University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Coach Todd Monken's Weekly Media Conference
9/14/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. -- Southern Miss football coach Todd Monken addressed the media Monday with his weekly media conference, previewing the Texas State game which will be played at Bobcat Field in San Marco, Texas this Saturday.
Here are some of Coach Monken's statements:
Opening Statement...
"As always, we got to put the Austin Peay game to bed yesterday. Had a good hour practice last night, getting the corrections from Saturday's game and then preparing for Texas State, a team that we played two years ago. We're significantly different, but then so are they. You know being four or five years into Division I and Coach (Dennis) Franchione being there. They're much further along now than they were then, but so are we. I have a lot of respect for him as a head football coach. John Thompson is their defensive coordinator who's been a number of places and always had success. Here being one of his stops. He had tremendous success here. We're looking forward to the challenge of the first opportunity to get on the road. We've had the first two at home. How we carry ourselves this week and preparing for a trip will be a big part in terms of how we play come Saturday. It's a different routine for us, but one a number of our players have already been used to. It's just a little bit different in terms of usually you get two home games to start the year off, but we're excited about the challenge of going down to San Marcos and playing Saturday night."
On being the first true test...
"I thought the first game was the true test. How we would play at home, Mississippi State and how that would go, I think was the first true test. I think this will be the first road test against a very good football team that went 7-5 last year and deserved to go to a bowl game and didn't. I'm sure that's on their minds in terms of finishing off this year and ending any doubt so they get a bowl game. They're going to be excited about playing at home. They just had a home game, back-to-back games. Again we're excited about going on the road and take another step forward of being the team I know we can be."
On the main focus on practice this week...
"Getting better. It's every week getting better. Getting some guys back healthy. We've had some guys nicked up, so getting those guys back for this week so we're at full strength. We're going to need to be at full strength. They have a tremendous quarterback, a guy that can play anywhere in the country. Reminds me a lot of Luke McCown when I was at Louisiana Tech several years ago. He can run and throw it. He has a really quick release. The focus will be on how we can contain their quarterback and their skill guys. They have nine guys back on offense and us getting better. The team you want to keep improving. The team you start the year shouldn't be the team you finish the year with."
On players being back...
"We anticipate a number of guys being back this week that we didn't have this past week or the first week."
On Dylan Bradley...
"Dylan's been healthy. He's been a little nicked up at times in the past. Dylan is a good football player. He's a guy you can play on the edge, you can move inside in passing situations. He's a hard guy to block and he likes to play the game. I thought all of our guys up front did a good job. We had an advantage up front and it showed."
On game tempo...
"Tempo comes from being in a rhythm. It's hard to go fast when you are choppy; when you have dropped balls; when you have a procedural penalty; when you have missed assignments. When those things happen, it's hard to go fast. It's a lot easier when you get the first, first down and you're feeling good about the way things are going and you get into some different things you like to do. But when you are choppy and you're frustrated that leads to going slower. We've had to be a little more creative in terms of our groups. So when you're subbing and trying to particular in terms of what groups are out there, it slows you down."
On preparing against a John Thompson defense...
"No matter who you play, you've got to play to your strengths. What do we do well? We just can't start making up things that we see on film. Well this team did this well. We are not that team. We are who we are. When you're good, you rely on things you do well. Now, there are some things you may emphasize more than others based on what you see. Obviously, they are very active. He's not afraid to bring pressure. He's always been that way. We're excited about the opportunity. They do a good job of their players fly around and it's a second year of being in that system. They should all free a little bit more comfortable."
On anticipating a possible high scoring game...
"I don't anticipate anything. I just anticipate two good football teams playing. I know they have a good quarterback. I know we're better on both sides of the ball. What that lends itself to -- our execution is what I'm concerned about on both sides of the ball and also on special teams. If it ends up being that type of game, then that's what it ends up. But I don't go into it anticipating what the score is going to be. I just try to figure out how we can best defend them and best find way to score points."
Is Texas State run game best part of their offense?
"I don't know if it's the best part of their offense because they can throw it and they can run. It all starts with the quarterback and their head coach who also runs their offense and does a great job with it. They do a great job and always have done a great job of putting you in run-pass conflicts. This is the best quarterback that they've had. He's as good as anybody in the country. He can play for anybody. You watch him play and he's a really good player and comes from a good high school program. He has won a lot of games, and expects to have success. We're going to have our hands full with him. We've just got to do a great job of minimizing their explosive plays like you try to do every week."
On the play of Nick Mullens...
"He didn't play his best. He missed some throws but he continued to try to take care of the football and lead our football team. He is only going to continue to get better. He has never redshirted, and had to play right away. We are excited to see his progression. He knows that he could have played better Saturday. We are expecting to get guys back Saturday that will help him with that."
On the matchup with Texas State...
"I anticipate our league being very competitive this year. I think that they would be competitive in our league as well. They have good players. They have an outstanding quarterback and all the pieces to be a very good football team."
How has Texas State gotten better since the first meeting in 2013?
"Their defense coordinator is different. Their offensive coach is still the same. I don't think about that game much except that it was a debacle for us. We played very well defensively, but we turned it over a bunch. All we needed to do was to just protect the football and we win the football game."
On Casey Martin...
"I think that he is a good football player. He really adds stability to our receivers. You know what he is going to do and where he is going to be. Our quarterbacks have a lot of faith in him. He has done a good job and he has stabilized us."
On preparation for two games on the road...
"It is the start of the week so we have not been able to prepare too much. There is not much you can do other than keep the routine the best you can as well as prepare the guys for the travel at the end of the week. It is going to be about how we travel, how we prepare, and get ourselves ready for Saturday night."
What do you think will carry over from the win Saturday to this week?
"Whether you win or lose, it is about what you take away from the game. Did our guys do a great job of allowing themselves to be coached? Did they process what their coaches were telling them? It is all about working your rear ends off every day, failing, correcting those mistakes and getting better. Getting better is all about failing. The whole key is for our players to understand that no matter what the score is, we don't want to get to down or to up with our performance. Bottom line is how each athlete played. What can they do to change what they didn't do well that week? We have a team that understands that and is mature in that way."
