Ball State Football Weekly News Conference Quotes, October 14: Game 7
Coach Neu
Opening Statement: “Reflecting back to Saturday, it was a great win on the road at Kent State. Obviously, there's some things, especially at the end of the game – the last 10-15 plays – that we need to get cleaned up. I really want to point out the guys in the trenches. Both the offensive line and the front seven there defensively did a great job of being physical in the trenches. We ran the ball extremely well. We stopped the run that day and to have a sack production that we did – seven sacks on the day.
Q: “You mentioned all the emotions that you go through during that two-minute drill when you're trying to keep the lead, and they're trying to take it. How do you manage those emotions all at once?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “The team was just emotionally spent based on what ebbed and flowed and everything that transpired. It was a roller coaster of the last handful of plays there. And so, I think the team was emotionally spent. Like, ‘Hey fellas, we just won the game.’ Look at the onside kick that we recovered right here. Coach Connolly showed it in here [yesterday], and look at the sidelines. It’s like we forgot to celebrate.”
Q: “What was the [postgame celebration after Kent State] like?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Coach Connolly showed a video from 2022 when we were in there and obviously celebrating after a win, and then one of the chairs collapsed. Well, he happened to be the guy that was on the chair when it collapsed, so we brought a chair with us. He showed it in the special teams meeting; the ‘victory chair,’ is what we called it. It was fun. Those are the moments that you laugh about, and you enjoy those.”
Q: “Was there a general feel on Sunday when you guys met as a team, that that confidence was improving?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Without question, but also several guys recognize that there’s things that we’ve got to get cleaned up. Both ways in the passing game, offensively and on defense. We’ve got to get some of the things cleaned up as we move forward here.”
Q: “[The run defense] was improved on Saturday. Are you taking that and kind of using it as a chance to also improve the pass defense?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “No question. There's eight to 10 explosive plays in the passing game, and you look at it and it’s like, ‘out of position, this one was tackling.’ We had him, and then all of a sudden, he broke several tackles. I don't want to take anything away from Chrishon McCray, a great player, but some of them came down to tackling, or when we were in man coverage, perhaps we were too loose and weren't tight enough.”
Q: “Vanderbilt is on a roll here. How do you go about preparing for a team that’s pretty hot right now?” – Elijah Poe, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yeah, obviously, they’re the story of college football right now. To have two huge wins like they did the last two weeks against Kentucky and Alabama, obviously, is awesome for them. They lost an overtime game at Missouri, which is a top 10 team, so they're playing great football right now – great team football. They’ve got a formula that's working extremely well for them, but it's an opportunity for us. It's an opportunity for us to go down there and take advantage of the opportunity to get on the field and compete that way.”
Q: “What’s it like to see a player who works as hard as Ty [Robinson] go our again?” – Elijah Poe, Ball State Daily News
A: “That's hard. It's emotional. You're at a loss for words on what to say to Ty after the game was over in the locker room, I just give him a hug, told him I love him and to stay positive. That's the only thing he can do.”
Braedon Sloan
Q: “What was it like to see Vaughn [Pemberton] score that touchdown, even if it probably came in the wrong time?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “It's awesome to see him get in the end zone. I was probably thinking the same thing as everybody. Is he going to go down? Is he going to score? And he didn't go down anyway. He went ahead and scored it. I’m still excited for him that he got that for his first one of the season.”
Q: “What have you learned from [Pemberton and Charlie Spegal]? Not only about just how to be a great running back, but also just about Ball State?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “They just love it here. That’s the one thing I’ve realized since being here. Vaughn in the portal last year and then deciding to come back; he just missed it here. That just says a lot about the family feel that’s here.”
Q: “What is it that motivates you to be consistent every week?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “One thing is the guys in this room – to go out and give my all for them and not let them down. Another thing is just my family and people back home. A lot of people look up to me. Where I’m from not a lot of people get to get the chance to play college football, let alone Division I football at the FBS level. And also, my faith in God.”
Q: “You’re going down to SEC country this weekend. Does it excite you to be on a stage like that?” – Elijah Poe, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yeah, definitely. I feel like it’s a big stage, a big opponent, but it’s just the next opponent. On any stage that you get to play football, I feel like you should be excited.”
Joey Stemler
Q: “You’re happy to get that win, but also you realize that there is still a lot of work to be done. How do you go about managing those two very different emotions?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “The win was huge. I would say it’s a spark. That’s what a really needed, a whole team effort, which was awesome to see. But, it also shows us watching the film what we still need to work on. We had some young guys out there playing – just keep them up and make sure their morale is high.”
Q: “Was [the pass rush] a point of emphasis going into the game?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yeah, we wanted to get after them. We knew what they were trying to do with their scheme. We were just trying to help out our guys on the outside. The whole D-line was just doing their thing”
Q: “Do you feel like the biggest thing this defense still has to master is consistency?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yes, 100%. We’ve shown that we can do that with time. Two weeks ago, we got the fourth down stop on the goal line. We got off the field multiple times this week on fourth down. We’ve shown what we can do. We’ve just got to keep doing our job."
Q: “How good did it feel to win once that clock hit zero?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Excellent. It was excellent team football. The defense, we were very excited. Our offense played a great game. We know we still have more, but overall, it was very exciting. It was that spark that we needed. It’s going to drive us the rest of the season.”
Coach Neu
Opening Statement: “Reflecting back to Saturday, it was a great win on the road at Kent State. Obviously, there's some things, especially at the end of the game – the last 10-15 plays – that we need to get cleaned up. I really want to point out the guys in the trenches. Both the offensive line and the front seven there defensively did a great job of being physical in the trenches. We ran the ball extremely well. We stopped the run that day and to have a sack production that we did – seven sacks on the day.
Q: “You mentioned all the emotions that you go through during that two-minute drill when you're trying to keep the lead, and they're trying to take it. How do you manage those emotions all at once?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “The team was just emotionally spent based on what ebbed and flowed and everything that transpired. It was a roller coaster of the last handful of plays there. And so, I think the team was emotionally spent. Like, ‘Hey fellas, we just won the game.’ Look at the onside kick that we recovered right here. Coach Connolly showed it in here [yesterday], and look at the sidelines. It’s like we forgot to celebrate.”
Q: “What was the [postgame celebration after Kent State] like?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Coach Connolly showed a video from 2022 when we were in there and obviously celebrating after a win, and then one of the chairs collapsed. Well, he happened to be the guy that was on the chair when it collapsed, so we brought a chair with us. He showed it in the special teams meeting; the ‘victory chair,’ is what we called it. It was fun. Those are the moments that you laugh about, and you enjoy those.”
Q: “Was there a general feel on Sunday when you guys met as a team, that that confidence was improving?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Without question, but also several guys recognize that there’s things that we’ve got to get cleaned up. Both ways in the passing game, offensively and on defense. We’ve got to get some of the things cleaned up as we move forward here.”
Q: “[The run defense] was improved on Saturday. Are you taking that and kind of using it as a chance to also improve the pass defense?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “No question. There's eight to 10 explosive plays in the passing game, and you look at it and it’s like, ‘out of position, this one was tackling.’ We had him, and then all of a sudden, he broke several tackles. I don't want to take anything away from Chrishon McCray, a great player, but some of them came down to tackling, or when we were in man coverage, perhaps we were too loose and weren't tight enough.”
Q: “Vanderbilt is on a roll here. How do you go about preparing for a team that’s pretty hot right now?” – Elijah Poe, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yeah, obviously, they’re the story of college football right now. To have two huge wins like they did the last two weeks against Kentucky and Alabama, obviously, is awesome for them. They lost an overtime game at Missouri, which is a top 10 team, so they're playing great football right now – great team football. They’ve got a formula that's working extremely well for them, but it's an opportunity for us. It's an opportunity for us to go down there and take advantage of the opportunity to get on the field and compete that way.”
Q: “What’s it like to see a player who works as hard as Ty [Robinson] go our again?” – Elijah Poe, Ball State Daily News
A: “That's hard. It's emotional. You're at a loss for words on what to say to Ty after the game was over in the locker room, I just give him a hug, told him I love him and to stay positive. That's the only thing he can do.”
Braedon Sloan
Q: “What was it like to see Vaughn [Pemberton] score that touchdown, even if it probably came in the wrong time?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “It's awesome to see him get in the end zone. I was probably thinking the same thing as everybody. Is he going to go down? Is he going to score? And he didn't go down anyway. He went ahead and scored it. I’m still excited for him that he got that for his first one of the season.”
Q: “What have you learned from [Pemberton and Charlie Spegal]? Not only about just how to be a great running back, but also just about Ball State?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “They just love it here. That’s the one thing I’ve realized since being here. Vaughn in the portal last year and then deciding to come back; he just missed it here. That just says a lot about the family feel that’s here.”
Q: “What is it that motivates you to be consistent every week?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “One thing is the guys in this room – to go out and give my all for them and not let them down. Another thing is just my family and people back home. A lot of people look up to me. Where I’m from not a lot of people get to get the chance to play college football, let alone Division I football at the FBS level. And also, my faith in God.”
Q: “You’re going down to SEC country this weekend. Does it excite you to be on a stage like that?” – Elijah Poe, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yeah, definitely. I feel like it’s a big stage, a big opponent, but it’s just the next opponent. On any stage that you get to play football, I feel like you should be excited.”
Joey Stemler
Q: “You’re happy to get that win, but also you realize that there is still a lot of work to be done. How do you go about managing those two very different emotions?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “The win was huge. I would say it’s a spark. That’s what a really needed, a whole team effort, which was awesome to see. But, it also shows us watching the film what we still need to work on. We had some young guys out there playing – just keep them up and make sure their morale is high.”
Q: “Was [the pass rush] a point of emphasis going into the game?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yeah, we wanted to get after them. We knew what they were trying to do with their scheme. We were just trying to help out our guys on the outside. The whole D-line was just doing their thing”
Q: “Do you feel like the biggest thing this defense still has to master is consistency?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Yes, 100%. We’ve shown that we can do that with time. Two weeks ago, we got the fourth down stop on the goal line. We got off the field multiple times this week on fourth down. We’ve shown what we can do. We’ve just got to keep doing our job."
Q: “How good did it feel to win once that clock hit zero?” – Kyle Smedley, Ball State Daily News
A: “Excellent. It was excellent team football. The defense, we were very excited. Our offense played a great game. We know we still have more, but overall, it was very exciting. It was that spark that we needed. It’s going to drive us the rest of the season.”