Marshall Thundering Herd College Football Pregame Quote, 09/14/2021

Coming back off another good week, obviously it’s always great to win. We talked a little bit after the game about some of the things we’ve got to continue to get better at and understand as a program. But don’t get me wrong, there were a lot of positives that came out of that game, there were a lot of positives that came out of that entire week. I’m really happy with the way our guys have really bought in to what we’re trying to do around here. I could not knock these guys’ effort at all. Are they young, are they understanding, is it new? Absolutely. But are they trying to do things the way we ask them to do? One hundred percent. So I applaud the players for their buy-in. And their buy-in without any type of ‚Äòhey, we’ve done this before, we know it works.’ They’re trusting what we’re saying and they’re doing what we’re asking them to do and I appreciate that. Again, I appreciate all the fans and the community for what you guys did last Saturday night, I appreciate you guys really stepping up to the challenge. Obviously we hope to continue to improve our attendance, improve our enthusiasm, improve our stadium gameday environment, but thank you guys for what we’ve done. I’mreally happy with where we are, but also really excited about the challenges we have coming forward.

On what he sees with this East Carolinateam, especially defensively:

They’re good, they’re really good. This will be the best team that we’ve played thus far in the season, the best overall team. When you put on the film, there’s nobody hiding. There’s no ‚Äòoh, here’s a weakness, ‘or ‚Äòoh, here’s a size advantage ,’or ‚Äòoh, they have a good system, but we have a size advantage.’ There’s none of that, this is a real football team. That’s not a knock to anyone we’ve played, but we’ve been in a position where we’ve had some advantages. This game is going to create a lot of challenges for us ‚Äìvery different from the challenges we’ve had before. Obviously the first game of the year, the challenge was the scheme. The second game of the year, the challenge was installing a new defense. This game is going to be a challenge because they’re a good football team.

Defensively, they’re fast, they’re physical, they’re aggressive and they’ve got a lot of returners. They’ve got some veterans on the back end and the safety, [D.J.] Ford, does a really good job for them, he’s a veteran and has played a lot of football. You can tell in his performance that he’s a veteran. These guys run to the ball, they strike. They do a phenomenal job of getting the ball out. We’ve over-emphasized that they put an emphasis on getting the ball out. Whether that’s attacking the ball in the air for interceptions, or ripping the ball out from the runner. Obviously we’ve got an issue with that and we’ve got to continue to talk about it and get it corrected. But something that’s an issue for us, is a positive for them, so we’ve got to be aware of it. Probably the best that I’ve seen all year as far as getting the ball out, or trying to get the ball out with a purpose. Obviously I don’t think that their record is very indicative of their team. They’re 0-2, but when you turn on the film, it’s not an 0-2 football program.So, our guys are aware of the challenge. With that, we’ve got to

make sure that it comes back to us. It doesn’t matter who we play, we’ve got to prepare very well and then we’ve got to go execute on Saturday. I think having them here at the Joan is going to help and hopefully the crowd can make it really difficult for them to hear and hopefully we can get a couple of penalties because they can’t hear the snap count, which would really give us an advantage. We’re excited about the challenge, but we fully understand what we’re walking into.

On the symmetry of playing East Carolina:

The one thing about Marshall is that you don’t have to remind these guys about the history and the tradition, they’re very aware. Out of all the places I’ve been, our current players have a better understanding of the overall history of this place, probably better than anywhere I’ve been, which is a good thing. So you don’t have to talk about the significance, they fully understand it. Will we recognize it in our ceremonial-type deals? Absolutely. But at the end of the day, the best way that we can honor those young Thundering Herd is to go out there and have a really good week of preparation. Come out on Saturday and execute really well and play with a focus and intensity that ECU can’t match for 60 minutes. That’s the best way to honor those guys, and that’s not by any means, I hope anybody doesn’t take that as me pushing it off to the side. If you want to honor somebody, honor them through your actions and that’s what we have an opportunity to do and we’ll be prepared to do that.