Louisiana Tech Bulldogs College Football Pregame Quote, 11/03/2020

On the UAB game:

It’s amazing that when the ball goes through the uprights, the mindset, morale, attitude and everything changes your program for the week. Losing the hard loss at UTSA the week before at 27-26 and then coming back and looking at the hill that we had in front of us with UAB, the defense that they had, the success that they’ve had and so many struggles that we have had on offense, I was really proud of the way that the football team came together. I thought it was a total team effort in us being able to get this win. It was a Halloween game. It was a full moon Halloween, and it certainly had a lot of twists and turns in it. Probably more than what I’ve seen in a long time. So many game-changing plays. So many plays that needed to be reviewed that were that close. It wasn’t as clearly defined. But two teams that were competing their tails off. The first half was hard fought by both teams with a 17-14 game at halftime. We came out in the third quarter and we struggled stopping UAB’s running game. They rushed for about 250 yards there in four drives when you look at the end of the first half and the beginning of the fourth quarter. We found ourselves down in the fourth quarter. I thought the defense arched its back. They stood up. They made some key stops. In the last seven possessions they gave up 57 yards. Milton Williams spearheaded that side of it emotionally. He challenged the defense. His leadership really came to play. The defense answered the challenge. You look at Tyler Grubbs and Trey Baldwin and the job they’re doing as linebackers and how active they are around the ball. When you look at Bee Jay Williamson as a sophomore who had a career day having two interceptions. One he ran back to the three and the other one he lateraled that went for a pick-six. He caused the fumble in overtime which gave us the opportunity to kick the field goal to win it. He just had an unbelievable day. Then, the offense was able to get some things going. Aaron Allen came in and gave us a spark there in the fourth quarter. He really did a nice job of playing in the system and executed a two-minute drive to perfection. There were two minutes to go. We got the ball on the eight yard line and had 92 yards to cover, and he did a really good job of not panicking and managing the game, seeing the field and taking what the defense gave him. He did a great job of reading the defenses. We were able to go down and put it into overtime. You look at this team, and the heroes of the game, you have guys like Bee Jay Williamson a sophomore, Aaron Allen a sophomore, a freshman in Tyler Grubbs a linebacker, your kicker a freshman in Jacob Barnes. We’ve talked a lot about the inexperience in this team and how beneficial a spring practice would have been and a fall camp. With what we’re going through, as Teddy Allen put it, it’s like we’re building a ship and we’ve already set sail. We’re trying to put all these pieces together, but some guys really stepped up. I was just really proud of the fight and the competitive nature. Our back was definitely up against the wall with two conference losses. We were looking at a deficit in the fourth quarter and they came in with a sense of urgency, energy late in the game. It was fun to watch. It was a lot of fun to watch. I’m just really proud of what our team was able to accomplish last week.

On North Texas:

The landscape changes. My phrase so far this year has been: new week, new challenges. You have a new team every week. So, it all starts with COVID and seeing what type of team we’re going to have show up on Saturday. How many people are going to get there. Last week, it was really hard in that we lost four players from Thursday until gameday with two of them being starters in Isaiah Graham and Ezekiel Barnett. Some guys stood in for them. But, right now, being this early in the week being Tuesday, the first thing you have to do is find out who you’re going to have available to play. The challenge that we have this week does not get any easier, it’s just a reverse fashion in that we played the number one defense in the league in pretty much every statistical category. This week, we play the number one offense. When you look at scoring offense, total offense, passing offense and rushing offense, they lead our league in all of them. They’re ranked in the top 10 in five categories offensively nationally. Seth Littrell has done a great job with that program offensively. I know they had some coordinator changes in the offseason. He’s gotten very involved in the offense, and it certainly shows with the job that they’re doing right now. They are putting up video game-type numbers. They’re running the ball. They’re throwing the ball. As soon as you try to take away some of their run game, they throw RPOs at you. They start throwing the ball. They’re playing two quarterbacks right now. We’re playing two, as well, but the thing that’s different about ours is theirs have different skill sets. One is more of a runner and one is more a of a thrower. They’re playing them both very efficiently with what they are doing. They have a receiver that is one of the top five in the country. He’s leading the country in touchdown receptions with 10. He’s top-five in reception yards. It’s going be an unbelievable challenge that will take a team effort. Not only will our defense have to show up, but our offense is going to have to show up because this is a game that you’re not going to win a low scoring game against a team like this. You’re going to have to be able to put up some points. New week, new challenge. But, I’m excited with the morale, the attitude, the work ethic of this football team. We’ve said all along we’re a work in progress. I don’t know how good we can be, but I want to make sure we’re as good as we can be. That’s the one thing as I look at this football team, we are improving as the year’s gone on.