University of Southern Mississippi Athletics
Blake Anderson Weekly News Conference – The Arkansas State Game
10/12/2026 2:45:00 PM | Football
HATTIESBURG, Miss. – Southern Miss football coach Blake Anderson addressed the media on Monday, Oct. 12, in the Duff Athletic Center ahead of the Golden Eagles' home contest versus Arkansas State this Saturday. Game time is set for 6 p.m., at Renasant Stadium.
Southern Miss (1-4 overall, 0-1 Sun Belt) looks to snap a four-game losing streak when they meet the Red Wolves (2-4, 0-2) in league play.
On the call for the ESPN+ will be Jason Baker (Play-by-Play) and Larry Boyd (Analyst), while the Southern Miss Sports Network's radio pregame show begins at 4:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, analyst Lee Roberts and sideline reporter Bo Morgan on the call.
Fans can still purchase tickets for this contest as well as the other three remaining home game this season by visiting SouthernMiss.com/Tickets.
Here is what Anderson had to say to the media Monday morning:
Blake Anderson opening statement:
"Obviously, been a while (since speaking with you all). Seems like it's been a long time since we played with the Tuesday game, it was very clear the other night that we were frustrated with how we played. That has not changed. Had a lot of time to watch the tape multiple times, try to dissect it as best we can, and really, with the extra couple days as a group—player, staff, everybody involved—take a good glimpse of where we're at. A lot of the issues we're having are not that surprising, just with the amount of new people. We're in a tough process, man. Year one with 76 new dudes, so not a surprise that we're struggling with some things. Frustrated that we're still struggling at the level that we are, honestly. But I was really pleased with how the guys responded. We had some very tough meetings. We were very transparent and honest and critical from top down, every level that we could, dissecting this thing and trying to make sure that we can move forward and play consistently the way we're capable. We've seen it in glimpses—not consistent at all. We've played really well at times, but it's just been too infrequent. The encouraging thing is when you see it, like, hey man, it's there, it's possible. The challenge is getting that all the time, and we haven't done that yet. We all got to do a better job, top down. Head coach starts there, and then move to each level.
"But really pleased, we had a great practice last night. Guys came back with good energy. Guys trying to take ownership and correct things and get better. It's a tough process that we're going to have to fight through. Not fun rebuilding and growing from ground up. It's not fun. It's hard, but I was really pleased with our practice and our approach last night. Some key things that we've talked about: control what you can control. What we can control is how we go about our work every day. Ownership for mistakes and ownership in my roles. Really kind of took a Day One like, hey, we got seven weeks left, seven games left that are guaranteed. Man, take ownership of your job at a really high level, and really learn from the past. But we can't take it with us. What can we do right now, today? And they went out and did that. Four really key areas that we've got to address if we want to play good football, which I think we are more than capable of doing.
"No. 1: assignment errors. Way too many communication issues and too many busted assignments, and it was huge the other night. As you watch the tape, you know, safety-corner not in the same coverage, front-back end not on the same page, guard-tackle not—just when you look across the board, too many assignment errors. As coaches, we have got to simplify. We have got to do a better job teaching there, make sure guys are on the same page. But we, as a group, must find communication across the board and quit hurting ourselves.
"No. 2, and it kind of folds into two things: technically, there's just too many areas that we're just not playing with great technique, and that really shows up probably the most in tackling. You had eight missed tackles against Tulane, and at times we looked like a really good defense. We had 41 the other night, and we just can't play good football if we don't tackle well. That comes down to technique and really putting guys in good position, and then we're holding guys accountable to that every day. Spent a lot of time over the last few days talking about how we move that needle in the right direction, and the guys have been great in terms of accountability. It shows up on offense with eyes and hand placement and feet, just little things on the perimeter and all across the board. So we've got to play with better technique, and that will affect tackling I think, in a positive way. It'll affect us attacking the ball above the rim in a positive way. It'll affect our combination blocks and working together up front in a positive way. Those are things that have to change and get better. And then obviously on offense, we got to protect the football. That really is not just the quarterback. That really applies to everybody. Turning a guy loose up front, not handling a twist up front, not attacking the ball above the rim, and then clearly the quarterback making good decisions. And when he does move, protecting the ball. Those are things that we can control, we can affect.
"At this point in the game, with as many new guys, you'd say, yeah, it's a learning curve, but it's at a level that we should be past. We should be well ahead of where we are, and that really just comes back to all of us rolling up our sleeves. Head coach, coordinator, position coach, every player in the building, and trying to affect those things in a positive way. So, it's the focus: control what you control. Be the best team we can this week. Try to find a way to win one. We'll worry about number two when it gets here. We got to find a way this week. I was pleased with everybody in the program, their approach to that, and that's something we got to stay on top of this week. I'm hoping it's going to show on the field Saturday night with the best product that we've had. That'd be the goal. With that, that's a lot, I know, but I think it's kind of a good glimpse into the building over the last few days of where we're headed."
Q: Speak a little bit on the offensive side of the ball, up front sometimes it's easier to hide some deficiencies with scheme, but it's not as easy on the defensive side of the ball. Can you kind of speak to having some maybe some deficiencies up front in that front six and having to try to work around that and run the slants, twist?
"Yeah, I mean, I don't want to just sit here and, when you say deficiencies, to me that means we don't have the athletes we need to have. We can play better than we're playing. Look, do you always want to upgrade your roster every year? Absolutely, and we're going to work hard to out-recruit everybody in the room, which is what I tell them when I bring them in. My job is to out-recruit you. We've got good enough players to play better than we're playing. It's that simple, right? Do we have the most talented roster in the league? No, we don't, and I tell our guys we don't. There are some areas that we need to upgrade continually. Some of them just need to develop. Some of them just haven't played. So this is not just a deficient issue. Do we need to upgrade the roster? Yes, but we can play better on both sides of the ball and be as good as the best teams than we currently are. Assignment-sound, we're not. Technically sound, we're not. We're playing with great effort, we're working hard, but that's not enough. That'll just get you to the ballpark. We got to play better. So, when you say deficient, that would just mean, well, we're just getting out-athleted. Did we get out-athleted some early in the year from some really talented rosters? Yeah, we did, but we still didn't play well enough. If we played with better technique and more assignment-sound, we'd have been in better shape in those games as well. It comes back to controlling what we can control. We'll deal with upgrading the roster and continue to develop guys in the offseason. Right now, we got to find a way to win with what we have, and we have enough talent in the room to play with the people we're playing against. That has not changed when we play assignment-sound football, technically sound football. It's shown. It's just shown in very small glimpses, and the key is getting that all of the time, and we haven't done that. It's our job. We haven't done that. It's my job as a coach, it's our staff's job, and it's our players' job. We have not done that well enough. That's no excuse. We got to get better. So I don't know if that answers your question, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you we're getting out-athleted. Yeah, at times in some areas, but we're always going to—that's just the nature of it. I would love to tell you we'll have better athletes than everybody we play at every position. That's not likely. It's not real. We have to be better at what we're doing, and that will close that gap. Then we'll worry about if there's a matchup issue and where we got to get better. But we got who we got, and we can play better than we are, and we should be playing better than we are."
Q: You guys have struggled to stop the run throughout this whole season, moving forward what are the biggest focus on that and how do you fix it going forward?
"Same things we just talked about. Well, one of them, there were 286 yards after contact. So, if you just get those guys on the ground, you cut the rushing down by almost 300. Like we just got to get guys on the ground, but then gap integrity was really poor. Taking a guy down the middle instead of taking— If I'm an inside shoulder leverage player at linebacker and I take the guy down the middle, now that we got two gaps open, if I take my gap and we've got a safety fill in the other, then it looks differently like assignment and gap integrity and technical integrity. But that, literally, 286 yards after contact, we just got to tackle, and we show we've shown at times that we can we need consistency. And so, schematically, when you go back, we dissected that thing, man. We weren't in bad defensive calls. There's always a couple you want back, but Joe (Bolden) didn't make bad calls. If we if we run the defense scheme as called and play with good technique and get guys on grounds, a completely different game, but that's the challenge, man. We're everybody in this building is learning from the ground up, day one, and we're that learning curve is taking way too long. We've got to speed it up, so we'll simplify where we can. But if we'll just play our gap and tackle at a decent level, everything would look a lot different, if that's really what you're asking me. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, if I'm somebody coming in, I'm gonna run until I figure out you can stop it. Like we got to show people we can stop the run, and we'll do that when we're lined up on the right, all on the same page, running the same defense. We have gap integrity, and we tackle better. Like it'll look different. It just hadn't looked that way yet, at least consistently."
Q: Speak to what the team is going to face against A-State?
"Yeah, I mean, you know, they're struggling right now too. But you see glimpses of, I mean, like the other night, their offense got going, and South Alabama couldn't stop them. Their quarterback can really spin it. You know, they're playing extremely hard. I feel like, like a lot of us, they're probably sitting there watching tape, frustrated with some mistakes that they've made that have cost them some really, really close situations. So they'll just be like everybody else in the league. everybody in our league looks the same, you know, for the most part. There may be a couple teams that are a little bit more talented than others, but there were five one-score games in our league (last weekend). They were part of one of those. That thing could have gone either way. Watched every snap. They're going to come in hungry, expecting that they can run the ball right down their throat till we stop them. They have a ton of confidence in their throw game. I think in the quarterback who can spin it, and defensively, they're going to move like crazy, and we're going to have to cover them up. I'm sure they're frustrated. They didn't have a good game defensively, so you know they're going to come out, and you're going to get their best effort. So they're going to look like everybody else in our league. And as I told our team, it's way less about who we're playing, and it's more about we have to be our best team. We have not been that yet, even in the win against Alcorn. Like this is not a new phenomenon. This has been going on since day one. We've got to play sound football, and it's not happening. And so all of us have to affect that to give us a chance to beat anybody. And it just happens to be Arkansas State this week."
Q: Talk about the team in terms of health.
"Yeah, we lose [Avery] Sledge for probably four to six weeks with a broken rib, and he is in significantly a lot of pain. He's in a lot of pain. That's not going to change in the next few weeks. We lose Robert Briggs for the season with a torn tendon in his in his upper hamstring on the 44-yard touchdown run. Something weird (happened) right there at the end. He's going to probably require surgery to fix that. I hate that because we've struggled to try to get him back, and just when he gets back, he pops it again. Beyond that, everything's just bumps and bruises. So, we should get Tyler Lassiter back. I would expect him to play. I don't. I think he really was the only guy that we really were missing last week, and then some other guys that are fighting bumps and bruises should feel a little bit better with the extra couple days."
Q: Just want to get your reaction to news this morning on James Madison leading the league.
"Yeah, not a huge surprise to be truthful. Just watching what they've done, kind of their approach to everything since the day one of moving up, not a huge surprise. And you know, everybody's always jockeying for position. Just not a huge surprise. They've done a good job there, and have tremendous resources and support, and doesn't really surprise me all that much that they're just in their mind, they're trying to continue, I doubt that in their mind, that's their last stop. Like I think that's just their approach, and they're in a position to be able to kind of do that. So, not a surprise. I know our league will have a plan on what to do next, and would clearly expect us to add somebody, if not several somebodies, but don't know what that would look like or when. We haven't had any conversations about any of that stuff."
Southern Miss (1-4 overall, 0-1 Sun Belt) looks to snap a four-game losing streak when they meet the Red Wolves (2-4, 0-2) in league play.
On the call for the ESPN+ will be Jason Baker (Play-by-Play) and Larry Boyd (Analyst), while the Southern Miss Sports Network's radio pregame show begins at 4:30 p.m. with the Voice of the Golden Eagles, John Cox, analyst Lee Roberts and sideline reporter Bo Morgan on the call.
Fans can still purchase tickets for this contest as well as the other three remaining home game this season by visiting SouthernMiss.com/Tickets.
Here is what Anderson had to say to the media Monday morning:
Blake Anderson opening statement:
"Obviously, been a while (since speaking with you all). Seems like it's been a long time since we played with the Tuesday game, it was very clear the other night that we were frustrated with how we played. That has not changed. Had a lot of time to watch the tape multiple times, try to dissect it as best we can, and really, with the extra couple days as a group—player, staff, everybody involved—take a good glimpse of where we're at. A lot of the issues we're having are not that surprising, just with the amount of new people. We're in a tough process, man. Year one with 76 new dudes, so not a surprise that we're struggling with some things. Frustrated that we're still struggling at the level that we are, honestly. But I was really pleased with how the guys responded. We had some very tough meetings. We were very transparent and honest and critical from top down, every level that we could, dissecting this thing and trying to make sure that we can move forward and play consistently the way we're capable. We've seen it in glimpses—not consistent at all. We've played really well at times, but it's just been too infrequent. The encouraging thing is when you see it, like, hey man, it's there, it's possible. The challenge is getting that all the time, and we haven't done that yet. We all got to do a better job, top down. Head coach starts there, and then move to each level.
"But really pleased, we had a great practice last night. Guys came back with good energy. Guys trying to take ownership and correct things and get better. It's a tough process that we're going to have to fight through. Not fun rebuilding and growing from ground up. It's not fun. It's hard, but I was really pleased with our practice and our approach last night. Some key things that we've talked about: control what you can control. What we can control is how we go about our work every day. Ownership for mistakes and ownership in my roles. Really kind of took a Day One like, hey, we got seven weeks left, seven games left that are guaranteed. Man, take ownership of your job at a really high level, and really learn from the past. But we can't take it with us. What can we do right now, today? And they went out and did that. Four really key areas that we've got to address if we want to play good football, which I think we are more than capable of doing.
"No. 1: assignment errors. Way too many communication issues and too many busted assignments, and it was huge the other night. As you watch the tape, you know, safety-corner not in the same coverage, front-back end not on the same page, guard-tackle not—just when you look across the board, too many assignment errors. As coaches, we have got to simplify. We have got to do a better job teaching there, make sure guys are on the same page. But we, as a group, must find communication across the board and quit hurting ourselves.
"No. 2, and it kind of folds into two things: technically, there's just too many areas that we're just not playing with great technique, and that really shows up probably the most in tackling. You had eight missed tackles against Tulane, and at times we looked like a really good defense. We had 41 the other night, and we just can't play good football if we don't tackle well. That comes down to technique and really putting guys in good position, and then we're holding guys accountable to that every day. Spent a lot of time over the last few days talking about how we move that needle in the right direction, and the guys have been great in terms of accountability. It shows up on offense with eyes and hand placement and feet, just little things on the perimeter and all across the board. So we've got to play with better technique, and that will affect tackling I think, in a positive way. It'll affect us attacking the ball above the rim in a positive way. It'll affect our combination blocks and working together up front in a positive way. Those are things that have to change and get better. And then obviously on offense, we got to protect the football. That really is not just the quarterback. That really applies to everybody. Turning a guy loose up front, not handling a twist up front, not attacking the ball above the rim, and then clearly the quarterback making good decisions. And when he does move, protecting the ball. Those are things that we can control, we can affect.
"At this point in the game, with as many new guys, you'd say, yeah, it's a learning curve, but it's at a level that we should be past. We should be well ahead of where we are, and that really just comes back to all of us rolling up our sleeves. Head coach, coordinator, position coach, every player in the building, and trying to affect those things in a positive way. So, it's the focus: control what you control. Be the best team we can this week. Try to find a way to win one. We'll worry about number two when it gets here. We got to find a way this week. I was pleased with everybody in the program, their approach to that, and that's something we got to stay on top of this week. I'm hoping it's going to show on the field Saturday night with the best product that we've had. That'd be the goal. With that, that's a lot, I know, but I think it's kind of a good glimpse into the building over the last few days of where we're headed."
Q: Speak a little bit on the offensive side of the ball, up front sometimes it's easier to hide some deficiencies with scheme, but it's not as easy on the defensive side of the ball. Can you kind of speak to having some maybe some deficiencies up front in that front six and having to try to work around that and run the slants, twist?
"Yeah, I mean, I don't want to just sit here and, when you say deficiencies, to me that means we don't have the athletes we need to have. We can play better than we're playing. Look, do you always want to upgrade your roster every year? Absolutely, and we're going to work hard to out-recruit everybody in the room, which is what I tell them when I bring them in. My job is to out-recruit you. We've got good enough players to play better than we're playing. It's that simple, right? Do we have the most talented roster in the league? No, we don't, and I tell our guys we don't. There are some areas that we need to upgrade continually. Some of them just need to develop. Some of them just haven't played. So this is not just a deficient issue. Do we need to upgrade the roster? Yes, but we can play better on both sides of the ball and be as good as the best teams than we currently are. Assignment-sound, we're not. Technically sound, we're not. We're playing with great effort, we're working hard, but that's not enough. That'll just get you to the ballpark. We got to play better. So, when you say deficient, that would just mean, well, we're just getting out-athleted. Did we get out-athleted some early in the year from some really talented rosters? Yeah, we did, but we still didn't play well enough. If we played with better technique and more assignment-sound, we'd have been in better shape in those games as well. It comes back to controlling what we can control. We'll deal with upgrading the roster and continue to develop guys in the offseason. Right now, we got to find a way to win with what we have, and we have enough talent in the room to play with the people we're playing against. That has not changed when we play assignment-sound football, technically sound football. It's shown. It's just shown in very small glimpses, and the key is getting that all of the time, and we haven't done that. It's our job. We haven't done that. It's my job as a coach, it's our staff's job, and it's our players' job. We have not done that well enough. That's no excuse. We got to get better. So I don't know if that answers your question, but I'm not going to sit here and tell you we're getting out-athleted. Yeah, at times in some areas, but we're always going to—that's just the nature of it. I would love to tell you we'll have better athletes than everybody we play at every position. That's not likely. It's not real. We have to be better at what we're doing, and that will close that gap. Then we'll worry about if there's a matchup issue and where we got to get better. But we got who we got, and we can play better than we are, and we should be playing better than we are."
Q: You guys have struggled to stop the run throughout this whole season, moving forward what are the biggest focus on that and how do you fix it going forward?
"Same things we just talked about. Well, one of them, there were 286 yards after contact. So, if you just get those guys on the ground, you cut the rushing down by almost 300. Like we just got to get guys on the ground, but then gap integrity was really poor. Taking a guy down the middle instead of taking— If I'm an inside shoulder leverage player at linebacker and I take the guy down the middle, now that we got two gaps open, if I take my gap and we've got a safety fill in the other, then it looks differently like assignment and gap integrity and technical integrity. But that, literally, 286 yards after contact, we just got to tackle, and we show we've shown at times that we can we need consistency. And so, schematically, when you go back, we dissected that thing, man. We weren't in bad defensive calls. There's always a couple you want back, but Joe (Bolden) didn't make bad calls. If we if we run the defense scheme as called and play with good technique and get guys on grounds, a completely different game, but that's the challenge, man. We're everybody in this building is learning from the ground up, day one, and we're that learning curve is taking way too long. We've got to speed it up, so we'll simplify where we can. But if we'll just play our gap and tackle at a decent level, everything would look a lot different, if that's really what you're asking me. Yeah, I mean, yeah, I mean, if I'm somebody coming in, I'm gonna run until I figure out you can stop it. Like we got to show people we can stop the run, and we'll do that when we're lined up on the right, all on the same page, running the same defense. We have gap integrity, and we tackle better. Like it'll look different. It just hadn't looked that way yet, at least consistently."
Q: Speak to what the team is going to face against A-State?
"Yeah, I mean, you know, they're struggling right now too. But you see glimpses of, I mean, like the other night, their offense got going, and South Alabama couldn't stop them. Their quarterback can really spin it. You know, they're playing extremely hard. I feel like, like a lot of us, they're probably sitting there watching tape, frustrated with some mistakes that they've made that have cost them some really, really close situations. So they'll just be like everybody else in the league. everybody in our league looks the same, you know, for the most part. There may be a couple teams that are a little bit more talented than others, but there were five one-score games in our league (last weekend). They were part of one of those. That thing could have gone either way. Watched every snap. They're going to come in hungry, expecting that they can run the ball right down their throat till we stop them. They have a ton of confidence in their throw game. I think in the quarterback who can spin it, and defensively, they're going to move like crazy, and we're going to have to cover them up. I'm sure they're frustrated. They didn't have a good game defensively, so you know they're going to come out, and you're going to get their best effort. So they're going to look like everybody else in our league. And as I told our team, it's way less about who we're playing, and it's more about we have to be our best team. We have not been that yet, even in the win against Alcorn. Like this is not a new phenomenon. This has been going on since day one. We've got to play sound football, and it's not happening. And so all of us have to affect that to give us a chance to beat anybody. And it just happens to be Arkansas State this week."
Q: Talk about the team in terms of health.
"Yeah, we lose [Avery] Sledge for probably four to six weeks with a broken rib, and he is in significantly a lot of pain. He's in a lot of pain. That's not going to change in the next few weeks. We lose Robert Briggs for the season with a torn tendon in his in his upper hamstring on the 44-yard touchdown run. Something weird (happened) right there at the end. He's going to probably require surgery to fix that. I hate that because we've struggled to try to get him back, and just when he gets back, he pops it again. Beyond that, everything's just bumps and bruises. So, we should get Tyler Lassiter back. I would expect him to play. I don't. I think he really was the only guy that we really were missing last week, and then some other guys that are fighting bumps and bruises should feel a little bit better with the extra couple days."
Q: Just want to get your reaction to news this morning on James Madison leading the league.
"Yeah, not a huge surprise to be truthful. Just watching what they've done, kind of their approach to everything since the day one of moving up, not a huge surprise. And you know, everybody's always jockeying for position. Just not a huge surprise. They've done a good job there, and have tremendous resources and support, and doesn't really surprise me all that much that they're just in their mind, they're trying to continue, I doubt that in their mind, that's their last stop. Like I think that's just their approach, and they're in a position to be able to kind of do that. So, not a surprise. I know our league will have a plan on what to do next, and would clearly expect us to add somebody, if not several somebodies, but don't know what that would look like or when. We haven't had any conversations about any of that stuff."
Players Mentioned
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