WKU Hilltoppers College Football Pregame Quote, 09/26/2022

On starting conference play and needing the home crowd to show up Saturday:

Troy this week; really, really excited about them. I really want to thank our fans last week had a great atmosphere last week. Need them to show up and show out at home again. Got a great opponent coming in in Troy, real good football team, very competitive team. I’ve been really impressed with them. I think our team knows it’s going to be a highly competitive game. And so, we’re looking forward to the contest. With that said, questions.

On this week’s opponent Troy:

I think they’re a tough nosed football team. I think they’re well-coached. I think coach Sumrall’s done a fantastic job with them. I mean, you don’t just go to App State… You know, technically in my mind, they’re supposed to win that game, you know. And for them to bounce back like they did, kind of like us against Indiana. You know, it says a lot about their football team. Their defense gets after you, you know, they line up and play. They’re good tacklers. They run to the football. They do what they do. They run their scheme extremely well. Offensively, they’ve got some playmakers and their skilled players. Quarterback is a good game manager, offensive line does a good job, running back’s a physical runner. I think they just complete, you know, they’re a complete football team, and they’re playing good football. And when I look at them, I see a lot of similarities to us. You know, they look like they’re competitive. They enjoy the game. They like the competition piece. So, I expect a really good football game.

On Troy’s offense:

Well, like you said, it starts with stopping the run. We got to stop the run. And then we can’t give up the explosive plays in the passing game. Last week, their game against Marshall, they had some explosive plays in the passing game. You know, they’ll go the distance, you know. It’s nothing for this team to have long drives and their seven-minute drives and they try to limit your possessions and so we got to get off the field defensively. And then offensively, we’ve got to play fast; we’ve got to start fast and, you know, got to be explosive and try to make it to where they’ve got to try to catch up, but you know they match up, but you know they match up well with us, we match up well with them. I think it’s two very similar football teams going to play each other this week.