DALLAS - Ten C-USA teams are in action this week, with all five games as league contests. The week kicks off in prime time on Friday night as UTSA travels to Miami to take on FIU at 7 p.m. CT. A four-game slate on Saturday starts in the 2:30 p.m. CT window with a pair of games, including a rivalry matchup between WKU and Middle Tennessee. That is followed by a 3 p.m. CT kickoff in Denton and wraps with a 5 p.m. CT kick in Boca Raton as Florida Atlantic hosts Rice.
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:
“I was very proud of how we handled the bye week this past week. Being able to balance getting better together as a group while also getting some guys healthy was really important. I thought we did a really good of taking advantage of the bye and now we are back at it with another game week.
We’re going to play a really good opponent in UAB. We got to look at their film last week against Middle Tennessee and it felt like that game was over before it even started. They have scored 20-plus points in the first quarter of each of their wins, so they have done a good job of getting in front of teams early. Their backs are unbelievable players and it will be a challenge for us to tackle them for four quarters this week. They have really good length and talented players at the receiver position, which will allow them to create great big play opportunities. One of the things we have got to work on is continuing to eliminate big plays on the defensive side. Their offensive line is experienced and talented. Their tight ends help them run the football well and are also threats in the passing game. Their quarterback is a great player who is extremely competitive and has got every ability you could want in that position. Defensively, they have a lot of size and experience on that side of the ball. Both of their ends are long and athletic and will present a problem to our offensive line. They have really good size at the defensive tackle position. Their linebackers are impressive looking athletes, 6’3 240-245 lbs that get downhill. They have corners that run extremely well and safeties that are hard hitters. They are one of the top in the country and leading the conference in their special team units, so it’s a very well-rounded football team.
We did a great job last week and we have done a good job early in this week, but we have to continue to work to give ourselves a chance.”
On how his message to the team:
“Let’s just win one, that is the message we give to our team. Just focus on winning this game, and be the best we can be this week. Let’s have the best week of practice possible and have our best week of preparation. We talked a bunch at the team meeting on Sunday that we have made improvements, but there are areas we need to improve. So, each and every day, we step onto the practice field and our #1 priority is working on how we can get better as a team. We have to take care of the things that have beaten us these first few weeks. The only way we can accomplish the things we want to this season, we have to keep working on getting better.”
OL ASHTON GIST
On his preparation this week:
“Last week was prep week, we knew we were going into UAB this week so it was a lot of watching film and studying their defense. Making sure I did what I had to do get the O-line ready and working better. We know this UAB defense is good, their d-line is very good so we have to make sure our technique is right.”
On his message to the offense:
“Again, the same message for us is beat our best as well. Inside the o-line room we have a saying ‘repair so you don’t repeat’, so we have been working every day so we can fix the little things so we don’t repeat them in games.”
DL AMIR SIDDIQ
On the challenges UAB’s offense presents:
“The run game will be difficult to stop, but we have to be sound in our fits, hold onto our blocks, and make plays. Tackling the running backs will be very important this week. We watched film on them and we understand what the assignment is and what the goal is for the defense this week. Beat your best is the biggest message right now for the defense. Every day we do anything inside the facility, we are trying to beat our best.”
FIU
Head Coach Mike MacIntyre’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On this week’s opponent UTSA:
“UTSA is an excellent football team. They won Conference USA last year. They're playing well. And they're big and physical. And the thing you got to know about is where is zero is on both sides of the ball and it's like zeros all over the place. And of course, the quarterback Frank Harris is he's Houdini like with his capability and runnability and how he just makes plays after plays. They have a huge offensive line. Their tight end bigger than everybody on our football team. Oscar Cardenas 6’4” 285 LBS. And they're a powerful football team. And then they get wide receivers that can run. On defense, Rashad Wisdom seems like he's played there for 20 years. And he makes a lot of football plays. And they let him roam and do a lot of different things. They're big and physical up front, and their secondary has more seniors in it than our entire football team. So, it's going to be a heck of a test for us one I know our kids are excited about playing in. We had a good week of practice, and they're very impressive football team coming here for a national televised game which is a lot of fun for our program to play on national television this Friday night and we're excited about playing the game and against very good football team.”
On similarities between FIU’s and UTSA’s defensive scheme:
“We play very similar defenses. They've been in their system at their school now for their third year, very similar to our defense and they do a really good job with it. They got a big front good nose guard. Their secondary does a good job of harassing the football and their linebackers have played for a while too do a good job. They're very good on defense.”
On positives he can take from last week:
“We've moved the ball more consistently in that game than we really have in any game. I think we only punted it three times. We could have punted one other time, but we decided to go for it based on the location the ball was, but I thought overall we were moving the ball seemed like we were in better rhythm. We just truly the old saying that, we stubbed our toe. We just kind of gave them a couple of things off penalties or a bad snap or something like that. And that's what really kind of stopped us on a few of those drives. And so, we've got to correct those and a lot of those are learning mistakes, but they're also very costly. But the young men are doing a good job working through it and our coaches are doing a good job a better job of coaching and we learn from them and keep moving with it. So, I pleased with our ability to move the football now we got to get that ball in the endzone.”
FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Head Coach Willie Taggart’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On the health of the team going into this week:
"I feel like going into this game, we'll have more of our team that was coming into the season. We'll be closer to that than we have been all season long. This bye week came at the right time for us to really get some guys healthy and having that extra week to heal from some those injuries."
On recruiting during the bye week:
"You guys always hear me say recruiting is like brushing your teeth and combing your hair: as soon as you stop, you start to look back. The way that recruiting is now is nonstop. It's good to have bye weeks so that you can actually get out and evaluate the talent. It's good that you can evaluate more in-game and how they operate under pressure, and you get to see that face to face. It's good to get in and get a lot of the information you need on the young men when it comes to academics and character and things of that nature, finding out as much as you can, seeing where they're at academically so you can help keep those guys on track. It gives you an opportunity to see a lot of those guys. A lot of the young men have been on our campus already. They have been to camp, so it's just another part of the process and for us to solidify who we want and who we're going to bring into this class. It's going well."
On facing Rice:
"They are a well-coached football team that plays to their strength and tries not to make mistakes. They play with great effort, and they take advantage of the mistakes that you make within the game. You have a football team that finds ways to win and they're playing for four quarters. You look at their last game against UAB, they were down early, but they stayed locked in. UAB made some mistakes and they capitalized on them."
On Rice's offense:
"They give you a lot of different personnel groupings. When that happens, you have to be defensively locked in and understand who's in the game and what they like to do out of those personnel groupings. Our coaches and players have to be on top of that because they get in quite a bit of different personnel groupings. That's a little more challenging than playing a team that's always going to be in, for instance, 11 personnel. You have to be sharp on who you have and how you match the personnel grouping that comes in, because you can't play the same thing to every personnel grouping. It's going to be important that we understand those personnel groupings and get the right people in the game and then the right call depending on the tendencies and what they do within those personnel groupings."
On how FAU's o-line helps the team prepare:
"I think experience for a lot of those guys who have played a lot together, they understand each other. I think that's what we're seeing now. The consistency of their play up front has been the best on our football team. Coming in, we felt they were going to be the strength of our team and those guys are showing that. I think coach (Ed) Warinner has done a great job in bringing those guys together. Those guys believe in each other and they do a good job taking care of the quarterback. We've made so much improvement on that part of it from last year to where we are at now. When we do run the football, they do a good job for us. Our guys were the strength coming in, they're the strength of our team right now, and we need them to continue to be the strength of our football team."
On improving the mental aspect of the team during the bye:
"I think having some time to get away is always good. Our guys have been in a great mind frame. This bye week, we had some really good, enthusiastic, competitive practices, which was good to see out of our guys. Walking through the hallways on their day off, you see guys walking around in here trying to get ahead. Mentally, I think our guys are in the right frame of our mind. Nobody here is happy with where we're at when you look at our record and all. We feel and know we should be better than what our record is showing right now, but it is what it is. I think what's important is that we recognize and understand how we got here and that we correct those things with these next six ball games to go, starting with Rice. Knowing if we can correct some of the little things that's causing us to lose ball games, we'll all be feeling a lot better. But we won't feel better unless we correct those things, so we really focused in the bye week on the things we needed to correct. Hopefully with the focus on that and the work that we put in on it, it will make a difference in the game, because we know if it does make a difference, we'll get better results."
On Sophomore WR LaJohntay Wester:
"He is one of our better players. He's shown that the spotlight is not too big for him. We need him to be that guy and to continue to be that guy for us. I expect for him to. Typically, what you see in practice is what you get in games. We need him to continue to play that way and practice that way and make the plays when it's called upon for him to make those plays. LaJohntay is a big-time player for us. We know that, our opponents know that, we just have to continue to find different ways to be able to get him the ball so he can do the things that he does well for us."
On getting Graduate Student QB N’Kosi Perry back on track:
"That's the key to all of this. We need our QB to be at his best when his best is needed, which is every ball game. This bye week was good for him to reevaluate some things, for us to reevaluate what we're asking him to do, for him to go out and execute like we know he's capable of doing, but we need for him to be on his 'A' game in order for our offense to flow like we know it can. Part of that is making better decisions, making sure we're calling things that he and the rest of the guys are able to execute at a high level. We have to take care of the football."
MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Head Coach Rick Stockstill’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“Obviously, (UAB is) a really good football team. They lead the conference in rushing, they control the ball, their quarterback is very experienced, Dylan Hopkins. Has played a lot of snaps for them, does a great job protecting the ball and running their offense. It's a really tough, physical offense. They want to come in and run the ball on you. We've got to do a good job defensively of stopping the ball and slowing it down because they're very talented. They've got some really big a dynamic wide receivers that can stretch the field vertically.
“They had a tough one last week, they're 2-2. They've already had their open date, so they've only played four games. But looking forward to this opportunity and this challenge to go down there.”
On what Rice did well to get past UAB:
“Rice is a really good team. I think Rice is very underrated, it's a tough place to play. They're going to do what they do. A lot of their games are close games, not only this year but in years past. They did a good job, I don't know (what) to say that the did to get them off their game because I thought UAB played good. They had a chance to win the game, they had a sack-fumble on the last couple of plays of the game, so they were right there to win it. Had a chance to win it. UAB was able to run the ball, had success running the ball. It's not like Rice went up and down the field on them. 28-24 is a close ball game.”
On UAB's defensive strengths:
“I think it's their whole defense. They don't give up a lot of big plays. They don't have a lot of sacks, but they do push the pocket because they're so big up front. Their linebackers run really well. On the back end, like I said, they don't give up a lot of big plays. They keep the ball in front of you and make you go the long way. All 11 of those guys on defense, they've been in this system a long time. They've all got a good understanding on what they want to do.”
On if UAB looks similar under Bryant Vincent as they did under Bill Clark:
“To me, there's not many changes. Vincent had been their offensive coordinator there for the last four or five years. The defensive coordinator had been there for the same amount of time or longer. So those two guys, even when Bill stepped down, schematically offensively and defensively, didn't change. You weren't bringing somebody in that was completely different from what they've been doing. They're still a tough hard-nosed team that plays hard every snap.”
LOUISIANA TECH
Head Coach Sonny Cumbie’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Video available here:
Tuesday Press Conference
Opening Statement:
"We are looking forward to North Texas this week and I am really looking for our team to put a consistent effort back-to-back. I am really encouraged by how we played against UTEP. Our defense battled in the third quarter and our offense found a way to score late and put some distance between ourselves and UTEP. The challenge for us now is how do we continue to improve and handle success. We play a very good football team this weekend on the road in North Texas, they are a really well-coached team. It is going to be a challenge for us and it starts with practice this afternoon and tonight with our meetings.”
On the run defense:
“We have made improvements. We have to take another step this week because if we cannot get them in second and long and third and long then it will be a long day for us… We have to take another step in our run defense. Our defense played 90 plays last week so they have to bounce back and have a good week in practice. I know coach Scott Power and the defense will do a good job finding answers for them and what they do in the run game.”
On going back to his home state:
"There is a comfort level for me just beacuase I lived in Fort Worth for seven years, which is right down the road and I know a lot of guys on that staff. The comfort level is exciting. It is on us as coaches to get our guys readt to play at a high level. There will be a lot of family and friends there, but I also do not want a lot of family and friends to come and have us not play very well."
On WR Smoke Harris:
“Giving him the ball early in the game and getting him into a rhythm gives our team a lot of energy. He brings that every single day. It is important to give him the ball and put him in a position to make everyone miss. We have a better idea of what all our guys can do well and their strengths and how to maximize them and put them in a position where they can succeed.”
NORTH TEXAS
Head Coach Seth Littrell’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Video available here:
Tuesday Press Conference
On success in recent conference games:
"Just taking it one week at a time is key," Littrell said. "I feel like in our conference there's a lot of great teams. Week in and week out, anybody can beat anybody. It comes down to execution and preparation. In this stretch, we've prepared the right way and kind of found our identity in these games and stuck to it and played complimentary football. We'll continue to work on that. It's not about the last seven, it's about the one this week."
On the bye week:
"It was good," Littrell said. "Players responded well and had a good week of preparation on LA Tech and got our bodies back and got guys fresh. There's a fine line. We did a lot of self-scouting and maintenance work and got better but also stayed fresh. You have to be a mature football team to do it right, and we had a good week."
On Louisiana Tech HC Sonny Cumbie:
“I’ve known Sonny a long time. There was a crossover there when I was coming in to Texas Tech and he was going out. I went out to the Holiday Bowl when he was the starting quarterback. We’ve known each other a long time and have been in the same system. He’s a great coach and a great person.”
QB AUSTIN AUNE
On his success thus far:
"The more you play and the more different looks you get, the more confidence you have and the slower the game becomes," Aune said. "I'm not trying to be Superman. I'm just trying to make the right reads and get the ball to our guys and execute.
"I'm just trying to execute each play. I hate to say that because I keep saying it over and over, but that's all I'm trying to do. The stats come when all 11 guys are doing their job. I get the praise when things are going good and stats are high. I don't worry about the stats. The stats will come with great play and great execution."
RICE
Head Coach Mike Bloomgren’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Video Available here:
Tuesday Press Conference
Opening statement:
“It was great to be back with our team yesterday, getting back into game week mode. I have so much comfort in that. But, I also know that having that bye week is beneficial to our student-athletes. It’s beneficial to their bodies (and) to their mental health; being able to get home and get away from the building a little bit for a few days as well, as well as catch up on their academics. It was great for me and the staff to get out and recruit. Put that Rice ‘R’ in a lot of schools across America and see a bunch of great, future prospects. Most of them in the 2024 class. It’s always exciting to be out.
I’m really confident in the way we’re preparing right now. I think our teams is excited. I think we’re all excited for this trip to Boca Raton. We understand what we’re up against. FAU is a very well-coached team, from Coach (Willie) Taggart to all of his coordinators right on down the line. It’s just a great staff. They have great athletes. So we understand what a great challenge its going to be for us this weekend. But, at the same time, we’re doing what we do. We’re worrying about us. That’s exactly how we want it to be. The new trick for us that we’re trying to get done is to find a way to go on the road and win a game. That’s the challenge we presented to our guys. It’s the first time we’ll play outside the city of Houston in five weeks. It’s been nice to be home for a while. But, we’ll go, get on a plane and play a game somewhere else, and hopefully have a similar result to what we’ve been having lately. That is certainly our goal and what we’re working really hard for.”
On what jumps out in Coach Taggart’s style of play:
“What I know about Coach Taggert is that he left Stanford a year or two before I got there. I’ve heard a lot about him through the years. We’ve met a couple of times but I certainly don’t know him well. What I do know is that he’s like the third Harbaugh child. So, there’s a lot of the toughness that’s instilled there. There’s a lot of things that Jack and Jim (Harbaugh), Jack especially, instilled in Willie Taggart. I know Willie played for him at Western Kentucky (and) won a national title for him there. You just look at Willie and the success that he’s had in coaching, getting the opportunity with Jim Harbaugh at Stanford coaching running backs to being the head coach at Western Kentucky, then being the head coach at South Florida and being at Oregon and Florida State. He’s got all of that experience with him now at FAU.”
On some things about FAU that stand out:
“I think you’re playing a team from South Florida. You’re going to have great speed. You’re going to have great length and you see those things. You see some twitchy dudes that make plays. Let’s start with quarterback. N’Kosi Perry was a very highly recruited kid. He started his career at (Miami). Now he’s been at FAU for two years. He has the ability to affect the game with his legs and he’s got a great arm. It starts there. All of their skill (players) run so incredibly well. Their lines have gotten better and better every year. Looking at the jump they made from last year to this year, both their offensive and defensive lines are tremendously improved.”
On what he liked or didn’t like when looking at the season so far during the bye week:
“There are things that we’re addressing. It’s not like we only self scout during the bye week. We put more time into it and more focus into it. I don’t know about specifics as much as the challenge from me to the staff was to understand that FAU was on their bye also. So, anything that has hurt us this year in any of the three phases, they are going to do. We have to understand that so we better understand how we’re going to solve those issues going forward. By the same token, we’ve been studying their film and looking for things that we can attack. We’re going to try to present some of those same problems to them as well.”
UAB
Interim Head Coach Bryant Vincent’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Video available here:
Monday Press Conference
Opening statement:
“Good morning, guys, how are we doing? Very proud of our coaching staff. Very proud of our players, fans, and even students who came out and really, [it was] probably the biggest student section of the year up to this point. Just continuing to grow. Extremely proud of our players and coaches and being able to represent those patients and families for the Children’s Harbor game and also to be able to play for the memory of the patients that weren’t there with us Saturday. Just overall, we came out, we started fast, being able to go down and score on our first drive. Being able to get a good stop on defense and come back and score again [made for] one of the better halves of football I’ve seen here at UAB. Just the urgency, the sense of focus, the passion, and just the way we started the game in all three phases, I couldn’t be more proud of this football team. Obviously, 1-1 in conference. You got Charlotte coming in this Saturday so obviously, excited about getting into another conference game at home, staying here in Birmingham. You know, just taking it one day at a time and moving forward.”
On not overlooking Charlotte:
“I think you can always go back the history. I think it was 2017, UAB went to Charlotte, and they were winless. At the end of the day, it’s college football. Every given Saturday, every week of this football season, you’ve seen upsets, you’ve seen wins. Teams go to places, whether it’s an [Appalachian State] at Texas A&M. Each and every week, you see it over and over and over and you’ve got to get prepared. Your team has got to be prepared. You have to be ready because it’s hard to win Division I football games. It’s hard. You’ve got to stay the course on the things that got you there. You’ve got to get ready. This football team is an experienced team, it’s a mature team, it’s a very smart football team. We know that we’re still backed in a corner. We are 1-1. Every game is a championship game for us. That’s our mindset, that’s what we talk about as a team. It’s about us, and it’s about us preparing daily. Like we said, right now we’ve had five chapters written in this book. This is chapter six moving ahead with another conference game. Records don’t matter, we know Charlotte is extremely talented. Chris Reynolds, their quarterback who got hurt, I guess midway through the first game against FAU, he’s the guy that makes them go. When he’s in the game they play different. You can go back to the Georgia State game. You look at Georgia State; Georgia State has played North Carolina down to the wire, South Carolina down to the wire, they beat a good Georgia Southern team and Charlotte is winless and they got to Georgia State and beat them there 42-41 and Reynolds has a heyday. Then you go back to his last conference game against UTEP, and its 41-35 as the final score. Reynolds is sitting there; he’s got them in the game late at the end. I think with Chris Reynolds at quarterback Charlotte is obviously a dangerous football team. They’re a team that believes in him and you can tell that he’s a winner, he’s tough, and this is just the next game. Records don’t matter, all that matters is we come in with a championship mindset and play in Protective Stadium and get ready to protect Birmingham again. Being 3-0 [at home] at this point in time is something that’s important to this football team in Protective Stadium this season and it’s something we just got to continue to focus on and grow and build daily.”
On handling MTSU’s pass rush last week:
“I thought we were extremely smart in our schematics on how we wanted to protect. We didn’t do a whole lot of drop backs. We brought in some other protections that we felt like could hold up and we were also I thought very strategic in the concepts and whether it was play action or whether it was drop backs on third down, we didn’t want to hold the ball long, we wanted to get it out quick and give Dylan quick reads and I thought that worked out very well. We were six for eight in the first half on third downs, that’s something I’m extremely proud of. We were able to extend drives, [convert] critical third downs that led to touchdowns. To be able to come out and score our first six possessions was something we’ve got to continue to work hard to do and I’m extremely proud of our guys to be able to execute, stay on the field, extend plays, and be able to put the ball in the end zone.”
On WR Trea Shropshire’s Impact:
“I thought Trea had a big game. Start off with the first play of the game, where we threw a shot down the field. It was a little under thrown, but I thought [Shropshire] did a great job of adjusting to the ball and really coming back to it and making the catch. As [the game] went, we hit him with a couple underneath, a couple of slants, a couple of sprint out hitches. When we sprinted out to the left side the second play of the game and we threw him that hitch, to see him take that ball and drive it forward and he ran through the defender to get 11 yards, it was just a sign of growth and development in his underneath game. I think he’s grown; he’s matured. We know that he can take the top off. Something that we challenged him with this offseason was to come and be a more physical runner on the underneath game and I think you saw that Saturday. With our running game and our play action game, when you have Trea Shropshire and Tejhaun Palmer that can take the top off when those safeties want to come down and start fitting the run, which everybody’s doing to us right now, that gives us the ability and the opportunity to go over the top and that’s what you saw Saturday. When we start hitting those shots and we start attacking defenses early in that way, that’s when this offense can really start running.”
TE BRYCE DAMOUS
On the importance of the intermediate and short passing game:
“For us as tight ends we like to mix it up and we get looked at to make plays all over the field. Not just in the receiving game or just blocking. So, we just try to mix it up and do the best that we can. We know that we have playmakers all over the field, so we just try to come in and do whatever our coach asks us to do. If that means blocking, let’s block. If we get the ball, make sure we do what we got to do and protect the ball.”
On the importance of having a deep passing game:
“Having guys like [Shropshire] and [Palmer], those guys are somebody you really have to plan for. You can’t just be like, they’re okay guys. They’re guys you have to plan for and can make plays anywhere, whether it’s a 10-yard route or 40 or 50 yards down field. For us, it opens us up underneath because they have to take care of it so much. It lets us have one-on-one matchups and take advantage of people who have trouble protecting the pass.”
On starting strong offensively:
“It’s a great feeling. It just felt like anything could pop at any time. Inside zone, seeing [DeWayne McBride] running up through there, seeing [Jermaine Brown] make that one cut on a guy and making him miss, and then taking a shot- there’s nothing better than pass protecting and making sure no one is hitting [Dylan Hopkins]. You look down the field, the next thing you know you see [Shropshire] running and I n the endzone, everyone is celebrating, and you’re just running down and celebrating with your team. There’s just no better feeling than that. When it happens, we love it.”
DL ISAIAH FORTE
On his relationship with DL Fish McWilliams:
“Fish and I committed here in 2018 when Coach Clark was here. Fish, [Michael Fairbanks], [Starling Thomas], and I, we were [a part of] a big recruiting class. I remember it like it was yesterday. We were on the roof, you could see UAB, all of Birmingham, we were eating big steak and stuff like that. Fish is my close friend. When I went to junior college, he was still on me, he was still taking to me. I used to come on visits all the time and meet with Fish. Fish and I have a good relationship. Like, we be around each other 24/7. Probably right after this, we’re about to go into the meeting room and watch some film on Charlotte.”
On the doubt surrounding the defensive line during the preseason:
“When they said that about the defensive line, that really added fuel to the fire. I was like, why is there a question mark about us. We hold the standard. When they said that, I told [Fish McWilliams], they just don’t know us. We’re going to amp it up. They don’t know our name now, but after the first game, second game, after the whole season, they’re going to know our name. That’s what I told him. We still talk about it to this day.
On the younger players on the defensive line and being a leader:
“They’ve been good. Even little mistakes that they have, or [if] I see that they’re doing anything wrong, even take a wrong step, I still say, let me talk to you, let me tell you what you’re doing wrong. Even when Coach [Kyle Tatum] is talking to them, I still walk over there because of the leader I am. I’m going over there and talking to them because I was in their shoes before. In my 2020 year I was hurt, but I still had older guys helping me make the right decisions, make the right plays, and other stuff like that.”
UTSA
Head Coach Jeff Traylor’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On how Monday’s practice was for the guys on another short week:
“It was good, quick turnaround. You know, play on Saturday night, got to get a game graded, evaluated and prepare for an opponent and get ready for Monday morning. So … same thing FIU is having to do as well. We just have to beat them today.”
On what areas he’s seen his defense improve since week one against Houston:
“We’re just more sound, you know. Communication … you don’t see anybody getting turned loose. Still running to the ball … they’ve always given us great effort. I’d just say communication. We still had a couple of little things that weren’t as clean that hurt us bad Saturday, but that’s getting fewer and fewer each game.”
On the team’s ability to limit their last two opponents scoring output:
“They’re tough kids. They’re fighters. I think that’s two weeks in a row where we got them off the field on fourth down … three times maybe, that might be six fourth down stops. I’ll need y’all to check and do my math as that’s off the top of my head. The other thing I think we’ll have to get better at is that we’re still not turning them (our opponents) over. That’s alarming … we’re still dropping interceptions, not getting the ball knocked out. That’s things we just have to get better at. That group (the defense) has continued to get better each week. They’ve had the unfortunate, or fortunate depending on how you want to look at it, task of playing some really good offenses. It’d be interesting to see where those offenses stack up statistically at the end of the year.”
On the outlook of the offensive line after yet another injury in the front five:
“We’ll see, obviously Frankie (Martinez) will take Makai (Hart)’s spot and we’ll continue just shuffling people around. The daily Sunday meeting of who’s going to play O-Line and shuffle them around. We’ll see if we can get eight guys ready to go. It’s hard to get 10 ready but if we can get eight ready …”
WKU
Head Coach Tyson Helton’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Video Available here:
Monday Press Conference
On this week’s game at Middle Tennessee:
"Middle Tennessee week; big rivalry game, 100 Miles of Hate. Got to go down to their place. Looking forward to that game. It's always a fun game to be a part of and I know it'll be a great competition against two good football teams and just looking forward to getting back in. Got to get a conference win, get back in the winning column. They'll be the same way; they'll have their jaws set. They'll be trying to get in the winning column. So should make for a good game."
On stopping Middle Tennessee’s run game:
"You know, again, they're doing some good things. They're a big zone run football team and like I said they mix in the quarterback run game and you know really their MO right now is go fast, spread you out, go sideline to sideline, have all different route concepts that you have to cover and all those things so when it comes to the run game. It's kind of like us you know that the box is right you know, I mean they're looking for the five man box and looking to get the angles for the offensive line and so you know that's helped them and they utilize the run game well."
On Middle Tennessee’s defense:
"First up front, they've got a really good front, you know, they're playing four down front, they're very multiple with what they do but they get after you with their front four. And their pressure packages are good, you know. They know how to attack your pass protections, you know. They understand if you're going to make five down calls and you can see how they utilize those pressures and so yeah. They know what they're doing and that's why they're having success on getting sacks and getting and getting some turnovers, getting to the quarterback to throw them the football. It will be a great test for the offensive line, you know, we're going to have to be at the top of our game."