Southern Miss Golden Eagles College Football Pregame Quote, 09/09/2019

On the Mississippi State game:

After watching film, it was a hard-fought game. Like I said in the dressing room to the kids, I was proud of their fight. Early in the first quarter, the offenses on both sides controlled the tempo. Give Mississippi State credit, they went down and scored twice. Offensively we drove the ball twice in the first quarter inside the 20- and 25-yard line and we came up with nothing. When you look at the tale of the tape of the game, going in, even if we had gotten 10 points out of those two drives, we could’ve possibly gotten into a game where late we had a chance. It was 28-7, it could’ve been 28-17 and then 31-17, we get the two-point conversion, it could’ve been 31-26. Coulda, woulda, shoulda. The reality is we didn’t. We didn’t tackle well at times. It’s a critical third down where they converted where we certainly had our opportunity to get them down. But I did like our fight. When it got to be 31-15 and we had the ball, I was hoping we might make it interesting. It just wasn’t our day. Give Mississippi State all the credit, their running back ran the ball tremendously hard and well. Kylin Hill was outstanding on Saturday. Certainly, they deserved the win.

On the offensive line:

They played well. We’re getting better and better. When we ran the ball, we ran it effectively. We ran the ball well, I felt like they pass blocked well. If you look at it statistically, and I really go back to the first quarter, I felt like the offenses came out hot on both sides. We were driving the ball and they were driving the ball, but they got 14 points and guess what, football is about scoring points; we got zero and they got 14. If you looked at the drives and statistically how we moved the football was pretty well. We just didn’t convert early and then we got ourselves in a hole. We fought back out in the third and early fourth quarter. We turned the ball over a few too many times late right there, which wasn’t good, but I thought they played pretty well. It wasn’t a bad day offensively; we just didn’t do as well in the red zone as we would’ve liked.

On the running game:

Right now, (Kevin) Perkins is at running back; De’Michael (Harris) got a few carries and did a good job. We’re growing and we’re running the ball well. We really are. When we ran it, we ran it effectively. We threw the ball effectively. We missed a few shots, but I knew it would be a tough game. Mississippi State went to the Outback Bowl last year, they’re a good football team. We knew they were a good football team. I really felt like, had we been able to get a little something going a little early, we could’ve made it very interesting game in the fourth quarter. We got behind a little bit early and it kind of snowballed on us.

On Troy:

They’ve played one game and they played well. They’ve got a large share of their football team back from last year. We know we’re playing another good football team that will be the tale of the tape for us every week. They’re doing a great job, they’re talented at all of the skill positions, good up front on both sides of the ball, so we know we’ve got a tough opponent.

Connections with Troy:

Football and sports are kind of like that period in college sports, there’s so much interconnection through coaches and athletic administration and everybody else. It’s just part of the game. Especially when you’re in a region like the southeast region, you’re going to have coaches that have crossed paths at different schools or with other coaches. There’s a constant intertwining in the southeast. Usually when you look over on the other sideline there will be familiar faces you know and familiar guys that you’ve worked with. That’s pretty commonplace. I’ve known Chip [Lindsey] and of course there’s guys on that staff that we all know, and they know quite a few of our guys. Coaching is a small fraternity when it gets down to it; everybody kind of knows everybody.

On Troy having only played one game:

It’s always difficult [playing a team that has only played one game]; you have to look at a lot of different things. There’s not one method to it, you have to look at a lot of different scenarios and prepare the best you can, but it’s certainly always tough.

On Troy Coach Chip Lindsey’s style:

Chip [Lindsey] is an excellent football coach and he does a great job offensively so he’s going to keep you balanced and defensively we’ve got to have a great day and offensively too. He’s doing a great job there and they’re an outstanding football team offensively and defensively. We know we’ve got a big challenge.

On the upcoming schedule:

We’re going to count these poker chips up at the end of the day when Thanksgiving hits. It’s the biggest game because it’s the next game, and in football if you address it any other way, I think you’re in serious trouble. You’ve just got to move onto the next game. With our schedule we know every game is going to be a tough opponent.

Coach’s Picks for Players of the Week:

Offensively, we went with Jordan Mitchell [for our player of the week]. He’s had good back-to-back weeks and he had a good game Saturday. Defensively, Delmond Landry was our player of the week. Special teams wise, it was Hayes Maples.

On Jack Abraham and offensive opportunity:

He played well. The last couple drives we had a couple picks. We’ve got to protect the ball. We were down in their territory in the early first quarter and we fumbled and then we had a missed field goal. We’ve just got to protect the ball. I don’t even count the last pick, we just got to make something happen and we were trying to make something happen quick. It’s not all Jack’s fault either. He played well and threw the ball well. We did some good things at wide out and at running back. We want to stick it in the end zone when we get down to the 20 or the 25.

On team morale:

These guys will fight. We’re going to fight. We got beat and we accept that, and Mississippi State deserves it, we always get what we deserve as a football team. The positive lining is that there’s always a few plays here or there early in the game, next thing you know you’ve given yourself an opportunity and a chance to win it. Football is football; it’s a funny game. The ball certainly didn’t bounce our way and at times you’ve got to give Mississippi State credit because we missed some tackles and they ran through and made things happen and they deserve the W. There are some positives coming out of the game for sure. I thought we played well on our defensive line, I thought those guys played extremely well. I don’t know that we played that well in the back seven as we should have, but up front we were pretty physical and at times pretty dominant, but our back seven didn’t play as well as they should have.