Troy Getting Ready For Wisconsin
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Coach Neal Brown
Opening Statement…
Good afternoon, thanks to everyone for coming. It’s great to get win number one under my belt and under our belt. 1-1 overall and 1-0 at home, which I think is important. We’ve talked about the importance of winning at home and I was really pleased with the crowd we had. I thought they were loud, especially our students. We challenged them on Thursday and I thought they answered. I thought they were very well represented, I thought they were into the game and I thought they stayed. It was a good atmosphere, a good Saturday night atmosphere in college football.
Charleston Southern Recap…
I thought it was a quality win against a good FCS opponent. I was worried about them coming into the game; they’re unique in what they did on both sides. They run the triple option offensively, a lot of different motions and some unique motions. Defensively it was a system that you don’t see a whole lot in a 3-3 stack.
We got off to a quick start, which really enabled us to get off and hold that lead. We started 14-0, which any time you are playing a triple option team, I think that’s important because they want to run the ball first and they have less of a passing attack. We made them throw the ball a little more than they wanted to.
I was disappointed we didn’t put the game away. I counted four different opportunities in the first and second quarter. We had a chance to stretch that game to 21-point lead and we didn’t do that. I thought we could have put them away early. We went into half 21-9 and I thought we played better than what that score indicated.
Offensively some of the negatives, I thought we had too many penalties and not enough plays, which a lot of that has to do with third downs; there were some unique situations in the game also. Our communication wasn’t great. We’ve got to do better especially up front. Some positives we had 10 explosive plays. We averaged 6.7 yards per play, which two weeks now we’re well over six and a half yards per play, so if we continue to do that we’ll be in good shape. We had zero turnovers and were perfect in the red zone. Teddy Ruben was our offensive player of the week. He had six receptions, 89 yards, two touchdowns and a punt return for a touchdown. I’m excited for him; I saw where he was named Sun Belt Special Teams Student Athlete of the Week.
Defensively, the negatives first, we’ve got to be better on first down. We allowed too many yards running the ball, especially on first down and we’ve got to get off third and fourth down. We were improved from a week ago but we still have to do better, especially in some of those medium situations. Positives, we limited their big play, they only had three explosive plays. They were less than four yards per carry until we heavy subbed late in the fourth quarter, which was a point of emphasis. I thought we pressured their quarterback all night. I don’t think he ever felt comfortable in the game. Our defensive player of the game was William Lloyd, he had five tackles, one sack, one and a half tackles for loss and he had four other quarterback pressures. For two weeks in a row he’s played at a high level on defense. Tyler Roberts played really well too. Montres Kitchens bounced back from a subpar game and played at a high level.
Special teams wise there were some highs and lows. Obviously the negatives, we roughed the punter and gave them an extra possession and then Ryan (Kay) dropped the snap there, which led to their first touchdown. I thought our kickoff coverage was really good all night, Jed Solomon continues to do a great job with that. We had the punt return for a touchdown, which I think was the first time since 2010. Our special teams player of the week was Robert Johnson, who’s done a tremendous job for us. He’s on three units now and really set the tone with the kickoff cover running down.
The award we announced at halftime on Saturday, which you notice quite a difference in our sideline energy on Saturday. Corey McCullers an offensive lineman that we lost, a great kid, in a car accident. The Corey McCullers Spirit Award, Zach Branner won it the first week and then Kirk Kelley did a great job of sideline energy and he won it for the second week.
Wisconsin preview…
Wisconsin is about what you expect. They’re really well coached and they are big and physical. They’ve won a lot of football games; they are a top 25 team. I think they would probably be higher ranked, but they played Alabama, which may be the best team in the country, certainly up for debate.
Offensively they are balanced, they throw the ball a lot better than people give them credit for. They’ve got a quarterback in Joel Stave, who’s close to a lot of the Wisconsin records. They use a lot of different shift and motions. Their big bodies are a concern for us. They’re really big up front with their offensive line, they’ve got tight ends and fullbacks and it’s going to be a difficult matchup for us. They’ve got a running back in Corey Clement whose only played limited, didn’t play against Miami (OH), not sure about his status for our game, but he’s one of the better running backs in the country. They’ve got some other guys, if he doesn’t play, that are more than capable. Receiver Alex Erickson has done a good job on punt returns, he’s been their leading receiver, really gritty guys, he’s quick and does a good job of getting open versus man coverage.
Defensively they’ve got one of the top units in the country. I think they were fourth in the country last year in total defense. One of the top red zones and third down defenses last year. They finished fourth in the country and that’s with the Ohio State game where they didn’t play their best. Other than that if you look at their stats, they’re a little overwhelming. They’ve got a lot of guys that stick out. The safety, Caputo, number seven is one of the best secondary guys as far as coming down and putting his helmet on people that I’ve seen in a long time. He was named second team All-American preseason. They’ve got two outside linebackers, 47 and 58, that do a really good job of getting after the quarterback. They are really sound on special teams and they have one of the top kickers in the country. They’re a great team, we’re going to be tested it’s a good atmosphere and we’re looking forward to it. I think our guys are looking forward to going up to Madison on Saturday afternoon. It will be good to play an afternoon game.
On Jordan Chunn’s status…
I’ll talk about it more later in the week. He did sustain an injury and he’ll probably be doubtful going into this game.
On the offensive line…
It’s been up and down. They’ve been about like our offense as a whole. There has been some really good things and some things that we’ve got to work out. The two aspects that I was disappointed in this week were communication; I didn’t think our communication was that great and that starts with our center. I thought we played really high. We’ve got to get a better pad level, we’re playing against a defensive front this week that will attack you and they did a nice job even against an Alabama offensive line. I think we can play better, I expect more out of our experienced guys up front. I look forward to them playing better than they have so far.
On time of possession…
It’s misleading, but not when it’s as bad as ours is. I think there are some reasons behind that. On Saturday it was kind of a unique game as far as time of possession, we hit a bunch of big plays, we had the roughing the punter call. We had two unsportsman like penalties, one of them on a fourth down, where we were getting ready to go for it; it was fourth and less than a yard and we had that safety. The time of possession got skewed, that’s easily explainable when you’re playing against a triple option team and they’re running the clock down.
The first week is a little bit concerning to me. We’ve got to get better at third downs, that’s something that’s a point of emphasis. We were better in week two, still not good enough, but better. We can’t ask our defense to go out and play that many snaps against their offense. This will be very similar to North Carolina State, little bit more passing with their quarterback.
I do think it’s misleading, but not when it’s as low as ours is. I’m more concerned with our lack of plays. I’m really pleased with what we’re averaging yards per play, you know I think it’s 6.7 something like that for the season, but really disappointed with the number of snaps we’re getting.
