Ball State University Athletics
Ball State Football Weekly News Conference Quotes, October 5: Game 6 at Northwestern
Ball State Football Weekly News Conference Quotes, October 5: Game 6 at Northwestern
Mike Uremovich
Opening Statement: “We have another solid opponent this week in Northwestern. Coach [David] Braun does a great job there. I've got to know him over the last couple years from working in their camps and all that. They have the new facility that just opened up last week, so it's a big challenge for us to go on the road and play really well up there in a tough environment. I talked to some people at Penn State and they commented how loud it was and how nice the facility is. So defensively, Coach [Tim] McGarigle, I've known him for a really long time. He's one of the best defensive coaches in the country. He's done a great job there year after year defensively, being one of the top defenses in the Big Ten and in the country. They also have Jacob White on staff there, who's a former Ball State football player and also coached for me at Butler. So, a bunch of guys we know up there. I know that they are all really good coaches. They have good talent, but they're really schematically sound. They play really disciplined football on defense. Offensively, obviously Chip Kelly's there doing a great job offensively with them. They give you different stuff every single week. You have to prepare for what they've shown you, but you also have to have your rules down because they're going to test your rules. He's going to change his offense week to week based on where he thinks he can take advantage of your weak points and holes that you have either personnel-wise or schematically. They're playing really good football right now. They just beat Penn State last week. You watch the film, they had every opportunity to beat the defending national champs the week before. So we got a really good week of practice coming up. We're going to hopefully stay healthy this week and get some guys back and be ready to go compete up there. And the first test is the environment because of how loud it's gonna be, and then after that, it's obviously getting into the game.”
Q: “How do you plan to quell some of Northwestern’s recent momentum?”
A: “Well, we have got to get ready for the crowd noise. Like I said, I talked to people at Penn State and they said that it was one of the loudest venues they've ever been in. I'm just a football coach, but it's supposed to be engineered somehow to keep the sound in there and all that. And the seats are right on top of the field, so they had to do some work with their cadence. And we'll use crowd noise in practice like we always do, but it'll be similar to Ohio State. I can imagine it will be tough to communicate on both sides of the ball.”
Q: “What does the offense need to do to prepare for this game?”
A: “They are very well coached. It's not a criticism of them, but they just line up and play defense. I mean, they blitz and they pressure, especially on third down. But they just out execute everybody. They line up and they out-physical you, and they don't get out of their gaps. They're really good in coverage. Their corners allow them to do a lot of stuff because they can play man-to-man out there and have both safeties. And number six [Robert Fitzgerald], the boundary safety, is one of the best safeties in the country. I'd be shocked if he's not up for some All-American type stuff by the end of the year. How he fits the box, he’s like a third and fourth linebacker. He stands back there in the sprinter stance and he reads the play. They had him fitting the A-gap at times, which most people don't do with their safeties. He's a big physical player that's good in coverage, but he is a run stopper. So we have to be prepared to get him cracked with our receivers. We have to stay ahead of the chains because we can't be in third-and-long against what they do with their blitz package on third down.”
Q: “How do you make sure the defense bounces back after these last couple weeks?”
A: “We have to be ready to go play football, and we have to play the next play. It doesn't matter if we got an interception, a fumble, or gave up a touchdown. We have to play the next play. These guys are challenging, because they do some stuff. It's not Wing-T, but it's similar to old Wing-T football. They put the quarterback under center. They get into two tight ends. They run the middle traps and long traps. It's really smart because it's plays that people don't see very often and don't defend very often. We have to know our rules and we have to teach some new rules for some of the things they're doing this week. You can't be too complicated on defense. It's going to be new stuff that we haven't practiced a ton against. You're going to get a bunch of things that nobody's practiced against because they change their offense from week-to-week.”
Q: “What are some positives that you can take from the Toledo game to hopefully bring to this week?”
A: “Well, I thought we played a good first half of football in that game. I thought we started fast, which we haven't been able to do consistently here. I didn't like the end of the first half, but we were leading that game for most of the first half. In the second half, our kids continued to battle the whole time. We didn't get the result we wanted and we didn't get a stop when we needed it to cut it to one-score. The guys played hard. The guys were physical. The guys just need to be more consistent, and that starts with coaching. We have to coach them better to get them to be more consistent.”
Q: “How do you plan for this week with another non-conference?”
A: You're not like this answer, but it's the same every week. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We came in here on Sunday, and did the exact same thing. We got up at the same time this morning, got in here and started game-planning. It doesn't change who you're playing.”
Q: “What is the status with some of the injuries and specifically Keldric Luster and TJ Horton?”
A: “Both those guys would be game-time decisions again. I was really proud of multiple players on our team, but you brought those two guys up to go out there and battle injured. I've had a lot of tough players over the years play through injuries. I've also had guys that wouldn't, and those two dudes showed up and played their butts off. They didn't play perfect, but they went out there less than 100% and battled, and neither one of them had to do that. It's a credit to both of them and multiple other guys that we have that are injured right now. They are either playing injured or are fighting to get back right now. And we're going to need all of them to get back as soon as they can.”
Jamarion McDougle
Q: “What has it been like to see the reaction to your highlight catch on Saturday?”
A: “It's been amazing. I love the recognition. It's been great.”
Q: “What has it been like to earn your time on the field and make plays?”
A: “It's great just going out there with my guys and just playing for each other. It's great.”
Q: “What can the offense do to build on an encouraging performance against Toledo?”
A: “We need to just keep working hard. Go back to the drawing board, keep working together, and just keep working.”
Q: “How does the team build consistency at this point in the season?”
A: “We need to just keep working together and not have any self-inflicted wounds.”
Q: “How do you continue building your chemistry with both Keldric Luster and Tyler Mizzell
A: “It's been great just getting to know both of those guys. I think both of them are great QBs, and we just work with both of them. Just getting catches at practice and just working with each other, getting chemistry.”
Q: “What are some things the offense needs to do this week to prepare against a really talented Northwestern defense?”
A: “We need to watch film and just correct what we did last week. Just come together and play together.”
Q: “Why was the offense able to get off to such a good start against Toledo?”
A: “I feel like we were able to do that because we played with each other. We were playing together and I feel like we are building off of each other. I think when we do that, we can beat anybody.”
Q: “Can you talk about your relationship with Keldric?”
A: “My relationship with Keldrick is good. We just talk a lot. We talk at practice and when we're not at practice. We just want to make each other better and are just looking to see what we can do better to help the team win.”
Gavin Forsha
Q: “How is the defense feeling after that Toledo game, and how are you preparing for a really tough and talented Northwestern offense that's coming off a huge win?”
A: “Obviously it's not the result we wanted, but we played Toledo really close for a lot of the game and I feel like we have a lot of stuff to build upon. Northwestern runs a lot of weird, unique formations like the triple option and stuff like that. So we have to really be prepared for that, and be detailed and have our eyes on our keys this week.”
Q: “How is the defense preparing to stop some of the running game that has had success?”
A: “Coach [Jeff] Knowles is going to come in tomorrow and tell us what we're going to have to do to stop that. But we really have to stay locked in on our keys and can not get wandering eyes and pop out of gaps that aren't supposed to be ours. We need to be detailed and do our assignment every single play.”
Q: “What is it like to watch the younger linebacker guys grow in the locker room?”
A: “The young guys are growing for sure. K Stew[Kaleb Stewart], [Lucas] Szymborski, and Mikeah [Webster] all made plays last week, and they're really good young linebackers we have here. We expected that for them to make plays whenever they're in, but they're just good young linebackers.”
Q: “How have you and Cincear Lewis helped mentor the young guys in the linebacker room?”
A: “Yeah, it's awesome seeing them taking coaching points and putting it on the field. I am seeing them actually apply those coaching points that we give them. You can see the improvement in their games as well. And as they are younger, the more reps they get, the better they'll be at linebacker.”
Q: “How would you describe the locker room at this point?”
A: “The locker room is not the best, but it should be getting better after Toledo and how close we played them.”
Q: “Do you feel like the defense is getting closer to turning things around and figuring things out and getting some of those stops?”
A: “I believe so. I think Toledo was a good stepping stone in the right direction for us and I think we should build upon it and see where next week takes us.”
Q: “How did giving up the touchdown before half affect the defensive side?”
A: “That was a big momentum swing when we go down there and miss the field goal and then they come down and score a touchdown at the end of half. But we should be able to bounce off that and play better in the second half.”
Mike Uremovich
Opening Statement: “We have another solid opponent this week in Northwestern. Coach [David] Braun does a great job there. I've got to know him over the last couple years from working in their camps and all that. They have the new facility that just opened up last week, so it's a big challenge for us to go on the road and play really well up there in a tough environment. I talked to some people at Penn State and they commented how loud it was and how nice the facility is. So defensively, Coach [Tim] McGarigle, I've known him for a really long time. He's one of the best defensive coaches in the country. He's done a great job there year after year defensively, being one of the top defenses in the Big Ten and in the country. They also have Jacob White on staff there, who's a former Ball State football player and also coached for me at Butler. So, a bunch of guys we know up there. I know that they are all really good coaches. They have good talent, but they're really schematically sound. They play really disciplined football on defense. Offensively, obviously Chip Kelly's there doing a great job offensively with them. They give you different stuff every single week. You have to prepare for what they've shown you, but you also have to have your rules down because they're going to test your rules. He's going to change his offense week to week based on where he thinks he can take advantage of your weak points and holes that you have either personnel-wise or schematically. They're playing really good football right now. They just beat Penn State last week. You watch the film, they had every opportunity to beat the defending national champs the week before. So we got a really good week of practice coming up. We're going to hopefully stay healthy this week and get some guys back and be ready to go compete up there. And the first test is the environment because of how loud it's gonna be, and then after that, it's obviously getting into the game.”
Q: “How do you plan to quell some of Northwestern’s recent momentum?”
A: “Well, we have got to get ready for the crowd noise. Like I said, I talked to people at Penn State and they said that it was one of the loudest venues they've ever been in. I'm just a football coach, but it's supposed to be engineered somehow to keep the sound in there and all that. And the seats are right on top of the field, so they had to do some work with their cadence. And we'll use crowd noise in practice like we always do, but it'll be similar to Ohio State. I can imagine it will be tough to communicate on both sides of the ball.”
Q: “What does the offense need to do to prepare for this game?”
A: “They are very well coached. It's not a criticism of them, but they just line up and play defense. I mean, they blitz and they pressure, especially on third down. But they just out execute everybody. They line up and they out-physical you, and they don't get out of their gaps. They're really good in coverage. Their corners allow them to do a lot of stuff because they can play man-to-man out there and have both safeties. And number six [Robert Fitzgerald], the boundary safety, is one of the best safeties in the country. I'd be shocked if he's not up for some All-American type stuff by the end of the year. How he fits the box, he’s like a third and fourth linebacker. He stands back there in the sprinter stance and he reads the play. They had him fitting the A-gap at times, which most people don't do with their safeties. He's a big physical player that's good in coverage, but he is a run stopper. So we have to be prepared to get him cracked with our receivers. We have to stay ahead of the chains because we can't be in third-and-long against what they do with their blitz package on third down.”
Q: “How do you make sure the defense bounces back after these last couple weeks?”
A: “We have to be ready to go play football, and we have to play the next play. It doesn't matter if we got an interception, a fumble, or gave up a touchdown. We have to play the next play. These guys are challenging, because they do some stuff. It's not Wing-T, but it's similar to old Wing-T football. They put the quarterback under center. They get into two tight ends. They run the middle traps and long traps. It's really smart because it's plays that people don't see very often and don't defend very often. We have to know our rules and we have to teach some new rules for some of the things they're doing this week. You can't be too complicated on defense. It's going to be new stuff that we haven't practiced a ton against. You're going to get a bunch of things that nobody's practiced against because they change their offense from week-to-week.”
Q: “What are some positives that you can take from the Toledo game to hopefully bring to this week?”
A: “Well, I thought we played a good first half of football in that game. I thought we started fast, which we haven't been able to do consistently here. I didn't like the end of the first half, but we were leading that game for most of the first half. In the second half, our kids continued to battle the whole time. We didn't get the result we wanted and we didn't get a stop when we needed it to cut it to one-score. The guys played hard. The guys were physical. The guys just need to be more consistent, and that starts with coaching. We have to coach them better to get them to be more consistent.”
Q: “How do you plan for this week with another non-conference?”
A: You're not like this answer, but it's the same every week. It doesn't matter who we're playing. We came in here on Sunday, and did the exact same thing. We got up at the same time this morning, got in here and started game-planning. It doesn't change who you're playing.”
Q: “What is the status with some of the injuries and specifically Keldric Luster and TJ Horton?”
A: “Both those guys would be game-time decisions again. I was really proud of multiple players on our team, but you brought those two guys up to go out there and battle injured. I've had a lot of tough players over the years play through injuries. I've also had guys that wouldn't, and those two dudes showed up and played their butts off. They didn't play perfect, but they went out there less than 100% and battled, and neither one of them had to do that. It's a credit to both of them and multiple other guys that we have that are injured right now. They are either playing injured or are fighting to get back right now. And we're going to need all of them to get back as soon as they can.”
Jamarion McDougle
Q: “What has it been like to see the reaction to your highlight catch on Saturday?”
A: “It's been amazing. I love the recognition. It's been great.”
Q: “What has it been like to earn your time on the field and make plays?”
A: “It's great just going out there with my guys and just playing for each other. It's great.”
Q: “What can the offense do to build on an encouraging performance against Toledo?”
A: “We need to just keep working hard. Go back to the drawing board, keep working together, and just keep working.”
Q: “How does the team build consistency at this point in the season?”
A: “We need to just keep working together and not have any self-inflicted wounds.”
Q: “How do you continue building your chemistry with both Keldric Luster and Tyler Mizzell
A: “It's been great just getting to know both of those guys. I think both of them are great QBs, and we just work with both of them. Just getting catches at practice and just working with each other, getting chemistry.”
Q: “What are some things the offense needs to do this week to prepare against a really talented Northwestern defense?”
A: “We need to watch film and just correct what we did last week. Just come together and play together.”
Q: “Why was the offense able to get off to such a good start against Toledo?”
A: “I feel like we were able to do that because we played with each other. We were playing together and I feel like we are building off of each other. I think when we do that, we can beat anybody.”
Q: “Can you talk about your relationship with Keldric?”
A: “My relationship with Keldrick is good. We just talk a lot. We talk at practice and when we're not at practice. We just want to make each other better and are just looking to see what we can do better to help the team win.”
Gavin Forsha
Q: “How is the defense feeling after that Toledo game, and how are you preparing for a really tough and talented Northwestern offense that's coming off a huge win?”
A: “Obviously it's not the result we wanted, but we played Toledo really close for a lot of the game and I feel like we have a lot of stuff to build upon. Northwestern runs a lot of weird, unique formations like the triple option and stuff like that. So we have to really be prepared for that, and be detailed and have our eyes on our keys this week.”
Q: “How is the defense preparing to stop some of the running game that has had success?”
A: “Coach [Jeff] Knowles is going to come in tomorrow and tell us what we're going to have to do to stop that. But we really have to stay locked in on our keys and can not get wandering eyes and pop out of gaps that aren't supposed to be ours. We need to be detailed and do our assignment every single play.”
Q: “What is it like to watch the younger linebacker guys grow in the locker room?”
A: “The young guys are growing for sure. K Stew[Kaleb Stewart], [Lucas] Szymborski, and Mikeah [Webster] all made plays last week, and they're really good young linebackers we have here. We expected that for them to make plays whenever they're in, but they're just good young linebackers.”
Q: “How have you and Cincear Lewis helped mentor the young guys in the linebacker room?”
A: “Yeah, it's awesome seeing them taking coaching points and putting it on the field. I am seeing them actually apply those coaching points that we give them. You can see the improvement in their games as well. And as they are younger, the more reps they get, the better they'll be at linebacker.”
Q: “How would you describe the locker room at this point?”
A: “The locker room is not the best, but it should be getting better after Toledo and how close we played them.”
Q: “Do you feel like the defense is getting closer to turning things around and figuring things out and getting some of those stops?”
A: “I believe so. I think Toledo was a good stepping stone in the right direction for us and I think we should build upon it and see where next week takes us.”
Q: “How did giving up the touchdown before half affect the defensive side?”
A: “That was a big momentum swing when we go down there and miss the field goal and then they come down and score a touchdown at the end of half. But we should be able to bounce off that and play better in the second half.”