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Troy Football Press Conference (Blakeney) - Idaho Game
11/10/2014 3:29:00 PM | Football
Head Football Coach Larry Blakeney
Opening statement…
Always a lot better when you win. We've had a few of those days both ways and we know the difference. I appreciate the difference very much so. I don't know what kind of crowd we had but it was probably an enjoyable game to watch. The thing that stuck out for me as a coach was that we did not turn it over, and we got three turnovers. Our average starting point was somewhere around the 50-yard line, every possession. Our punter averaged 43.5, almost 44 yards. I talked to the team about this yesterday, there is a lot of hidden yardage that people never consider. All of that pooching and all that stuff that they have to do to because of number 16 (Chandler Worthy), nobody has thought about it. You know, it is good stuff and it is good for really great football fans to understand some of the things that go on. There are some good things that went on for us, certainly no turnovers and low penalties. I think we had three penalties, or so. Our kids are trying to be conscious of how they approach and how they engage defenders and holding and drive stopping penalties that kill you. We had one, I think. Many good things happened. I hope we can carry that forward for the next couple of games, because I think we will need to be the same way in Idaho and certainly against UL Lafayette at home, too. I'm really proud of the team. It was really enjoyable win. (Georgia State head coach) Trent Miles is a friend and I know he is struggling, because they have been so close before. They actually beat Abilene Christian by about the same that Abilene Christian beat us earlier in the year. I got to watch part of that game when they played them, but Trent and his offensive guy (Jeff Jagodzinski) and all those guys are good coaches. Georgia State is sitting there in a very fertile ground, as far as high school recruits, I'm sure they will do well as they establish themselves as they get their quality numbers up, because they know what they're doing.
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 In the same breath, I'm going to say the people we are facing this week do too. Certainly Coach (Paul) Petrino, he has been at a lot of different levels and has been successful. What I see on tape with them is kind of thing that we have seen at Arkansas and Western Kentucky: prolific offenses. You have to understand they are going to stretch you as best as they can with their passing game and try to get you to over adjust and then run the football. They are very well coached and very well schemed. We will not only have to deal with a long trip, and who knows what else. Snow? I'm trying to find a way to view the building we are going to play in. It is 50 miles away (from the team hotel) and there is probably going to be snow on the ground. So that was what I was hoping to do Friday. I'm not sure we will get that done. We will hopefully be blessed with good weather and not have any problems as far as traversing back and forth to Moscow to play.
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On how important the defensive game against Georgia State was heading to Idaho…
Well, any time you have a little success it breeds success, in my opinion. We did have a bunch of guys, and even Tyler Roberts played, I think he is okay, a lot of guys rushing the passer. We got some sacks. We got some turnovers, tackles for loss on the run, defeating the blocker and making them play. We played a lot of people. We've had to play a lot of people because of injuries. With Mark (Wilson) out at middle linebacker, of course and Tyler being out at the defensive end position and some other guys struggling with injuries as they mend them through the week and on game day. So, we will have that same type of situation this week in some cases, but not nearly as serious as we have had in the past. We have had some guys step up to the plate and accept the challenge of basically doing their job, playing within the defensive structure and making plays. There are a lot of guys that can do the first two, but not do the third one, because of ability. Some times you have to deal with that and live with that and hope a guy is going to show up his spot and force an issue for someone else if he can't. I think we got better. Hopefully we got better and hopefully we will prepare well this week. We got a little bit of a filled up week. We worked yesterday and we are off today and tomorrow is a holiday and there won't be much action going on here, I don't think. Then, we have to travel on Thursday. That doesn't leave a lot of hours to prepare and practice. So that is one bad thing about being across the country from each other. They have had to make trips and now we have to. Those things you mentioned are positive for our defense, I think.
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On playing in a dome…
Huge. That's huge. We have had one experience when we played on the frozen tundra, Montana. It was not a very good experience. Believe it or not, they put turf down. Can you believe that? I would have kept that old grass out there and played on it forever. It was a distinct advantage for them. You could tell they knew how to go about playing football on a frozen surface. I'm glad we are in a building. I don't know how high it is, or how wide it is, or how many it will hold, but I'm sure it's going to be loud. That is something you have to talk about and deal with. It shouldn't be a problem for us, because how we approach offense. So we will see. Hopefully we will be able to deal with it.
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On the trip affecting the game…
I think it might if you try and play within a 24-hour span. Administration has allowed us to go out there a day early to try to and get our feet on the ground and get acclimated a little bit. We won't be outside much. I hope the heater is working in the building. I would say we would be at a disadvantage if we had to deal with the weather as players. As far as folks getting back and forth I don't think we are at a disadvantage at that distance. Hopefully we won't let that bother us and we will move on and play, play our best.
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On moving to third all-time in Alabama history with 177 wins, passing Shug Jordan…
I didn't bring that (passing Shug Jordan in Alabama history) up to our players and I really didn't know it was the 100th opportunity to win here until after the game. I don't talk a lot about records, especially personal ones. It's a tremendous honor to be mentioned in the same breath with Ralph Shug Jordan, whether it's below him, tied with him, or above him, which now we are one win, in total wins, here more than coach had. He was a great man. He was a smart man, a very eloquent man and he was a war hero. Heck he coached basketball, baseball and football, I believe, at Auburn. Of course, I got in on the tail end of coach Jordan's career. I got to know him pretty well because I was still in town finishing school when he got sick. He was a really special person. It is an honor for me to be mentioned because of these numbers you're talking about.Â
Opening statement…
Always a lot better when you win. We've had a few of those days both ways and we know the difference. I appreciate the difference very much so. I don't know what kind of crowd we had but it was probably an enjoyable game to watch. The thing that stuck out for me as a coach was that we did not turn it over, and we got three turnovers. Our average starting point was somewhere around the 50-yard line, every possession. Our punter averaged 43.5, almost 44 yards. I talked to the team about this yesterday, there is a lot of hidden yardage that people never consider. All of that pooching and all that stuff that they have to do to because of number 16 (Chandler Worthy), nobody has thought about it. You know, it is good stuff and it is good for really great football fans to understand some of the things that go on. There are some good things that went on for us, certainly no turnovers and low penalties. I think we had three penalties, or so. Our kids are trying to be conscious of how they approach and how they engage defenders and holding and drive stopping penalties that kill you. We had one, I think. Many good things happened. I hope we can carry that forward for the next couple of games, because I think we will need to be the same way in Idaho and certainly against UL Lafayette at home, too. I'm really proud of the team. It was really enjoyable win. (Georgia State head coach) Trent Miles is a friend and I know he is struggling, because they have been so close before. They actually beat Abilene Christian by about the same that Abilene Christian beat us earlier in the year. I got to watch part of that game when they played them, but Trent and his offensive guy (Jeff Jagodzinski) and all those guys are good coaches. Georgia State is sitting there in a very fertile ground, as far as high school recruits, I'm sure they will do well as they establish themselves as they get their quality numbers up, because they know what they're doing.
Â
 In the same breath, I'm going to say the people we are facing this week do too. Certainly Coach (Paul) Petrino, he has been at a lot of different levels and has been successful. What I see on tape with them is kind of thing that we have seen at Arkansas and Western Kentucky: prolific offenses. You have to understand they are going to stretch you as best as they can with their passing game and try to get you to over adjust and then run the football. They are very well coached and very well schemed. We will not only have to deal with a long trip, and who knows what else. Snow? I'm trying to find a way to view the building we are going to play in. It is 50 miles away (from the team hotel) and there is probably going to be snow on the ground. So that was what I was hoping to do Friday. I'm not sure we will get that done. We will hopefully be blessed with good weather and not have any problems as far as traversing back and forth to Moscow to play.
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On how important the defensive game against Georgia State was heading to Idaho…
Well, any time you have a little success it breeds success, in my opinion. We did have a bunch of guys, and even Tyler Roberts played, I think he is okay, a lot of guys rushing the passer. We got some sacks. We got some turnovers, tackles for loss on the run, defeating the blocker and making them play. We played a lot of people. We've had to play a lot of people because of injuries. With Mark (Wilson) out at middle linebacker, of course and Tyler being out at the defensive end position and some other guys struggling with injuries as they mend them through the week and on game day. So, we will have that same type of situation this week in some cases, but not nearly as serious as we have had in the past. We have had some guys step up to the plate and accept the challenge of basically doing their job, playing within the defensive structure and making plays. There are a lot of guys that can do the first two, but not do the third one, because of ability. Some times you have to deal with that and live with that and hope a guy is going to show up his spot and force an issue for someone else if he can't. I think we got better. Hopefully we got better and hopefully we will prepare well this week. We got a little bit of a filled up week. We worked yesterday and we are off today and tomorrow is a holiday and there won't be much action going on here, I don't think. Then, we have to travel on Thursday. That doesn't leave a lot of hours to prepare and practice. So that is one bad thing about being across the country from each other. They have had to make trips and now we have to. Those things you mentioned are positive for our defense, I think.
Â
On playing in a dome…
Huge. That's huge. We have had one experience when we played on the frozen tundra, Montana. It was not a very good experience. Believe it or not, they put turf down. Can you believe that? I would have kept that old grass out there and played on it forever. It was a distinct advantage for them. You could tell they knew how to go about playing football on a frozen surface. I'm glad we are in a building. I don't know how high it is, or how wide it is, or how many it will hold, but I'm sure it's going to be loud. That is something you have to talk about and deal with. It shouldn't be a problem for us, because how we approach offense. So we will see. Hopefully we will be able to deal with it.
Â
On the trip affecting the game…
I think it might if you try and play within a 24-hour span. Administration has allowed us to go out there a day early to try to and get our feet on the ground and get acclimated a little bit. We won't be outside much. I hope the heater is working in the building. I would say we would be at a disadvantage if we had to deal with the weather as players. As far as folks getting back and forth I don't think we are at a disadvantage at that distance. Hopefully we won't let that bother us and we will move on and play, play our best.
Â
On moving to third all-time in Alabama history with 177 wins, passing Shug Jordan…
I didn't bring that (passing Shug Jordan in Alabama history) up to our players and I really didn't know it was the 100th opportunity to win here until after the game. I don't talk a lot about records, especially personal ones. It's a tremendous honor to be mentioned in the same breath with Ralph Shug Jordan, whether it's below him, tied with him, or above him, which now we are one win, in total wins, here more than coach had. He was a great man. He was a smart man, a very eloquent man and he was a war hero. Heck he coached basketball, baseball and football, I believe, at Auburn. Of course, I got in on the tail end of coach Jordan's career. I got to know him pretty well because I was still in town finishing school when he got sick. He was a really special person. It is an honor for me to be mentioned because of these numbers you're talking about.Â
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