Old Dominion Monarchs College Football Pregame Quote, 11/15/2021

Excited about this week and this opportunity. Been very pleased with how the guys approached this week. Playing a good football team who has played very well in their stadium. It’s going to be a big challenge for us.

On if he knew that ODU has never beaten Middle Tennessee:

Not until right now. No. I mean, no I didn’t. College football, like I’ve tried to say, every year is a new team. I think some of those, this team always beats this team, and this team has never‚Ķ I think those things are overblown and overrated. You watch college football, with these earlier games, I was blessed to be able to watch some college football after our game. You see so many stats like, over the last nine years they ran for these many yards against this team. I mean they’re on their fourth offensive coordinator their fourth defensive coordinator, I mean what does that have to do with anything? I just think some of those stats are fun to talk about and those sorts of things. As a coach and a player, you have no mind of it.

On whether he’s enforcing more of his 1-0 culture internally with all the external questions about bowl eligibility:

I just think that people bring it up to our kids more. We’ve just got to keep talking about 1-0 because that’s what works for us. That may not work for everybody else. There are some people that maybe they need those bigger long-term goals to talk about for their team to prepare. For us, the 1-0 mentality is good. I meant what I said after the game. Our motivation is being able to get that feeling in the locker room after a game every week. That’s the greatest motivation I can think of. Everything else, those external factors‚Ķ they just don’t last long enough. Being able to celebrate with the guys that you put that much work in, that’s long term. That’s something that you can replicate. That’s something that you can try to get again and again. We’re going to continue to do that, I think that our players have bought in on that and seen that that’s our avenue of success. So, we’re going to keep driving down it.

On if he is surprised with the team’s evolution this year:

Not surprised with the evolution because I’ve seen us buy into practice and I’ve seen us understand as a program how important fundamentals are, practice, game plan. I think that’s the thing that I’ve been able to see over and over again. Watching an entire program embrace that usually shows you that you’re going to get some improvement throughout the year and start playing your best football as the season progresses because you keep getting better. I don’t really believe‚Ķ I never understood the whole have people peaking at the right time. If you believe in a process like you believe in everything like that there is no peak. You continue to grow. You’re just going to keep trying to get better and better. You know it’s not going to be a steady climb, you’re just trying to get better. Also understanding that each week you start over again and start that preparation again. I’ve just been happy with the way the guys have really bought into that because it’s a hard thing to do and it’s a hard thing to understand that hey I can get better at the little details and the fundamentals throughout this year and make myself a better football player each and every week.

On the biggest focal point with Middle Tennessee:

They’ve done a really good job in the turnover margin. They’ve created an alarming amount of turnovers, especially at home. They create a lot of chaos on the defense with TFL’s and things like that and then on the flip side they protect the football very well, minus one game. So that’s going to be a big factor in the game. We need to do a better job of protecting the ball. We’ve started to take it away at a higher clip, we need to continue that. Ending each series in a kick is going to be important for us. The turnover margin, that battle is going to be a key focus in this game.

On what he thinks has led to so many blocked kicks this season:

Well, we spend a lot of time coaching it. We spend a lot of time coaching the fundamentals of it. Which is why our guys I think are more surprised when they’re free and they don’t block it. When there was a glitch in the matrix, how Jason Henderson didn’t block the first one I mean it literally goes through his body. If you were playing Madden on that clip, you might’ve broken the controller. You would’ve said there was a glitch in the game because it went through him. Tahj Ra-El, who is turning to be a very good football player for us at a young age and a great player on special teams, didn’t quite have the fundamentals he needed to have on one of those on a punt or else we would’ve had one there too. He knows that. He was more upset with himself for that then anything. He came off the field and knew exactly what he did wrong. He used the wording that we use and those sorts of things. We’ve gone into this year saying we were going to be aggressive and trying to block kicks and turn we’ve used a lot of fundamentals and drilled on it and just making sure we get that done.

On being ranked second in the conference in field goals attempted:

I love Nick [Rice] and I’m a huge fan of Ethan [Duane], but I hope we never use Ethan. And I hope we only use Nick for PAT’s. I mean, we’ve got to do a better job of scoring touchdowns in the red zone. There are some execution pieces that we’ve got to take care of and those sorts of things. That’s what it is. It’s not about trying harder, it’s not about making a play, it’s not about doing anything superhuman, it’s about executing the play that’s in front of you and making sure you do that. We’ve got to do a better job there, Nick’s done a nice job of banging them through and those sorts of things. We’ve got to score touchdowns and we’re going to continue to take steps.

On if P Ethan Duane is becoming a weapon:

He’s certainly punted the ball well in the last couple games. He’s been more consistent. His fundamentals have gotten better. What we’ve all got to remember is that first punt at Wake Forest was the first time he’d ever punted a football in a live football game, where people are actually going to hit him if something went wrong. Yeah, he’s done a nice job. Our coverage has done an excellent job. Our bullets Javon Harvey and LaMareon James have done‚Ķ I mean what a great job those guys have done. Our long snapper has gotten down there and made some plays, Morty (John Morton). Our protection has been excellent. That unit has really taken some huge strides throughout the season.

On if it is fun to be chasing something:

I mean, we’re always chasing something. You’re chasing the feeling you get every week. That’s the fun for me. Your chasing putting together a full 60-minute game that I still don’t think we’ve done yet. On all three phases of the game. I think you’re chasing those things so often that’s the fun part. That’s what make you keep coming back to the game of football. It’s a little bit like golf. You hit that perfect golf shot and it doesn’t matter that the other 112 shots stink. You hit that perfect one and you want to get that feeling over and over again. It’s the same thing in football. You have those perfect plays, even if no one else notices it. You as a player do. You took the perfect drop, you had the perfect break, and even if nothing else happened you felt that. You felt what it felt like. You struck your key perfect as a three technique or you came off the ball with the perfect first and second step as an offensive lineman. You read a play perfectly as a quarterback, maybe it’s only a five-yard completion but man it was perfect. Those are the things that you just want that feeling over and over again. That’s the addictive part about football in particular but certainly in sports in general.

On if it is tempting to think about some of the close losses as games they maybe should have won:

No, the 1-0 mentality is that too, right. Letting those go. I think that’s the really key part. You can’t just live by it when you’re winning. It’s got to be all the time. You’ve got to let those things go. It’s even play to play. There’s going to be a couple plays where you’re going to let up a big run, you’re going to let up a sack, you’re going to let up a completion, you’re going to miss a hole. That doesn’t mean you don’t learn from those things. It means you can’t let it affect you and try to get that back. What people have a tendency to do is when I make a mistake, I feel like I’ve let down my teammates and I want to get it back for them. When you try to make a play and get something back, that’s when you make an even bigger mistake. Those are things where the 1-0 mentality works. It’s not just for wins and losses and those sorts of things. It’s also from play to play. From drill to drill, day to day. I want our guys to go 1-0 today and have the best academic day they possibly can, to allow them to maybe have a little bit less on their plate throughout the week and be able to concentrate a little bit more and be prepared for the game. It’s in everything we do and its why we talk about it so much.

On Thanksgiving plans aside from talking about bowl eligibility:

That’s funny, that’s something we have to do because it affects peoples’ families and things like that. Guys will be able to go to some coaches houses and things like that. I know there’s other people whose families are going to cook. I know Joe Joe [Headen], I’ve heard his mom is a heck of a cook and she puts down a pretty good Thanksgiving spread at her house. There are some guys that will go over their teammate’s houses, there will be other guys that go over to some coaches’ houses, then some guys will go home. That’s the beauty of being able to have as many local players as we have. We’re going to make sure that every single person has a place to go.

On if they’ll practice on Thanksgiving Day or shift the schedule around:

Oh no, we’ll practice Thanksgiving Day. Food can wait for practice. I’ve practiced on Christmas before. I’ve practiced every single thing; we’ve got guys practicing on their birthdays every year. My wife’s birthday does not exist because it’s in September. That’s not my fault that’s her parents’ fault for having her in September. She knows that. What she always says, and I actually think it’s working. My wife actually, if anybody’s seen her, she gets younger every year. I don’t know how that works. Her actual physical features get younger, it’s insane. I get older and I might lose my hair, get worse. She has to deal with that, but I get the pleasure of being her husband. She always says that every year that we don’t celebrate her birthday it doesn’t count. And so apparently it hasn’t. She made a deal somewhere along the line so the rest of us got to figure that out.