Neal Brown Press Conference - App State Game

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Head Coach Neal Brown

Opening Statement…
"Here we are getting ready to go into the second week of November. It is football time and championships are won in November, so we are excited about this opportunity. We had a solid win vs. UMass. We started slow and overcame some adversity. We are excited about being 7-1. I thought we were rusty coming off an extended break, two games in 28 days, but we did play relatively clean, no fumbles and only four penalties on the day, which is a big improvement from earlier in the season.

I thought the keys to the win were special teams. They won the field position battle convincingly. We were able to get 14 points off of their two fumbles. Going through each phase, I thought we were solid all day. We had one big punt return and one kick return. We had good operations. It was a real positive day special teams wise.

Defensively, I thought we allowed too many big plays. The first play of the game was an explosive play and we can't let that happen again. We gave up a score with our two's late. We wanted to get them in the game and I think they need to continue to improve, but those are going to be guys that we count on down the line. The positives, they averaged 1.6 yards per rush. If we can do that, we are going to have success against everyone that we play. We had five sacks and seven tackles for loss. We played with really good energy.

Offensively, we didn't start off very good in either half. We had some mental mistakes, especially in the third quarter. We also had too many drops. I think we had five drops in the game, which we haven't done all year. We have to get that fixed. The positives, we were 5.2 yards per rush and we improved to 6-of-11 on third downs. We had seven different guys score and twelve different guys catch passes. We had a good day overall and scored 52 points.

It is going to be a big conference game this weekend celebrating Veteran's Day. We are going to have a big military turnout. We look forward to really educating our guys about our country. We vote tomorrow and we spent a lot of time on that in July. We got them registered to vote and hopefully most of our guys will do that tomorrow. We are really going to educate them about the roles of our service people and what true service really it. We are looking forward to that and we have a couple surprises for them on Saturday.

We have a lot of respect for coach Scott Satterfield, staff, their program and what they have done since they made the move to 1-A. They want to run the football and they do a great job of taking care of the ball. They are one of the top teams in turnover margin in the country. They have two very good running backs. Marcus Cox is the all-league player that was out, but he has been back the last couple of weeks. They have rushed for over 300 yards the last few weeks. Their offensive line chemistry has improved and they are playing their best football of the season. The quarterback Taylor Lamb is a winner. He takes care of the ball and finds a way. He is very accurate and I like watching him play. This will be a big test for us. We have to stop their outside zone play. We have a big task on our hands defensively.

Defensively, they are playing as well as anyone in the country right now. I think they have the best front seven in our league. These guys have played a ton of football. They are creating negative plays. They have a unit that I think is difficult to prepare for. We are going to have our work cut out for us.

Special teams, their kicker and punter does a nice job. They are a good football team. From top to bottom, they were the best team in the league last year and they have followed that up this year. They have continued to get better as the season has progressed.

Saturday is a great opportunity for our community and our campus and football program to be showcased. We want to honor our veterans. We also need to have a big crowd in our stadium. We need everyone to turnout and we need to push to sell out the stadium, which I don't think we have ever done. We have back to back home games with talented teams. Their crowd made a difference in the game last year and I think when you are playing a team that is evenly matched, the home team crowd can make all the difference. That starts with our students. We need people to be into the game from the first kick all the way through."

On mindset heading into the game and getting ranked…
"The rankings are a by-product of winning. If we get to 8-1 I think our chances improve. What hurt us over the course of last month was only playing two games in 28 days. We were out of the minds of the voters. We have to get back out there and establish ourselves. We have a chance to do that on Saturday. We don't spend a whole lot of time talking about it."

On offense finding a rhythm…
"We have been extremely balanced. They all feed off each other. Brandon (Silvers) is obviously feeding off the success that Jordan (Chunn) is having because people are having to play one safety and get another guy inside the box to account for Jordan. It goes the other way as well. Jordan has been able to have success because people are worried about Brandon and the passing game. We have to continue to be balanced. Those guys have been carrying us this season. Our offensive line is the most improved. They have to continue to play well for us to continue to win."

On the defensive matchup…
"We go all spring and fall camp against good movement with guys that can rush the passer, and I think that is a good benefit. The schematic approaches are totally different."

On being rusty after two games in 28 days…
"I fully expect to have a big crowd and I think our guys are going to feed off that. We will play better. At times on Saturday, I think we have played as good as we have played. I feel like we made a lot of improvement in key areas over the 17 days in between games. We have to continue to get better. Our four-week run right here is going to make or break our season."

On 12 different guys making catches…
"They are getting better. Our confidence in Hiram Velez is growing. He is making plays. Sam Letton is another guy that our confidence and Silvers' confidence in him is improving. Sidney Davis is a guy that continues to improve as we go through the year. We have guys that are stepping up, and that is what you want to see as the year goes on. John Johnson and Tevaris McCormick becoming healthy again gives us a third and fourth option that teams have to account for."

On importance of playing a complete game…
"Anytime you play a game that is perceived as a big game to the outside world and people are going to be talking about more this game, they have to understand, you don't have to play a perfect game to win. We just have to play really sound. The same thing goes for Appalachian State. We played really well in all three phases at different times. We need to put a half or a full game together where we are in sync with all three phases."

On how the offense will find success…
"Both offenses have plenty of talent, and I think the schedule are set up for both defenses to have some success. They are going to be able to move the ball and score points, and we are going to have to do the same. Both offenses will probably feed off that. Most of the discussion is about the defense and rightfully so. Both our defense and their defense are near the top of the national statistics, so there should be a lot about that. In these games, a lot of time it comes down to special teams."

On offensive line…
"Our offensive line has vastly improved without question. We have added some pieces and moved some guys around. We were not very good up front in the spring. Our defensive line dominated us and we didn't have much time to get our defense ready to play because we played so poorly offensive line wise in the spring. We have some good senior leadership and they have gotten better. Matt Moore has done a great job coaching that unit and they are our most improved unit. They are the single biggest reason why we have made a huge jump offensively."

On atmosphere around campus…
"People are excited and rightfully so. I am excited about the energy on campus and in our community. Our community support is higher than it has been in the six years I have been a part of the program."

On attitude of player in the locker room…
"They are excited about playing. The big question for me is are they excited about practicing on Tuesday and Thursday. Because that is when you get better. How are we going to approach Monday through Friday? That will be my message to them this week. Are we going to pay the price to get ourselves in position? If we don't, they are going to come in here and handle us. We have to continue to make some strides this week."

Troy University Athletics

Neal Brown Press Conference - App State Game

Players Mentioned

Sidney Davis

John Johnson

Sam Letton

Tevaris McCormick

Hiram Velez

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