We felt like it was a great opportunity against a really good football team. When you don’t play your best, that’s the part that’s really frustrating.”
On Old Dominion:
“We come back this week. We get ready for ODU. They’re a 1-6 football team, but when you put on the film they flash and do some really good things. The team is playing really hard. They have some talent. They’re coming off an open date last week. They made a change at quarterback last week. They went with the big 6-5 freshman (Hayden Wolff) who came in and threw for 340 yards. The transfer wide receiver from West Virginia (Ali Jennings III) had 13 catches. The transfer tight end from Penn State [Zack Kuntz] had nine. They had some guys really step up and do some good things. Overall, they had about 450 yards of offense last week even though they lost. Their special teams are pretty special. Their punt return team is number one in the country. They’ve blocked four punts so far in the course of the season. Their punt return man (Isaiah Paige) is third in the conference just behind Smoke (Harris) and Sheldon Jones, the return man from UTSA. We’re going to have challenges this week. Defensively, they swarm to the ball. They play really hard. They run to the ball. Their linebackers are very active. Their safety (R’Tarriun Johnson) is downhill, knock the tar out of you. He comes down looking for contact. Overall, it will be a great challenge for us on the road and in the conference again. It’s really an opportunity for us to clean up some mistakes from last week and go play another conference game. There’s still a lot of football to play. I know it’s disappointing with where we are right now when you look at our record, but there’s still a lot of football to be played. If we can get a little momentum going on our side, hopefully, we can make a run going down the stretch here.”
MARSHALL
Head Coach Charles Huff’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“I didn’t get to go home last year because of COVID and that plays a huge effect on the mental wellness and just the grind of a season when you have to go however many weeks without going to see your family, your family not being able to come to games, those different things and living in a virtual world. It was good for the guys to see their families. I know some of the guys got back to their high schools and saw some high school football games. I did talk to the guys. You can lose a bye week and they looked at me like, ‘What are you talking about?’ But when you do get a break, the beauty of the college football season, you kind of keep these guys together but when you do get a break as a coach you are concerned because you send kids across the country, not only are there COVID concerns, knock on wood we’ve been blessed to kind of avoid, but just the normal travel, you’re going home, you’re hanging with your friends, you’re with the wrong crowd or you’re with somebody and something goes down. I’ve been on the negative side of those things before. We talked about not losing the bye week, not going home and getting caught up in anything that you may not be able to control, not going home and not being cautious about COVID protocols and bringing something back, not taking advantage of the free time to be able to get ahead of your academics, not taking care of the free time to rehydrate and reenergize your body and our guys did a really good job at that. We came back, everybody was back healthy, and everybody was back on time. We had a really good practice yesterday. Got an opportunity to get a head start a little bit last week on FIU, [we] started yesterday and we’re off to a good head start. And with that I’ll open it up to questions.”
On FIU:
“The one thing that I’ve learned in this conference especially and really all over college football, the record is not an indication of the team that’s going to hit the field. This is another week and you say it every week, this another week of a team’s record that’s not indicative of the talent they have on the team, how close they are in games, it’s kind of the same story we’ve told about ourselves. A play or two here, a turnover or less here, a missed tackle there and it changes not only the dynamic of a game but a whole season. So, FIU’s coming in offensively really explosive. They make a lot of big plays down the field, I think, their quarterback does a really good job of throwing the deep ball. You can tell he understands the system, he distributes the ball where it needs to go. They’ve got two really big backs that do a really good job at running downhill with power, they’ve got enough speed to break the long ones. Defensively, they’re really sound. They do a really good job up front. From the linebacker perspective to the safety perspective, they really force you to distribute the ball in the pass game to the right areas. They force you to do a really good job of combo in your run game because they do a good job of getting off blocks. Special teams wise, they’ve got a good punter. He’s flipping the field for them - which is allowing them, they’ve got really good speed which is allowing them to get off and cover which is putting offenses in some difficult predicaments field position wise. Another phenomenal challenge for us, not only playing FIU but coming off the bye week - are we a mature enough team to continue progressing or are we satisfied is what I asked the team in the meeting. ‘Are we satisfied? We came back in the ODU game and we played well at the North Texas game. Are we satisfied? Or are we continuing to use the experiences of ‘The Three’?’ We talk about ‘The Three’ in our building all the time. The three games where went into the locker room and we didn’t get the results we wanted. Can that feeling motivate us to do the things we need to do to get the results we want this week. It’s the only week that matters. FIU is going to present a tremendous challenge. We got them home, hopefully the Joan will be rocking. I can’t wait to see the student section again. We haven’t been home for a while, it seems like, but it’s going to be a tremendous challenge. Are we mature enough to continue to progress?”
On handling FIU’s running backs defensively
“It starts with gap control. That’s the first thing, everybody’s got to be in their gap. The football gods and the football itself has a funny way of finding the gap that’s open. We’ve got to have gap control and everybody’s got to play their gap. Everybody’s got to trust that the man next to them is playing their gap. Then what we’ve got to be able to do is tackle and that’s the one thing that’s tripped us up in some games earlier in the season. We’ve got to be able to tackle well and that’s not just coach speak. You’ve got to sink your hips, roll your hips, wrap the guy up, and you have to run your feet. You can’t just throw your shoulder into the guy – to me that starts in practice. When you’ve got your scout team, we don’t tackle every day in practice for obvious reasons but you have to practice the right fundamentals. You got to sink your hips, shoot your hips, you got to wrap the guy up, and you got to run your feet. You have to do that consistently throughout practice, so that when you do get in the games it’s something you’ve done in practice all week. So, those two things to me are going to be huge, gap control and actually tackling, which sounds simplistic in football but in the college and NFL game you don’t do it every day. It’s a little bit different when [WSAZ Sports Director] Keith [Moreland] played back in the day. They tackled every day, they didn’t have a face mask, they just tackled, CTE probably set in and all that stuff. But know we’ve changed the rules a little bit. We don’t do that as much. So it’s something you have to practice the habits of, so that when you get in the game it’s something you can do consistently.”
MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Head Coach Rick Stockstill’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“Southern Miss coming off an open date, you know, they’re one-and-six but it’s a very deceptive one-and-six. This team is really talented. You look at them statistically, especially defensively, they’re really good and they’re up there in a lot of statistical categories. They’re athletic, they’re fast, they can run, they’ve dealt with some injuries this year in some critical positions and I assume that they’ve got some guys healthy this week or last week coming in here. This is a great example of a team, that you better not look at their record and assume something because this a very capable team. They’re talented on both sides of the ball [and] just had a tough stretch here the last few weeks but this is a really good football team. We better be ready to play because they’re really talented.”
On the impact of a stretch of home games (conference play):
“Did you go to UConn? You were at UConn, weren’t you Sam? How was eating that steak at 9:30 at night? It’s stuff like that – that people don’t understand how hard traveling is. You know, it’s getting on the buses, getting on planes, new hotels all that stuff that plays a part on the wear and tear of your body. Five of these first seven being on the road, it wasn’t a lot of fun. We like playing at home. We’d rather play at home, obviously. We like to play in front of our fans and in front of our people. Glad, our three of the next five are at home. It’s always better playing home than on the road but I’m proud of how our team handled last Thursday and Friday the game. But not having a bus show up, planes canceled and getting there at nine o’clock at night is just a testament to our team – the mental toughness they showed throughout that week.”
On if a focus on simplifying the run game will continue:
“Probably a little bit of both, you know, as you game plan for your next opponent you always look at what’s going to be successful, what can’t and you’re going to emphasize that. We’ll go into each week and see what gives us the best opportunity to win first, what gives us the best opportunity to move the ball and be successful offensively.”
NORTH TEXAS
Head Coach Seth Littrell’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On Rice:
"They’re coming off a huge win, and [head coach Mike Bloomgren] does a great job. They want to play physical and they play power football. You have to be smart with their motions and you have to stop the run, first and foremost. They’re going to try to get their boots, waggles and deep shots off it. You have to be smart and disciplined.
“We have to play well up front. Defensively, they’re very multiple with different looks and different coverages and pressures. They’re well coached and very technical in getting off blocks and using their hands. It’s going to be a physical football game.”
On RB Ayo Adeyi:
“I’m proud of him, he’s done a lot of great things. He’s playing fast and runs with a purpose. He’s been a great changeup for DeAndre [Torrey] with guys down. Those guys have gotten the bulk of the work and he’s continued to gain confidence. I’ve been pleased with Ayo. He’s made the most out of his opportunities.”
On K Aaron Beckham stepping in last week:
“He did good, especially not knowing until late Thursday or Friday. It was a great opportunity for him. He did some good things. That experience for him will help us down the road.”
OLD DOMINION
Head Coach Ricky Rahne’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On how the bye week was spent – reflection vs. recruiting:
“I think we’ve done a pretty good job of reflecting all the way through the year doing some self-scout and things like that. We’re still actually doing a little bit of that right now. Obviously, that was part of it. I think instead of self-scout so much it was more about getting the younger guys in the program work in our schemes that maybe they’d been on our scout team and things like that having them work directly with the schemes. Recruiting, we had a bunch of guys out recruiting, some coaches left on Wednesday, so they were out Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Other coaches were just out Thursday and Friday and we had a couple that were just out Friday.
“[That was] this past week. So, every coach including myself was out on the road on Friday so that was good. That was nice because we were able to get to some high schools and some places that we haven’t been able to be in person yet at all. That was great, it’s always great to be able to see things live and in person. It’s a much better evaluation than even on the tape because you can see how they act and how they respond to adversity and things you just can’t see on the tape.”
On LA Tech, QB Austin Kendall and WR Smoke Harris:
“The quarterback’s obviously a very experienced player. I remember him from recruiting him a little bit in high school. Started at Oklahoma then went to West Virginia, now here. He’s had a lot of experience; he’s seen probably every coverage under the sun at this point. The wideout is a good player, he’s very quick. He’s a good wide receiver. Sometimes those quick guys are just quick guys. He is a good wideout he has route definition, he knows how to set guys up and things like that. He’s a very good player.
On what he liked and didn’t like from watching the WKU film:
“After watching that tape, obviously I didn’t like how we started, you know we dug ourselves a hole, it’s been a theme a couple games this year that’s unfortunately hurt us. The turnovers were a major factor. We knew the middle eight, the last four of the first half and first four of the second half was going to be critical. We had a nice drive going, thought it was going to help us be able to win that part of the game and then we turned it over and they were able to score. I thought that was a big point in the game right there. We left way too many plays out on the field on both sides. We’ve got to make sure we’re more detailed and things like that. Even on some plays that we were making… you know it’s funny. Sometimes you think okay you made the play you must just give them a plus and move on. No, sometimes a guy makes a play and there’s still a lot left to coach on that play because of how it was made and things like that. There was definitely some of that. We’ve just got to make sure that we continue to be more detailed. I did like how we pushed the ball downfield on offense. I did like how we continue to be able to stop explosive plays on defense for the most part. We’re below 10% which is very high up there in the national standings. But we’ve got to make sure we stop hurting ourselves on pre-snap penalties especially on third down which has been a theme that we’ve got to stop.”
On how valuable LB Jordan Young has been to the defense:
“Obviously, Jordan was one of the very first guys I talked to when I got this job because I knew how important he was going to be, I remember telling him then that I wanted him to be the captain. He probably thought I was crazy since it was our first conversation with each other. It’s been awesome and it’s a well-deserved thing. His instincts, also his ability to move efficiently and those sorts of things. I’ll tell you what’s really valuable is there’s a lot of teach tape that we can teach our young linebackers on what to do by how he’s doing it. Coach Seiler is in great shape and he’s a good athlete, but I think JY does a little bit better than he does. It’s great to be able to have him show the guys how to do it, so that’s been awesome.
”
RICE
Head Coach Mike Bloomgren’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“Getting the win on Saturday felt great. I’m really proud of our guys. I’m proud of our coaches for keeping everybody locked in. I’m proud of our leadership for the way they led last week. I thought it was outstanding to be able to respond that way. To be able to come out here and practice the way you need to (and) lock into the plan and be able to believe in each other to get that win. It was just awesome to see. Doing that against the defending Conference USA champions no less. So, I’m really proud of this football team, proud of the direction that we’re going and proud of the momentum that they are creating.
“After watching film, I saw a lot of really good things, obviously. Our sideline had even more juice than it had the prior week. These guys are loving pulling for each other and playing for each other. I thought the momentum that we needed early in the game was Juma Otoviano’s kickoff return. It got us out to midfield. We didn’t have a great first series on offense but our punter gets run into. So we have an opportunity to go for it on fourth-and-two. Wiley (Green) throws a great pass and now we’re rolling. We put the ball in the box. The first play that (UAB) had, Gabe Taylor punches the ball (and) we recover it. The offense goes and puts another drive in the box. So, I’m incredibly proud of how we started the game. Obviously, it took everybody playing well for four quarter to find a way to win that game down to the last second. Again, at the end of the day, I’m really proud of what our team did and proud of the direction. A big shout out to Wiley Green and Gabe Taylor for earning Conference USA Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week. I’m proud of how those guys played and proud of how they led our football team.
“It really goes back to what we’ve been preaching. It really goes back to what we’ve been talking about. A couples of things. Number one, we needed confidence and what comes first the chicken or the egg. We did a great job of making it happen. The other thing that I’m really proud of is that I’ve been telling you guys that we’re a really good football team and we failed to show it a lot of Saturdays. So I’m glad we were able to put that together and show a piece of who I know this team is on Saturday.
“Putting that one behind us and moving on to a very good North Texas team. I think too much of Seth (Littrell) to placate him about the record. What I see on film is a very good football team. I see a dangerous football team with skill all over the place. A team that’s played a great schedule (and) a really difficult schedule. I know that it’s going to take us preparing the way we did last week and even better for us to come out here and go 1-0 this week. That’s our challenge. Our challenge is real simple: prepare the way we know that we need to, go out there and practice in such a way and then find a way to still go green light on Saturday to give ourselves the best chance to win.”
On how QB Wiley Green responded when his number was called:
“I’m just so proud. You don’t have to talk about him being our Game One starter. You can talk about him being our Year One starter in this program. All of the peaks and valleys that we’ve gone through as a program with Wiley together. How we’ve come out the other side a little bit in this game. It meant the world to me. There’s nobody I would have rather seen that success and the fact that he was able to go out there, turn it loose and play the way he’s capable of playing in a green light manner meant everything to me. It really did. I said it after the game, he put on a quarterback clinic. That’s exactly what he did. He started one-of-four and then hit 16 of his next 18 (passes). He had a heck of a day. Over a 200 quarterback rating. But more than that, just his demeanor on the sideline (and) his ability to communicate with the coaches and his leadership. Those are the intangibles that Wiley is perfect at. So when we can get him to relax and play that kind of football, he’ll give us a chance to win every football game.”
SOUTHERN MISS
Head Coach Will Hall’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“Really good day, had a beautiful morning. I think we’ve really improved in a lot of phases over the last week during our bye week. Got some guys healthy and really improved, especially with some of our younger guys, getting back to fundamentals. Some of our guys that are redshirting, that are really talented, you know we’re down to five games left, they can play in four and still play. Young guys like My’kal McLeod and Zay Franks, those are guys that I would expect to see playing for us as we go down the stretch because we can still play them now and they still be redshirted. That’s a positive, not only for them, but for our future and what we’re building. We had a good Competition Tuesday. Good spirited, we’re starting to look like a football team. When we go half line and we go team run, it looks like real college football. I think we are getting better, we’re seeing improvement, hope we can start seeing that on the field.”
On OL Khalique Washington:
“Khalique’s an older guy who’s played for a long time. He’s been beat up this season like a lot of our guys have. I think he’s back coming off the off week, probably healthier than he’s been in a long time, so that’ll be good.”
On who will be the starting QB this week:
“Jake Lange. We just pulled him out because of the way the game was going and wanted to make sure he was healthy for this week. Jake will be 100 percent.”
On Middle Tennessee:
“Really good program. Coach [Rick] Stockstill has been there for a long time, he’s done a great job. He’s won a bunch of games, they’ve been to a bunch of bowl games. They’re another established program in this league that’s had the same head coach for a long time. That’s why they’ve won, they’re on a little bit of a hot streak right now, they’ve won several games. They’ve got some confidence going, they seemed to have found they’re quarterback. We’ve got a lot of respect for them and it’ll be a tremendous challenge for us.”
On if the mindset is to play younger guys as the season closes:
“Our mindset is to get better every day. We are in a position now, late in the year where the young guys that are redshirting, you can play in four games. We want to make sure that if those guys are good enough to play that we are playing them so it doesn’t hinder their future. But we want to put the best foot forward we can, we want to improve every day and we want to finish this season on a high note, improving every day.”
UTEP
Head Coach Dana Dimel’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“I was very much pleased with the effort [vs. LA Tech] on both sides of the football. We do need to eliminate the turnovers on offense and do a better job at protecting the football. Those were costly to us in certain situations. Some were caused by real, physical play by LA Tech, and other situations not great ball security. It was a good pass rush by LA Tech in one situation and put some duress on Gavin [Hardison], hit him a little bit right when he was getting ready to throw it. We have to clean all that up for sure moving forward.
“The defensive effort, we did a lot of really good things. The thing I liked most about the defense was how it responded to the adversity. I thought we responded to the adversity very well and that’s a big step for football teams when they get backed up, or have things go awry and jump back out there defensively and respond the way we did.”
On Playing at Florida Atlantic:
“We’re getting ready for Florida Atlantic. They got to play last Thursday, so they have a little extra time and preparation. They had a really good road-win at Charlotte. I thought they played really well in all three aspects of their football team. I’m impressed with their athleticism. As you know, they’re a very athletic team. They have good speed across the board; they’re a typical Florida school, a lot of speed at their skill positions. They have good size and good strength on both sides of the line of scrimmage. They have good ability at the linebacker position. Same thing with the receiver position, a lot of talent there with a lot of speed. They have good speed at the running back spot, they play a couple guys there. They play different tight ends in their package. They have a transfer quarterback who’s obviously a really good athlete. Again, the biggest thing for us is to try and match their athleticism and their speed they present to our football team, and go on the road and get a road win. That’s the challenge for us right now as we prepare to have our best week that we’ve had all year. The challenge is out there for the guys to do that and really prepare themselves to come out and play well in a difficult road test.”
WKU
Head Coach Tyson Helton’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On what the team has learned about itself:
“Well, I think we are a tough football team, we are a gritty football team, we are a competitive football team. We know who we are, we know our strengths and our weaknesses. We are a hungry football team, we have goals and aspirations and we get to control our destiny right now and that is all you can ask for is being in control of your own destiny. So that is a week-to-week thing, and we are going to work really hard to control our own destiny.”
On the possibility of being first place in the division with a win this week:
“Well, we try not to look at everybody’s scenario. We just kind of look at our scenario and who is in front of us. Charlotte’s a really good team. It’s going to be a four-quarter game. I think their offense gives people problems. They’re well coached. Coach Will Hilly, their head football coach does a fantastic job. I know they’ll be ready to play and so we need to be ready to play. I’m really happy were coming home to play this game though.”
On the biggest adjustments defensively the past two games:
“I think our defensive staff has done a really good job of putting players in place to make plays. We’ve been very multiple, we’ve played a lot of guys, we’ve changed up our looks. When I said we found out a lot about ourselves. Our defense knows their strengths and their weaknesses. We’re willing to adapt and change and that is what good teams try to always do, do self-evaluation. I think our defense did a great job after the first four to five games. Saying, here's our strengths, here's our weaknesses, how do we maximize our potential to be a good defense and two weeks in a row they’ve done a good job. I’m really interested to see this week against a really good Charlotte offense that is very multiple, gives you a lot of problems in a lot of different areas. We need to play really good defense this week.”
On the competitive nature of C-USA:
“For me it’s every year, really it’s anybody’s game. You look at last week, Rice goes to UAB and beats UAB. Earlier Middle Tennessee beats a really good Marshall team. Every week there are surprises there and you got to show up and play every single week. Everyone is pretty much in the hunt right now and that is what you want in a conference and that is what I love about Conference USA, it is highly competitive. You better show up every week and play your best game to win.”