Middle Tennessee State University Athletics
MT vs. Florida Atlantic presser
10/7/2019 12:43:00 PM | Football
Kickoff set for 3 PM CST Saturday on ESPN+
Middle Tennessee Football Press Conference Quotes
Head Coach Rick Stockstill
Opening statement:
"We've got a big challenge ahead of us this week. Florida Atlantic is a really good football team. They lost their first two games against top-10, top-15 teams in Ohio State and Central Florida, and they've gone out and won their last three games. They're scoring a lot of points, and they've averaged over 40 points a game over the last three weeks. Their quarterback is playing at a really, really high level. He's thrown 12 touchdown passes and two interceptions. He's protecting the ball. He's throwing the ball with great accuracy, and he's protecting the ball as well. He's done a really, really good job of running their offense. When you look at them statistically, their offense is up there at the top of all Conference USA statistical categories. They're starting to run the ball better. It's tough running the ball against Ohio State; it's tough running the ball against Central Florida. They've got a running back, a young kid now, a freshman, that they're really high on — he's done a great job. They've always had good skill guys. Their receivers are dynamic. I think their tight ends are about as good as any we'll face and as good of tight ends as there are in the country. They'll flex them out, they'll be out at wide receiver, they'll be in tight in close packages. They're really talented. Coach [Lane] Kiffin has done a really good job there. He's an excellent football coach, he's got a great offensive mind, and I'm sure we'll see some things differently this week — one, because they've had an open date, and two he's going to look at what we do good, what we do bad, and try to counteract that. Defensively, they're extremely fast. Their linebackers, their secondary, even their front people can run. This is an extremely fast defense. They're active, and they're going to put a lot of pressure on us. They're going to come after you. They play a lot of man coverage, so we've got to be able to hold up there. Then they're very sound in the kicking game. They always have dangerous, explosive returners, and that's no different this year. It's going to be a challenge going on the road for a conference game, but like I always say, we'll be ready to roll when we get there."
On the importance of toughness in conference games:
"You've got to have [toughness] every game. That game Saturday, one because of the elements — it was a hot day on that turf — we were down some people because of injuries, and they had the ball a good portion of the time — a lot more than we did. The toughness that we played with, especially in the second half — the mental toughness, the physical toughness. We stopped them on downs, on downs, on downs, and then the two interceptions, those were their final five possessions in the second half. When you're lining up there fourth and a half-yard in your own red zone and you get a stop, that just tells you about the toughness of your team. We were able to convert the things we did offensively in the second half. We didn't kick the ball great, but I thought we covered extremely well on punt and kickoff coverage. We just played so hard, and it was good to see. Not that we haven't played that hard — because we have — but especially when you get into conference play, toughness, discipline. We had one penalty. We didn't have any turnovers; we created four turnovers. All those things add up. It goes into the mental toughness and the physical toughness to create turnovers and to be disciplined from a penalty standpoint. All that goes together."
On some areas to improve on this week:
"We're going to get challenged on the outside. They're going to challenge our corners. We gave up about 14 explosive plays that we gave up, and that's too many — that's a run of more than 12 or a pass of more than 16 is what we define as an explosive play. We're going to get challenged on the outside. We've got to play better at the corner position than how we've played. We're getting a little bit better, but they're still going to challenge us. We got some pressure on the quarterback Saturday with Marshall; we've got to continue to do that, and we've got to get more pressure. We've got to make Chris Robinson try to throw under duress. Their receivers are too talented for us to just let him sit back there with a lot of time because I think he's completing over 70% of his passes, maybe closer to 75, with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions, so we've got to get after the quarterback."
On if he's ever had a defense that ended opponents' drives like Saturday against Marshall:
"I don't know. I didn't look back, and I haven't really thought back and reflected back on previous team's defenses. I'm sure somewhere along the line we've had a defense that shut somebody down completely in the second half. You give up zero points, and we did a good job. Jovante [Moffatt] does a great job to make a tackle on fourth down on the fake field goal. Like I said, those weren't fourth and six or seven yard deals — the fake field goal was — but fourth and half a yard or fourth and a yard, and you get stops. It goes back to we had a goal line stand at Michigan, we almost had a goal line stand at Iowa but they gave it to him. Our defense has played really tough and physical in critical situations there. I was really proud of our defense. They competed their tails off."
On continuing to protect the ball:
"They've done a good job. I think they're number one in the conference. They're plus-five and we're plus-four. Again, it goes back to playing disciplined football. If you touch the ball as a receiver, a quarterback or a running back, you have to protect the ball. It's not just those guys. It's chasing plays, chasing the ball, not just sitting around watching. In the third quarter, they knocked the ball out of Asher [O'Hara's] hand, and instead of not finishing the play, Will Gilchrist, who's hustling, who's working, ends up diving on a loose ball, and that's a way to prevent turnovers, by effort plays and hustling. We've all got to continue doing that; we've got to continue playing the game hard."
On if the phone calls to his son Brent, current coach at FAU, will be different this week:
"No, they won't be. Obviously, this is the first time for me and him. I've rooted for him all my life, and this will be the first time I've rooted against him. I'm so looking forward to seeing him and hugging his neck. I haven't seen him in a couple months, so I'm just looking forward to that. He's a professional. He doesn't have to worry about me asking him anything or me trying to pry information from him — I'm not going to do that. I wouldn't expect him, and he won't, tell us, tell me anything. He's getting started in this profession, and he understands the integrity and professionalism you have to show to be in this profession for a long time. I'm just looking forward to hugging him and seeing him."
On how different new FAU running back Larry McCammon III is:
"[McCammon] has got good speed. He runs behind his pads. He's a good runner. Devin [Singletary] and [Kerrith] Whyte, he was their speed back and Devin was their jig-bug, shake-and-back guy. Those were the two really good backs they had last year. This year, they use [McCammon] in the passing game, he's a good runner. He runs hard and physical, and obviously he's a really good player."
Redshirt Senior Safety Jovante Moffatt
On the momentum that the team has:
"It helps a lot, especially coming off a win. A lot of things go your way, your body feels better the next day and stuff like that. There is a lot of momentum, especially building off the defense, confidence-wise, and as we go into next week, it's very important for us as well."
On what improvements need to be made on the defensive side of the ball:
"The obvious thing, like Coach [Stockstill] said, giving up deep balls coming from the passing game. FAU will throw a lot of stuff at us, they have the last two years. We'll watch film on everything, and when we go to play them it'll be an entirely different offense. We know we're going to see a whole bunch of different stuff, and we need to be prepared for whatever comes."
On the play of Chris Robison and how MT plans to play against him:
"He's a talented quarterback. He can run with his feet and also throw the ball, so just making him uncomfortable and continue to do what we do. Coach Shafer will have a good game plan for us going into this week as well."
On the confidence the defense has been playing with:
"Yeah, it's kind of like the saying 'bend but don't break.' Like he said, [Marshall] put up a lot of yards on us and got into the red zone a lot. We had a certain package that we came out in to stop a lot of those fourth down conversions that were going on. That was all execution and us doing what we're supposed to do."
On the youth of the defensive backs:
"Just getting them more experience and raising their comfort level, it was good having those, what we call preseason games, at the beginning of the year to get those guys going and get them get used to playing and in a different atmosphere. It was good for them, but now that we're in conference play, we have to have everybody rolling."
On how he was feeling before the game:
"I just knew it was a big game, like last year. I played in that game last year, and I just knew that I needed to perform — myself and Reed [Blankenship] as well. We just went out there and got the job done."
On how FAU uses their tight ends:
"I actually think that they might be the best tight ends that we'll face all year. They're really involved in their passing game and running game. They like to get them in some screens and stuff like that. They're going to be a big part of their success. We're going to key in on them and get the job done."
Redshirt Junior Offensive Lineman Will Gilchrist
On improving on play on the red zone:
"We knew that when we got back to the sideline that we were disappointed in ourselves, but now we have something to learn from, and like I said, just finish drives."
On the importance of the run game:
"It's good. It builds our confidence up front when we can run. Like you said, it helps the passing game. We just need to keep working on it and improve and like I said learn from it."
On the confidence MT has after beating Marshall:
"It does give us confidence, but we can't settle. We're just going to keep fighting every day. This week is going to be another great competition. It's going to take a lot of toughness. We just have to be tough and keep fighting."
On the Raiders' last three games without a turnover:
"That's what [Coach Stockstill] preaches every day, and that's what I appreciate about him. He wants us to never give up, and that's something I've always been about. Actually what happened was it was a corner blitz, and I had the outside guy, and the guy came inside, so I was fighting with him on the inside, so really I gave it up, but I knew as soon as it went on the ground 'I need to get this, this is on me. I need to go take care of this,' and I saw it and I had to go get it."
Head Coach Rick Stockstill
Opening statement:
"We've got a big challenge ahead of us this week. Florida Atlantic is a really good football team. They lost their first two games against top-10, top-15 teams in Ohio State and Central Florida, and they've gone out and won their last three games. They're scoring a lot of points, and they've averaged over 40 points a game over the last three weeks. Their quarterback is playing at a really, really high level. He's thrown 12 touchdown passes and two interceptions. He's protecting the ball. He's throwing the ball with great accuracy, and he's protecting the ball as well. He's done a really, really good job of running their offense. When you look at them statistically, their offense is up there at the top of all Conference USA statistical categories. They're starting to run the ball better. It's tough running the ball against Ohio State; it's tough running the ball against Central Florida. They've got a running back, a young kid now, a freshman, that they're really high on — he's done a great job. They've always had good skill guys. Their receivers are dynamic. I think their tight ends are about as good as any we'll face and as good of tight ends as there are in the country. They'll flex them out, they'll be out at wide receiver, they'll be in tight in close packages. They're really talented. Coach [Lane] Kiffin has done a really good job there. He's an excellent football coach, he's got a great offensive mind, and I'm sure we'll see some things differently this week — one, because they've had an open date, and two he's going to look at what we do good, what we do bad, and try to counteract that. Defensively, they're extremely fast. Their linebackers, their secondary, even their front people can run. This is an extremely fast defense. They're active, and they're going to put a lot of pressure on us. They're going to come after you. They play a lot of man coverage, so we've got to be able to hold up there. Then they're very sound in the kicking game. They always have dangerous, explosive returners, and that's no different this year. It's going to be a challenge going on the road for a conference game, but like I always say, we'll be ready to roll when we get there."
On the importance of toughness in conference games:
"You've got to have [toughness] every game. That game Saturday, one because of the elements — it was a hot day on that turf — we were down some people because of injuries, and they had the ball a good portion of the time — a lot more than we did. The toughness that we played with, especially in the second half — the mental toughness, the physical toughness. We stopped them on downs, on downs, on downs, and then the two interceptions, those were their final five possessions in the second half. When you're lining up there fourth and a half-yard in your own red zone and you get a stop, that just tells you about the toughness of your team. We were able to convert the things we did offensively in the second half. We didn't kick the ball great, but I thought we covered extremely well on punt and kickoff coverage. We just played so hard, and it was good to see. Not that we haven't played that hard — because we have — but especially when you get into conference play, toughness, discipline. We had one penalty. We didn't have any turnovers; we created four turnovers. All those things add up. It goes into the mental toughness and the physical toughness to create turnovers and to be disciplined from a penalty standpoint. All that goes together."
On some areas to improve on this week:
"We're going to get challenged on the outside. They're going to challenge our corners. We gave up about 14 explosive plays that we gave up, and that's too many — that's a run of more than 12 or a pass of more than 16 is what we define as an explosive play. We're going to get challenged on the outside. We've got to play better at the corner position than how we've played. We're getting a little bit better, but they're still going to challenge us. We got some pressure on the quarterback Saturday with Marshall; we've got to continue to do that, and we've got to get more pressure. We've got to make Chris Robinson try to throw under duress. Their receivers are too talented for us to just let him sit back there with a lot of time because I think he's completing over 70% of his passes, maybe closer to 75, with 12 touchdowns and two interceptions, so we've got to get after the quarterback."
On if he's ever had a defense that ended opponents' drives like Saturday against Marshall:
"I don't know. I didn't look back, and I haven't really thought back and reflected back on previous team's defenses. I'm sure somewhere along the line we've had a defense that shut somebody down completely in the second half. You give up zero points, and we did a good job. Jovante [Moffatt] does a great job to make a tackle on fourth down on the fake field goal. Like I said, those weren't fourth and six or seven yard deals — the fake field goal was — but fourth and half a yard or fourth and a yard, and you get stops. It goes back to we had a goal line stand at Michigan, we almost had a goal line stand at Iowa but they gave it to him. Our defense has played really tough and physical in critical situations there. I was really proud of our defense. They competed their tails off."
On continuing to protect the ball:
"They've done a good job. I think they're number one in the conference. They're plus-five and we're plus-four. Again, it goes back to playing disciplined football. If you touch the ball as a receiver, a quarterback or a running back, you have to protect the ball. It's not just those guys. It's chasing plays, chasing the ball, not just sitting around watching. In the third quarter, they knocked the ball out of Asher [O'Hara's] hand, and instead of not finishing the play, Will Gilchrist, who's hustling, who's working, ends up diving on a loose ball, and that's a way to prevent turnovers, by effort plays and hustling. We've all got to continue doing that; we've got to continue playing the game hard."
On if the phone calls to his son Brent, current coach at FAU, will be different this week:
"No, they won't be. Obviously, this is the first time for me and him. I've rooted for him all my life, and this will be the first time I've rooted against him. I'm so looking forward to seeing him and hugging his neck. I haven't seen him in a couple months, so I'm just looking forward to that. He's a professional. He doesn't have to worry about me asking him anything or me trying to pry information from him — I'm not going to do that. I wouldn't expect him, and he won't, tell us, tell me anything. He's getting started in this profession, and he understands the integrity and professionalism you have to show to be in this profession for a long time. I'm just looking forward to hugging him and seeing him."
On how different new FAU running back Larry McCammon III is:
"[McCammon] has got good speed. He runs behind his pads. He's a good runner. Devin [Singletary] and [Kerrith] Whyte, he was their speed back and Devin was their jig-bug, shake-and-back guy. Those were the two really good backs they had last year. This year, they use [McCammon] in the passing game, he's a good runner. He runs hard and physical, and obviously he's a really good player."
Redshirt Senior Safety Jovante Moffatt
On the momentum that the team has:
"It helps a lot, especially coming off a win. A lot of things go your way, your body feels better the next day and stuff like that. There is a lot of momentum, especially building off the defense, confidence-wise, and as we go into next week, it's very important for us as well."
On what improvements need to be made on the defensive side of the ball:
"The obvious thing, like Coach [Stockstill] said, giving up deep balls coming from the passing game. FAU will throw a lot of stuff at us, they have the last two years. We'll watch film on everything, and when we go to play them it'll be an entirely different offense. We know we're going to see a whole bunch of different stuff, and we need to be prepared for whatever comes."
On the play of Chris Robison and how MT plans to play against him:
"He's a talented quarterback. He can run with his feet and also throw the ball, so just making him uncomfortable and continue to do what we do. Coach Shafer will have a good game plan for us going into this week as well."
On the confidence the defense has been playing with:
"Yeah, it's kind of like the saying 'bend but don't break.' Like he said, [Marshall] put up a lot of yards on us and got into the red zone a lot. We had a certain package that we came out in to stop a lot of those fourth down conversions that were going on. That was all execution and us doing what we're supposed to do."
On the youth of the defensive backs:
"Just getting them more experience and raising their comfort level, it was good having those, what we call preseason games, at the beginning of the year to get those guys going and get them get used to playing and in a different atmosphere. It was good for them, but now that we're in conference play, we have to have everybody rolling."
On how he was feeling before the game:
"I just knew it was a big game, like last year. I played in that game last year, and I just knew that I needed to perform — myself and Reed [Blankenship] as well. We just went out there and got the job done."
On how FAU uses their tight ends:
"I actually think that they might be the best tight ends that we'll face all year. They're really involved in their passing game and running game. They like to get them in some screens and stuff like that. They're going to be a big part of their success. We're going to key in on them and get the job done."
Redshirt Junior Offensive Lineman Will Gilchrist
On improving on play on the red zone:
"We knew that when we got back to the sideline that we were disappointed in ourselves, but now we have something to learn from, and like I said, just finish drives."
On the importance of the run game:
"It's good. It builds our confidence up front when we can run. Like you said, it helps the passing game. We just need to keep working on it and improve and like I said learn from it."
On the confidence MT has after beating Marshall:
"It does give us confidence, but we can't settle. We're just going to keep fighting every day. This week is going to be another great competition. It's going to take a lot of toughness. We just have to be tough and keep fighting."
On the Raiders' last three games without a turnover:
"That's what [Coach Stockstill] preaches every day, and that's what I appreciate about him. He wants us to never give up, and that's something I've always been about. Actually what happened was it was a corner blitz, and I had the outside guy, and the guy came inside, so I was fighting with him on the inside, so really I gave it up, but I knew as soon as it went on the ground 'I need to get this, this is on me. I need to go take care of this,' and I saw it and I had to go get it."
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