South Alabama Jaguars College Football Pregame Quote, 09/12/2022

Saturday was a great road win for our team. In the past, our program has struggled getting on a plane and executing at a high level consistently on the road, especially going against a team which has really established their program with physicality and toughness like Central Michigan. To beat a team at their own game and just the way that we were able to play physically at the line of scrimmage and control that aspect on both sides of the ball for the entirety of the game allowed us to do some things in the passing game offensively. It also allowed us to play very fast on the backend defensively, and I certainly thought our special teams showed up and made a play to immediately get the ball back for our offense, so that we could continue our momentum [after our second score].

I think we are improving in a lot of areas, particularly on the offensive line. We’ve had a number of guys over the last two weeks who have gotten to play and we feel like we have more depth at that position. We are certainly more talented and have a better understanding of what we are trying to accomplish. Match that with the running back corps, which is headlined by La’Damian Webb, and we’re doing some very good things there.

I was very impressed with [quarterback] Carter Bradley and the steps he took forward from game one to game two. I thought he was more in sync with what we were trying to accomplish with our game plan. He did a really good job of managing our offense, and also took advantage of some opportunities that [CMU] gave him to showcase his talent, which is quite vast.

Like I said, I think we’re moving in the right direction, but certainly I feel that our best football is ahead of us when you peel back the layers and watch the film of the things we need to get corrected moving forward.

On what it’s like to see the game plan executed early on the way it was on Saturday:

You look at the way we were able to come out efficiently on offense and move the ball down the field. We’re second in the country right now in time of possession, and you don’t do those things if a couple of things don’t happen; one you’re not able to run the football effectively and if you’re not efficient with your drives. That means that you’re staying on schedule on first second downs and getting yourself in third-and-manageable situations.

You also have a defense that was able to get the ball back for our offense very quickly. They were 0-for-7 on third down in the first half and really struggled to get a first down for a majority of the first three quarters, outside of a couple of big plays that we gave up. Those are some of the things we need to get cleaned up immediately in order to get to where we want to be defensively. We had a couple of ‘bad eyes’ early in the game that gave them an opportunity to score, but I felt the response from our sideline was tremendous. To watch some of the guys like Carter Bradley, who is starting to establish himself as a vocal leader on our team, along with James Jackson, La’Damian Webb on offense and defensive players like ‘Q’ [Quintin] Wilfawn and ‘Bubba’ [Wy’Kevious] Thomas, James Miller and Jalen Jordan, I feel like we have a group of guys who are just resetting the expectation of this program. That is starting to show up on our sideline on game days to this point.

On what he can take from the road success from the CMU game heading into the UCLA game:

There’s an expectation of physicality that we bring to the table every day. I think our guys feel comfortable adjusting to the speed on game day. We have quite a bit of speed in practice that we go against every day in practice, so our guys are adjusting to that well on game days. This is now two weeks in a row where we’ve faced a defense that has come out in a different defensive look that we’ve anticipated based on what they had shown on film. It was really exciting to watch Carter, along with [offensive coordinator] Major [Applewhite] adjust to some of those things. From a run game standpoint, I thought we did a little bit better job of adjusting to some of the things that we wanted to do in the run game. We’ll continue to work on those things as we move forward.

On Central Michigan going for it on fourth down in the first half:

I think [CMU head coach Jim McElwain] felt the momentum shift and that probably part of the mindset of going for it on fourth down, particularly earlier than they had done against Oklahoma State. The analytics tell you when you’re down 24 points, especially in the second quarter, that you’re going to have to start becoming more aggressive. It was pretty fun to watch our defense in those situations where we held them to 1-of-4 on fourth downs and stifled them on third down. You’re able to do that because you’re able to execute situationally and then also because we were able to get them behind the chains on first and second down. They were never able to establish a run game.

On being able to balance the experience of this upcoming trip with the knowledge that there is a job to do:

When you go on the road to a place that you aren’t accustomed to in any fashion, it’s going to be a different environment. That’s what was exciting about this past weekend. We have to take some of that momentum into this week. Certainly, Mount Pleasant [Mich,] and Los Angeles [Calif.] are very different places, but ultimately the expectation is to just do your job on the road. I feel going out [to UCLA] a day early gives us the opportunity to do some of the ‘site-seeing’ things. We’re going to let our guys see the Pacific Ocean and let them tour the Rose Bowl a day early so that they get a feel for what that’s going to look like. We’re going to give them a chance to get some of those types of things out of their system, so that by the time we get to Friday, we’re really operating with a ‘business as usual mindset’. We’re fortunate to be a morning practice team, so on Thursday before we leave, we’re going to be able to get all the normal things done, so that it’s an easy transition of travel.

On keeping the players focused Saturday after getting out to the 31-7 lead:

I think this program hasn’t established itself consistently enough on level yet to where our guys are comfortable with what we do in one, two or three quarters, or a half for that matter. I feel our guys are getting a taste of what it feels like to physically dominate someone, to out-execute someone, and I feel I saw a group in the second half that continued to strive to better themselves and our team. You get off to a lead and it’s easy to take your foot off the gas, but the way Major was calling things offensively and the aggressiveness our defense was playing with [was good to see]. We didn’t score as much in the second half, and in the fourth quarter we rotated some guys and gave up some plays, but in the third quarter, we came out humming and that was encouraging to see.

On the success of the Sun Belt teams on Saturday:

I thought it was a tremendous effort by our league. You look at what Marshall, App State and Georgia Southern were able to accomplish. Some of those coaches are friends and guys I’ve grown to respect. We’ve talked about it a lot, but the Sun Belt Conference is working to establish itself as the premier conference in Group of 5 football right now, and it’s pretty hard to argue that there is anyone else at the Group of 5 level playing any better. Hopefully as we continue to navigate through this non-conference schedule, we’ll be able to showcase what our league is about.

On if he utilizes what another team in the Sun Belt did heading into a game against a Power 5 opponent:

I like our matchup this week. I like the demeanor of our team and our program, along with the talent and depth we bring in certain areas. We talk about ‘expectation’ being more powerful than ‘belief’. What I mean by that is ‘belief’ is something that Disney sports movies are made out of; believing you can be in a situation and accomplishing that situation. Expecting to be in big moments and producing in big moments is what we’re going to be more focused on this week. I don’t really want to point to what this team did, you can do this too. I don’t think that’s needed. We have what we have and I feel our best is good enough to go compete with anyone I see on our schedule this season.

On his biggest concern personnel wise from what he’s seen on film from UCLA:

When you look at their defense, they have some guys up front who are very ‘twitchy’ in terms of their pass rush. We have to win our one-on-one matchups. We have to be smart about putting ourselves in position to protect Carter, so that we can do some of the dynamic things that we do in the passing game. From a defensive standpoint, you have a very experienced quarterback in Dorian Thompson-Robinson. What he’s been able to accomplish with his feet is certainly something. We cannot allow him to take over the game and extend plays and drives with his feet.

Zach Charbonnet, their running back, has tremendously improved from where he was when he was at Michigan. We went against him my last year at Indiana and watching him from that point to where he is now, I feel he’s done a tremendous job. Hats off to [UCLA head coach] Chip Kelly and his staff for maximizing him. He’s a down-hill, decisive back who has some real speed. Those two guys out of the backfield are ones that we need to limit.