CONFERENCE USA PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – Oct. 2, 2018

CHARLOTTE Head Coach Brad Lambert’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference

With Charlotte on its bye week, Coach Lambert did not hold a press conference.

FIU Head Coach Butch Davis’ Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference

With FIU on its bye week, Coach Davis did not hold a press conference.

LOUISIANA TECH Head Coach Skip Holtz’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference

Opening Comments: “It is always great to win. It is hard to win, but it is always nice to win. It is amazing how wins, especially in close football games, just change everybody's morale, attitude and everything in the program. It was a great venue over at North Texas. I think Seth Littrell has done a great job in building that program. This is two years in a row that this game has come down to a field goal. You are talking about two teams that I thought just competed their tails off in a great environment. It was a competitive game. It was a hard fought game, but at the same time it was a very clean game. There is just a lot of mutual respect between the two programs and I think there's definitely some rivalries being built with North Texas with the geographical location, the closeness, the job that they are doing building their program and the product they have on the field. I just think there's a lot of positives in this rivalry game. It was great to come out as a winner in that game. I thought our team competed and thought they played together. I thought their morale, their attitude with playing on the road in that venue - I couldn't be more proud of just the way they never flinched. They never gave up. This is the second week in a row we found ourselves down early. We did not play very well defensively early, but I thought we played pretty well in the first half as an offense. In the second half, it was just the opposite. I thought our defense came out and played an excellent second half, but offensively it was poor. We have to play smarter and we have to be more consistent as a football team. We certainly were not perfect in this football game, but there were some great individual efforts that some guys put out on the field. They gave us a chance to win.”

On the special teams at North Texas: “You have to talk about the job that Bailey Hale did as a kicker. You can bring in a guy, you watch film and you say he has talent and you chart how far he kicks it, how high he kicks it, the get off time. But what you can't measure is how somebody's going to handle adversity and how somebody's going to handle pressure or how somebody's going to handle a big time venue in that environment with pressure on him. And I thought Bailey Hale was a champ. He stepped in and he was 5-for-5, which we needed every one of them. Four out of five would have been good, but not good enough and we needed every one of those field goals in order to win. I couldn't be more proud of the job he did. Overall with special teams as a whole, we blocked the game-winning field goal with Amik Robertson. We created a fumble right before half that led to points. We pinned them inside the 20-yard line three times. We were 5- for-5 field goal wise. There were a lot of positives with the job that Erik Link is doing with special teams.”

On LA Tech’s defense at North Texas: “On defense, Jaylon Ferguson was awesome. He is getting double-teamed with people putting tight ends on him, running backs on him. He just keeps competing. I think he's playing really at a high level right now. On the defensive front, which I would consider that probably the strength right now of our defensive team, I think Immanuel Turner has played really well. Jordan Bradford, Keonatye Garner, Matthew Ydarraga, Jaylon Ferguson - a lot of those guys are playing really well. At the linebacker level, Collin Scott was very active and had a lot of tackles in this game. Connor Taylor kind of moved over to the WILL position and really kind of gave us a spark and did some good things there. James Jackson continues to play well at the star position for us. I thought the two corners really stood up in L'Jarius Sneed and Amik Robertson, who continue to do what they're doing out on the perimeters as two really solid corners. Overall defensively, it certainly was not what we wanted in the first half, but really proud of the way they played in the second half.”

On the offensive showing at North Texas: “Offensively, it was just the opposite, but there were some good individual efforts. J'Mar Smith continues to grow as a quarterback standing in there and throwing the ball 40 times a game again without an interception. This is two weeks in a row with the job he is doing protecting the football. I am just really proud of him. I think he's got a great command of what he's doing. He has control, understands that he is picking his times when to scramble to keep a play alive, to look down the field, when to use his feet to gain positive yardage. I think he's doing a lot of good things at the quarterback position. (Rhashid) Bonnette and (Adrian) Hardy continue to stand up and make some plays for him out on the perimeter. Teddy Veal has played really well. Alfred Smith got into the action last week with a touchdown catch. It is nice to have him back off his knee surgery from a year ago. I thought with the running back position, both (Israel) Tucker and Kam McKnight stepped in with Jaqwis Dancy being out. I thought they did a really nice job. I think Izzy had about 15 carries for 90-something yards and did a really good job as just a sophomore. With the offensive line, it certainly was not one of our better games. We are going to have to challenge our players this week because I don't think we played near as physical as we need to. I think we're doing some good things in pass protection, but we have to continue to get better with our run blocking.”

On this week’s opponent: UAB: “This week we have a heck of a challenge. We have a 3-1 UAB team coming in here as a team that beat us last year in a 1-point game. One of those one point losses we had. They came in and blocked a field goal at the end of the game. Although blocking the field goal really wasn't the difference in the game. When you look at it, I think in a lot of ways they outplayed us a year ago. I think they have a very talented team. Bill Clark has done a wonderful job with his football team. They have a lot of talent. They have a lot of size. They are a very physical football team. I think they held us to our season-low on offense last year and it was not very pretty going to play there last year. I know this is a game that a lot of our players are excited about playing because we do know the level of team that we are about the play in UAB.”

On UAB’s offense: “When you look at it right now with what they are doing for the 2018 season, it is impressive when you look at their numbers. I mean they are 22nd in the country in rushing offense. They are number one in our league running the ball. They are number one on third down, they are second in turnovers, third in scoring offense and fourth in total offense in our conference. They are running the ball behind a big offensive line that's very talented and very physical. They're giving you some problems with all the formations. They will run seven or eight offensive linemen into the play to turn and run the ball. That is their mindset and as soon as you try and take that away, they have very talented wide receivers. They have a freshman All-American tailback who we saw a lot of last year. They have a transfer from Ole Miss who is 6-1, 210 as the backup. Quarterback A.J. Erdely is playing very well right now. He was 13-of-16 last weekend throwing the ball, so he is very accurate. They are running the ball and as soon as you try and take that away they have got speed and athleticism on the perimeter to put up big numbers. That is what they are doing right now with their offense. They returned 10 starters and they are playing really well right now at a really high level. You look at what they did against Charlotte. It is really impressive. I have really been impressed with A.J. (Erdely). In 17 games, I think he's got 36 touchdowns with 20 touchdowns passing and 16 rushing, so there is a lot of balance. He is also their second-leading rusher on their football team. They present some problems for you with what they do as an offense.”

On UAB’s defense: “They do a really nice job defensively. They have video game-type numbers. They are third in the country in their pass defense, first in our conference in pass defense, fourth in the country in sacks, second in our league, second in our conference in total, third in our conference scoring defense. Again, you look at the numbers and they are at the top of all of them statistically. They are very, very talented. They are very big up front. They have two really strong interior guys inside. They have a 6-8 defensive end. They are very athletic. On the other side, they give you some problems with their pass rush, which is one of the reasons they have had 11 sacks in the last two games. They are scoring a lot of points, so they force you to throw the ball a lot. They have given up 19 points a game. Their linebackers are very physical and I think their safeties are very active. This is a very solid football team.”

On UAB’s special teams: “On special teams, I know their numbers may not be gaudy on special teams, but they have explosive players in the return game that are definitely capable of putting up big plays. I know that you look at and they have not scored a touchdown or a big return, but they've had like two or three of them called back so far this year. When you put it on you go, 'Oh my gosh, how are they not leading the conference?' And then there is an 80-yard punt return or a 100- yard kickoff return that was called back for holding or for a clip. It is certainly just a matter of time before their athleticism shows up. I just hope that we can do what we can to make sure that we can keep that to a minimum this week.”

On playing at home this Saturday: “UAB is a very talented team and it will be a great challenge for us as a football program this week. We have had two very emotional games the last two weeks with LSU and North Texas, but to have the caliber of team coming in right now and two teams that are in first place as early as it is in the conference, it is nice to have the opportunity to play at home. We had to play three of the last four on the road, so I know our players are really excited to come back home. We are very appreciative of how supportive our travel has been with the support we have received on the road, but we are really looking forward to coming back to a home environment with a great stadium and a great atmosphere here in what is turning out to be a huge conference game in the West Division.”

“On the road, you are playing at a great venue at LSU and a great venue at North Texas with a loud stadium that is hard to play in, so those things make it difficult. But honestly, playing on the road and getting back at 4:30-5 in the morning on Sunday and then having to play again this week, and then getting back at 4:30-5 and having to play that week - it is that constant wear and tear. They are student-athletes. They still have academics they are balancing. They still have football. They have travel and trying to get some sleep. They are college students. I think it is the number of road games that we have had so far with three out of four. It is really nice to be able to take a deep breath after this game with not having to get on that bus to get home in those wee hours of the morning. All these games we have played on the road have all been at night as well. That is the thing that makes it hard.”

“It is always great to play in your home stadium. There is a comfort level. There is no travel for your players. It is much more relaxing. There are a lot more families that come and we get to play in front of family and friends. On game day, it is your alumni, your fanbase. Those are the advantages to playing at home. And I know for our players how much they enjoy having the opportunity to play home games. We are very appreciative of having the band and the cheerleaders and the dance squad last week over at North Texas, but that's all part of being here at home and having that environment that is created by so many people.”

MARSHALL Head Coach Doc Holliday’s Quotes from Tuesday Press Conference (held on Monday this week only)

Opening statement: Captains this week will be the same two guys on defense, Malik Gant and Ryan Bee. On offense we will have Tyre Brady and Levi Brown. All four of those guys played well in that last game and we are going to need them to play well this week against Middle Tennessee. As you know it is an abbreviated week. Today is Tuesday. We practiced last night and we usually don’t practice on Sundays but it was considered a Monday practice. Today will be Tuesday and we will continue rolling from there. We have a great challenge this week. Middle is coming off a great win. They had went down 21-0 against Florida Atlantic at home last week and found a way to win that game. It seems like it starts with Stockstill, their quarterback. His dad has been there 12-13 years and it seems like he has been there longer than his dad. He is just such a competitive kid. He is a great young guy who plays extremely hard and he is a handful. He makes plays with his feet and is extremely tough. You watch him at the FAU game, on that last drive they took it down to win the game and he made two just unbelievable plays. He sprints out on fourth and 2 and gets the first down there to continue the drive. Then he had that two point play he made at the end of the game to win if for them. There was a guy that was just right in his face and he still manages to make a play by throwing across his body to his tight end. He is a handful and has good players surrounding him. They have their tailback (Tavares Thomas) back. He had been hurt all year. He is back for them and healthy. They are an excellent team and they are well-coached. Stockstill does a good job coaching those guys and they are going to come in ready to play. We just have to make sure we have a great week of preparation.

On playing on Friday: We’ve had a couple Friday night games on the road. Our game at Middle Tennessee last year was a Friday night game. We played really well in that game and it’s important that we do that again here this year. We can’t control Friday night games, T.V. does. We just get ready to go play.

On Jovante Moffatt: It seems like they have always had a big physical safety who can also cover. I think the last guy they had prior to this kid is still in the NFL. They have done a good job with that. He does a really good job in the run game and is just a good player. Three of the four kids they have at secondary are seniors so they have played a lot of football for them. Three guys up front on the offensive line are also seniors and a couple of them have been all-conference players. They have a lot of players back. They were missing a quarterback a year ago though. He has missed a couple years there where he had some injury issues but he is back now and healthy. He is the guy who makes them go.

On Brent Stockstill: He is similar, style-wise, as the kid from NC State. He makes plays and is very accurate. However, I think Stockstill is a little bit different from the kid at NC State because when things start to break down he is going to take off with it. He never slides. When he gets that ball in his hands he isn’t going to slide and get down, he is like a running back running the ball. He is very accurate and you can’t give him easy access throws. He will thread the needle and throw the ball in there. He is a challenge because he can beat you with his feet and run the quarterback runs. He does it all.

On Middle Tennessee’s defense: They are a little different then where they were a year ago. They were almost all three-down and now they have gone to some four down stuff. They are mixing three and four down and some of it is based on formations. They are a little bit different defensively but their defensive coordinator is still a very aggressive guy that brings a lot of pressure and gets after you. We will expect a lot of that just like we did a year ago.

On Marshall’s offensive line facing Middle Tennessee’s defensive front: He has done a good job so far. A lot of our (offensive line) guys played against that three-down package a year ago so hopefully that will help some. Like I said they are a little bit different with some of the things they are doing but for the most part we have seen it all, if not this year then last year.

On Marshall’s health: It’s the same deal. You look at Middle Tennessee against Florida Atlantic and it is a very physical game. It was a very physical game that we played last week against Western. A lot of teams had some guys banged up but I think for the most part we are going to be alright. We will just have to see here at the end of the week. Armani practiced last night so I think he should be fine.

On the running game: It helps, you can’t be one dimensional. We have to continue to try to run the football. In the second half we did run it a little bit better. I think we averaged just at 3.9 yards per rush, which you’d like to be over 4. Western did not run the ball very well. I think they averaged 1.9 yards per rush. All together we did run the ball a little better. When you can mix it up and they have to respect the run, there is no question that it will help you throw the ball a little better. We just have to continue taking what the defense gives us and part of that is running the football when they allow that to happen. We were better in the second half and are going to have to build on that this week.

On Tyler King: He is a little more physical in the game then people give him credit for. He is 190 pounds or so and is a physical runner. We are going to need that. We are going to need Keion (Davis), Anthony (Anderson), and all of those guys to step up and play.

On improvement from last week: I spoke last Tuesday about how important it was to focus on getting off the field on third down and we did that. I said we have to do a better job at converting on third downs. We didn’t make the improvement there that I thought we needed to make. This is something we will need to do this week. I also felt like we needed to run the ball better and we did. We can’t be satisfied with where we are with that but it was better. However, that is all the time. Any game you play is going to come down to who can convert third downs and stay on the field and who can get off the field on third downs. Fortunately, for us we did that on third and fourth down against Western. I thought our defense played extremely well. Take away the couple bonehead plays there at the end when we had the ball thrown over our heads. Eliminate two of those plays and that team had right at 200 yards in total offense, which was where they should have been. We just have to keep getting better. We are going into game five now and have to continue improving as a team in all three areas. It is going to be important Friday night to be the best team on the field and I have always said in order to do that you have to have tremendous special teams. I thought we were okay special teams-wise Saturday based on what they did. You have to play great defense, and I thought we got better there. Of course, on offense we have to eliminate those turnovers. Turning a ball over four times and winning a game is unusual. The good thing is they turned it over three times. If you are sitting there with a -4, you are going to lose the game. That can’t happen. We have to take care of the football and continue to take it away on defense.

On the start to the game: It is important that we do start fast. It is important we start fast every game. I will tell you one thing about Middle Tennessee, and I’ve known Coach Stockstill a long time, that they are going to play extremely hard. To go down 21-0 and come back to win the game the way they did with a two point conversion shows you the character and toughness they have as a team. It is a direct reflection on him as the head coach. We are going to have our hands full. We will get their best shot, we just have to make sure they get ours. It is important that our fans show up, and I know they will. It is amazing to see the way we travel on the road. We have so many fans who follow us. We had more fans at Western than what NC State brought here, which is a credit to our fan base. It’s a Friday night game and the weather is going to be great. We have to pack this place on Friday and find a way to win this game. It’s a conference game and you have to play it like a championship game and we have to have championship fans here. We have to play really well and see if we can go 2-0 in conference.

On Alex Thomson: Alex Thompson is getting close (to 100 percent healthy). We are going to play the best players we can possibly play who gives us the best chance to win. If Alex gets to the point that we feel that way, then he will be the first one to run out there on Friday or we will sub him in and play him. He is getting close.

NORTH TEXAS Head Coach Seth Littrell’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference

Opening Statement: “I want to say thank you to all our students, faculty, staff and all the fans for coming out and supporting us on Saturday. We broke an attendance record for the second time this season and it was as good an atmosphere as I’ve been around in college football, coaching-wise, and we appreciate everyone for that.

“Louisiana Tech is a very good football team, and we knew that coming in. In the end, it came down to us making too many mistakes to win a football game like that and it happened on all three phases. We had five critical penalties – four that led to points – and one of them led to an explosive play on offense and we got hit by a holding call that takes us back another 25 yards. We were minus-2 in the turnover margin, which killed us. It stopped a drive and led to seven more points. Special teams, we had a couple of muffed punts and kicks and a blocked field and a missed field. With all that said, you can overcome a couple of mistakes, but when you make that many against a great football team, you’re not going to win.

“The positives? I told our guys, ‘You gave yourself a chance to win the game in the end, making that many mistakes only because of how you played and how unselfish you were and what great teammates you were.’ It was a very physical game. We just weren’t disciplined enough. We just have to learn from those mistakes and make sure we reset and refocus and learn from our past mistakes moving forward and come back out and have a great week of preparation against a UTEP team that is trying to instill their culture.

“In the end, I’m extremely disappointed we didn’t get to finish the night off right. With Joe and him being honored at our stadium and all the great energy and hype, I wish we could’ve finished it off better for everyone. But we’ll learn from this and grow and become a better football team.”

On RB Deandre Torrey stepping up in Loren Easly’s absence: “Deandre has been playing well. He ran the ball hard the other night and was doing some good things. I know he’s excited about the opportunity along with Nic Smith, who’s been playing well and doing some good things. I’m excited about that group. I think that group is a talented one that we need to continue to get better, but they’re explosive and I feel good about where we’re at. One guy goes down, I know that group will step up and make big-time plays for us.”

“He’s explosive and has really good vision. He’s hard to tackle one-on-one and you can see that, as well, on kickoff return. He’s done some really good things there. He’s been working extremely hard, and he’ll be ready.”

On fighting through adversity after last week’s loss: “It all goes back to who we are and our core values and making sure we can stay together as a family and as a team. We don’t make excuses and we won’t allow anyone to make them for us because if you do, you won’t be able to grow and learn. We’ll make sure we continue to learn and grow and get better each and every week. This league has a lot of great football teams and coaches and there is going to be a lot of challenges. We know that any team on our schedule can beat us, any given week. That’s not just coach-speak, that’s truth. But we also know if we prepare the right way and execute the right way that we’ll be fine, and the results will take care of themselves.”

On UTEP’s offense: “They’re very multiple. They’re going to give you a lot of different personnel groupings and different formations. I know they do a good job of running the football and play-action pass. The more guys you get up in the run you have to be careful about their pop passes, and they’ll get you on some stuff.”

On UNT’s defensive improvements this season: “I think it’s more just the consistency of making routine plays and learning where to line up. You can see when everyone’s doing their job, we’re pretty hard to move the football on. We gave up a couple of explosive plays – runs where we just lost a fit in the gap. If everyone’s on the same page and hitting it the right way, I think everyone’s playing with a lot more confidence in themselves and each other and knowing the guy to their left and right will be in the right spot to make them all successful. It’s a system that you have to make sure everyone is on the same page and you have to play hard and run to the football. They’re playing with a lot of confidence together.”

RICE Head Coach Mike Bloomgren’s Quotes from Tuesday’s Press Conference

Opening statement: "I want to start out by giving Coach (Dave) Clawson and Wake Forest a ton of credit. I thought they came out, outplayed us and out-executed us in the first half. With them coming off of two hard losses, the way they got their guys ready to play I thought was outstanding. Against good football teams, you can't put yourself in a hole like that and expect to come out and win. I can't explain to you why we started slow. I wish I could. We had a good week of practice. I thought we were focused and the results are not there right now. We're going to continue to work through that as a football team and ultimately it's my job to get it fixed.

I told the team at halftime that we've got to play for pride. We've got to play for each other and we have to go put something on film in the second half that's worth watching because the wheels kind of fell off in the second quarter and we've got to regroup, pull together and show what we're capable of in the third quarter and second half. I thought we did that at times. The defense came out and got a great three-and-out. We were able to take the ball down and score twice on offense, which is a big deal because we've struggled in the third quarter in all of our games this year. I thought that was a good step. We had some real positive bright spots in terms of our team chemistry coming together in the second half. We were working some different groups, whether you're talking about guys on defense or different personnel groups on offense.

One consistent bright spot for us this year and Austin Walter and what he's been able to do. He had a heck of a day on Saturday as well, rushing for 167 yards, 69 return yards and 32 receiving yards with a touchdown rushing as well as receiving. He now is the national leader in all-purpose yards at this point. We're excited for him. I think he is playing really well right now.

The bottom line from the game on Saturday is that you can't come out against a good opponent, on the road, and spot somebody 21 points and have the turnovers that we had. Two of the three cases didn't even allow our defense to come on the field. I'm really disappointed that we aren't protecting the ball. It's something we talk about continually on offense. It's something we believe in.

As we look at a bright spot, it's the defense getting two takeaways in the second half. I thought that was huge. Big time plays have a chance to change the momentum in the game for us, obviously, if the score was a little more in the balance.

But, as we sit here, I think our unity and our culture is going to shine through. What I think you have right now is a hungry football team. To get back home, play another conference opponent and put a much better product on the field for four quarters this Saturday.

I think we've got an opportunity Saturday against a very tested UTSA team. They started off with three Power Five games in a row. They've won their last two contests and I think that you see how much tougher they are as a football team after playing those Power Five teams. Getting these last two wins, I think they are a confident group and they've earned the right to be quite frankly. They've earned the right to be a very confident football team. From what I've seen on film they play very hard on both sides of the ball. You have a very experienced offensive coordinator in Al Borges. I remember when he was in the SEC and when he was at Michigan. I used to watch his tape. Defensively, they are going to line up. They are going to play man and attack your quarterback. They are going to challenge you in all areas of the field and they are going to try to make everything hard. So we're going to have to do a great job against this confident football team. I think we're going to have to have a great week of prep which we're starting on and then we're going to have to perform on game day to give us a chance to get this game in the fourth quarter and ultimately come out with a win in a very, very important conference game in our home stadium."

On both teams playing Power Five schools: "I think it's definitely hardened them as a football team. I think they're tougher because of it and I think you saw that the last two weeks. I think it hardened our football team too. I think playing great teams like Houston and Hawai'i and then going on the road and playing Wake. I think those are great things that can build your program up in terms of getting your kids used to playing at a high level of competition. So again, those things are good, especially when you can bring it back together and get the wins like they have been able to do and get some momentum rolling. That's exactly what we're going to try to do Saturday."

On what he sees in UTSA: "(Greg Campbell, Jr.) is a receiver that has made plays. They have two running backs, one that has run for 2,000 yards in his career and one that has rushed for 200 yards this year. Seemingly, he's the guy that they seem to be trusting but they are both going to be back there. On defense, it really starts and ends with (Josiah Tauaefa). He's easy to find because of his hair. Josiah was a Freshmen All-American two years ago. He's a guy that has a lot of accolades in this conference and you can see why. He makes plays. He's a big linebacker that is going to run the ball down and he gets there with bad intentions. Up front, you have Nate Newton's son (King Newton) as one of the defensive tackles and you have (Kevin Strong, Jr.) who has started 54 games for them. That's a lot of football being played. So, they have some good experience up there. They are younger in the secondary. Not necessarily in age but in experience. You talk about youth, they have some youth that they're playing too. When you look at their offense, there's four freshmen or redshirt freshmen that's starting on their offensive unit. So, there's a lot of similarities between our two programs right now."

On playing at home for the first time in over a month: "It feels great to be home. I think we'll really get a feel for it when we get off the bus on Saturday and see all of our fans and everybody who comes out for Military Appreciation Day. I think it will be really exciting for our kids to get home. We're all looking forward to it. Also, to get back into conference play."

On evaluating the quarterback play so far and what he is looking to see moving forward: "The quarterback play has been up and down. That's a position that we really don't have much tolerance for that to be the case. What we have to see is Shawn (Stankavage) take the steps that he took in games one, two and three, forward. He has to eliminate the turnovers, first off, but he has to be efficient as well. When people are open, he has to hit them. I've said it many times in here before but the head coach and the quarterback get too much credit and too much blame, so we don't want to put that on him right now. It's certainly not all on Shawn. But the reality is he has to play better for our offense to be efficient and operate the way we want it too."

On what it's like having a player like Austin Walter: "I'd say I'm pretty accustomed to having those kinds of players. It makes me a much better coach when we have guys like that and we can move the sticks. Whether it's a guy like some of the guys we had in the last few years at Stanford like Christian (McCaffery) or Bryce (Love), or a guy like Austin who right now is getting it done from an all- purpose yards standpoint. I think it's a relief as a play caller when you call a play that you think can be blocked and get four that ends up getting eight, or he steps through that and now it's 60 (yards). That's a lot of fun as a play caller. We look smart at those times. It's something we're leaning on. But, it's something that anytime you can get a well-blocked play to turn into an explosive, it's a lot of fun. Right now, our team has a lot of confidence that if they can just hold that block for one split-second longer, no matter who is back there, that we have special guys who can make plays."

On if they number of guys that he trusts has grown: "I think the number has grown. You continue to see guy's rolls expand. You saw Antonio Montero get a start the other day. Again, being a starter in our system on offense or defense is really unimportant. It's really about the package that's in at that particular time. At linebacker, we have four guys who we really trust and we're rotating through. So, I don't want to make a big deal about who is starting because I see it as unimportant. But those are guys that every rep is earned. When you see a guy like Brendan Harmon on the field for the start of the game. When you see Montero on the field. Those are great things. Playing a true freshman offensive lineman in the third series the other day in Cole Garcia and having him step in and do some nice things. That's all cool stuff to me and we are seeing more of it. Some of our more dependable players are some of the young guys or new guys to our program. You wish Gio (Gentosi) had a few more years left. Some of the new influences to this program are really stepping up and leading as well. The top line of leadership in this program is doing a great job also. But, again, you talk about expanding roles. Gio had three carries for 31 yards (and) one for 19. He's a weapon that clearly I didn't see soon enough and I have to find ways to feed him."

If the offensive line is starting to gel: "From a pass standpoint, I was disappointed on how much we got Shawn (Stankavage) hit against Southern Miss. I thought that it started on the first third down of the game where we had a miscommunication and he gets hit. That's really disappointing any time that happens, especially early on because something we want to do is we want to hit the quarterback because we know the impact it can have. Again, I wasn't real pleased with them against Southern Miss but as a whole against Wake Forest I thought those guys did a nice job. Any time you're talking about pass protection we have to include the backs. Our backs are doing such a good job seeing things right now. It's also the quarterback getting the ball out on time. The sack number might be a little deceiving against Southern Miss but I do think we protected well against Wake (Forest).

But we have to get more dependable with that group knowing their assignments. It's really the wrong way to say that because they know them during the week. They can test on them on Friday. But we're having problems with plays that we've repped multiple times against the same look, being able to perform and execute those assignments in games. It's really frustrating. It's something I haven't dealt with much in my coaching career. When guys know it, usually they can go out on Saturday's and perform. It's something we're continuing to work through with this offensive line."