WKU Hilltoppers College Football Pregame Quote, 11/04/2019

Great opportunity coming up this week against Arkansas, play a really good SEC opponent. It would be great to go down there and have a great game and get a good win. Guys are looking forward to it. It’s the early game – 11 o’clock game -which is good, get up and get playing and get going. We’re looking forward to the challenge.

On playing against Arkansas:

To us, we’re excited about the opportunity. Every week you’re excited to play, it’s just an added bonus that it’s an SEC opponent and playing a Power 5 school. And if you can go down there and get a win, it says a lot about your program. Our staff and our guys are excited. I expect [Arkansas] to give us everything they’ve got. It’s going to be a great challenge for us, they’re a very talented and young football team. You do see where they have a lot of talent, though; they took Texas A&M to the stretch in Dallas and really had an opportunity to win that game. We’ll have our hands full, for sure, but our guys are very excited … We’ll have to play our best game, for sure, in all three phases to have an opportunity to win. But I think if we do that, we’ll be in the game and give ourselves a chance to win the game.

On playing on SEC Network:

Any time the WKU brand’s out there and everybody can see it, that’s a big thing. You’re able to be on a platform to put your best foot forward and show who you are. Our guys play with a chip on their shoulder, they want to move on to the NFL and keep their career going. And what a better way to do that than on a national level. So, they’re excited about that opportunity.

On if the message to the team changes after losing two in a row:

No, not at all. I do tell our football team that you’re evaluated by your full body of work. There’s a statement: “What you do in November, they remember,” you know. September’s come and gone, October’s come and gone, and down the stretch is kind of what you’re remembered for. I think everybody will look back on this football season and say this team played really hard and positioned themselves to go win games. What I’d like to have them say at the end of the year is this team finished strong, this team had a very successful year, a lot to be proud of, and accomplished a lot. When we look back at the end of this month, I hope we’re having those conversations. Now, is that going to be hard to do? There’s no question. But you have to love that challenge, the opportunity to go get some quality wins at the end of the season and position yourself to go to a bowl and go win a bowl, all those kinds of things. That’s something for our university, our program to be proud of, so we have to try to make that happen.

On how WKU will match up:

I love our football team, I love their attitude. [But Arkansas is] what an SEC talented team should be. They’re no different than a lot of the teams that I’ve played. They’re a talented football team, but talent does not decide who wins and loses a game. It’s all the things: field position, turnovers, being at the right place at the right time, doing your job, having momentum. Those are the things that win the game. The beauty of college football is, I don’t care who the most talented team is; if you do your job in all three phases and make the plays, you’re going to have an opportunity to win the game. Our team believes that, so we just have to keep that going. And if we carry that blueprint into Arkansas and we make that happen, we’ll be very happy.