Troy University Athletics
Neal Brown Press Conference - Coastal Carolina Game
11/6/2017 2:27:00 PM | Football
Troy Game Notes
Neal Brown Press Conference – November 6, 2017
Good afternoon, thanks for coming.
On Idaho game…
I'm proud of our guys for taking care of business on Thursday night. It was good to get a mid-week win. It was a quality win, I think Idaho is a good football team. I think they're well-coached on both sides of the ball. It gets us to 7-2 overall, 4-1 in the conference.
Hitting each phase quickly: special teams, I thought it was our most solid performance of the season. Our punt team allowed zero punt return yardage, we're doing a good job in coverage. Our kickoff team was much improved from Georgia Southern, they did a great job on kickoffs. Very effective on field goals, Tyler [Sumpter] continues to do a good job. We effected two of their field goals, the first one that they missed Marcus Webb got a hand on that.
Defensively, I did not feel like we played our best. I feel like it was our least productive game that we've played all year. Defense has played well all year; the statistics tell us that. They've kept us in every game. But we did not play our best. We had way too many missed tackles. We didn't get off the field, I think they were 10 of 16 on third downs. We had zero takeaways and didn't cover good enough.
Positively, we held them to 2.8 yards per carry. If you stop the run, you give yourself a chance. I think they were 0-3 on fourth downs. We got off the field in our own territory, which was critical in the game. We had six sacks, I can't speak enough to the importance of that. We talked about getting more pressure on the quarterback. Hunter Reese, Seth Calloway and a few others made plays all night. We could've had double-digit sacks in that game if we would've taken him down more.
Offensively, the negatives were the two turnovers; both in key situations. There was the interception when we were going in to score and the fumble after the sudden change. Both were unfortunate and probably took points off the board. We didn't protect the quarterback as well as we have been. I thought there were people around him a lot. We have to make more plays on the ball, whether it's catches in traffic, 50-50 balls or making people miss in space. We have to do better at making plays.
Positives are that we were really good on third and fourth downs in the game. We averaged 5.1 yards per carry against a team that has been good versus the run all year. I thought the drive to open the second half was really critical. We went down and scored then the defense came and got off the field immediately. I thought that set the tone for the entire second half.
It was a really good win. I think we have to continue getting better. I felt like we made a lot of strides in the Georgia State and Georgia Southern games. I don't feel like we played our best versus Idaho. But I think the sign of a good team is when you can win games when you don't play your best.
On Coastal Carolina…
I know a lot of you guys, as I did, got to watch them on Saturday afternoon. I was really pulling for them, it would've been a big win for our conference, in their near upset of Arkansas. I was talking to Vic [Koenning] earlier that day about the amount of talent they have. I wasn't overly surprised when I saw them winning in the second half.
They have a lot of guys that have won a lot of games at the FCS level over the course of the last three years. They've won conference championships, they were the number one ranked team in the FCS for a time there. Those guys know how to win. They've played hard but had a rough spell through the middle of the year. But I know the game Saturday is going to give them a lot of confidence and we're going to have to continue to get better to win there on the road.
They have a multiple offense. They give a lot of different looks. They do a lot of stuff we haven't seen before. They're throwing it effectively, their receivers made a ton of plays in 1-on-1 situations against Arkansas' defensive backs. They have a young, but athletic offensive line.
Defensively, they have a ton of experience. I counted nine guys that have started 10 games or more. They play with a lot of confidence, too.
We're looking forward to getting on the road. We played on the blue turf, didn't play very well. So hopefully we can play better on the teal turf.
On conference championship aspirations…
We're incapable of looking further than one week. We've got to be locked in. I don't even talk to our guys about the game. Tomorrow we're going to focus on practice and meetings. We're a day-by-day operation right now. I'm sure they saw it on social media and maybe watched it on their phones on the ESPN app.
On defense…
Our defensive staff has done a nice job led by Vic. They've done a good job making recruiting decisions. Our guys play hard, I think when you play hard you have a chance. We made a point to focus on stopping the run and putting pressure on the passer. That's how we've gone from where we started to where we are right now.
On Hunter Reese…
Hunter Reese is solid. He's taken advantage of his opportunities the past couple of weeks. He's playing a lot and making plays. He made some plays early, then didn't necessarily play poorly through the middle part of the season. Now he's playing extremely well. He got the quarterback down and made some nice plays. He played his responsibilities and he's a hard worker. I'm proud of him for all of the success he's had.
On establishing the run offensively…
We ran the ball pretty well Thursday. The story of our year offensively is that we haven't had many possessions. I think that makes for an odd year. We've kind of shot ourselves in the foot some with turnovers or penalties. We did a little bit of that the other night too. When we do what we're supposed to and get that initial first down, we've done a nice job. We're making some plays down the field in the passing game. Our running game has been consistent all year.
I think Brandon [Silvers] is playing better in the last month than he has at any time during his career. He's managed the game well, even the South Alabama game. He was really accurate throwing the football that night. He was really accurate again the other night. He had the one bad interception where he just didn't see the guy, which is going to happen from time to time.
I still think that the one stat that really tells the story is yards per play. We're one of the better teams in the country in yards per play. We're not scoring at the rate we should, but I don't think we've hit our stride yet. I see us practicing better and am seeing hints of us starting to play at a higher level in games. We just haven't controlled a game from start to finish yet like I think we can on offense.
On walk-on success…
If you go back to Coach Blakeney, he had high walk-on numbers when he was here. We've tried to mirror that. We do a couple of tryouts each year. We have really good relationships with high school coaches, so we get a lot of referrals. We give guys opportunities. We look at guys that can help us the most, not just scholarship or non-scholarship. When guys show that they have the opportunity to help us then we give them those opportunities.
We're proud of that, though. We have a whole wall down there that is dedicated to walk-ons that came here and earned scholarships. Several of those guys were drafted. So it's really something that we take a lot of pride in.
On this week's motto…
Play. We have to play. What I mean by that is that we're getting late in the season and I want our guys to enjoy the process. I want them to make plays, not worry about consequences. Just go play. We're going to drive home "1-0 Play" this week.
We don't handle success very well. Now we're in the midst of a three-game winning streak and we have to be locked in. What happens down the road, we have little control over. All we can control is our preparation of our body and our mind this week.
Neal Brown Press Conference – November 6, 2017
Good afternoon, thanks for coming.
On Idaho game…
I'm proud of our guys for taking care of business on Thursday night. It was good to get a mid-week win. It was a quality win, I think Idaho is a good football team. I think they're well-coached on both sides of the ball. It gets us to 7-2 overall, 4-1 in the conference.
Hitting each phase quickly: special teams, I thought it was our most solid performance of the season. Our punt team allowed zero punt return yardage, we're doing a good job in coverage. Our kickoff team was much improved from Georgia Southern, they did a great job on kickoffs. Very effective on field goals, Tyler [Sumpter] continues to do a good job. We effected two of their field goals, the first one that they missed Marcus Webb got a hand on that.
Defensively, I did not feel like we played our best. I feel like it was our least productive game that we've played all year. Defense has played well all year; the statistics tell us that. They've kept us in every game. But we did not play our best. We had way too many missed tackles. We didn't get off the field, I think they were 10 of 16 on third downs. We had zero takeaways and didn't cover good enough.
Positively, we held them to 2.8 yards per carry. If you stop the run, you give yourself a chance. I think they were 0-3 on fourth downs. We got off the field in our own territory, which was critical in the game. We had six sacks, I can't speak enough to the importance of that. We talked about getting more pressure on the quarterback. Hunter Reese, Seth Calloway and a few others made plays all night. We could've had double-digit sacks in that game if we would've taken him down more.
Offensively, the negatives were the two turnovers; both in key situations. There was the interception when we were going in to score and the fumble after the sudden change. Both were unfortunate and probably took points off the board. We didn't protect the quarterback as well as we have been. I thought there were people around him a lot. We have to make more plays on the ball, whether it's catches in traffic, 50-50 balls or making people miss in space. We have to do better at making plays.
Positives are that we were really good on third and fourth downs in the game. We averaged 5.1 yards per carry against a team that has been good versus the run all year. I thought the drive to open the second half was really critical. We went down and scored then the defense came and got off the field immediately. I thought that set the tone for the entire second half.
It was a really good win. I think we have to continue getting better. I felt like we made a lot of strides in the Georgia State and Georgia Southern games. I don't feel like we played our best versus Idaho. But I think the sign of a good team is when you can win games when you don't play your best.
On Coastal Carolina…
I know a lot of you guys, as I did, got to watch them on Saturday afternoon. I was really pulling for them, it would've been a big win for our conference, in their near upset of Arkansas. I was talking to Vic [Koenning] earlier that day about the amount of talent they have. I wasn't overly surprised when I saw them winning in the second half.
They have a lot of guys that have won a lot of games at the FCS level over the course of the last three years. They've won conference championships, they were the number one ranked team in the FCS for a time there. Those guys know how to win. They've played hard but had a rough spell through the middle of the year. But I know the game Saturday is going to give them a lot of confidence and we're going to have to continue to get better to win there on the road.
They have a multiple offense. They give a lot of different looks. They do a lot of stuff we haven't seen before. They're throwing it effectively, their receivers made a ton of plays in 1-on-1 situations against Arkansas' defensive backs. They have a young, but athletic offensive line.
Defensively, they have a ton of experience. I counted nine guys that have started 10 games or more. They play with a lot of confidence, too.
We're looking forward to getting on the road. We played on the blue turf, didn't play very well. So hopefully we can play better on the teal turf.
On conference championship aspirations…
We're incapable of looking further than one week. We've got to be locked in. I don't even talk to our guys about the game. Tomorrow we're going to focus on practice and meetings. We're a day-by-day operation right now. I'm sure they saw it on social media and maybe watched it on their phones on the ESPN app.
On defense…
Our defensive staff has done a nice job led by Vic. They've done a good job making recruiting decisions. Our guys play hard, I think when you play hard you have a chance. We made a point to focus on stopping the run and putting pressure on the passer. That's how we've gone from where we started to where we are right now.
On Hunter Reese…
Hunter Reese is solid. He's taken advantage of his opportunities the past couple of weeks. He's playing a lot and making plays. He made some plays early, then didn't necessarily play poorly through the middle part of the season. Now he's playing extremely well. He got the quarterback down and made some nice plays. He played his responsibilities and he's a hard worker. I'm proud of him for all of the success he's had.
On establishing the run offensively…
We ran the ball pretty well Thursday. The story of our year offensively is that we haven't had many possessions. I think that makes for an odd year. We've kind of shot ourselves in the foot some with turnovers or penalties. We did a little bit of that the other night too. When we do what we're supposed to and get that initial first down, we've done a nice job. We're making some plays down the field in the passing game. Our running game has been consistent all year.
I think Brandon [Silvers] is playing better in the last month than he has at any time during his career. He's managed the game well, even the South Alabama game. He was really accurate throwing the football that night. He was really accurate again the other night. He had the one bad interception where he just didn't see the guy, which is going to happen from time to time.
I still think that the one stat that really tells the story is yards per play. We're one of the better teams in the country in yards per play. We're not scoring at the rate we should, but I don't think we've hit our stride yet. I see us practicing better and am seeing hints of us starting to play at a higher level in games. We just haven't controlled a game from start to finish yet like I think we can on offense.
On walk-on success…
If you go back to Coach Blakeney, he had high walk-on numbers when he was here. We've tried to mirror that. We do a couple of tryouts each year. We have really good relationships with high school coaches, so we get a lot of referrals. We give guys opportunities. We look at guys that can help us the most, not just scholarship or non-scholarship. When guys show that they have the opportunity to help us then we give them those opportunities.
We're proud of that, though. We have a whole wall down there that is dedicated to walk-ons that came here and earned scholarships. Several of those guys were drafted. So it's really something that we take a lot of pride in.
On this week's motto…
Play. We have to play. What I mean by that is that we're getting late in the season and I want our guys to enjoy the process. I want them to make plays, not worry about consequences. Just go play. We're going to drive home "1-0 Play" this week.
We don't handle success very well. Now we're in the midst of a three-game winning streak and we have to be locked in. What happens down the road, we have little control over. All we can control is our preparation of our body and our mind this week.
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