WKU Hilltoppers College Football Pregame Quote, 10/07/2019

Looking back at the Old Dominion win, I thought it was a great team win. We talked to our guys all week about having an edge to them, on the road, making sure that we do all the things to go out there and win a football game. I thought we had a good team win though. We got off to a slow start, but then we got a turnover with [Ta’Corian Darden] there that gave the ball to the offense and then I felt like, after that, the momentum was in our favor. So, it was a great win on the road and going into this week, we have a great opponent, playing against Army, ought to be a great atmosphere. Really good football team, facing an offense – the triple option – that we haven’t seen and that’s always hard to defend. And obviously it limits your possessions offensively, so we have to make the most of our possessions. But I know our kids will be really excited to play this game back at home.

On how WKU is going to prepare for Army’s offense:

I think your mindset goes to – from a defensive standpoint – how do you position your best players? I think about DeAngelo Malone or Juwuan Jones and what are their best skill-traits? And how do you utilize them to face the triple option? How do you position your linebackers? Because you’re facing something you don’t ever see. The biggest thing for our defense is to make sure to get to 2nd & long situations, you need a 2nd & 8 or 9. This offense is built on three or four-yard gains. It’s a long, slow death if they’re consistent on that. So we have to do that and stretch the ball laterally. Don’t let them get anything inside, stretch it laterally, don’t let them get those three or four-yard gains. Then offensively, you’re limited in your possessions, you’re not going to get as many snaps. When you start to think about game-planning and how you’re going to attack them, some of those plays are limited, you just don’t have as many chances. So, what puts you in the best position? And what are the best plays? Because you’re just not going to get that many plays.

On the WKU defense preparing for another challenge:

Again it’s another great test for us defensively. I think they’ve had different tests every week, different challenges every week, and it’s just another great challenge for them. It’s something they haven’t seen a lot of, so they’ll need to be ready. And Army is going to make their plays and they’re going to make it a good football game, but we have to be able to position ourselves defensively where we can limit their explosive plays – just can’t give them anything easy… In the spring, we actually designated 10 minutes every day of practice for that. Same thing in fall camp, we designated a whole period, so that was about 15 minutes per practice. So, our guys have gotten a lot of reps just to prepare for it because there’s so much you have to be ready for, you can’t just install it in game week. There’s a lot of retention there for what we’re about to do tomorrow, so they understand the calls and they understand what they need to be in. That has helped a lot for our defense.

On scouting the Black Knights and their strengths:

When you play a team like Army, I think they do everything perfect. They never make mistakes, they’re always in the right position. Talent-wise, they’re about the same talent as we are – you have a couple really good players and then everybody else is just a bunch of hard-nosed grinders. And that’s the beauty of college football, because if everybody’s doing their job, doing what they’re supposed to do, you’re going to be a good football team. They’ve shown that over and over and over again. From a talent standpoint, we match up, so it really comes down to how well you run your scheme and how well you execute the calls that are made. Those are the things that decide the football game, it won’t be because a player was more talented than the other player.