Neal Brown Press Conference - Coastal Carolina Game

Neal Brown Press Conference – Sept. 24, 2018

Opening Statement…
1-0 in Sun Belt play after a hard-fought battle in Monroe, La. (It was) really a tale of two halves. We played our best complete football in the first half, I thought that was really positive to see. Offensively, that was the best we have played since the second half of the bowl game against North Texas. Defensively after the first drive of the first half I thought we settled in. Then in the second half, it was our worst half of football, probably worse than the first half of the Boise game.

Special teams, we continue to be inconsistent on our kickoff return unit. We have not given Marcus (Jones) very many opportunities at all and he's one of the top returners in the country. We have to do a better job of getting on people and giving him some chances. We had the targeting penalty and it was correct. I don't think it was malicious in intent by Jabir (Daughtry-Frye) but he did leave his feet. Then we had the missed field goal in fourth quarter that would have put the game out of reach.

The positives are, ULM's (Marcus) Green, who was a First Team All-American kickoff returner, was a non-factor in the return game. Our punt team continues to do a really nice job in coverage, we had one punt return for -1 yards. Bratcher Underwood had five of our six kickoffs for touchbacks, so that continues to be a positioning strength for us.

Defensively, we allowed 5.6 yards per rush. I thought we were poor on third downs and we could not get off the field in the second half. Their quarterback scrambling around really hurt us especially in the second half. The positives, we had the interception that ended the game. We limited their explosive passing, they only had about six yards per attempt in the passing game which is really good.

Offensively, we went three-and-out on the first drive which has seemed to be out MO this year. We had two critical procedure penalties in the fourth quarter that would have extended drives, the last one put five yards on the field goal. I thought our attention to detail in the second half wasn't really good. A lot of Troy beat Troy in the second half. Positives, we had zero turnovers and averaged 10 yards per attempt in the passing game. I thought we did a better job of stretching the field and we were really good in the red zone.

I thought it was a solid win against a quality opponent. I didn't really like how it looked in the second half, but we have to learn from our mistakes. We have to play with attention to detail and more disciplined.

Coastal Carolina gets to go back home for the first time in a long time, I think they got back on Sunday. They have gone through a lot of adversity here in the last couple of weeks because of the storm. I think they are a really dangerous team. Anytime you go through adversity, especially in the game of football, it brings you closer. They have been together a lot now for almost two full weeks and they are playing the best football that I've seen them play in the past two years.

A lot of respect for them, I am very impressed with them in all three phases. I think they are very well coached. Joe Moglia has done a tremendous job and I am glad to see him back on the sidelines after missing last year, I really enjoy him.

Excited for our guys to get back home and have an opportunity to play for the first time in three weeks in front of our home crowd.

Offensively for Coastal, Jamey Chadwell is their offensive coordinator, and this will be the third time in four years we will go against one of his offenses. They have an option-based attack which is very difficult. They do a lot of different things, they read a bunch of different defenders. Their O-line is probably the most improved unit on their team. They have two solid running backs, I think they have a difference maker in (Malcolm Williams) at wideout.

Defensively, they have a new defensive coordinator that has been at a lot of Power Five places and well-respected in the profession. They are playing with a lot of confidence and I think they have two of the better defensives ends in the league in (Jeffrey Gunter) and (Tarron Jackson). Their linebacker, Silas Kelly, I like watching him play. You can tell he has a passion to play, he flies around and makes a bunch of tackles. I think he is one of the best if not the best linebacker in our league.

Special teams, they have a great long snapper, really good (operation) times. I think (Ky'jon) Tyler who is a receiver is a really good returner and they blocked two field goals. All-in-all we are going to have our hands full.

We are excited, we are going to have Military Appreciation Day on Saturday. That is something we take a lot of pride in. Traditionally we have played really well in these contests, but that doesn't mean we will play well on Saturday. A lot of activities planned, I think the American flag is going to cover the field. It's going to be a fun time and we are glad to get back home. I think we are an improved football team than when we left after the FAMU game, so we have to go out and prove it.

Describing the second half…
I think ULM is pretty talented. I think that they were displeased with how they played in the first half and they came out and played with more of an edge than we did in the second half. They are really talented on offense. Their quarterback is a difficult matchup and we thought it was going to be a difficult matchup going in. He scrambled around and found some guys late. Defensively, they played really hard up front, they did a good job of moving and taking away some of our run game in the second half.

Probably should have attacked from a play calling standpoint more than we did but you always look back and think things you could have done better. I think it was a lot of them. I think the mistakes we made weren't effort issues just discipline issues. I thought Troy beat Troy in a lot of ways and we have to clean that up. If we don't then we are going to have some difficult games up ahead.

Kaleb's evolution in the passing game…
I think he is talented. I think that because he has speed, he is thought about as a runner, but he throws the ball extremely well. He's been efficient, he's accurate with the ball and he gets the ball out of his hand fast. He needs to be more comfortable in the pocket, I think he leaves the pocket sometimes when he doesn't need to. But I am very comfortable with where he's at as a passer. I thought last week was his best week of preparation, I thought he was humble in his preparation and he needs to continue to do that. He's a quality passer and I think he can continue to improve, and we have to continue to stretch the field with him as well.

Sidney Davis growth at wide receiver…
He is one of our hardest workers. He's taking advantage of other people's mistakes and moved in where he's got sole possession of that H position. He has done a really good job for us not only catching passes the last two weeks but doing a really nice job in blocking on the perimeter which is something we ask that position to do.

Describing Coastal's option attack…
I think it's a challenge on both sides of the ball because they do such a good job of running the football that they hold the clock up a lot. So, it makes you have to be efficient on offense and you have to take advantage of the opportunities especially on third down. They run the ball in so many different ways and with so many different people. Their quarterbacks are going to be a threat, they got two true running backs a lot of times in the game which is something you don't see really often. I think Jamey does a really good job mixing up who he is reading. There is some midline, there is a little bit of veer principle, there's some belly principles and he just does a nice job. You have to defend the whole field and he does a really good job not letting you get into a rhythm defensively.

Feelings on being 3-1 in the first month…
I don't know, you always hope to come out 4-0. I didn't think we would come out and lay an egg out of the gate. I thought we had an opportunity to get off to a good start if we played well. The thing for us is, I think we made improvements. I thought it was real clear out improvement from week one to week three. I thought there was clear improvement between week three and the first half (at ULM) then we fell back into some mistakes we made against Boise in the first half with Monroe in the second half. So, it was clear that we are not as mature as we need to be. We have to continue to work. I think the next two weeks are really critical for us as a program, we are going to play at home in front of our fans. We have two conference games and we've got to really get better as a football team because we are playing against some quality people. We respect Coastal, but the focus is on us and us making strides in continuing to get better."

Specific improvements…
Defensively, we have to stop the run better than we did the other night. We have to limit quarterback scrambles, the quarterbacks in our league tend to be athletic, the dual threat types. We have to do a better job in containing the quarterbacks in scramble opportunities.

Offensively, we have to be consistent. We have to start games better, we are going to change some things up in how we practice because we haven't started the games very well at all whether it's nerves or whatever it is, so we have to get that cleaned up. Then we have to be able to run the football in order to close out football games. We have failed to do that two weeks in a row.

Troy University Athletics

Neal Brown Press Conference - Coastal Carolina Game

Players Mentioned

Sidney Davis

Bratcher Underwood

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