Ball State University Athletics
Mike Neu Press Conference - Indiana Week
September 05, 2016 | Football
Recap from win over Georgia State ...
We played fast. We thought we had an edge conditioning wise late in the game and I thought we were physical. To rush for 325 yards says a lot about our physicality up front. I think everybody in the building, everybody watching on TV, everybody knew that we were going to run the ball at the end of the game. I was proud of our offensive linemen to step up to that challenge knowing that that's the kind of game we were playing at that point. I was proud of those guys.
Defensively, I can't give the defense enough credit. They were consistent from start to finish. I'm happy for that group of guys. There's a lot of seniors on that side of the ball and they were tired of hearing about a year ago and they struggled a year ago. They played the game for four quarters like they had a chip on their shoulders.
On winning road opener ...
The goal is just simply to win. Whatever formula works that night because you go into a game with a game plan and there are things that unfold when the game starts and you have to be willing to make in-game adjustments. The most important thing is whatever is working for you that night – offense, defense, special teams – you have to adjust to in order give your team a chance to win. And that's what I'm the most proud of about our staff and about our team. That formula worked for us the other night. We overcame early adversity. We talked about it every day in practice. We talk about it every time we have a meeting. Adversity is going to present itself, we just didn't know it was going to be the third play of the game with a pick-six. It's not the way you want to start, but our guys stuck together.
Looking ahead to Indiana ...
It's a great challenge for us. We love to be able to take on an in-state team. Going to IU, they had a big win to start off their season the other night at Florida International and yes, Ball State has won the last three. We know that. Our guys know that we have to get back to having a great week of practice and we will play on Saturday the way that we practice. There's no secret about that. We're going to come back, get ready to go to work, have some good practices this week and it will carry over to the field for us on Saturday. It's developing that mindset that we can go out and compete with anybody.
On the running back group …
I've said from day one that when I got here I love the running back group overall. All of those guys are going to have an opportunity to get some touches throughout the course of the game because it's a good group and they practice hard. They are always ready to work. If you go through the game, although James [Gilbert] had 160 yards at the end of the night, Darian [Green] was at 93 yards. Teddy [Williamson] had a touchdown the other night. Listen, those three guys – four because Malik [Dunner] is going to continue to be in there – we've got a good running back group. We've got to put those guys in position to have success and make sure they get touches.
