Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders College Football Pregame Quote, 10/21/2019

FIU is having a really good year this year. They’ve won three straight. They lost their quarterback for a game there against Western Kentucky earlier in the year, but they’ve started finding their rhythm in the last three weeks. Offensively, they’re running the ball about as good as they’ve run it in the last several years. Anthony Jones is averaging about 80, 90 yards a game, which is about fourth or fifth in the conference. James Morgan, their quarterback, I have a lot of respect for. He’s a really, really talented player. He was really good last year. Like I said, he hurt his knee earlier in the year, but I think he’s good now, he’s 100%. He’s a big kid, he can make all the throws. He’s a great leader. I met him this summer at the media days at Dallas, and I think he’s a really good quarterback. Offensively, they’re really balanced. They’re balanced between running the ball and throwing the ball. They’ve been really good on third down and staying on the field, so we’ve got to do a good job from that standpoint. Defensively, they’re really fast like a typical Florida team, as you’d expect. They’ve got good guys up front, but their linebackers are really fast, their secondary can run, so they’re really talented there. Their punter is leading the conference in punt [yard] average at 42, I believe it is, and they’re averaging 30 yards a return on punt return. They’re really good in the kicking game, and we’ve got to be better than we’ve been the last two weeks from that standpoint. This is a really talented team coming in here. Like I said, they’re 4-3 and won their last three games coming in, but as we look forward ‚Äî again, I said it last week ‚Äî it’s about us. We’ve got to get ourselves corrected.

On FIU running back Anthony Jones:

He’s a hard, physical runner. He’s a good player, he’s got good vision. He can make you miss, but he’s also powerful enough that he can run through and break tackles. I think he’s a good back, and I think he’s a complete back. They use him in the passing game getting out of the backfield on some option routes and screens and those sorts of things. I think he’s a complete back. He’s an every-down back. He’s got enough wiggle to make you miss, but he’s got enough strength to run through you.

On finishing drives against North Texas:

That was an Achilles’ heel for us. We overcame it at Marshall because we had to settle for some field goals there, and the same at FAU the week before ‚Äî we got down but couldn’t finish it. We’ve got to do a better job. We had some opportunities those first two drives, but we didn’t take advantage of it. You’re not going to win many games if you rely on field goals. Especially conference games, as even as most teams are. There’s not a lot that separates these teams, and you can’t get down there ‚Äî I think we were down there four times in the first half ‚Äî and get two field goals and a touchdown. You can’t settle for field goals and expect to win consistently.

On the status of safety Reed Blankenship and who will need to step up in his absence:

Reed’s doing well, as good as can be expected, obviously. He’s still in Dallas, and he’ll be back tonight. He’s doing good, and he’s in good spirits. It’s a tough loss anytime you lose a player to injury, it’s always tough. You hate to see it because you know how much these guys invest in this game. You hate to see it, but we’ll support him when he gets back here, and he’ll be fine. As far as stepping up, we’ve had a lot of guys go down this year. It’s an opportunity for the next guy. I’m not going to get into names right now, or who it’s going to be, or who’s going to do it, but we all collectively have to do it. Reed was an integral part of the defense and was also involved in the kicking game and a lot of other different areas. It’s not just going to be one person to take his role. The good thing is, we’ve got a great player in Jovante [Moffatt] on the back end, and he’s the leader of that group back there. I know he’ll take it upon himself to impose his personality and leadership, and whoever it is back there, help bring him along.

On changing from Asher O’Hara to Chase Cunningham at quarterback at North Texas:

If you look at it, we had a couple of shots in those first few drives that we had to settle for field goals on that we didn’t take advantage of. Then, that third quarter we had guys open, and we just missed them. We went four straight three-and-outs, so we decided to go with Chase. Chase came in and did a nice job. He led us to two scores. The defense did a fantastic job there. With two minutes left and that got that fumble, Chase came in and made some nice throws and did a good job. His command of the offense was good, and he made a nice read on his touchdown run. I was really proud of Chase and the job that he did. Moving forward the rest of this week, Asher will be the quarterback, but I’m not afraid to play Chase if the opportunity presents itself.

On the momentum the MT defense takes into this week against FIU:

It’ll be critical. They played really well. Even though they’ve given up a lot of yards from the Marshall game to FAU to North Texas, we’ve played three talented quarterbacks and three talented offenses those three weeks, and they’ve done a good job. They’ve given up a bunch of yards, but they’ve done a good job of keeping them out of the end zone. I’m guessing right now, but I’m thinking we’ve created eight turnovers in those games, maybe seven. I think we got one at FAU, but I’m not positive on that, we might not have had any. At least seven, maybe eight. We’re doing a good job of getting takeaways, and we’re doing a good job of keeping them out of the end zone. As much as we’re struggling right now to get the ball in the end zone offensively, it’s critical how they’re playing because they’re giving us a chance.

On how the redshirt rule will play out this year with this team:

We’ve got two guys, really, two freshmen, that have played games that we’re monitoring. One’s played three games, another one’s played two games. We’re really monitoring those guys. Obviously, DJ [England-] Chisolm has played every game, so he can’t redshirt. We do have a plan. I’m not going to play a guy just to play him. If he can help us on offense or defense or in the kicking game in some capacity, we’ll play him. I talk about that, we go over it in our staff meetings every Monday: who still has games available, and what’s our plan with them. We’ve got a good plan, and I think now with seven games left that we’re going to start utilizing some of these freshmen to see if they can help us.