Troy University Athletics
Neal Brown Press Conference - Texas State Game
11/20/2017 1:42:00 PM | Football
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Thank y'all for coming, especially on a holiday week.
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The bye week came at, what I think, is an opportune time for us. We're really healthy. We'll be at full speed with the exception of maybe Zo Bridges, who will be a game time call. With that exception, we'll be at full strength. I think we're probably as fresh and healthy as anybody in the country going into our 11th game.
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We play a Texas State team that we have a lot of respect for. Everett Withers is a great coach. Look at his track record and what he did at James Madison. They're playing their best football of the year. When you are trying to turn around a program like Everett is trying to do down there, you can't get caught up in records. Their record is what it is. The last two weeks they've played two other teams that are tied at the top of our conference. They lost, 33-30, to Georgia State in a game where they had the ball late in the game with an opportunity to win. Then last week they were very competitive against Arkansas State.
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They really have played well the past few weeks. If you look at them offensively, they are concerning to us because their quarterback is a dual-threat guy. He can make a lot of plays with his feet. He's played a lot of football; a transfer from Mississippi State. They have some wide outs that have made plays.
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Defensively, they've gotten a lot better. They have done a great job stopping the run all season. They've given up some yards in the passing game. The linebacker tandem they have is as good as anybody in our league.
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They're a team, like I said, that's getting better. They play a lot of young guys that are hungry. They play hard, which is a credit to those kids and the coaching staff.
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On Friday, it's our last home game. We're looking forward to it. It's a chance to close out our home slate with five wins, going 5-1 at home again. We're also closing out the home career of 20 seniors.
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It's a group that has been instrumental in turning our program around. They've gone from three wins in their freshman season, to winning 19 of our last 24 games. Offensively and defensively, they are our leaders, statistically and in the locker room. It's important that we honor them.
Â
I really urge our fans, and even the casual fans in our area, to come watch two really good football teams play Friday afternoon. We're going to put on a show. We'll do a lot of things in-game for families. The Iron Bowl is Saturday. We play Friday. I think you can make both. Make plans to come out and support us, because I really hope that you do.
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On taking advantage of passing defense…
They've really sold out to stop the run. Interceptions require so much luck sometimes. They haven't gotten their hands on a lot of balls. Their corners have battled all year. Some people have had success passing the ball. I don't know if it's due to their lack of coverage or due to them putting a lot of bodies in the box to stop the run. We hope that we can continue that run for them without an interception.
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On finishing this season…
We just have to play better. There are a couple of things working in our favor this year, as opposed to last year. First being that we've been in this situation before. Second, we're a lot healthier and fresher than we were at this point last season. We've really tried to improve as we went on. As a football team in all three phases, I think we're playing our best football of the year. It is our plan to finish strong. We need to be 1-0.
Â
This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Players aren't in school this week. It's an opportunity for us to really have an NFL-type atmosphere this week. I guess besides the basketball teams, we're the only people on campus. Most of their fellow student body have gone home. We're basically meeting and hanging out a lot as a football team.
Â
On winning the Sun Belt…
I think you have to look at it from a narrower point of view. Our focus since the South Alabama game has been to lock in week-to-week. I think that's the goal here. We're only playing one game this week, so that's the game we have to focus on. We've proven that we're incapable of looking ahead. We are not good enough to just show up and beat anybody. Our goal is to continually improve, so we're going to continually improve and be 1-0 this week. If we do that, then we'll have all our goals in reach. We're not talking about conference championship as much. We're just going to go out, get better this week and beat Texas State Friday.
Â
On effect of bye week…
The bye week comes when it comes. We just have to deal with it. We practice three times last week for about an hour. We practiced hard. We did a lot of good on good work. The last two teams we play are very similar offensively to what we do from a schematic standpoint. Our defense is varied and multiple enough that it's good preparation for our offense to go against our defense. We tried to play fast and get the guys in and out.
Â
On coaching carousel…
I've said it before, I don't hear a lot of it. I haven't been very active on social media since we got beat by South Alabama. I've just kind of tuned everything out. I've tried to lock in on what we're doing inside our program. I think if we get attention as a staff, that's a credit to what our players have done. I'm proud of what we've done. To go from three wins in 2014, four in 2015 and now 19 of the last 24, that's a huge credit to our football team. Those type of things start happening. Troy's been great to me, I love Troy. Basically what I'm focused on is how we can beat Texas State and how we can get better than we were when we lined up against Coastal.
Â
On Thanksgiving with the team…
We'll have a team meal at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Our staff's families and our players' families will be welcomed back. We do it here in our cafeteria; our cafeteria people come in on their own time and we appreciate that. We've done it three years in a row and it's a special time. I enjoy this week, I really do. What we do is grow a lot as a football team. We spend a lot of time together. Last night we practiced, had a meal and then had competitions at the end. All the units are divided up and we give them prizes at the end of the week. We played a trivia game last night, we'll play charades one night and we'll make the Troy vs. Kentucky basketball game available tonight. You get a lot of meeting time, we won't practice any different, but we get a lot more preparation.Â
Â
Thank y'all for coming, especially on a holiday week.
Â
The bye week came at, what I think, is an opportune time for us. We're really healthy. We'll be at full speed with the exception of maybe Zo Bridges, who will be a game time call. With that exception, we'll be at full strength. I think we're probably as fresh and healthy as anybody in the country going into our 11th game.
Â
We play a Texas State team that we have a lot of respect for. Everett Withers is a great coach. Look at his track record and what he did at James Madison. They're playing their best football of the year. When you are trying to turn around a program like Everett is trying to do down there, you can't get caught up in records. Their record is what it is. The last two weeks they've played two other teams that are tied at the top of our conference. They lost, 33-30, to Georgia State in a game where they had the ball late in the game with an opportunity to win. Then last week they were very competitive against Arkansas State.
Â
They really have played well the past few weeks. If you look at them offensively, they are concerning to us because their quarterback is a dual-threat guy. He can make a lot of plays with his feet. He's played a lot of football; a transfer from Mississippi State. They have some wide outs that have made plays.
Â
Defensively, they've gotten a lot better. They have done a great job stopping the run all season. They've given up some yards in the passing game. The linebacker tandem they have is as good as anybody in our league.
Â
They're a team, like I said, that's getting better. They play a lot of young guys that are hungry. They play hard, which is a credit to those kids and the coaching staff.
Â
On Friday, it's our last home game. We're looking forward to it. It's a chance to close out our home slate with five wins, going 5-1 at home again. We're also closing out the home career of 20 seniors.
Â
It's a group that has been instrumental in turning our program around. They've gone from three wins in their freshman season, to winning 19 of our last 24 games. Offensively and defensively, they are our leaders, statistically and in the locker room. It's important that we honor them.
Â
I really urge our fans, and even the casual fans in our area, to come watch two really good football teams play Friday afternoon. We're going to put on a show. We'll do a lot of things in-game for families. The Iron Bowl is Saturday. We play Friday. I think you can make both. Make plans to come out and support us, because I really hope that you do.
Â
On taking advantage of passing defense…
They've really sold out to stop the run. Interceptions require so much luck sometimes. They haven't gotten their hands on a lot of balls. Their corners have battled all year. Some people have had success passing the ball. I don't know if it's due to their lack of coverage or due to them putting a lot of bodies in the box to stop the run. We hope that we can continue that run for them without an interception.
Â
On finishing this season…
We just have to play better. There are a couple of things working in our favor this year, as opposed to last year. First being that we've been in this situation before. Second, we're a lot healthier and fresher than we were at this point last season. We've really tried to improve as we went on. As a football team in all three phases, I think we're playing our best football of the year. It is our plan to finish strong. We need to be 1-0.
Â
This is one of my favorite weeks of the year. Players aren't in school this week. It's an opportunity for us to really have an NFL-type atmosphere this week. I guess besides the basketball teams, we're the only people on campus. Most of their fellow student body have gone home. We're basically meeting and hanging out a lot as a football team.
Â
On winning the Sun Belt…
I think you have to look at it from a narrower point of view. Our focus since the South Alabama game has been to lock in week-to-week. I think that's the goal here. We're only playing one game this week, so that's the game we have to focus on. We've proven that we're incapable of looking ahead. We are not good enough to just show up and beat anybody. Our goal is to continually improve, so we're going to continually improve and be 1-0 this week. If we do that, then we'll have all our goals in reach. We're not talking about conference championship as much. We're just going to go out, get better this week and beat Texas State Friday.
Â
On effect of bye week…
The bye week comes when it comes. We just have to deal with it. We practice three times last week for about an hour. We practiced hard. We did a lot of good on good work. The last two teams we play are very similar offensively to what we do from a schematic standpoint. Our defense is varied and multiple enough that it's good preparation for our offense to go against our defense. We tried to play fast and get the guys in and out.
Â
On coaching carousel…
I've said it before, I don't hear a lot of it. I haven't been very active on social media since we got beat by South Alabama. I've just kind of tuned everything out. I've tried to lock in on what we're doing inside our program. I think if we get attention as a staff, that's a credit to what our players have done. I'm proud of what we've done. To go from three wins in 2014, four in 2015 and now 19 of the last 24, that's a huge credit to our football team. Those type of things start happening. Troy's been great to me, I love Troy. Basically what I'm focused on is how we can beat Texas State and how we can get better than we were when we lined up against Coastal.
Â
On Thanksgiving with the team…
We'll have a team meal at 11 a.m. on Thursday. Our staff's families and our players' families will be welcomed back. We do it here in our cafeteria; our cafeteria people come in on their own time and we appreciate that. We've done it three years in a row and it's a special time. I enjoy this week, I really do. What we do is grow a lot as a football team. We spend a lot of time together. Last night we practiced, had a meal and then had competitions at the end. All the units are divided up and we give them prizes at the end of the week. We played a trivia game last night, we'll play charades one night and we'll make the Troy vs. Kentucky basketball game available tonight. You get a lot of meeting time, we won't practice any different, but we get a lot more preparation.Â
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