South Alabama Jaguars College Football Pregame Quote, 10/10/2022

Obviously, it was good for us to take advantage of a bye-week opportunity. I told the guys this morning that recovery [is important], which is what some of our guys needed especially when you play as physically as we do over the first five games. Some guys had some bangs and bruises that needed recovery, while other guys needed to be pushed just to add the depth that we need offensively, defensively and on special teams. There may be a young guy that we’re going to get four games out of on special teams before he takes his redshirt. All those things in recovery are an opportunity to take advantage of, but if you don’t take advantage of recovery, it can be a liability. Those are things we have to be very mindful of this week.

As our guys came into the building [this morning] I saw a football team that was very energetic, very hungry and had the mentality that we want to start the week with, and that was really encouraging to see.

We’re excited to be at home. Homecoming is a special opportunity for a university to reflect on some of the things you’ve done in the past and honor those that have come before you. Yet at the same time, it’s an opportunity to look ahead at what our future shows. It’s a special time, but ultimately at the end of the day our process continues. If we’ll continue to stay at that, I feel we’re going to be excited about the outcome.

On the importance of the two games in a six-day span coming up beginning with ULM on Saturday and Troy the following Thursday:

You talk about those two games in a six-game span and I’m glad we get that opportunity. You talk about [the last home game] Louisiana Tech and we were able to show that we were able to answer the bell after a very tough loss on the road after two really tough road games back-to-back. I think to say [coming off the win at Louisiana] was an emotional victory where we were able to win at the end, and because of what that game has meant to this program. We were able to execute in an intense situation and coming off a bye week, I think gives us another opportunity to respond. We didn’t play our best football against Louisiana, and I think our guys are very aware of that. There’s something to be gained from responding after an emotional win and recognizing that we need to get better at our process, and make sure that we show up with more consistency than what we did particularly in the first half against Louisiana.

We’re going to walk in here every single week and if we continue to take care of business, we’re going to say that these next games are important, because they are. When you start winning at a high level, every game becomes vitally important because the standard has been set. Behind closed doors, those expectations are very high when everyone’s head hits the pillow. We’re not going to talk about those things publicly in the building and in the program, but I’m certainly aware of the implication of what every win will mean moving forward.

I’m glad to be able to do this at home; I feel it’s a huge advantage for us as we geared up for this next 10-day stretch.

On the ULM game last season and the corrections made:

You look at the ULM game a year ago, and we built that game out to be so much, because of the fact that I had gone there before as the defensive coordinator here and I thought we played a very flat game. We did a lot to try to get ourselves in position to execute at a high level and go out and respond. Their place can be a tough place to play sometimes for a number of different reasons and we just didn’t handle it well. We let them take the momentum. I thought it was our worst game of the season from an execution and adjustment standpoint, particularly on defense. I thought [ULM] had a really good plan, and I don’t think we adjusted very well to that plan.

When you look at those things in the offseason, you take quite a bit of time addressing how we are going to deal with what we’ve put on film and how we got exposed in that game. I feel we’ve addressed some of those things and we’ve shown some of the ways we might continue to deal with a certain style of offense. They have changed a little bit of their personality from where they were a year ago, but they also present some other challenges that we have to be aware of. I feel really good about the versatility of our defense. I feel like we’re in a position where if you want to spread it out and go fast, we have answers for that. If you want to load the box and try to establish the run and the play-action game, we’ve got some good answers for that as well. Ultimately, those things come down to execution and I certainly feel that we are trending in the right direction when you look at what we’ve done over the last few weeks.

On what makes ULM head coach Terry Bowden tough to game-plan against:

One, Terry hires good coaches. He’s got experienced coaches on both sides of the ball and had the same thing a year ago as well. They had coordinator changes [in the offseason] but you can tell that he’s gotten guys who’ve been in big moments and know how to adjust and execute. We have a very similar recipe [with our staff]. You look at the successes and adversities that [offensive coordinator] Major Applewhite and [defensive coordinator] Korey Batoon have worked through, that’s a big deal. Coaches who know how to adjust and who have been in those moments and that experience is a big advantage that both staffs have to fall back on.

On the other side, you also recognize what you do well as a program and you take advantage of the things you do well and you try to play that style of game that is going to feature the aspects that you want to feature within your offense, defense or special teams. You can tell that [ULM] is very well aware of that, and at the same time with them being an experienced staff, they are also aware of what the opponent does well.

We ask ourselves the question every week ‘What is this team going to do to beat us? How do they win this football game against us?’ We look at those things and address those needs accordingly. It’s also important to create that vision for your players as well. Here’s what we do. We stay focused on our standard, but how does this team come in here and beat us? We have to be mindful of that.

On self-evaluation as a staff:

One of the advantages to a bye week, particularly on the front half of the season or not quite at the half-way point is what we’re able to do in terms of self-scouting reports. There are going to be certain tendencies that we’ve shown, whether it is formation, down-and-distance, field zone, what we do with certain personnel packages on the field that we have to be aware of and have shown through the first five games. We have to make sure we break up some of those tendencies a little bit. It’s nice to have a bye week and can help in terms of what you have to do moving forward. Inevitably, teams coming off a bye week will have some wrinkles that your next opponent is going to have to deal with, so that’s a positive for us.

As we reflect on what we’ve been doing, I feel that we have a lot of good answers. If a team does ‘x’, we do ‘y’ and/or ‘z’. I feel that we’ve answered pretty well throughout games based on what we’re seeing from other teams. Frankly, the only other thing you look at is how are you starting the game? Is the game plan that you had one that works well? I think we’re answering those questions with consistency. From a standpoint of how we’re calling the game and how we’re preparing, and how we are using analytics to be as aggressive as we are in certain areas, we feel like those are moving in the right direction.