Troy University Athletics
Photo by: Kevin Glackmeyer
Troy Football Press Conference Transcript -- Western Kentucky Game
10/8/2012 3:40:00 PM | Football
Troy Head Coach Larry Blakeney
Opening Statement
It's always a little bit of a blink your eyes week when you don't play on Saturday. You get a chance to watch a bunch of games and get to do something other than coach or play football. We got back on the practice field Saturday morning, which let the coaches have a couple days to recruit and we got some work done there. Our prep week started on Saturday morning as far as our game week goes.
We've had good preparation. I think both staffs (offense and defense) are in sync with what we need to do and how we're going to go about it. It's a very difficult preparation because they do things pretty darn well and they got some players that do it.
Certainly, this is a huge game for us. We sort of failed against (Louisiana) Lafayette, but we're trying to get back to championship-caliber (football) and win a game that puts you there. This is a huge game for Troy. I'm not saying it's the only game and I'm not saying it's over if we lose it, because it's not. It's a game that could put us back in the race for the conference championship, put us a little bit closer to bowl qualification, and beat a team that's beat some pretty good teams. Hopefully we'll be at our best.
We've rested guys that need rest, that need to heal a little bit. We've got most of those guys ready to go, or they will be by Thursday night at 6:30 pm.
Willie Taggart has done a great job up there. He is a former player at WKU that has had some good experiences at other places, one of those being Stanford where he dealt with part of this offense that they're running now.
We've got to really prepare the defensive side of the ball well. We've got to line up and adjust, because they make you line up and adjust. Defensively, they're very simple and hard-nosed. They have got some great players up front, at linebacker, in the secondary, across the board, so we've got to really be at our best. Their kicking game is solid. They sort of took us to the shed kicking game-wise last year up there. So we've got plenty of motivation and hopefully we'll plan accordingly to give them our best shot.”
On the most difficult problem Western Kentucky presents to Troy
They're very deliberate. They shift and motion on offense. They kill a lot of time and they run the football well. About the time you get honed in on what they are doing, they hit you with the deep ball or try to hit you with the deep ball. They've always got a little bag of tricks that are usually effective if you're not paying attention.
On defense, they've got players. They don't worry about a whole lot about exotic defensives. They line up with a four-man front and put #4 (linebacker Andrew Jackson) in the middle. We got some things that we think we can do against them, but we've got to execute on offense and we cannot turn the ball over, period.”
If this week's game is a must win for the Trojans
It's certainly an important game. I have been here when the two-game loser won this conference. I don't think we can categorize it as a must win.
On playing a Thursday night game
“I think you've got to be positive about it. I've always liked them because it usually comes somewhere around the middle of the season and normally you've got a chance to give your kids a little boost rest-wise. Clear their minds a bit and let them go a week without traveling. We get more prep when we do this. Anybody that is fussing about it just wants to fuss.”
On physicality and size of Western Kentucky's offensive line
Same deal with North Texas. We're going to be out-weighed. It's going to be a physical game. They're going to make it a physical game.
Opening Statement
It's always a little bit of a blink your eyes week when you don't play on Saturday. You get a chance to watch a bunch of games and get to do something other than coach or play football. We got back on the practice field Saturday morning, which let the coaches have a couple days to recruit and we got some work done there. Our prep week started on Saturday morning as far as our game week goes.
We've had good preparation. I think both staffs (offense and defense) are in sync with what we need to do and how we're going to go about it. It's a very difficult preparation because they do things pretty darn well and they got some players that do it.
Certainly, this is a huge game for us. We sort of failed against (Louisiana) Lafayette, but we're trying to get back to championship-caliber (football) and win a game that puts you there. This is a huge game for Troy. I'm not saying it's the only game and I'm not saying it's over if we lose it, because it's not. It's a game that could put us back in the race for the conference championship, put us a little bit closer to bowl qualification, and beat a team that's beat some pretty good teams. Hopefully we'll be at our best.
We've rested guys that need rest, that need to heal a little bit. We've got most of those guys ready to go, or they will be by Thursday night at 6:30 pm.
Willie Taggart has done a great job up there. He is a former player at WKU that has had some good experiences at other places, one of those being Stanford where he dealt with part of this offense that they're running now.
We've got to really prepare the defensive side of the ball well. We've got to line up and adjust, because they make you line up and adjust. Defensively, they're very simple and hard-nosed. They have got some great players up front, at linebacker, in the secondary, across the board, so we've got to really be at our best. Their kicking game is solid. They sort of took us to the shed kicking game-wise last year up there. So we've got plenty of motivation and hopefully we'll plan accordingly to give them our best shot.”
On the most difficult problem Western Kentucky presents to Troy
They're very deliberate. They shift and motion on offense. They kill a lot of time and they run the football well. About the time you get honed in on what they are doing, they hit you with the deep ball or try to hit you with the deep ball. They've always got a little bag of tricks that are usually effective if you're not paying attention.
On defense, they've got players. They don't worry about a whole lot about exotic defensives. They line up with a four-man front and put #4 (linebacker Andrew Jackson) in the middle. We got some things that we think we can do against them, but we've got to execute on offense and we cannot turn the ball over, period.”
If this week's game is a must win for the Trojans
It's certainly an important game. I have been here when the two-game loser won this conference. I don't think we can categorize it as a must win.
On playing a Thursday night game
“I think you've got to be positive about it. I've always liked them because it usually comes somewhere around the middle of the season and normally you've got a chance to give your kids a little boost rest-wise. Clear their minds a bit and let them go a week without traveling. We get more prep when we do this. Anybody that is fussing about it just wants to fuss.”
On physicality and size of Western Kentucky's offensive line
Same deal with North Texas. We're going to be out-weighed. It's going to be a physical game. They're going to make it a physical game.
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