Neal Brown Press Conference - Georgia State Game

Troy Head Coach Neal Brown Press Conference – October 2, 2018

Opening Statement
Solid win on Saturday versus Coastal Carolina, took care of business in all three areas. Our players really enjoyed the Military Appreciation Day. I thought Coastal fought very hard especially without their starting quarterback. Special teams, we missed a field goal after the big punt return. Really just missed the spot, wasn't really on Tyler (Sumpter). Bratcher (Underwood) kickoff location was off. He's had a great year so far but not his best day on Saturday. Positives, we had a kickoff return for touchdown. I think for the last two weeks I've sat up here and talked about how we were close and we how we needed to do a better job blocking and we got that done. It was huge, versus an option-oriented team to get on the scoreboard first which is the reason we took the ball and Marcus (Jones) did a nice job. (Cedarius) Rookard had another big punt return and we only punted once. If you look at our punt stats, I think we are doing a nice job and they had zero punt return yards which was big.

Defensively, I thought that Coastal did a really nice job of putting us in some tough spots especially running the football. The negatives, I didn't think we did a good job getting off the field. They had the ball for a long time and they did that by having success on third and fourth downs and we gave up too many easy completions. The positives are we had 12 tackles for loss, nine sacks, created two turnovers and they really only had one down-the-field throw that they completed.

Offensively, we played at a high level. The negatives, we had two missed opportunities. I thought we had an opportunity to put the game out of reach late in the first quarter. We got a turnover inside the 25 and we did not take advantage of that. Then we didn't take advantage of the punt return. We came up scoreless in both of those situations and we had two turnovers. The positives we averaged 9.3 yards per play, over nine yards per rush and we only punted the ball one time.

That was a big win for us. It gets us to 4-1, 2-0 in the Sun Belt and 1-0 in our division, which is carrying a lot of weight with the new format.

Georgia State is coming off their best performance of the year. Easily defeated Monroe, 46-14, on Saturday. I think Shawn Elliot and his staff has done a great job leading Georgia State to a bowl game in their first year and a big win over Western Kentucky in the Cure Bowl.

On both sides of the ball I think they are very well coached and on special teams as well. It will be a challenge preparing for them on a short week, quick turnaround but I'm glad we get to host it at home.

Georgia State is very good on special teams. They've got an electric kick and punt returner in Penny Hart, maybe if not the best, one of the top NFL prospects in our league. Their punter Brandon Wright is the number one in the entire country in punting. Their punt return unit is ranked sixth nationally and their kickoff return unit is ranked 10th nationally. So, really playing well in the special teams side.

Defensively they're defensive coordinator is Nate Fuqua who is from the same hometown as I am. I have a lot of respect for him, he has done a great job at Wofford before Georgia State. They are a 3-4 team and they are playing a lot of talented young guys and you see them getting better week in and week out. They held Monroe to 14 points and that game was never in question. Really an improving group, they have a bunch of veteran linebackers. I feel like some of these guys we have been playing against now for four years.

Offensively they had a big game on Saturday. They are really multiple. I think coach (Travis) Trickett does a really nice job with them on offense. Good mix of run and pass, their quarterback Dan Ellington is a dual threat guy, a kid that we recruited. He's really fast and they do a nice job of getting on the edge and allowing him to run but he throws the ball really efficiently as well. They may have the most talented wide receiver group in our conference led by Penny Hart. I think Hart is special. Their offensive line played really well last week, they ran the ball better than they have at any point this season.

Huge game as we approach the midpoint season. Game six in a long spell. It is a divisional game; a national TV game and I hope we have an energized crowd here on Thursday night.

Handling the short week…
I think we have to be careful. All these short weeks are different, it's been a little while since we have played one where we had a bunch of consecutive games in a row. The challenge this week is we are playing the sixth game in a row and it happens to be on a short week. I think we have to be smart in how we practice. We kind of jogged through last night, we will have our only real what I call 'work day' today, we will walk through tomorrow, run through on Wednesday and be ready Thursday night to play.

Thoughts on run game…
I think our offensive line is playing at a high level. They've done a good job. I think schematically Matt Moore, Brian Blackmon and Sean Dawkins have done a good job. We kind of mixed it up, we've been given different presentations week in and week out. BJ (Smith) and Jabir (Daughtry-Frye) both are getting better and getting more comfortable. I think the fact that both of our quarterbacks can run benefitted us as well in the run game. At most championships level teams and programs, they have to have success at running the football. We have spent a lot of time over the last two years getting better at the run game and we will be tested this week.

Challenges to the staff on the short week…
(Georgia State) is dealing with the same thing as well. The challenge is to make sure you manage it the right way. Georgia State and our guys played a really hot game on Saturday. That was the most humid game we have had all year and I'm pretty sure it was the same way in Atlanta. So, I think it's just how you manage it. You have to be really careful of how you manage your players and make sure that we are fresh as we possibly can be on Thursday night.

Importance of starting fast at 4-1…
You can't finish well unless you start fast. I think that the schedule has been in our favor the last couple of years. Several of those wins have come at home. I think how you start your conference play is critical because really, I talk about surviving and advancing. We win last week, we are 1-0 in our division and we survive and advance to an opportunity to play another game against Georgia State and that's the way it is. Each and every week you are surviving and advancing trying to get in a position where you can play and hopefully host that conference championship game. I think it speaks to a lot of what we are doing in the offseason. We kind of prepare our guys by the way we setup our schedule in the summer and the spring and in the fall camp of how the season will go.

Extra Yard for Teachers…
I think it's important. The CFP is doing this and that's their initiative. I think it has been great and has generated a lot of dollars for educators. My mom was an elementary school librarian and I can remember going to the parent teacher store and she's paying for that right out of her pocket and all the trips to WalMart. I don't think there's a more notable profession than educating.

Troy University Athletics

Neal Brown Press Conference - Georgia State Game

Related Videos