DALLAS - Ten C-USA teams are in action once again this week, with all five scheduled games being league contests. Friday night sees Louisiana Tech travel to Miami to take on FIU at 7 p.m. CT on CBS Sports Network. A four-game slate on Saturday starts with a 1 p.m. CT matchup between Rice and Charlotte in Houston, a 2:30 p.m. CT matchup near the top of the standings that pits a pair of 3-1 league foes in North Texas at WKU, a 6 p.m. kickoff in Boca Raton between UAB and Florida Atlantic and finally an 8 p.m. CT kickoff in El Paso between Middle Tennessee and UTEP.
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
Interim Head Coach Pete Rossomando’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“Obviously, it's been an interesting week around here. The guys have done a great job of rallying. We had a great day today out there. It was great for our guys to get moving again and get out there participating and playing the sport they love and they did a great job. It was fun being out there again.
On running the team and the expectations:
I respect and appreciate everybody on our team and on our staff for being the men that they are and getting these guys ready to play. I just want to continue what we've started and we want to make sure we finish the right way. We want to get out there and win games and obviously it starts this week. We can't win them all if we don’t win this one.
On his first day at practice:
It's all about getting out to practice today and shaking some of the cobwebs out because we didn't get out on the field Monday. We had our plan together and we went out and executed today. They had a great day. Guys really rallied around each other. And, that's really what it's about -- about being with each other for the last four weeks and making sure that we get out there and show everybody what we've been building for the last eight weeks.
FIU
Head Coach Mike MacIntyre’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On how to build momentum after a win and returning home:
“Yes, I think that, they learn to keep practicing harder each week. Win or lose. That's part of it to show up, all coaches say that, but it is a truism. But the main thing about practice to me is it’s hard to get focused… So you have to be focused in practice, detail in practice, understanding all that and they are getting better and better at that. So, I've seen that I thought we had a good day today. But it all goes back to our practice habits and then you know in every game is different to you'll have some people back for a game you'll have some people injured for the game some on the other team, so you have to tweak each game a little bit to your strengths and weaknesses. So hopefully we'll be able to handle that on Friday night.”
On how the team remains positive and motivated following a win:
“The kids and the coaches are all believing, they're all stepping in the right direction. They're trusting each other, which is the word we have up. It's in our tunnel. That's the only word we have in our tunnel is trust. And if you can't trust each other on all aspects, in any type of relationship, or any type of organization or any type of family or marriage or anything, it's not going to be successful, and they're all starting to trust each other. And they're starting to compete, and they're starting to fight through the emotions of everything, the highs and lows of the game, and just keep playing.
“So, looking forward to seeing how we do Friday. Like I said, I love and enjoy these guys. There are a lot of fun to coach a lot of fun to work with. And they fought through a lot of different things with injuries and people quitting and all the different things that go along with the first year, and kind of college football in a way now with all the things that go on. The core group of guys they got to buy in and believe and these guys are doing that and we're also maturing it's a big part and we were basically a JV team when we started experience wise and now, we've kind of come into our own. I think you see that in the game we don't make as many mistakes, we are lined up better, we don't look disorganized. The kids look like they're getting an understanding what we're doing.”
On the progress of WR Kris Mitchell:
“Yeah, I'm so proud of Kris, like I am of all our guys, but Kris is one of those guys that hasn't played a whole lot around here played at different times. And then we got into fall camp, and he got nicked up a little bit, so that kind of put him down the roster a little bit because he wasn’t able to practice and then he was practicing as a second team receiver.
“We go into the first game and he gets out there on a couple plays and makes big plays and he's been practicing well got moved up and then keeps making the plays and keeps pushing through different things. And I think that that really shows his character and his work ethic, because he could have pouted this it's not going right for me. He didn't, he just prepared I always tell him you got to star in your role, each opportunity, whatever your role is, you star in it, you get more of you don't star in it, you get less. I mean it's just the way it is. And he's really doing that. Really proud of what Kris is doing.”
On how the defense has grown and improved throughout the season:
“Coach Dewitt and all the defensive coaches have done a great job with the guys and the guys have bought in and then they're playing more. There's so many of them. I mean the whole secondary hadn't played much, the linebacking core in our level hasn't played that much and they're getting better and better. Shawn has never played defense in his life in college and so just week to week is getting better. Coach Dewitt has done a good job of getting them lined up in the right position. The kids are starting to understand why we call things, why we're doing it, why we're checking in. They know what we're thinking and how Coach Dewitt is thinking on how we want to call things. So, I think the mental aspect of the game has really improved, but then they're playing fast and hard and doing a good job there. It's been fun watching them grow. This team, Louisiana Tech is going to give us a huge test, they really good receivers, they spread you all over the field. So, there's going to be a huge test for us.”
FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Head Coach Willie Taggart’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On Jaylen Wester filling in for Eddie Williams:
"I thought Jaylen came in and played well. He played like we thought he can play. He's a really good football player, very passionate, loves playing, and he showed that in the time he was in there. He even got injured and went on the sidelines for a little bit and wanted to help the team, so he went back out there limping and still was trying to play. I was happy with what Jaylen provided for us, just knowing that he's going to continue to get better. I think the kid is going to have one heck of a career at FAU. He's a really good linebacker and the more he plays, the more he's going to continue to show us."
On keys to beating UAB:
"We have to run to the ball and tackle well. What we're going to see this week is pretty much what we've seen the last two weeks, where you have teams that run the football and love to hold the clock. The keys for us are first stopping the run and knowing they're going to run the ball. They have some really good running backs. The o-line does a great job. They have a really good running scheme. Getting guys to the ball, that's how you stop the run. You have to get multiple guys to the ball and tackle well. You have to dominate your gaps. You can't have guys out of gaps, and I think they do a good job of creating extra gaps, so we have to do a great job of filling those. And then try to get some takeaways. You look at the games they lost, pretty much like us, they turned the ball over. Offensively, we have to take advantage when our defense does get us in good field position and take advantage of every possession, because you're not going to get many when you play a team like this."
On UAB RB DeWayne McBride:
"He's really good. He has great vision. He's got patience running the ball, and then he's explosive through the hole. Once he decides to go, he goes. He has a great understanding of how they're blocking things and does a great job of setting up blocks. He's a strong runner. He runs behind his shoulder pads. He's by far the best running back we've seen this year, so it's a big-time challenge for our defense. I know those guys will be looking forward to this."
On UAB's defense:
"It's a good defense. They play well together. They have a lot of guys back from last year. They have been in the system for a while now, and you can tell by the way they play. The key is taking care of the football. We played them last year and spotted them 14 points and had four turnovers in that game. On the road, you just can't do those things. In games where we've taken care of the football, we have won. In games that we've given the ball to the defense, we have lost. That's going to be really critical in all of our games."
On Saturday being a must win:
"All four [games left] are must wins. Every game we're playing. For us, we're trying to win and being consistent when it comes to winning. If we want our goals, then we have to win these games. Our goals are still ahead of us, but they're not going to be achieved unless we do the things that we need to do in order to win, and that's taking care of the football and scoring when we're in the red zone. If we want our goals and things, that we want to accomplish this year. We have to go take care of business."
On giving younger players looks:
"We're letting guys compete every week and seeing who has the best practice. There's a lot of young guys playing now. We're pretty young as a football team. We're going to play the guys that give us the best chance to win."
LOUISIANA TECH
Head Coach Sonny Cumbie’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
"The best thing for us to do is get back out on the field and play another game. We had a really lively practice last night and hopefully we have a lot of energy and we will improve tonight in preparation for our game against a really solid football team in FIU. I have noticed here recently that they have found their identity on defense and offense and have improved a lot.”
On Quarterback situation:
“Matt (Downing) unfortunately will be out for the season. The hit that he took late in the fourth quarter is gonna knock him out for the season and it is a very tough break for this football team. He did a great job filling in for Parker when he went down. Parker is a little banged up and we will evaluate him as the week goes on. Landry Lyddy and Jack Turner both increased their reps in this weeks practice. I am excited for the challenge with whoever walks out there.”
On injuries:
"I think it is good players might resonate it going back to their high schools days playing under the lights on Friday. It is good that it is a road game I would hate to take away from high school football here in Louisiana so we would try to stay away from those at home. Guys like to play games whether it is on Friday or Saturday or any other day. It is a day shorter but it is good for us because we are ready to play a football game.”
MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Head Coach Rick Stockstill’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Video available here:
Monday Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“(UTEP is) coming off a good win. They beat FAU at the buzzer, they kicked a field goal at the buzzer to win. They're 4-4. They've got a really good team. They beat Boise State earlier in the year. They've got some really really good players. Their quarterback is doing a really nice job of running that offense, doing a good job protecting the ball. They're a physical offense, they're going to come after you. They're going to try to pound the ball but take shots over the top of you also. Very impressed with what they've been doing offensively.
“And then defensively, they are all over the place. They're going to pressure you, they're going to blitz you, give you a variety of different fronts. We've got to be able to handle their pressures and the different variations of the coverages and the fronts that we're going to see. They've got really good players. I've been very impressed with them and how they've played this year.
“In the kicking game, they returned a punt for a touchdown earlier in the year. They've got good kickers. The kicking game is going to be critical as it always is, so we've got to be ready to go. You get to this time of the year and your focus is as much on your opponent as it is yourself. We had two good practices last week and a good practice yesterday. I like where we're at from a mental standpoint, the guys are going to be fired up to go out there and play.”
On how important the open date last week was to reset:
“We've got a little bit of a head start on UTEP, we practiced two days last week. But they've been going since August 1st. About 10 weeks, they've been going. That's a long time. That's a long time on your body, it's a long time mentally with everything else they've got going on in their life. I think it was a good break for them, they came back yesterday ready to go. And it gave us coaches a chance to kind of evaluate what we've been good at, what we haven't been good at, what we need to improve on after seven games and also got out and did some recruiting those couple of days, Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
“I don't know from an injury standpoint if we're going to get anybody back because of that, but at least mentally, they got a good little break in there.”
On the travel times to El Paso and the late kickoff:
“Not that big of an issue getting there, it's a three hour flight. Some flights are two hours, so an added hour isn't drastically different going out there. What's different is just managing Saturday. We're the third latest game played Saturday, we'll feel like a Pac-12 team. So we've got to do a good job of handling our day, organizing our day on Saturday because it is a long day. You can't just lay up in a bed all day, you've got to get them up and get them out. Do some things differently than what we have, and we'll do that.
“Just getting back, we're going to get back at five in the morning, which when you start talking about student health or student welfare, you're getting back at five in the morning and you've got to turn around and get ready for your next game as coaches and as players. I think handling Saturday and getting back creates more issues than going out there.”
NORTH TEXAS
Head Coach Seth Littrell’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Video available here:
Tuesday Press Conference
On bouncing back from Saturday’s loss:
“They bounce back quick. They have great character and very strong bond between each ther. They’re disappointed after a hard-fought game. Coming up short is never easy but you have to go back to drawing board and get on film and correct mistakes and figure out how to improve as a football team and move forward. You can’t let an opponent beat you twice.
“You have to have maturity. That has to be part of your culture – guys sticking together. They’ve had their backs against the wall before. Thru those episodes and maturity and learning and growing thru those you get thru it.
“All our goals are still right there in front of us. You have to stay focused and make sure we’re moving forward and understand the big picture and getting a week better and focus on the things we can control.
“You never know how these things work out. I wish I could tell the future but it just doesn’t work like that. Just take it one game at a time and everything else will take care of itself. I’m not that smart to look ahead. I have to focus on one team and one game and that’s what’s allowed our players to overcome adversity.”
On the run game:
“They were committed to stopping the run. They added extra hats and did a good job. WE could’ve hit some plays early. We had some big plays that I thought we missed that could’ve opened it up a little bit I thought we pressed at times in the first half but because of how aggressive they were playing the run he had other things open and we had some explosives in the pass game. It’s give and take. You have to stretch people and pump air in the defense and we were able to execute in other things when they were that committed.”
On WKU:
“They’re good on all three phases. QB is playing really well. A lot of weapons on the perimeter and a dang good RB. Defensively, they’re very multiple and bring good pressures and they’re very talented. They’re big up front and they’re No. 1 in conference in run defense and no. 1 in the nation in turnovers. That’s allowed them to win games. They’re a good team.”
On the team’s strength at tight end:
“I think they are two really good players. That entire group is a solid group. They come out and compete each and every week. They love ball and they’re talented. They’re a big part of what were’ doing offensively. They’re a major factor in our success and we have to continue to build on it.
“They’re multiple. That’s what makes them special. There’s a lot of guys out there that are really good run blockers and more guys that are more hybrid but how multiple they can be whether you’re flexing them in the core or moving them around you can get into a lot of different 12 and 11 personnel sets and even empty. You can be more multiple and they’re gonna have to defend it. It’s been good for us and it’s something we’ll continue to hopefully evolve with.
“Gumms is extremely strong and physical but has great hands and can run and Jake as well. Big body big target and he comes down with the bal. They’re both really good run blockers too. They’ve been good for us.
“I’ve always enjoyed coaching TEs and RBs. But that’s his group. If he ever needs my opinion or advice on something we’ll obviously talk about it but he does a dang good job. He doesn’t need much of my help.”
RICE
Head Coach Mike Bloomgren’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
Video Available here:
Tuesday Press Conference
Opening statement:
“I loved the way our team prepared last week. I loved our mindset. I loved our approach and I loved how we attacked the game. We were fearless. We went in there and did so many of the things that I thought we were capable of. We came up just short. The best parts to me are the growth year over year, and the fight that we showed. You break down Rice Fight, Never Dies, I thought we exemplified that. Certainly, at the end of the fourth quarter when a lot of things did not go our way, our defense stood up. Our defense stood up one more time, got them to a fourth-and-one, and made them punt. We get the ball back with 24 seconds on the clock on our six-yard line and four plays later, we’re first-and-goal at the nine with a second on the clock. Everybody on our sideline still believed. Everyone believed that we were going to go and score right there and win the game. That’s really cool. That’s something that we’ve been pushing this program’s mindset to for a long time.
“There’s a lot of small things to celebrate but we’ll never be happy when we don’t find a way to win a game. We’ll keep building, keep working, and I really do like the way our team is growing right now. We’re growing at a good time because I think we’ve got a heck of an opponent coming in here this weekend in UAB who’s been the standard in this conference. They’ve won 45 games since they’ve come back to the conference in 2017. They are a really solid team in every phase of the game. They present a lot of challenges and it is going to be a great opportunity for us to open our conference slate against them in historic Rice Stadium.”
On if anything is different with UAB under a new head coach:
“I think it looks like their football team. It’s big, physical (and) sound in every phase. From what I understand, Brian Vincent is still calling the offense. That hasn’t seemed like it’s changed much. I think it’s the same defensive coordinator. Coach Reeves, I think, is calling and planning it. It looks really similar right now. The players on that side of the ball look really similar too. The edge rushers, the run, and hit linebackers. It seems like Noah Wilder, their leading tackler has been there for 10 years. There’s a lot of great players. The running backs that they have; I love our running back room, but the production that they’ve had from their running backs is out of sight. A lot of it stems from the fact that they’ve brought back everybody on the offensive line. It’s a really good football team that presents really good challenges in every phase.”
On UAB’s running game:
“It’s exceptional. That running back, they call him Deebo, but Dwayne McBride is like ‘Wow’ watching him run. They run a zone scheme incredibly well. He puts his foot in the ground, he’s decisive, and he runs through tackles.”
On if the work and effort has been standing out on game film:
“It does. I’m just so fired up about these guys. When you look at year-over-year, the growth in all three phases. Nothing catastrophic is impacting the game. We did an unbelievable job in the kicking game against (Nathaniel) Dell, who I believe is as explosive as they come. We made all of our kicks. Offensively, we moved the ball (and) did some good things. We have over 400 yards of total offense (and) scored some points. I wish we could have protected the passer a little bit better at times. I wish we could have presented more options for our running backs at times. But, that was good growth to be able to move the ball the way we did. Defensively, I thought we played really good. I thought we did a good job stopping the run. As a whole, we can do better. But, you look at how we grew during the game, I’m really pleased. We let them get behind us once. That’s really it. Again, those asterisks that I threw in there are what we have to eliminate to beat a great team like that. That’s what we’re working for.”
UAB
Interim Head Coach Bryant Vincent’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Video available here:
Monday Press Conference
Opening statement:
“Obviously a tough, disappointing road loss. I thought our players prepared well throughout the week. We came out and played extremely hard, we took the lead early, overcame some adversity, losing our quarterback Dylan Hopkins, and continued to play hard. [We] had a chance to win it there at the end and again turnovers were a big factor in this game. That’s on me as the head coach. Extremely proud of our players, proud of our staff, and how we continue to work and continue to stick together. The bottom line is, we’ve just got to go on the road, and we’ve got to win a game on the road. That falls on me. Our kids and our staff are playing their tails off. We’re preparing, we’re doing things the right way, we’ve just got to be able to finish it off in the end, to execute in the end and to have better ball security. We’ve got another road game this Saturday at FAU. We’ve got a challenge to go on the road and win a conference game and get back on track and that’s our goal and our mission going forward.”
On DeWayne McBride’s confidence moving forward:
“DeWayne McBride is leading the nation in rushing; he’s helped us win a lot of big games here. I’m proud of his effort, his focus, his commitment to this team. He runs extremely hard; he gives everything he’s got. Being the team player he is, he takes it personally, he takes it to heart. The biggest thing, you’ve just to learn from your mistakes and you’ve got to move forward. We’ve got to put one foot in front of the other, we’ve got to continue to focus on ball security. That’s what we’ve got to do. Plain and simple. His confidence is fine, this team is behind him, this staff is behind him. We believe him now more than ever. It’s just something we’ve got to continue to work on.”
On limiting turnovers on the road:
“I wish I had the answer. We’ve got three road losses and we’ve got 10 turnovers in our road losses. That falls on me. Our kids are preparing, they’re fighting their tails off, they’re playing extremely hard, they’re playing for each other. I accept full responsibility as the head coach.”
On game planning to handle challenges on the road:
“We’ve worked on that week in and week out. It comes down to execution in critical moments. It comes to down to ball security and protecting the football on the road. I think we’ve had great plans; we’ve been put in situations where we’ve had the opportunity to win it. At the end of the day, it falls on me. It falls on me as the head coach. That’s something I’m going to get fixed; we’re going to work hard to get fixed. I believe in this team; I believe in this staff. We’ve just got to overcome it. Our focus this Saturday is to overcome it at FAU.”
S WILL BOLER
On the team’s struggles on the road:
“To be honest, it’s nothing. We’ve all been coming out there and practicing together, we’re all doing the same thing. We just have to stay positive and keep going.”
On keeping the team together after a loss:
“We have to stay positive and just keep doing what we’ve been doing. I trust this team and I trust Coach Vincent. I know he has a plan, and we just have to stick behind it.”
On the pressure to win the rest of their conference games:
“Like in years past, we’ve been in this situation before. We already know what it’s going to be like. We’ve just got to be smarter and play harder the rest of the way.”
WR FRED FARRIER II
On the team’s struggles on the road:
If you go back and analyze all the losses, we just keep making costly mistakes. As long as we scale back on those, just come back to work, and we keep a good mentality, we’ll be good.
On his first career touchdown and his confidence moving forward:
“It was amazing for sure. It was an opportunity I’ve been waiting on. I just want to show the team that they can trust me, I want to show the coaches that they can trust me. It was just a blessing. You said confidence. I knew when the ball came in my area, it reminded me of high school. When I saw the ball, I just caught it, and it didn’t feel like anything crazy. I caught it and that was it. I’m confident and I’m going to stay confident.”
On losing Dylan Hopkins and the play of Jacob Zeno:
“Personally, it doesn’t affect me. I feel like Coach Vincent does a good job, especially during the spring and summer camps with rotating the quarterbacks. Jacob Zeno got a lot of reps with the starters and, especially in the spring when Dylan was hurt, [Jacob Zeno] was taking all the reps. When he came in the game, it just felt like practice. For me, it didn’t feel any different. I get a lot of reps with him every day, even routes on air and stuff like that. It didn’t feel any different.”
UTEP
Head Coach Dana Dimel’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Audio available here:
Monday Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“Okay. We'll get started. We'll talk a little bit about last week's game and then go into the Middle Tennessee ballgame and revisit any of the highlights from the game and talk about where we stand right now. So just looking at where we are right now after the game, as you get time to go back and study the film again, there was a lot of really positive things. The thing that I was most proud of is that our guys really hung in there, handled any of the adversity that comes through a game and handled it really well. In a lot of ways, we did a lot of positive things in all three segments of what we did as a football team. Coming back from a third- quarter deficit like we did is really probably the highlight of the ballgame. Again, as I mentioned before, just hanging in there and working together to get a win and securing a home field advantage for our team, which is really big. We've been a really good team at home over the last three years. I didn't know the stat, but we’re 10-2 over the last three years in the Sun Bowl. So that's probably a pretty historic run in the Sun Ball over the last three years. So, (I’m) really excited about that. That's going to show up again this weekend as we move forward to the Middle Tennessee game.
“I really liked the way our defense played throughout the game (against Florida Atlantic). I thought Florida Atlantic, going into the game, had one of the best run games we had seen all year. Their offensive line is big and athletic, and they have three really good backs that create different issues because they're so fast. They have a lot of team speed and of course we knew the size and speed they had at receiver position too. So, I thought our defense played extremely well throughout the game, even when they got their drives. One of them we were missing the coverage because we one of our players had to leave the game for a couple of plays and we had a quick substitute. We missed a coverage and then they hit a run on the very next play where we just missed a gap. But again, I thought our defense played well all throughout the whole ballgame, held them to not a whole lot of yards. I thought our offense did a lot of really positive things. The main thing that we did offensively was secure the ball again for 35 plus minutes. Any time you do that, a team like Florida Atlantic didn't have a whole lot of football plays to run. I thought their schemes were really good. I thought they had some really good schemes and some good things with what they were doing offensively, but our defense did a good job. The things we still have to get better at is we need to finish drives with touchdowns. You're not always going to do that. As I mentioned before, you're going to have some drives where you do have to settle for a field goal. Sometimes field goals are not the best, but they're better than coming up empty, which we got to definitely eliminate coming up empty anytime we're inside the red zone. (Another thing) we are working to get better on is the big turnover. You know, pick six. Those are a real game changing. For us to overcome that was really pretty good accomplishment from our football team. Unfortunately, I felt like Rey (Flores) was interfered on that and Rey is not a guy that won’t ever not tell things the way it is. But he said, ‘Coach, when I went up to go for the ball, my whole inside arm was being detained and grabbed and I couldn't reach but for with one hand for the ball’ and it got tipped and picked. So that was really unfortunate to have that play, but fortunately it did not affect us and we did the things that we needed to do.
"They got the last drive at the end. Talking about the controversial play, the effort that we gave on that from Praise (Amaewhule) and everybody up front has just been repetitive throughout the year. Right when they scored, we're all thinking, well, it's going to be 21-21, we got to go down and score. But no, it's not because we get the great effort and execution from our defensive rush on the PAT and get the block. Obviously, it (helmet coming off on block) was something that all the years of coaching, I've never had that happen.
“Gavin (Baechle) came through and hit a great kick there. He had a really good ball game. Again, I thought our special teams did a lot of good things as well, continue to do some good things. We weren't perfect in any aspect of what we did anywhere, but we sure found a great way to win a football game. That gets us back to a really good spot. We’re two games away from being bowl eligible. Right now, we're on a good roll. We started off the season 1-3 and we've recovered with a good run here over our last six ball games. We've got ourselves playing really good football right now and doing some fun things for everybody to come see and watch us play. We're in the hunt to get to a bowl game for back-to back-years. Obviously, we need to win ballgames to get to that point. But it's still a lot of excitement going into these last four games. We’re looking forward to sporting our Texas Western (jerseys) and defending the home turf in again, which I'm excited about. I know Teich (Jon Teicher) is excited about that, too. He's urged me to do that. I was still debating whether we were going to do it or not until Teich made the call. It's funny because my wife got to see the guys leaving the locker room up close. She's like, ‘gosh, I've never seen those jerseys up close before. Those things are really cool.’ The guys really enjoy playing in them.”
On facing Middle Tennessee:
“We need to have a great ballgame against Middle Tennessee. Middle Tennessee is a team that has played a really difficult schedule. The teams that they've played in our conference are really good football teams and so they have lots of team speed. I mean, all you have to do is go back and watch their game against Miami where they just got after it from the very get go and won decisively against Miami. They're one of the best teams in the country at causing turnovers. I think they're in the top 10 in the country in turnovers caused but they've also had three games where they've had a turnover on the offensive team’s first possession that they're going against. They can make a dramatic impact on the game early. They’re a very good athletic defensive football team with really, really good team speed across the board. They have some marquee players on the defense that we definitely are aware of and have to account for at all times. Offensively, they got receivers that have some really big play potential and can do some really good things. Middle Tennessee has been a strong, strong opponent in our conference for many years. Rick Stockstill is a really good friend of mine and he does a tremendous job. Rick is in his 17th season there at Middle Tennessee and is doing a great job again with this year's football team. So, again, it's like I've said every week, every game is a challenge. Every game goes to the team that plays the best, right? So that's going to be our challenge is to get out and play well. We encourage all the fans to get out for Homecoming We're having it at night to help make sure they can get to the ballgame. We're doing a lot of neat things with some Halloween celebrations and some other bonus packets that you can get as far as ordering tickets. So we urge everybody to get out. The Miners are playing good football. So come see your Miners play.”
On being able to string together some victories down the stretch:
“We need to try to fix some of the things that we need to fix that have kept us from winning the games that we have not won. This is going to be a really big game to not turn the ball over, to win the turnover margin because they're so good at causing turnovers. So that's going to be really important for us. They're a team that can score points. They're a high scoring offense. They run a lot of plays. So, there's going to be more plays in the game than what you might typically see in one of our games because we try to minimize that. So, for us it's going to be important that we can continue to control the clock on them. The flip side of that is not give up big plays. That's going to be really important. Those are that the things that will help us with our consistency of what we're doing because our yards per game defensively is really good. Our yards per game offensively, we continue to climb over the last four or five games. So, I think we just need to continue to trend the way we're trending and be really good at our completion percentage. The games that we've played well, we haven't turned the ball over much. We've been really good on our completion percentage, and we've run the football well. So, those are the things that will allow us to have the consistency we need to win some games down the stretch.”
On how important the win against Florida Atlantic was:
“It's a big win. It propels us. It gets us back to where we need to be. When you look at the start of the season and you look at the games that we've had to play, some we probably should have lost and some we won that we weren’t picked. So, this got us back in a fighting position to get us to a lot of what our goals were. That's the positive part of it. The other part of it is that it's just one win, it's just one. We've got to continue to do things well to get to get another win now. Because now you just move on to the next one. So, enjoy it. You know, it's great. It's good for us, but now you've got to move on, and we've got the same type of challenge coming up this week. A very similar team. Different but similar as far as the level of ability they have. Whoever plays the best is going to win this game. Right? That's how it's going to be for us down the stretch here in every game. We've got four more games left and every game is very winnable for us.”
WKU
Head Coach Tyson Helton’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Video Available here:
Monday Press Conference
On this week’s game against North Texas:
"North Texas week. Good to have another home game. Got a really good North Texas team coming in. One of the top offenses in the conference, playing a very solid defense as well. Should be a tremendous challenge, but it's good we get them at home. It's a big conference game for sure. Last week, Coach Latrell does a great job preparing his guys, and I know they had a tough one last week at UTSA. We were in the lead for most of the game, it was a back and forth game and UTSA was able to pull it off. So I know North Texas has their jaw set trying to come in here and win and so will we and it should make for a great match up and I'm looking forward to it."
On the implications of Saturday’s game:
"We take it one game at a time, obviously, but we fully understand that to be in control of your own destiny is a good thing and to try not to look past North Texas. Our main focus is North Texas. They are the same way and are trying to control their destiny as well. The big win against UAB, which was huge, that was a really big confidence builder. They are a really good football team, and I thought the atmosphere was fantastic. The fans showed up and did a great job, and we're going to need that again this week because this game will be probably even harder."
On getting the team to play complementary football:
"Defense wins championships. If you want to win, have a really good defense that produces turnovers. That's why you win, and that's a big box that we checked on several weeks of the season. Again, I think they'll be put to the test again against North Texas. Offensively, did some good things, but there was twice where we got the ball across the fifty and didn't do anything with it. We came away with no points on the board. Both those times we lost yardage. So those are the things we have to correct and fix. Particularly against a team like North Texas."