Charlotte 49ers College Football Pregame Quote, 10/15/2019

Frustrating week last week. I thought FIU got after us and did a phenomenal job. They have really good players and are executing on all cylinders. And they flat out kicked our butts; there’s no other way to put it. We learned a hard lesson on the road and I thought we had some opportunities to create some breaks. The ball was on the ground a couple times and we weren’t able to get on top of it. And we have to do those things to be able to beat really good football teams. Not the outcome we wanted or expected, and it’s not acceptable in this program either, but now we get another opportunity to go on the road again and play the story of Conference USA this year in WKU. Tyson Helton has done a phenomenal job there and I am very familiar with that program, seeing that I was about 45 minutes away when I was at Austin Peay. I know their talent; they have a storied tradition and a lot of these guys are the ones who were there when they won the conference under Jeff Brohm and they know how to win football games. They have moved guys around, gotten a transfer quarterback that knows how to win; they went on the road to FIU and won; they beat UAB, who won the conference last year; they beat Old Dominion; and then, last week they beat Army and held them to eight points. They are playing great football in all three phases and they are a great example for us to watch on film ‚Äì offensively, defensively and special teams ‚Äì are all playing at a really high level. And at their place for homecoming, we have to have a chip on our shoulder. This will be a tremendous test for our football team.

Jeff Gemmell said that you guys have a sense of urgency, and obviously given that there have been three straight losses. How much does that play into how quickly you have to get things turned around?

I don’t know that my sense of urgency has changed for me. I’ve felt the same way since game one against Gardner-Webb, and if you go watch the film, you’ll see that there is enough mistakes and improvements that we need to make that the sense of urgency has not left. It’s not panic time yet, if that’s what you’re asking. I think there is a sense of urgency to win now but there is more of a sense of urgency to create a culture and create a program that lasts. Building this program to where winning is No. 1 and No. 2 is something that is an expectation. We haven’t done those things the last three weeks to be able to say that.

I think as you look at our season ‚Äì we beat Gardner-Webb at home, a game everyone expected you to win. Then you go to Appalachian State and play them a lot closer than everyone expected you to. Then you come home and beat UMass and everyone is saying this place has arrived. Then you run into a buzz saw with Clemson and lose, which was expected. Then you get a little bit of a reality check with Florida Atlantic and FIU, which I think are two really good football teams. If FIU has the quarterback healthy the whole year, then I believe they have a chance to win a lot of football games. Both Florida Atlantic and FIU have really good depth and continued to put player after player in the game and it wore us down a little bit. I think that we were a little too high on ourselves early and now have gotten a dose of reality of late. So we’re back to the drawing board and playing with that chip on our shoulder because we are going to go play the best team in C-USA this weekend, and no better time to prove a point than this week.

Coach (Tyson) Helton said yesterday that they have been playing the underdog role all year long, but this week will probably be a favorite. Can you use that at all?

I can’t speak to anything they say because I have no idea what it’s like there. I’ve been in a situation like that before, though, where you win a game that no one expected you to win. The winning then becomes contagious. His locker room believes, I can promise you that. I felt the exact same way in my second year at Austin Peay, when no one thinks you can beat UT Martin and then you do, then things start snowballing and your team thinks they can beat the Green Bay Packers. That’s a powerful locker room; they have great players. They have always had great players at WKU and they have filled some holes. They are really playing well. They are physical; they moved a safety to running back and he’s running the ball extremely well, their quarterback started a ton of games at Arkansas and has played really well since they made the move after the third game. They’ve always had good wide receivers, really good upfront on both sides of the ball. The defensive staff survived the change there. It’s their fourth year in that defense. I actually worked with Jimmy Lindsey at Chattanooga and so did Marcus (West) and he does a tremendous job up front. Well-coached football team that is playing really well and has a lot of talent is a really dangerous thing. But I can promise you, they aren’t playing the underdog this week; that’s in this building.

Despite the loss this weekend, there has to be something to take away from the first half and there is still a lot of football to be played. What’s the message to the team moving forward?

I mean there are six games left; our team is not giving up. We had a great practice this morning (Tuesday) and I think I learned a lot through the first half. This league is really good and we have played two really good football teams, so far. I was probably a little young, dumb and na√Øve to think that you could just strap it up in this league and win some games just because you have a lot of energy. We are getting a dose of reality. We have to get back to some good-on-good. We have had some injuries, a lot of them, and you are trying to get those guys to jell and communicate and playing at game speed, good-on-good and we had a great one this morning. I think our team is hungry. They respond. They are resilient and that’s not a surprise to me. What I don’t want to have happen is, because we are a program that has won eight games in five years, I don’t want them to think that losing is acceptable. You heard those two guys (Benny LeMay and Jeff Gemmell) earlier say that they have been here; well yeah, they have, but I want them to understand that they have changed. And just because we have played two good football teams that have gotten after us, doesn’t mean that we can’t go out in the second half and do exactly what WKU has done so far. And that is win some games that no one expects you to. I think what has happened to WKU is a great example of what can happen to our football program, if we do the little things the right way and build some confidence and belief it can steamroll you in the right direction.

How have they changed? You just said Benny and Jeff have changed, so how have they changed?

I think they have changed in the consistency that they practice with; the effort that they put in and a lot of it is them telling me that they have changed. I don’t know how they prepared a year ago. I think the true belief in this culture is how we want to do things has gone from, I’ll listen to you because you are our coach to I’ll listen to you because I believe in how we are going to do things here and I believe it’s bigger than just football and how this will lead them after here. I believe they are changing in their vocal leadership and it’s not just lead by example anymore. But now, if a guy isn’t doing something that we expect them to do and the standard is not met, then they are calling them out on it. And part of that is because they only have hopefully seven games left in their senior seasons and part of it is because they have bought into this culture and it’s not just a football deal. Those two guys come in everyday and work hard, prepare, play hard and then produce, so it’s a lot more of them telling me they have changed, then me knowing them and how they prepared a year ago. They seem convinced of it.

The team already has 19 sacks, which is as much as the team had all last season. How this defense has improved but also is allowing twice the number of rushing yards than it was a year ago? How do you plan to adjust that going forward?

Obviously what we have given up in the run game is not acceptable and not what we want. I’ve been fortunate to have been around this defense for about 15 years now and I’ve seen the success it can have when you have guys in the right position. I think the biggest part about it for us, and I get this question a lot, why wouldn’t I do some three-down stuff and why wouldn’t I change up what I do defensively a little bit? For me, I think having Alex (Highsmith) and Markees (Watts) on the edge for us to rush the passer helps us defensively and gives us an opportunity, rather than being four eyes and getting double teamed by guards and tackles. I’m not sure we have what it would take at the nose position to eat up double teams, and then, I think we have guys that will help us down the road. And not to say that what we are doing right now is not important but I think doing things to get away from a defensive scheme that you plan to use here for a long time is not something that will help our future. So we are getting the best of both worlds. But we have to find some things schematically. It seems that teams lately have put together a highlight reel of things we do and are changing up their offenses slightly to be able to attack us and I expect more of the same this week. The biggest thing for me on Saturday was we give up 350 yards rushing, but about 170 of those yards were after contact. So even when we had guys in the right positions, we were still getting run over. So we have to rally to the football better than what we are doing, get 11 hats to the football. That’s been a point of emphasis this week, is to help each other out and not expect one guy to make a play.