Troy University Athletics
Neal Brown Press Conference - Mississippi State Game
10/5/2015 4:14:00 PM | Football
Troy Football Head Coach Neal Brown
October 5, 2015 – Press Conference
Opening Statement
Good afternoon, not so good for the Troy Trojans. Still a little bit upset about our performance Saturday night. We had a great opportunity. I thought it was a great crowd and a great atmosphere. Our students turned out in a big number and I thought they were loud and stayed in the game. Bottom line is, we didn't take advantage of it. We made too many mistakes and we didn't play with enough attention to detail to win the game.
Special teams wise, I thought we did a lot of good things. We created a turnover, we got a big punt return and I thought we did a sound job in our protection units. In that aspect, special teams, we played good enough to win.
Defensively, we gave ourselves a chance. We limited what I thought was a pretty good rushing attack to 3.1 yards per rush and to 31 percent third downs. They hit us on a couple of big pass plays and we've got to make more competitive plays on the ball down field in our defensive backfield. I thought we played good team defense and got a lot of guys to the ball. In the second half, they continually gave the offense opportunities to take the lead.
Offensively, we didn't play good enough. We lacked discipline and lacked details. We won't win again if we play like that again at outside receiver and quarterback. I'm in charge of the offense and we didn't coach good enough. We didn't have a good enough plan, so at the end of the day it's on my shoulders.
I thought we made some strides on the offensive line, but the positives offensively were not very many. We had eight drops, nine negative runs and it is going to be tough to move the ball against anybody with those types of numbers.
Like it or not, we are going to move on and play a really good opponent this weekend in Mississippi State. Obviously, when you turn on the video they are what you expect when you talk about an upper echelon team out of the Southeastern Conference, a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country. I think they will be the most physical team we've played so far this year. We are very familiar with them. We played them twice and had two competitive games with them at Kentucky. It will be a tough environment, a lot of cowbells. They have renovated the stadium and it is a very good place to play.
Offensively it starts with their quarterback, Dak Prescott. He is a guy who I have watched mature over the last three years. He is a big, physical guy who is a really good runner. His accuracy has improved tremendously over his tenure as the starting quarterback. He has two really big guys to throw to on the outside, (De'Runnya) Wilson will be a tough matchup for us. Their leading receiver right now is Fred Ross. He is from Tyler, Texas and is a guy we really recruited hard at Texas Tech – good route runner, is physical and does a good job in the punt return game. They are playing really well on the interior of their offensive line, getting solid movement against some really good people like LSU and Texas A&M.
The running backs are running hard and I have a lot of respect for Dan Mullen as a play caller. I think he does a good job of getting people in position and setting edges. Very good offensively.
Their defensive coordinator is Manny Diaz. We've played against defenses led by him several times; he was the defensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee and was at Texas when I was at Texas Tech. They are really long and talented up front. If you look at them they are all 6-foot-4 plus across the front. Defensive tackle Chris Jones is as good as any player in the America at that position. They have two defensive ends (Ryan Brown and A.J. Jefferson) that are causing a lot of havoc. Their cornerback (Will) Redmond is playing with a lot of confidence in the back end.
The thing that sticks out to me is their biggest improvement over a year ago is in the secondary. They are playing at a high level in the secondary and are making plays on balls. They are experienced; they have played a lot of football.
Special teams wise, (Brandon) Holloway is a threat anytime on kick return and we have to know where he is at. Ross at punt return had some big plays in the punt return game. We'll have our hands full for sure.
How do you scheme against Dak Prescott
It's tough. It's tough whether your LSU, Troy or whoever is on their schedule. He is a matchup problem and that is why he was a Heisman contender last year. He is that same type of player. He might not be getting that same type of exposure this year, but I think he is playing at a higher level this year. Discipline, you have to play gap control, you have to know where he is at on passing situations. They do a good job of using formations – any time you run the quarterback, you have a chance to outnumber people and they do a good job of mixing up their formations and doing that.
Will you simulate the cowbells …
We've got some players from Mississippi and it is a big game for them to go back home. We have a couple coaches on the staff with a Mississippi background. We'll do some things through our system to emulate the cowbells. It's a loud environment; the crowd is right on top of you. They have done a good job of enclosing the stadium where the noise stays in there and they were gone last week, so they'll have big crowd that will be into the game.
On where to find some yards offensively …
They are going to make it tough. Against Mississippi State or whoever, I'm not necessarily concerned who we're playing, I'm concerned with us playing offense the way it should be played. I'm concerned with us doing the little things, whether it's throwing, catching, running. Whether it's our running back pressing the heels, the offensive line getting their eyes up, we're going to concentrate a lot on ourselves this week. That's no disrespect to Mississippi State because they are really good on defense, but at this point coming off that performance on Saturday night, I want to fix the things that we're not doing well. That starts with being more discipline and to be more detail oriented and to practice better.
What was the feeling in the locker room on Saturday …
They were disappointed and understanding that we missed an opportunity. It was down, as it should be. These guys put 365 days into 12 opportunities and when you don't perform as well as you want to it should hurt. If it doesn't hurt, you're not in it for the right reasons. It was dejected without question.
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October 5, 2015 – Press Conference
Opening Statement
Good afternoon, not so good for the Troy Trojans. Still a little bit upset about our performance Saturday night. We had a great opportunity. I thought it was a great crowd and a great atmosphere. Our students turned out in a big number and I thought they were loud and stayed in the game. Bottom line is, we didn't take advantage of it. We made too many mistakes and we didn't play with enough attention to detail to win the game.
Special teams wise, I thought we did a lot of good things. We created a turnover, we got a big punt return and I thought we did a sound job in our protection units. In that aspect, special teams, we played good enough to win.
Defensively, we gave ourselves a chance. We limited what I thought was a pretty good rushing attack to 3.1 yards per rush and to 31 percent third downs. They hit us on a couple of big pass plays and we've got to make more competitive plays on the ball down field in our defensive backfield. I thought we played good team defense and got a lot of guys to the ball. In the second half, they continually gave the offense opportunities to take the lead.
Offensively, we didn't play good enough. We lacked discipline and lacked details. We won't win again if we play like that again at outside receiver and quarterback. I'm in charge of the offense and we didn't coach good enough. We didn't have a good enough plan, so at the end of the day it's on my shoulders.
I thought we made some strides on the offensive line, but the positives offensively were not very many. We had eight drops, nine negative runs and it is going to be tough to move the ball against anybody with those types of numbers.
Like it or not, we are going to move on and play a really good opponent this weekend in Mississippi State. Obviously, when you turn on the video they are what you expect when you talk about an upper echelon team out of the Southeastern Conference, a team that was ranked No. 1 in the country. I think they will be the most physical team we've played so far this year. We are very familiar with them. We played them twice and had two competitive games with them at Kentucky. It will be a tough environment, a lot of cowbells. They have renovated the stadium and it is a very good place to play.
Offensively it starts with their quarterback, Dak Prescott. He is a guy who I have watched mature over the last three years. He is a big, physical guy who is a really good runner. His accuracy has improved tremendously over his tenure as the starting quarterback. He has two really big guys to throw to on the outside, (De'Runnya) Wilson will be a tough matchup for us. Their leading receiver right now is Fred Ross. He is from Tyler, Texas and is a guy we really recruited hard at Texas Tech – good route runner, is physical and does a good job in the punt return game. They are playing really well on the interior of their offensive line, getting solid movement against some really good people like LSU and Texas A&M.
The running backs are running hard and I have a lot of respect for Dan Mullen as a play caller. I think he does a good job of getting people in position and setting edges. Very good offensively.
Their defensive coordinator is Manny Diaz. We've played against defenses led by him several times; he was the defensive coordinator at Middle Tennessee and was at Texas when I was at Texas Tech. They are really long and talented up front. If you look at them they are all 6-foot-4 plus across the front. Defensive tackle Chris Jones is as good as any player in the America at that position. They have two defensive ends (Ryan Brown and A.J. Jefferson) that are causing a lot of havoc. Their cornerback (Will) Redmond is playing with a lot of confidence in the back end.
The thing that sticks out to me is their biggest improvement over a year ago is in the secondary. They are playing at a high level in the secondary and are making plays on balls. They are experienced; they have played a lot of football.
Special teams wise, (Brandon) Holloway is a threat anytime on kick return and we have to know where he is at. Ross at punt return had some big plays in the punt return game. We'll have our hands full for sure.
How do you scheme against Dak Prescott
It's tough. It's tough whether your LSU, Troy or whoever is on their schedule. He is a matchup problem and that is why he was a Heisman contender last year. He is that same type of player. He might not be getting that same type of exposure this year, but I think he is playing at a higher level this year. Discipline, you have to play gap control, you have to know where he is at on passing situations. They do a good job of using formations – any time you run the quarterback, you have a chance to outnumber people and they do a good job of mixing up their formations and doing that.
Will you simulate the cowbells …
We've got some players from Mississippi and it is a big game for them to go back home. We have a couple coaches on the staff with a Mississippi background. We'll do some things through our system to emulate the cowbells. It's a loud environment; the crowd is right on top of you. They have done a good job of enclosing the stadium where the noise stays in there and they were gone last week, so they'll have big crowd that will be into the game.
On where to find some yards offensively …
They are going to make it tough. Against Mississippi State or whoever, I'm not necessarily concerned who we're playing, I'm concerned with us playing offense the way it should be played. I'm concerned with us doing the little things, whether it's throwing, catching, running. Whether it's our running back pressing the heels, the offensive line getting their eyes up, we're going to concentrate a lot on ourselves this week. That's no disrespect to Mississippi State because they are really good on defense, but at this point coming off that performance on Saturday night, I want to fix the things that we're not doing well. That starts with being more discipline and to be more detail oriented and to practice better.
What was the feeling in the locker room on Saturday …
They were disappointed and understanding that we missed an opportunity. It was down, as it should be. These guys put 365 days into 12 opportunities and when you don't perform as well as you want to it should hurt. If it doesn't hurt, you're not in it for the right reasons. It was dejected without question.
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