Neal Brown Press Conference - Texas State Game

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Opening Statement…
"It is a great time of the year and we are grateful for a lot of things, probably none more so than the opportunity to go out and redeem ourselves from Thursday night. I want to say a big thank you to our fans. Setting the home attendance record was huge. Our students were here early and stayed throughout most of the game. They probably had a little more patience than I would have. I appreciate them.

I was pretty blunt about it after the game, and not much has changed. We played poorly in all stages of the game. I credit Arkansas State. They had a good plan and they executed it. Offensively, we had five turnovers. I don't think you are going to win any football game if you turn the ball over five times. I didn't do a good enough job having an offensive plan or getting our guys ready, so that's on me. Our attention to detail was poor and we didn't win any one-on-ones.

Defensively, we played well the first half and then we just didn't tackle in the second half. We had the running back in the backfield several times and allowed some explosive plays in the passing game.

Special teams gave them a fake punt that changed the whole momentum for the game. That happened because of a misalignment. We had a couple of errors in the return game as well. Probably our worst game we played on special teams. First time all season we played poorly for an extended period of time.

We had good meetings yesterday. I thought the coaches and players did a good job taking ownership of what went wrong and were accountable. I look forward to a good week of practice. We are 8-2 overall and 5-1 in the Sun Belt, so there is still a lot to play for. I am proud of this team's accomplishments and I know without a shadow of a doubt that we are going to bounce back. We are looking forward to getting back to practice today and preparing for Texas State.

Saturday afternoon Texas State was involved in a bus crash on the way to New Mexico State. So our thoughts and prayers are with them. I can understand how that completely takes your focus away from the game, so I'm sure they didn't put their best foot forward against New Mexico State and understandably so.

I think Everett Withers is one of the top defensive minds in the country. He goes back a long way and I have a lot of respect for him as a man and as a coach. He and his staff did a great job at James Madison. They had one of the most explosive offensives over the two years he was the head coach there. They are playing a lot of young guys and they are similar to what we were last year. They have played hard which is a credit to the staff. I think they are going to rebound. We are looking forward to getting to Texas and playing that matchup with the opportunity to be 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the league.
On offense it starts with Tyler Jones, the quarterback. He's gritty. He is a hard-nosed guy and the leader of the offense. They do a good job of getting the running back the ball in a lot of different ways.

Defensively, they have three down front, very similar to Appalachian State. They are active at linebacker and their corners have done a nice job in our league. The special teams is where they have the ability to make a difference. They have the best punt return team that we have faced all year. That is going to be a tremendous challenge for us. We are looking forward to it."

On planning for the game…
"Their punt return unit really jumps out to me. I am making notes of some things that they are doing. We have to have good operations. We had great punt operations last week. Taylor Polk and Ryan Kay did a great job in that area. We have to do a great job in the protection of our punt team. The next thing we have to do is cover. We have done a good job covering punts and we have to continue to do that."

On how the team is responding…
"We just have to get back to work and practice. My message to them last night was taking ownership and being accountable for your actions. I liked how they handled themselves last night. The mistakes were mistakes that we haven't been making this year. I have full confidence in our staff and players that we will bounce back and play like we have the other eight games this season."

On difference from Clemson loss…
"We got dominated in the second half, so that is a little more of a shot to your pride. It should hurt. We had a team that was very discouraged after that football game and probably not proud of the product that we put out on the field. I think you are going to see a hungry football team that is ready to go. We are going to be fast and physical when we go to San Marcos."

On using the loss as motivation…
"You have to lose this as a learning tool so you don't make the same mistakes. I won't bring it up a single time after today."

On being the only ones on campus this week…
"We made a point to grow closer as a team. That has been one of our main points of emphasis. It is as good of a reason as any as to why we have had the big jump this year to one of the most improved teams in the country. This week allows you to rally the troops. It allows us to get together and have a lot of meals together. I like it, and this is a week that I always look forward to."

On injury status…
"If we could have played Friday afternoon, I would have been all for it. The quicker we can get out there, the better. In the game on Thursday, it was the first time we have really had any real injuries this year. Jabir (Frye) is going to have surgery today, so I hate it for him. It will open up some opportunities for some other people, particularly B.J. Smith. I think any time you get an extra day or two it is good to heal. B.J. Smith will increase his carries and (Andre) Flakes will stay there."

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Neal Brown Press Conference - Texas State Game

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