DALLAS - As we enter Week Six of the 2021 college football season, 12 of Conference USA's teams are slated to take the field this week. Both Louisiana Tech and Rice are on a bye, and did not host media availabilites the past couple of days. Every week head coaches take to the podium to answer questions from the league's media members - let's see what they're saying:
CHARLOTTE
Head Coach Will Healy’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On how team is responding to a short week of tough practice
“Awesome. I think the biggest thing for us right now is consistency and holding each other accountable. I think it’s an attention to detail, how you do one thing is how you do everything and we’re showing glimpses of being special in all three phases. So, when we put that on tape and then we have another rep where we’re doing the exact same thing, but not doing it as well or not as much energy or with as much effort, you got to hold them accountable for it. That’s my job as a coach and these guys know that. They expect it and demand it out of themselves as well. We’re holding them accountable for things that they’ve shown us that they can do. I’ve been very, very proud of their response. This group has always responded. It’s keep the pedal down, thumb down, and let’s keep our head down and find ways to get better. That’s what today was about as well.”
On FIU's Defense
“I’ve watched a lot of the -- FAU game, Central Michigan game and obviously they played Texas Tech and I think those games are very close. FAU and Central Michigan – Central Michigan, they had dead to rights and Central Michigan scored on them late a couple different times. I think, they’ve got a bunch of different guys that can run, [I think] they’re physical, their defensive tackles are really good players, their defensive ends can rush the passer. I think they’ve played some really good offenses. People have made some plays on them on one-on-one situations when they put their corners on islands, play-actions pass and take shots over the top of their safeties or got the run game going – or whatever it maybe. It’s a talented defense. It’s probably [more] about the talent of the offenses they’ve been playing, as it is anything to say about a lack of talent on defense, because they’ve got really good players.”
FIU
Head Coach Butch Davis’ Quotes
Video will be
available Wednesday
FLORIDA ATLANTIC
Head Coach Willie Taggart’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On carrying the momentum from the Shula Bowl to the road against UAB:
"We have to look back to the beginning of last week and why we played the way we did. We played the way we did because of the way we prepared. The way we prepared last week has to be that way all of the time. Our guys played better. They played faster. That's our football team and that's the way we need to be. Going on the road against a really good opponent, you better be on your 'A-Game' and not have to think about much other than defeating the man in front of you. If we're playing at our best, we're feeling good about whoever we're playing."
On facing UAB:
"They're a very well-coached football team. You look at them size-wise and things of that nature, they are a very athletic, very physical football team on both sides of the ball. They built their team on physicality, built their team on running the ball and stopping the run. They've done a great job over the years, and you look at the foundation of what and how they do things, it is a big reason why they win a lot of ballgames. It's another big challenge for our guys, but another opportunity for our guys to see if we can continue to build our program the way we want this team to be this year. For the things that we want out of this season, games like this is part of those obstacles that you have to overcome in order to get the things that you want. Our guys understand that, and we have to have a great week in practice and go out and play one of our best games and beat this football team."
On preparing the team this week to face the defending C-USA champions:
"In order to be the man, you have to beat the man. Our guys understand what we're going up against and it's going to be this way the rest of the season. We have to take it one game at a time. We have to focus on FAU and what we do and how we do it."
MARSHALL
Head Coach Charles Huff’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On last week's game:
“Last game we had a talk after the game. Obviously you all could see it, Ray Charles could see the issue that happened Saturday night. We’ve got to find a way to eliminate the turnovers. It’s been something that’s been happening since the first game of the year. We’ve gotten away with it in multiple games and now it’s catching up to us. I think sometimes it takes a failure to learn. You talk about in the first game not turning it over, not turning it over, not turning it over, and in young running backs minds, not necessarily mine, but they say ‘I didn’t fumble, I got it back.’ Then you kind of don’t really think about it. Then as the year goes on, you don’t get them back. I don’t know if it was like the vortex, but every ball that came out Saturday night just seemed to repel away from all of our guys. I mean not even close to like ‘did we get it, did we get it?’ No, we don’t even have a guy in the area, so I think what we’re going through now hopefully our guys had a chance to see it.
“I talked to the team and told them we had six turnovers and a blocked punt and we’re still less than a half a yard away from having an opportunity to go win the game. How great can we be if we stop beating ourselves? I told them when I went in the locker room, do not hang your head. I believe you hang your head when you play your best and the other team beats you. You don’t hang your head when you beat yourself. You’ve got to look in the mirror and say ‘how can I get better?’ That was one of the things we talked about. I thought our defense played well enough for us to win the game, especially in the second half. We kept turning it over, they come out and get a stop, we’d turn it over, they’d come out and get a stop. The one we turned over that they didn’t have a chance to put their hand down was probably the one that kind of put us a little too far out of reach, but I think our defense is starting to play the style of defense that we all expected. It takes time. I’m not by any means making excuses for it, but it takes time. I think we’re starting to play the type of defense that we expect our guys to play. A great learning opportunity, and we’ve got another tremendous challenge coming up this weekend.
“Obviously homecoming, I expect the Joan to be full of fans really getting the opportunity to come back. ODU is a really good football team. You can look at records, but if you look at our record, what will people say? I think you’ve got to look at the film. I think when you watch their games, I think they’re in a very similar scenario as us. They’re in a lot of games – there’s a turnover, or a penalty, or a drop, whatever it is that kind of separates them. We’ve got to be prepared, and I told the guys it’s really about us this week. It’s about us fixing the things we need to fix, improving the things we need to improve on all week, so we can go out and execute on Saturday.”
On Old Dominion's usage of their tight ends:
“Yeah, I think they do a really good job of maximizing the tight end, they play a lot of 12 personnel, mainly 11, but they play a lot of 12 personnel to get two tight ends on the field. It’s a matchup type of deal for them. Nine times out of 10, the tight ends usually matched up where he’s going to have a little bit of a size advantage. They’ve got two guys with great size. Zack Kuntz was at Penn State when I was there, we recruited him, I left and then he came in, so I know a lot about him. And then their other is probably a little more athletic vertically, but Zack is 6’8”, 6’9” with a really good catch radius, does a really good job running his routes. I think they do a really good job of matching up to create advantages for them, so we’ve got to be able to defend those tight ends in the passing game and in the run game.”
MIDDLE TENNESSEE
Head Coach Rick Stockstill’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“We’ve got Liberty up there this weekend and I really believe, this isn’t coach speak, I think this is the best team we’ve played so far. They’re very athletic, very fast on both sides of the ball, they’ve got good skill players. Offensively it’s built around their quarterback, Malik Willis. He’s just a really, really good football player, he’s an Auburn transfer, he’s thrown 11 touchdown passes and no interceptions. He’s got close to 500 yards rushing – he’s their leading rusher, obviously he’s their leading passer and just does a really good job. He’s a bigger guy, probably 225 pounds that breaks a lot of tackles. People get hands on him in the passing game and he breaks their tackles. So we’ve got to do a really good job of wrapping up when we get to him. He’s not a burner, but he’s got great vision, great change of direction and he is so strong that he breaks a lot of tackles. We’ve got to do a good job with him, they’ve got good running backs and good receivers also. It’s a very experienced offense – their offensive line is older, but it starts with their quarterback, so we’ve got to do a good job there.
“Defensively, [they’re] probably the fastest team defensively that we’ve faced this year. Their front is active, their defensive ends, their tackles, guys can run. Linebackers, secondary, they’re going to come after you, they’re going to blitz you, they’re going to play zones and all that. Again, we saw it last week against Marshall, [who] had two really special returners in the kicking game and Liberty’s got that this week also. They’ve got a really good punt returner, and defensively like I’ve said, I think they’re in the top-10 in total defense, top-10 scoring defense, so it’s a really good defense. We’ve got to have a great week of preparation and get ready to play a good football team.”
On what Liberty does so well defensively, specifically with their front seven:
“They’re very athletic, they’re very fast, they’ve got good quickness and they use their hands well to get off blocks. They time their blitzes really well, they’ll do a lot of different things, a lot of different stunts up front. Their linebackers are active and they’re involved in the blitz game. It’s just a very active, fast defense and like I said, in my opinion, this is the best team that we’ve played so far this year. Those guys can run on defense and we’ve got to do a good job of creating a new line of scrimmage. We can’t play the game in our backfield, we’ve got to get on their side of the line of scrimmage or it’s going to be a long day because they’re really athletic and really active up front. To me, we’ve got to do a good job of communicating up front to handle all of the different things we’re going to see.”
NORTH TEXAS
Head Coach Seth Littrell’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On Missouri:
"They're a very good team. Offensively, they do a lot of different motions so you have to keep your eyes right in the run game and they have some explosive receivers, too. Defensively, they are big on the back end, are long and athletic and can run. They're big, strong and very good pass rushers but hold themselves in the run game very well up front. They're an SEC opponent. We know what we're facing. It's a great challenge but it's a great opportunity.
"If you don't come to play in big games like that, you probably shouldn't play football. I just want to see our guys go out and compete and play hard for four quarters. The wins and losses take care of themselves. It's a great opportunity for us to go compete."
On how the Mean Green utilized the bye week:
"We got a lot of work in and got back to fundamentals and looked at tendencies in all three phases. We worked on some things we need to do to move forward in each phase. It was a good off week. Guys worked hard, and we're ready to get back."
On RB DeAndre Torrey:
"He's had to take a load. He's close to over 80 snaps a game and last week we ended up being real thin. We had him and Ayo (Adeyi) at the end. One of our deeper positions in the preseason has gotten really thin. Hopefully we'll get that back this week and take some load off Torrey… That's DeAndre though. He wants to carry the load and compete. He loves ball and he's reliable. He's handled it well."
OLD DOMINION
Head Coach Ricky Rahne’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On slower starts each of the past two weeks and whether that falls on execution:
“We’ve firmly established ourselves as a team that’s going to be able to run the football and we didn’t run the football as well in this game, especially in the first half as we had in previous games. That’s something that we’ve got to correct. The thing I told our guys is we can’t wait until something good happens until we start to believe that we belong out there. I think individually we all believe that we belong out there, we need to collectively believe that as well. I think that’s the one thing. I did not love our energy early in the game. That’s something that’s on me I’ve got to get that corrected. I thought our focus was there. I thought we were into the game and that sort of thing I didn’t think that was an issue. I didn’t particularly love our energy on the sideline and all those sorts of things I thought that could have been better.”
On relationship with Marshall head coach Charles Huff:
“Great person. He’s probably one of my best friends because we don’t need to talk a whole lot for us to be friends. I’m not great on keeping up with people. If you’re a person who requires me to speak to you twice a week or whatever in order for us to maintain our ties, it’s probably not going to work out. He’s a person who we can not talk for a couple weeks, even a month and then we talk and it’s like we haven’t missed a beat. Obviously, proud of what he’s already been able to accomplish in his career, he’s earned everything he’s had. I’m going to cheer for him every week of the year except this one. Obviously, he’s going to be the same way. Little things like sometimes those type of rivalries, like a rivalry with your brother sometimes those are the most fierce ones.”
On keys to success on Saturday:
“They’ve got a very good offense; I think they’re fourth in the country in yards per game right now. They obviously have a new head coach, but their offensive coordinator is the same that it was last year. Their quarterback has now been in this system for a couple of years now, and he’s playing well. He’s got a great running back and a great crew of wide receivers and their doing a nice job of being an explosive offense. Defensively they create some chaos. They are very high up in the country and in the league in sacks and also TFL’s and they’re causing some turnovers. So, where they may be down in some other categories, they’re making up for it, their very opportunistic. We’ve got to take care of the football, we’ve got to be able to be where we’re supposed to be on defense in terms of defending the pass game, which we’ve done pretty well all year. I know we’ve got to create some pressure up front and get to the quarterback they’ve also protected the quarterback well, so we’ve got to find a way to affect the quarterback because that’s the way we’ll create some turnovers.”
SOUTHERN MISS
Head Coach Will Hall’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference
On UTEP:
“4-1, man, they’ve done a great job building that program. I’ve got a lot of respect for a lot of their coaches. Matt Wallerstedt was with me and Coach (Lance) Ancar at UNA when we had that run. Coach Price and the special teams, Coach Warner and the offense, Michigan State. They’ve had a lot of successful coaches that have done a lot of great things and they’ve got it going on right now. It’ll be a tremendous challenge for us.”
On the quarterback situation:
“We’re building a program. The good Lord didn’t say ‘Hey Will, you’re going to get the Southern Miss job and it’s going to be smooth.’ He never said that. He said ‘I’m going to give you this job and I’m going to give you an opportunity to touch a lot of people’s lives and build it the right way,’ and that’s what we’re doing. We’re on our fourth quarterback on game six. It is what it is. We’ve got to find a way to take what we’ve got and win. I love these kids, I love the way they’re working. We’re not going to make excuses, we’re just going to keep building every day. Brick-by-brick and relationship-by-relationship. Is it what we wanted? No. But that’s just not the way life goes.”
On developing freshman quarterbacks:
“You just keep coaching. Every day they get a little bit smarter and a little bit better. We’re freshman quarterback gurus. We were really excited about moving forward with Ty, that’s going to take a step back now. That’s not what the good Lord had in store for us at this time. We’re going to move forward with Jake. We’ve got a great quarterback committed that’ll be here in January, we can’t talk about that right now, we’ll start coaching him too. We’re a quarterback-driven program. We will recruit great quarterbacks, we will develop great quarterbacks. If Alabama and Ohio State lost three quarterbacks, they would be going through a little bit of turmoil. And they recruit better than anybody in the country. That’s the hand we’re dealt, we’re going to play it to the best of our ability.”
On if QB Jake Lange reminds Coach Hall of himself and Lange wearing No. 24:
“A little bit, I was probably a little better runner than Jake, no offense to Jake. He’s a bit bigger than me. He’s a gym rat, he had a few mistakes that we can clean up. Having a week of practice with gearing the offense-- obviously, we had geared the offense toward Ty’s skillset, which is way different than Jake’s. Now we’ll gear it towards Jake’s which will allow him to hopefully have more success.
“That’s the number he wanted, he’s a tough guy. Doug Flutie was 22. I wore 22 at Murray State because I couldn’t be No. 7 when I was there. That’s the number he wanted, that’s the number we gave him, it was the number that was available, so it is what it is.”
On building a program and keeping the players positive:
“It’s just what we do all the time, it's not like all of a sudden. It’s just how we live our life, how we want to treat people. They see it, they see the tape. We played a team that we lost to 30-3 last year, or whatever it was. We had four turnovers to zero and lost by five. We should have won the game. It’s there, we’ve just got to correct-- we don’t do the things that it takes to win football games. We play hard. We love each other. But we’re not doing the things that it takes to win. That’s coaching, that’s everybody gearing down a little bit more, a little more attention to detail and fixing those things, and it’s going to happen.”
UAB
Head Coach Bill Clark’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“We are obviously licking our wounds this morning from a tough loss. Just kind of backtrack to the opening of the stadium and I said it after the game, it was everything we hoped for and more. It was a great turnout in spite of some rain and lightning. I just could not be prouder of our fans, the attendance and atmosphere - our players loved it. There’s going to be things for everyone to clean up, but it was everything we hoped for. I don’t spend a lot of time talking about injuries. We’ve got a few guys that are banged up going into that game, we knew we were. You have to give Liberty a lot of credit, it was a close game at the half and we couldn’t get first downs and couldn’t get stops in the second half, pretty simple. The guys never quit and kept fighting just like we thought they would. I don’t think there’s any doubt that Malik Willis is as good or better than advertised. Just like we said, just like we knew and he titled the field. But give them credit, give their coach credit and their coaching staff credit. You know good, bad and ugly this morning we got to put that one to bed and now we’re working on winning the championship.
“We’ve got a very good Florida Atlantic team coming in that I think defensively they got nine of their starters back that played us in the conference championship two years ago. They are a very well coached. They had a huge win last week against FIU, I know they feel like probably that was their coming out, so we got to get back to home and you know defend these championships that are so hard to come by. I think our guys know what it takes and we’re going to have some guys step up. That happens when you get guys beat up and we knew that was going to be the case with this really tough schedule we had and every game being as tough as it was. You know sometimes you got to have a little luck. I think we will get a couple of guys back this week; we hope. But either way we got to go, and I know our guys will be ready to do that.”
On Florida Atlantic:
“Defensively they are the same as far as just really aggressive well-coached defense and then offensively they’ve probably found who they are last week. They went really high tempo; they have speed everywhere. They’re in a hotbed of recruiting. They’ve got speed all over the place and are gigantic up front. We knew when they added those guys to our side of the schedule, they were giving us one of the best teams on the other side of the conference and they looked like it on Saturday.”
UTEP
Head Coach Dana Dimel’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On Southern Miss:
“Now we lead into the Southern Miss game, which now we’re in conference road play. We got a lot of practice last year, so we should hopefully be improved in that we played well in three of four of our last road games, but not well enough to win. We have to find ways to get on the road and be competitive, find ways to win games on the road. That’s our challenge this week. The challenge starts with great practices. Preparing for a Southern Miss team that has good athletes. They have a first-year coach, good speed at the receivers, good running backs. Their defense has a ton of speed and athleticism on it. It’s going to be a tough road game for us to get a victory.”
On getting a Conference USA road win:
“To be able to get a road win early in conference is going to be big for everybody. For everybody in the league, it’s going to be a big deciding factor down the stretch run of who does well on the road. So, this is our first road test. It’s a gigantic game for us.”
On DE Praise [Amaewhule]’s performance this season:
“He’s really started to pick it up the last few games. He’s really playing to the level that we were hoping and expecting him to play at. He plays with great desire and emotion and he’s really taking his game to the next level. He’s not taking anything for granted and he loves to practice, he loves to work out, and loves to get himself ready to play. He plays with a ton of emotion. That emotion feeds into his effort he gives on the field. I’ve been very proud of him.”
UTSA
Head Coach Jeff Traylor’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
On how it feels to be 5-0 on the season:
“I look at it one week at a time. We are stacking one great day on top of another. It just so happens that we are 5-0. Every one of the games has come down to the last play except for Lamar. It has been aging on all of us. It is kind of in our M.O. since we have been here. We battle every team. It comes down to the very end. It makes for great fan entertainment and short coaching lives.”
On the strong defensive performance against UNLV and a preview of Western Kentucky:
“We have really good players that play really hard and believe in the culture. That is where we start. I will say that we are playing against the best offense and the best quarterback we have gone against this week. It just so happens he is from Texas. The best receiver is from Texas and the right tackle too. They have done a great job recruiting our state. We have to do a better job of keeping those kids in our state and playing for UTSA, not the Hilltoppers. They do a fantastic job. They are really good on offense. On defense, they have the preseason player of the year, (DeAngelo Malone). They are a really good football team. If we had played Army, Indiana and Michigan State, I am not so sure what our record would be right now.”
On the biggest challenges Western Kentucky poses:
“This will be the best quarterback that we play against. Bailey (Zappe) is really good. He is from Victoria and can really throw it. He played for HBU last year. He has a quick release and is very accurate. They throw it really well. They are the best offense we have gone against. They will give our defense all they can handle on Saturday. They have great receivers. One of them is from Waxahachie, right here in Texas. They have got three really good receivers and (Bailey Zappe) gets it to all of them. They hurry up and spread you out. They are a 10 personnel team. They can execute at a high level. They are crisp and sharp. They are very well coached. The analogy I would give, it is a lot like back in the day what Louisiana Tech and Texas Tech did years ago. They are still doing it very well at a high level. They will give us some trouble.”
On the potential of winning against Western Kentucky and having the best start to a season in program history:
“We are going to try to have the best academic day we can have today. That is how you get to 6-0. If we just talk about it, it is not going to happen. We have to be great today. It just so happens that the culture pillar of the week is ‘Win the Day,’ which is what we break on every day anyway. We get the double ‘Win the Day.’ When I walk into the team meeting, I am going to say, ‘Win the Day,’ and my team is going to say, ‘Win the Day’ back to me. It is always funny when we do this. It only happens every eight weeks. On the eighth week when it happens, we all chuckle. That is where we are going to stay, right in that lane. If it happens, it happens. I am going to keep trying to Win the Day.”
WKU
Head Coach Tyson Helton’s Quotes from Monday’s Press Conference
Opening Statement:
“Great week this week – we get to start conference play. UTSA, really good football team we’re about to play. They’ve got a 5-0 record, they’re doing really well. When I watch them on film – there’s a reason why they’re undefeated – they’re a really good team. Our guys are really excited about the opportunity to start conference play. It’s great that we get to come back home. We really need our fans to come out and support us like they did against Indiana, that was a fantastic environment. If we can recreate that, I really think it’ll be awesome for us, and to be able to go get that win.”
On the mindset entering conference play:
“I think you’re right in saying it’s a different benchmark. It wouldn’t matter if we were 4-0 right now – the reality is we’re 1-3 – none of that matters right now when you enter conference play. We’re looking at trying to be 1-0 in conference play, that’s all we’re trying to do right now. I said it after the game, but I really like where our locker room is right now. I think everybody’s realistic on – okay, we’re 1-3 – but we have an opportunity in conference to be a good football team and to go get a big win against UTSA. I don’t see anybody thinking anything other than ‘let’s go get this first win in conference play.’”
On the connection between QB Bailey Zappe and WR Jerreth Sterns:
“I think they have a great feel for each other. Bailey knows where Jerreth is going to be. He’s definitely the go-to guy in certain situations. But, I really like how Bailey spits the ball out to everybody. You look at a Mitchell Tinsley, there’s times he’s looking for Mitch. You look at our tight end Joey [Beljan], Joey has been able to do some good things for us. So, that’s probably the best thing about Bailey – he knows everybody’s strengths and everybody’s weaknesses. He knows what guy to go to in what situation. But, he definitely looks for Jerreth when the time comes. If it’s a big third down – those kinds of things – he’s definitely looking for Jerreth.”