North Texas Mean Green College Football Pregame Quote, 11/01/2022

On last week’s performance:

I was obviously proud of the group and the way they bounced back and had a great week of preparation. We went in and played our most complete game which I’ve been waiting to see. We made a lot of big plays in all three phases. Offensively, we started fast and put points on the board early, defensively played well early and special teams had some explosives and a huge turnover before half. It was complete and a great effort all night. It was a big win on the road.

On the team’s defensive performance:

Coach Bennett and his staff did a great job making adjustments in the second half and one of the key moments in the game, they had a big drive after half and we held them in the red zone and they missed a field goal, which was a huge momentum boost for us. Then they grinded it out the rest of the game. They played excellent and took coaching well and adapted and played hard.

We’ve had some good weeks of preparation – especially the last few. It starts there but we build that momentum and mentality throughout the week and making big time plays and the routine plays when they come to you. I felt like our guys did that this week.

On running back depth:

It’s obviously helped. Guys with experience and the depth is important. Isaiah was out this past week and Oscar goes down in the game and guys have to step up and will continue to have to step up. That’s been something at every position we’ve had to do. It’s no different than other guys. You look at Ridge (Texada) and how he’s stepped up this season. His time came and he was ready to go and has made a lot of big plays for us.

On potentially becoming bowl eligible this week:

It’s huge – getting bowl eligible. It all starts this week against FIU, and in order to reach our goals that we’ve set for ourselves, we have to win this Saturday and continue to stack them up. Our guys are well aware of what’s at stake. They’re hungry and have a chip on their shoulder and want to get better.

It’s about resetting and focusing on 1-0 this week. You’re in a playoff mentality. Each week is the next most important, and our focus right now is on FIU.