Troy Trojans College Football Pregame Quote, 11/05/2019

Saturday was a heartbreaking loss. It’s tough to lose a game right at the end. You have to give them credit, they made plays and we didn’t. That’s how the game ended like it did. I’m disappointed in how we ended the game. We had a third-and-short where we could have ended the game and we just didn’t execute. Then we punted and allowed the two-minute drive. Hats off to them for making the plays when they needed to. We’re disappointed we didn’t get the win and it’s frustrating for everyone involved. We need to continue to fight and improve until we get better on getting off the field on third down and defending the pass. Our margin for error right now isn’t the biggest.

Our guys continue to play hard and fight. We don’t play great at times in certain areas, but I like this team and our desire to compete and fight hard, which is something we’ve done all year. We just need to continue to improve in some areas. On defense we gave up some pass plays, and we need to do a better job of putting our guys in positions to make plays. That’s an area we’ve improved on, but it wasn’t good enough on Saturday.

Offensively I thought we did some good things at times, but we had a bit of a lull in the third quarter that really was costly. We got off to a great start which was something I was excited about, scoring on our first three drives. Then we responded with two more touchdowns after halftime. All-in-all, I thought our performance on offense was pretty good, but at the end we had the opportunity with our four-minute offense to end the game and we couldn’t.

Defensively we didn’t start well, which was disappointing because it was something that we had focused on all week. We didn’t get that done. The key to the game was third down. They were 12-of-19 on third down. It’s hard to win when you allow a team to go 12-of-19 on third down. We have to get off the field on third down, and that’s something we’re going to focus on this week in practice. That’s something that is going to be key going forward.

On Georgia Southern:

Georgia Southern is a really good football team. They’re 5-3 and have won four straight. They’ve really improved, and they have a talented football team. You can see the improvement from earlier in the season to now. They’re coming off the big road win at App State and made some big plays on the road in a tough environment which is always hard. We have a huge challenge on Saturday. The nice thing is we’ll back here in ‘The Vet’ which is exciting. It’s an afternoon game that we’re looking forward to.

They’re an option team out of the shotgun. They run many different formations and are always looking to outnumber you and get an advantage. It all starts with their quarterback Shai Werts who is a fantastic player. He’s smart, tough and very athletic. He’s a spark for them and is the third leading rusher on the team. Their two running backs are really good. JD King is a transfer from Oklahoma State and is their leading rusher, having run for over 500 yards this season. He runs physical and we’re going to have to do a great job of holding them down.

All around, just a really good football team, one of the better teams in our league. They have been since they’ve been in our league. We have a huge challenge, but I think our guys will be excited and ready to go. We need to have a great week of practice and try to correct as many things as we can from the last week and give ourselves a great opportunity on Saturday to win.

On Georgia Southern’s defense:

Defensively, they’re big and athletic. I think it starts with their two linebackers; those guys are fantastic in the box. Their whole front seven is very talented. They play downhill and you can see them playing with more and more confidence as the year goes on. They’re an odd front, mix various coverages behind, and I think they do a great job with their scheme.

The two linebackers I mentioned earlier, Rashad Byrd and Reynard Ellis, are both really good players and are the top two leading tacklers on their team. I think Bird has six tackles for loss and a total of 59 tackles, so he’s very active. He’s going to make plays around the line of scrimmage and behind the line of scrimmage. They both fly around and play physical, downhill. What you want in a linebacker.

I think you also have to mention their corner Kindle Vildor. He’s a solid guy with a lot of experience, plays with a lot of confidence. He’s one of the better corners in our league, probably an NFL-caliber player. Definitely a challenge there in the secondary.

On Troy’s third quarter vs. Coastal Carolina:

We gave up a couple pressures, but I didn’t see [Coastal Carolina] do anything different. You have to give them credit, sometimes they just make plays. We did have a third quarter pass interference that hurt us. That was critical, I believe we had an opportunity to score there. That stalled one drive. Just a combination of them making some plays, nothing different. It comes down to us being able to execute consistently.

On getting off to a faster start on defense:

I think it’s something we’re still looking for answers on. We get ourselves in third down positions sometimes and don’t get off the field. I think (defensive coordinator) Brandon (Hall) and his staff are doing a great job of trying to look and figure out, ‘what can we do that’s different?’ I think we have to do something a little different whether its personnel or scheme. At the end of the day, we have to get our guys in position, which we’ve done that, and we expect them to make plays. If we need to change personnel to give us a better opportunity, we will.

On his message to the team after the game:

That’s a hard one. You go in after losing it at the end like that and you feel bad for your own players. They’re hurt, you’re hurt and so you try to encourage as much as you can. You also say that the reality of the situation is we have four games left that we need to really play well in. We’re going to play some really good football teams. So, for us, the only answer we have is to turn around and go to work and keep fighting. I think that’s what this football team is going to do and has been doing. Then hopefully we’ll get a few breaks down the stretch. But this team is very resilient, and I think they have a lot of character and they’ll continue to fight, practice and play extremely hard and make Troy University proud.

On the mood in the locker room:

Losing’s not fun, for sure. I think our guys are frustrated some. We’ve lost some close games, I think three by 12 points which is unbelievable, but it’s one of those situations where no one is pointing the finger. We’re still together as a team, unified, and just trying to go to work every day and improve and get better. That’s really the only choice we have and there are no excuses. We just haven’t won the games when we could have. I think our team is led by older kids that have played some and continue to fight. I think that’s been the message, ‘hey let’s go back to work and finish this thing out the right way.’

On slowing down Georgia Southern’s offense:

I think it’s tough. That’s why it’s such an effective offense. A lot of people don’t do it anymore, and they’re very good at what they do. It’s not like they just run the option, they’re very good at it. I think for us, we have to be sound. We have to always have someone on the dive quarterback pitch. You have to be a disciplined defense, making sure every play you’re where you’re supposed to be. I think that’s the challenge this week. Getting our guys focused on doing their job every single play, because the one time you don’t it could go to the house. I think that will be the message to our team all week, especially on defense.