Neal Brown Press Conference - South Alabama Game

Troy Head Coach Neal Brown

Opening Statement…

"Thank you guys for being here and covering us every week. There are a lot of places you could be and a lot of teams to be covering, so we appreciate y'all being here. Big Homecoming win over Georgia State. Their record doesn't show it right now, they are going to get some wins, but that is a good football team. That is a team that has 18 of their 22 starters back from a bowl team last year. They have a lot of really good athletes and they are rally close to putting it together. We have a lot of respect for what Trent (Miles) has done with that program and the way that he handles his team.

Special teams, we won the field position battle by 18 yards. That was a huge key of the game. Our snappers Justin Fuller and Taylor Polk did a great job. We had a big kickoff return right after they scored their second touchdown that we got a field goal out of. We stole a possession with a fumble recovery on the kickoff. Ryan Kay, much deserved Sun Belt Player of the Week this week, did a great job with his field goals. He also did a great job punting. He should have had a ball down inside the 2-yard line, but we didn't do a good job covering it.

Defensively, we gave up too many big plays in the passing game. We did a poor job on third and long. We have done a really nice job being consistent with our third down defense all year, but we let some third and longs get away from us in that game and we have to get that fixed. The positives, we forced three turnovers. They rushed for 1.5 yards per carry and I think it would have been right around a yard per carry of they didn't get that big run on the quarterback scramble in that final drive. We had three sacks and created a lot of pressure. We had a lot of solid hits on the quarterback.

Offensively, the negatives are we did not play very well in the run game. I thought we were undisciplined at running back and at offensive line. We have to perform better than that. We averaged around three yards per carry, and if we are going to run the ball as much as we did, we have to do a better job in that aspect. We didn't have very many explosive plays. We just didn't get down the field. We didn't have a single explosive run. We also have to score touchdowns in the red zone, I know we faced some adversity there. The positives are we controlled the clock and we got a lot of snaps. The first drive of the game Georgia State didn't get the ball until right around the six-minute mark. That was a 21 play drive to open the game up. That set the tone for the entire game. We also took advantage of our turnovers, whether that was special teams or something the defense created.

Overall, we are 3-0 in the conference, that's what we were hunting. That was the goal last week and we achieved that. We overcame adversity, which I think speaks to our football team. We got behind in the third quarter, things were going poorly, and we found a way to get it back on track and win the game. Turnover margin we win 3-1, and then we made plays on special teams that created scoring opportunities for us.

Moving on to South Alabama, this is a huge opportunity for us to play on Thursday night in a nationally televised game on ESPNU. We didn't have this opportunity a year ago and it was something we felt slighted about. We have to take advantage of this. It is a rivalry game, and a trophy game. I think coach (Joey) Jones has done a great job at South building that program. They have two marquee wins for our conference, the win over Mississippi State on the road and a win over No. 19 in the country San Diego State.

Offensively, they have two dual threat quarterbacks. We will probably see both of them and both of them have played very well at different times this year. They both have the ability to run and pass. Their running back Xavier Johnson is really good. He hurt us and was really effective against us last year. The other two kids that play are effective as well. The best player, maybe in our conference is Gerald Everett, their tight end. He is probably the best NFL prospect in our league. He hurt us last year. He has made big plays. He is a big time player and I have a lot of respect for his game. I enjoy watching him play and he is a great football player. Their receiver Josh Magee is as fast as anyone in the league and they do a great job getting him the ball and creating opportunities down the field for him.

Defensively, Coach Wommack is the new defensive coordinator for them. He has completely changed what they are doing defensively. They are playing with an attitude and as hard as anyone we have played. They are aggressive and playing extremely hard. They are an active defense and are creating plays for their offense.

Special teams, Johnson, their running back is their returner. He has already taken one to the house this year and they do as good of a job with their punt team that we will see all year. They have two really good punters that they rotate through there.

We have our hands full and it is a game that we are excited about. We have an opportunity this week. We are facing some challenges on a short week, but they are facing the same challenges so no sympathy there. Our kids are looking forward to competing down in Mobile."

On preparing for quick turnaround…
"You plan for it, the schedule came out in March so we knew we were going to be playing on a short week, so we did a lot of homework and I talked to different coaches that have done this several times. We put together a plan we believe in that is going to allow us to be fresh first and then get enough preparation in. We worked some during the bye week on South, we spent some time in fall camp working on some things we assumed they would do. We couldn't work a whole lot because a new coordinator defensively so we'll get it, we'll get the work in. The biggest thing is making sure our guys are fresh, we played a physical game on Saturday – making sure their bodies are back in full speed on Thursday."

On Jordan Chunn…
"A lot of Chunn's hits came when he ran into our offensive line, so he didn't seem to get beat up a lot, but he's going to play, he came out of it fresh didn't have a ton of carries the week before and then coming off the bye week so he'll be ready to go. Josh Anderson deserves to play and some of those other running backs are ready to play and they need to have their number called, but he (Chunn) will bounce back. He did not play well and I think he will tell you that when you have an opportunity to talk to him. He did not play well in the game but that does not mean that we are going to stop giving him the ball. He's a load and I know he'll bounce back."

On getting a win on a rival field…
"Well it won't be for lack of effort, I'll say that but they are a good football team. I think they play better at home in league games then on the road. I think any time you go through the ebb and flow of the season, you are always going to have games where you play better, and I think the San Diego State collectively was the best game I've seen them play. They have played some really good football teams."

On South being a rivalry game…
"The rivalry piece of it I don't think you try to down play that because it is what it is. I think you should be 100 percent honest with your football team. I think that this age group sees right through when you're not being honest with them. I won't try to hide the fact that it is a rivalry game. A lot of these kids know each other, they played against each other in high school. They have a lot of Alabama and Florida kids and we have a lot of Alabama and Florida kids, so a lot of relationships on both squads. We've got one goal this week and that's to get to 6-1 this week and 4-0 in our conference. Our guys have to focus on getting their bodies fresh this week. We are going to be simple in our game plan, we don't want to put a whole lot on them because we don't have the practice time like we normally would."

On Jabir Frye…
"We have to do a better job on getting him the ball as a whole. As a coaching staff, that was something that was in our discussion yesterday. He's made plays when he's had the ball in his hands."

Neal Brown Press Conference - South Alabama Game

Players Mentioned

Josh Anderson

Jordan Chunn

Jabir Daughtry-Frye

Justin Fuller

Ryan Kay

Taylor Polk

Troy University Athletics