Tuesday Press Conference Transcript
9/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Football
BOBCAT COACH ROB ASH
Do you motivate differently this week against a Division II opponent?
"What I'm trying to do this week is put my motivational speaking into Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't think we'll have any trouble on Saturday with the guys getting motivated to play on that day with the home crowd, home opener, all the excitement. I don't think (Saturday) will be a problem, but if we don't prepare well prior to that, that in itself won't be enough. So I'm concentrating my efforts on practice."
Do you use the Appalachian State upset of Michigan as an example?
"No, I won't use that one, but I will use Texas A&M and Montana State. I'll go with our own example. We went to Texas A&M thinking we had a very good chance to win, and played a very good game. Maybe they had more respect for us at the end of the game than they did at the beginning, I'll put it that way. I think that's the one that's going to relate to our players the best, the fact that we went down there and played a good game and didn't back down, we thought we had a chance to win and wanted to be the spoiler. Now the tables are turned, but I think I'll use our example rather than anyone else's."
Is it harder to prepare for Dixie State than Texas A&M?
"Here's what I say: the game of football is the greatest game in the world. It deserves a great effort every time you get a chance to go play. I tell our guys all the time, you've got to treat this game with respect. It's a great game. When you go out and play, you put the uniform on, it doesn't matter who you're playing, whether you're home or on the road, whether you're favored or not favored, no matter what has happened during the week, the weather conditions, nothing should affect your commitment and your focus in the game. The game deserves it. You only get 11 regular season opportunities a year to play this great game, and every one of those is special. Guys need to prepare the same no matter what the circumstances are. That's what I tell the team."
What is Aaron Mason's status?
"Aaron is scheduled to practice (Tuesday). We'll see how he handles that and runs around. We've been encouraging him to get back out there and show us what he could do, because Isaiah (Taito) and Demetrius (Crawford) both played well against Texas A&M." (EDITOR'S NOTE: Mason practiced Tuesday.)
What is the kicking situation?
"Eric Fisher got banged up in practice last week on kind of a fluky deal, so he's been out for three or four days. He's coming back, but I'm not sure what the timetable will be. If he's not ready to go then Mike Sweeney will handle the placements and kickoffs and Tyler Bolton will be our punter. Depending on Eric's health he could get back into the mix, but we have to get him healthy first."
What is David Taylor's status?
"David will be back there if he's healthy. He's one of the guys that came out of the game with a lower leg problem and he's been limited in practice. He's one of the guys that I'm anxious to see work this week. He's a very good special teams player. He did a terrific job on punt coverage, he did a very good job returning kicks, although he mis-fielded the one. I think he'll get better at that. I think he's a guy that can play on punt block. We're trying to use him a lot because he's very athletic. I hope he's going to be 100 percent, because we need him."
Were you glad not to play a game last week?
"I was very, very surprised on Tuesday and Wednesday how banged up our football team was. It was a complete change from how we felt right after the game. I think we still had a lot of adrenaline going right after the game, and maybe we were too tired as players to know we were injured, I don't know. When we put the pads on and started hitting last week on Tuesday and Wednesday a lot of things showed up, and none of them were made up or exaggerated in any way. We just had a team showing the signs of playing against a tough, physical Big 12 opponent, and we played hard in that game in hot conditions, and our gas tank was a little more empty than we thought. We had to shift gears a little bit." (EDITOR'S NOTE: Taylor practiced Tuesday.)
What did your players learn about themselves in the A&M game?
"With respect to the players I think they learned a lot about their ability to play. You never know about matchups, and I think the players that got out there on the field felt very good about their ability to compete with a Big 12 team. We should have taken a lot of confidence from that game, and I think every guy that played on that field did have that conclusion. As far as my reaction, I was also very impressed with our guys' ability to compete, with our effort, with our focus and concentration. All those things are great positives. We also made a lot of mistakes, and we have to be able to play hard and play well at the same time. But the jury's still out in my opinion in two areas. One is, can we sustain that level of focus and concentration when we play somewhere other than a stadium that has 80,000 people. And the other thing is, can we play hard and assignment sound at the same time. So this week will be very beneficial to us to learn more about this team."
What does Dixie State do on offense?
"They're a good solid offense. They don't have a lot of option, but their quarterback will scramble around and make some plays. They're a physical team, their tailback is a good, big, strong runner. We're impressed with him. We like what we see from them in terms of their competitiveness. They balance the attack, throw the ball to a lot of different players, they're multiple, they take their shots down the field. They've got a very big offensive line, they stack up size-wise very well to a Big Sky team. Offensively they present a lot of issues for us, and we'll have to play a lot of base early in the game until we can sort out what we need to do. I'm impressed with what they've done. The fact that they have three games under their belt is a huge advantage, too. They have a lot of snaps on tape, they can see themselves actually competing. They know a lot more about their team right now than we do about ours."
What does Dixie do defensively?
"They're one of those 3-4 teams, where they have three down linemen and four linebackers on every snap and they bring guys from every possible angle - one rusher or two out of those linebackers, either side, both sides, four from one side, lots and lots and lots of different blitz combinations which present a lot of challenges in terms of pass protection. As much as we like to throw the football that's a real challenge. Every pass starts with pass protection first, and so our focus in preparing for their defense is to make sure we get our quarterback protected so he gets the ball away. That may require us to keep tight ends and running backs in some to protect because of all the multiple schemes that they put out there. It's a challenge, and we've worked hard on our protection schemes this week."
How do you see Dixie State this year?
"They're in a much better position than they've ever been in. Last year they've struggled, this year they've already won two games, they've won two in a row, they've won a road game, they've played all these games. That concerns me greatly, it really does. They're on a roll and we haven't even got started yet. But the answer isn't what we show on Saturday, it's what we do (Tuesday and Wednesday). I keep coming back to that. Our team has to practice well to make up for the fact that we haven't had the chance to compete."
Are you excited to play at home?
"I'm excited. I'll be honest with you, the first day I was here I took a look at that stadium and thought this would be a great place to coach, a great place to work. I'm excited to look out the window every day at that stadium when I'm in the office. I'm excited to see it filled up. I've heard great things about our home crowd, about the enthusiasm of the game day atmosphere, and how it helps. I want to see all that. I hope the team and the players respect that, and I think they will, and I hope our effort and our performance matches the level of support we're going to get on Saturday. We owe that to the fans and the crowd to do that, so that's my expectation."
Does this non-conference schedule prepare you for the Big Sky?
"I think so. I think you need to have a mixture of opponents and styles to see what you're team is going to be made of. I also think it's very important to win. Going into Big Sky competition the next week, it's critical. Every coach would say there's never a game you can afford to lose, but we need a win. We need to learn how to win, that's our challenge this week. It's critically important for us going into conference play."
Does one group stand out for Dixie State?
"I think their offensive skill position players are tough, rugged, they're tall, lanky, they're athletic, physical. We're very impressed with those guys. Their defensive ends and perimeter linebackers are very athletic guys that can beat a guy one-on-one on pass rush and make some things happen. On the two sides of the ball those are the guys we respect the most, but they have good players dotted around their whole roster. These are good athletes, and that's why they've won games this year. They've done a nice job bringing this program along."
How do you instill winning?
"There's a formula for winning. (You have to) be disciplined and execute well and know your assignments, fit plays on defense and get a hat-on-a-hat on offense, the things I talk about a lot. If you get those things accomplished in practice, the effort comes on Saturday. I believe that effort is natural, but that discipline and execution have to be trained. That's what we try to do in practice, get those things to be second nature so we can play with great effort and play accurately at the same time."
How is Dixie State as a program?
"They've got a team, and a program. They know what they want to do on both sides of the ball. I respect that. That's what teams should do. I'd be more comfortable if they were bounding around from one concept to another because I would know they're kind of searching. They're very consistent with what they want to do. Their defensive system is what they've bought into and they believe in. Same thing on offense. It's been successful, it's working now. They've come back from a tough loss and won two in a row, and it's working now."
RUNNING BACK ISAIAH TAITO
How has the three-man rotation at RB been?
“It’s been really good, actually. Every practice has been competition, we’ve been pushing each other to get better every practice. It’s better as a group and better for the team, and we always keep everything real competitive so we don’t go into a game thinking our spot is safe and we can have an average game.”
Are you comfortable in the offense?
“Going into the season we were kind of skeptical how the coaches were going to handle everything. We were ready to adapt to anything they were going to give us. We were going to see how the coaches were going to approach it, and they approached it really well. They made everything simple for us, they didn’t bring in too many complex formations or anything, they threw things at us they thought we could handle and get down pretty perfect. When we went down to Texas A&M things just flowed for us.”
How was the week off?
“Getting the week off kind of felt like going right back into camp, but it was beneficial for us, especially getting everybody healed up. They say everyone progresses a lot from game one to game two, and I don’t think this week threw us off at all because we had the extra week to prepare and get ready. The extra week can only help us.”
What does Dixie State do defensively?
“It’s not too different than what we’ve seen in the past. Our defense last year was really complex. Everything that’s been thrown at us has kind of been simple. It’s not too difficult for us because the Bear defense we used to run (against) last year was very complex.”
Are you excited to play at home?
“We’re excited. We’ve been talking about it since before the season even started. We’ve heard we have a new (entry tunnel), so we’re excited to run out and see the crowd and put on a good show.”
Is this game more important because it’s Coach Ash’s first home game?
“Coach Ash is really a great coach, and want to go out there and show what he’s done with our team. It’s a homecoming for him, and (we want) to give the fans a show and show what Coach Ash has done for us and the community.”
How has the new coaching staff been to play for?
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot. He always has everything timed out to the minute. It’s a lot different. As everyone knows he’s a 180 from Coach Kramer, more soft-spoken and everything, but everything he’s brought to the table so far has been really good for us.”
Is it difficult to play a Division II opponent?
“It’s kind of scary to play Division II teams because they come in and all they’re thinking is, we have nothing to lose, we’re going to give them everything. They’re going to come out and play hard, they’re not going to give up because we’re a so-called I-AA. We have to go out there with the mentality we’re playing Texas A&M.”
How do you maintain that intensity?
“I think the fact that it’s our first home game, coming back for the first time since we played Furman, is going to give us enough intensity to carry on the intensity from Texas A&M.”
LINEBACKER WILL CLAGGETT
How was the week off?
“The week off was definitely beneficial. We got a lot more accomplished during this bye week than we normally do, considering it’s just the first week and we could do a lot more physical things. We were in full pads quite a few days, which is good for us with the new scheme. The previous bye weeks were later on when a lot more people were banged up and you take it easy and it’s more mental. This past week we were able to do both, which is only going to make us better prepared for the game.”
On correcting mistakes:
“Any time you have people playing in the wrong gaps in a gap defense you’re not going to win the game, or you’re going to give up huge plays, and that’s exactly what we did. That first Sunday, actually it was Monday because of the bye week, you correct all those mistakes and whenever they happen in practice you correct them right there. Once everybody’s in the right place good things are going to happen. I don’t think anyone is more physical than us, they might be a little faster or a little quicker, but if you’re in the wrong spot you’re not giving yourself a chance.”
Does the Chadron State game linger in your mind?
“I think you have to at least acknowledge what happened, otherwise it could possibly happen again. This year I think we’re in a different spot. We’ve had a bye week, we haven’t won a game in seven months. We’re so hungry that everybody keeps talking about, we can’t wait ‘til Saturday. I think that’s the mind frame of the team right now, we just want to win and it really doesn’t matter who we’re playing. I don’t think it’s a step down for us or a step up or anything like that, it’s just going out there to get that victory.”
Is it difficult to play a Division II opponent?
“I think any time when you’re a smaller school at any level from high school to college you want to go in there and knock (a bigger school) off. For us, we have to prepare like it’s any other football game. I don’t think there’s any extra preparation or mental stuff we have to think about other than being fired up for the game because it’s our first home game and a chance to get our first win.”
Are you excited to play at home?
“Playing here is a real special experience. Just being in Montana and everybody showing up at the game, it’s a lot different than anywhere else I’ve played. The people are so supportive here and they’re so excited about the change that I don’t think there’s any way we want to go out there and disappoint them.”
Does the fact that season tickets sold out in record time inspire players?
“I remember hearing it because I was working here during the summer. I was fired up because at the time we were at such a weird place with everything going on, we knew we had that support. It gives you that extra kick in the butt to make sure you work hard and go out there and prepare to make sure you never fail your fans.”
During the week, are there times that are more important than others?
“Any week Tuesday and Wednesday are your most pivotal days. They’re your most physical days, you need to make sure you get out there and get in the right spots and you need to make sure you can somewhat visualize the speed of the game and the way the plays are going to happen because once you start turning it down you can’t prepare for that any more.”
Does a mobile quarterback put more pressure on the defense?
“I don’t think it puts any more pressure on us than any other game. Definitely the last quarterback we faced was real quick and agile. For us, we feel any time we’re on the field, with our scheme, as long as we’re in the right spots that we’re going to be productive and it’s going to be a positive game for us.”
What stands out about Dixie’s offense?
“Nothing necessarily stands out to me that we really have to pay attention to except that they play really hard. You can tell that on film. I can only expect that coming in here trying to knock someone off they’re only going to play harder. Mentally, we have to gear up for a real physical game.”
Is getting the defense’s first turnover of the season a goal in this game?
“Any defense that you play on, the number one goal is to score, and the only way to score on defense is to get the ball. So, to get our first turnover, we would love to have about 10 turnovers in the game. Every day in practice there’s been a large emphasis on turning the ball over. There’s a lot of pride that goes into that.”
Do you motivate differently this week against a Division II opponent?
"What I'm trying to do this week is put my motivational speaking into Tuesday and Wednesday. I don't think we'll have any trouble on Saturday with the guys getting motivated to play on that day with the home crowd, home opener, all the excitement. I don't think (Saturday) will be a problem, but if we don't prepare well prior to that, that in itself won't be enough. So I'm concentrating my efforts on practice."
Do you use the Appalachian State upset of Michigan as an example?
"No, I won't use that one, but I will use Texas A&M and Montana State. I'll go with our own example. We went to Texas A&M thinking we had a very good chance to win, and played a very good game. Maybe they had more respect for us at the end of the game than they did at the beginning, I'll put it that way. I think that's the one that's going to relate to our players the best, the fact that we went down there and played a good game and didn't back down, we thought we had a chance to win and wanted to be the spoiler. Now the tables are turned, but I think I'll use our example rather than anyone else's."
Is it harder to prepare for Dixie State than Texas A&M?
"Here's what I say: the game of football is the greatest game in the world. It deserves a great effort every time you get a chance to go play. I tell our guys all the time, you've got to treat this game with respect. It's a great game. When you go out and play, you put the uniform on, it doesn't matter who you're playing, whether you're home or on the road, whether you're favored or not favored, no matter what has happened during the week, the weather conditions, nothing should affect your commitment and your focus in the game. The game deserves it. You only get 11 regular season opportunities a year to play this great game, and every one of those is special. Guys need to prepare the same no matter what the circumstances are. That's what I tell the team."
What is Aaron Mason's status?
"Aaron is scheduled to practice (Tuesday). We'll see how he handles that and runs around. We've been encouraging him to get back out there and show us what he could do, because Isaiah (Taito) and Demetrius (Crawford) both played well against Texas A&M." (EDITOR'S NOTE: Mason practiced Tuesday.)
What is the kicking situation?
"Eric Fisher got banged up in practice last week on kind of a fluky deal, so he's been out for three or four days. He's coming back, but I'm not sure what the timetable will be. If he's not ready to go then Mike Sweeney will handle the placements and kickoffs and Tyler Bolton will be our punter. Depending on Eric's health he could get back into the mix, but we have to get him healthy first."
What is David Taylor's status?
"David will be back there if he's healthy. He's one of the guys that came out of the game with a lower leg problem and he's been limited in practice. He's one of the guys that I'm anxious to see work this week. He's a very good special teams player. He did a terrific job on punt coverage, he did a very good job returning kicks, although he mis-fielded the one. I think he'll get better at that. I think he's a guy that can play on punt block. We're trying to use him a lot because he's very athletic. I hope he's going to be 100 percent, because we need him."
Were you glad not to play a game last week?
"I was very, very surprised on Tuesday and Wednesday how banged up our football team was. It was a complete change from how we felt right after the game. I think we still had a lot of adrenaline going right after the game, and maybe we were too tired as players to know we were injured, I don't know. When we put the pads on and started hitting last week on Tuesday and Wednesday a lot of things showed up, and none of them were made up or exaggerated in any way. We just had a team showing the signs of playing against a tough, physical Big 12 opponent, and we played hard in that game in hot conditions, and our gas tank was a little more empty than we thought. We had to shift gears a little bit." (EDITOR'S NOTE: Taylor practiced Tuesday.)
What did your players learn about themselves in the A&M game?
"With respect to the players I think they learned a lot about their ability to play. You never know about matchups, and I think the players that got out there on the field felt very good about their ability to compete with a Big 12 team. We should have taken a lot of confidence from that game, and I think every guy that played on that field did have that conclusion. As far as my reaction, I was also very impressed with our guys' ability to compete, with our effort, with our focus and concentration. All those things are great positives. We also made a lot of mistakes, and we have to be able to play hard and play well at the same time. But the jury's still out in my opinion in two areas. One is, can we sustain that level of focus and concentration when we play somewhere other than a stadium that has 80,000 people. And the other thing is, can we play hard and assignment sound at the same time. So this week will be very beneficial to us to learn more about this team."
What does Dixie State do on offense?
"They're a good solid offense. They don't have a lot of option, but their quarterback will scramble around and make some plays. They're a physical team, their tailback is a good, big, strong runner. We're impressed with him. We like what we see from them in terms of their competitiveness. They balance the attack, throw the ball to a lot of different players, they're multiple, they take their shots down the field. They've got a very big offensive line, they stack up size-wise very well to a Big Sky team. Offensively they present a lot of issues for us, and we'll have to play a lot of base early in the game until we can sort out what we need to do. I'm impressed with what they've done. The fact that they have three games under their belt is a huge advantage, too. They have a lot of snaps on tape, they can see themselves actually competing. They know a lot more about their team right now than we do about ours."
What does Dixie do defensively?
"They're one of those 3-4 teams, where they have three down linemen and four linebackers on every snap and they bring guys from every possible angle - one rusher or two out of those linebackers, either side, both sides, four from one side, lots and lots and lots of different blitz combinations which present a lot of challenges in terms of pass protection. As much as we like to throw the football that's a real challenge. Every pass starts with pass protection first, and so our focus in preparing for their defense is to make sure we get our quarterback protected so he gets the ball away. That may require us to keep tight ends and running backs in some to protect because of all the multiple schemes that they put out there. It's a challenge, and we've worked hard on our protection schemes this week."
How do you see Dixie State this year?
"They're in a much better position than they've ever been in. Last year they've struggled, this year they've already won two games, they've won two in a row, they've won a road game, they've played all these games. That concerns me greatly, it really does. They're on a roll and we haven't even got started yet. But the answer isn't what we show on Saturday, it's what we do (Tuesday and Wednesday). I keep coming back to that. Our team has to practice well to make up for the fact that we haven't had the chance to compete."
Are you excited to play at home?
"I'm excited. I'll be honest with you, the first day I was here I took a look at that stadium and thought this would be a great place to coach, a great place to work. I'm excited to look out the window every day at that stadium when I'm in the office. I'm excited to see it filled up. I've heard great things about our home crowd, about the enthusiasm of the game day atmosphere, and how it helps. I want to see all that. I hope the team and the players respect that, and I think they will, and I hope our effort and our performance matches the level of support we're going to get on Saturday. We owe that to the fans and the crowd to do that, so that's my expectation."
Does this non-conference schedule prepare you for the Big Sky?
"I think so. I think you need to have a mixture of opponents and styles to see what you're team is going to be made of. I also think it's very important to win. Going into Big Sky competition the next week, it's critical. Every coach would say there's never a game you can afford to lose, but we need a win. We need to learn how to win, that's our challenge this week. It's critically important for us going into conference play."
Does one group stand out for Dixie State?
"I think their offensive skill position players are tough, rugged, they're tall, lanky, they're athletic, physical. We're very impressed with those guys. Their defensive ends and perimeter linebackers are very athletic guys that can beat a guy one-on-one on pass rush and make some things happen. On the two sides of the ball those are the guys we respect the most, but they have good players dotted around their whole roster. These are good athletes, and that's why they've won games this year. They've done a nice job bringing this program along."
How do you instill winning?
"There's a formula for winning. (You have to) be disciplined and execute well and know your assignments, fit plays on defense and get a hat-on-a-hat on offense, the things I talk about a lot. If you get those things accomplished in practice, the effort comes on Saturday. I believe that effort is natural, but that discipline and execution have to be trained. That's what we try to do in practice, get those things to be second nature so we can play with great effort and play accurately at the same time."
How is Dixie State as a program?
"They've got a team, and a program. They know what they want to do on both sides of the ball. I respect that. That's what teams should do. I'd be more comfortable if they were bounding around from one concept to another because I would know they're kind of searching. They're very consistent with what they want to do. Their defensive system is what they've bought into and they believe in. Same thing on offense. It's been successful, it's working now. They've come back from a tough loss and won two in a row, and it's working now."
RUNNING BACK ISAIAH TAITO
How has the three-man rotation at RB been?
“It’s been really good, actually. Every practice has been competition, we’ve been pushing each other to get better every practice. It’s better as a group and better for the team, and we always keep everything real competitive so we don’t go into a game thinking our spot is safe and we can have an average game.”
Are you comfortable in the offense?
“Going into the season we were kind of skeptical how the coaches were going to handle everything. We were ready to adapt to anything they were going to give us. We were going to see how the coaches were going to approach it, and they approached it really well. They made everything simple for us, they didn’t bring in too many complex formations or anything, they threw things at us they thought we could handle and get down pretty perfect. When we went down to Texas A&M things just flowed for us.”
How was the week off?
“Getting the week off kind of felt like going right back into camp, but it was beneficial for us, especially getting everybody healed up. They say everyone progresses a lot from game one to game two, and I don’t think this week threw us off at all because we had the extra week to prepare and get ready. The extra week can only help us.”
What does Dixie State do defensively?
“It’s not too different than what we’ve seen in the past. Our defense last year was really complex. Everything that’s been thrown at us has kind of been simple. It’s not too difficult for us because the Bear defense we used to run (against) last year was very complex.”
Are you excited to play at home?
“We’re excited. We’ve been talking about it since before the season even started. We’ve heard we have a new (entry tunnel), so we’re excited to run out and see the crowd and put on a good show.”
Is this game more important because it’s Coach Ash’s first home game?
“Coach Ash is really a great coach, and want to go out there and show what he’s done with our team. It’s a homecoming for him, and (we want) to give the fans a show and show what Coach Ash has done for us and the community.”
How has the new coaching staff been to play for?
“I’ve enjoyed it a lot. He always has everything timed out to the minute. It’s a lot different. As everyone knows he’s a 180 from Coach Kramer, more soft-spoken and everything, but everything he’s brought to the table so far has been really good for us.”
Is it difficult to play a Division II opponent?
“It’s kind of scary to play Division II teams because they come in and all they’re thinking is, we have nothing to lose, we’re going to give them everything. They’re going to come out and play hard, they’re not going to give up because we’re a so-called I-AA. We have to go out there with the mentality we’re playing Texas A&M.”
How do you maintain that intensity?
“I think the fact that it’s our first home game, coming back for the first time since we played Furman, is going to give us enough intensity to carry on the intensity from Texas A&M.”
LINEBACKER WILL CLAGGETT
How was the week off?
“The week off was definitely beneficial. We got a lot more accomplished during this bye week than we normally do, considering it’s just the first week and we could do a lot more physical things. We were in full pads quite a few days, which is good for us with the new scheme. The previous bye weeks were later on when a lot more people were banged up and you take it easy and it’s more mental. This past week we were able to do both, which is only going to make us better prepared for the game.”
On correcting mistakes:
“Any time you have people playing in the wrong gaps in a gap defense you’re not going to win the game, or you’re going to give up huge plays, and that’s exactly what we did. That first Sunday, actually it was Monday because of the bye week, you correct all those mistakes and whenever they happen in practice you correct them right there. Once everybody’s in the right place good things are going to happen. I don’t think anyone is more physical than us, they might be a little faster or a little quicker, but if you’re in the wrong spot you’re not giving yourself a chance.”
Does the Chadron State game linger in your mind?
“I think you have to at least acknowledge what happened, otherwise it could possibly happen again. This year I think we’re in a different spot. We’ve had a bye week, we haven’t won a game in seven months. We’re so hungry that everybody keeps talking about, we can’t wait ‘til Saturday. I think that’s the mind frame of the team right now, we just want to win and it really doesn’t matter who we’re playing. I don’t think it’s a step down for us or a step up or anything like that, it’s just going out there to get that victory.”
Is it difficult to play a Division II opponent?
“I think any time when you’re a smaller school at any level from high school to college you want to go in there and knock (a bigger school) off. For us, we have to prepare like it’s any other football game. I don’t think there’s any extra preparation or mental stuff we have to think about other than being fired up for the game because it’s our first home game and a chance to get our first win.”
Are you excited to play at home?
“Playing here is a real special experience. Just being in Montana and everybody showing up at the game, it’s a lot different than anywhere else I’ve played. The people are so supportive here and they’re so excited about the change that I don’t think there’s any way we want to go out there and disappoint them.”
Does the fact that season tickets sold out in record time inspire players?
“I remember hearing it because I was working here during the summer. I was fired up because at the time we were at such a weird place with everything going on, we knew we had that support. It gives you that extra kick in the butt to make sure you work hard and go out there and prepare to make sure you never fail your fans.”
During the week, are there times that are more important than others?
“Any week Tuesday and Wednesday are your most pivotal days. They’re your most physical days, you need to make sure you get out there and get in the right spots and you need to make sure you can somewhat visualize the speed of the game and the way the plays are going to happen because once you start turning it down you can’t prepare for that any more.”
Does a mobile quarterback put more pressure on the defense?
“I don’t think it puts any more pressure on us than any other game. Definitely the last quarterback we faced was real quick and agile. For us, we feel any time we’re on the field, with our scheme, as long as we’re in the right spots that we’re going to be productive and it’s going to be a positive game for us.”
What stands out about Dixie’s offense?
“Nothing necessarily stands out to me that we really have to pay attention to except that they play really hard. You can tell that on film. I can only expect that coming in here trying to knock someone off they’re only going to play harder. Mentally, we have to gear up for a real physical game.”
Is getting the defense’s first turnover of the season a goal in this game?
“Any defense that you play on, the number one goal is to score, and the only way to score on defense is to get the ball. So, to get our first turnover, we would love to have about 10 turnovers in the game. Every day in practice there’s been a large emphasis on turning the ball over. There’s a lot of pride that goes into that.”
Wednesday, June 10
Friday, March 27
Monday, March 23
Friday, March 13
