Mike Clowney Opening Statement: Well, this is like one of those games. It's always cool because it's a short ride and right down the road, like, you know, we're so familiar with one another. I think the thing that makes this one different than anyone else is we're close enough that we kind of get involved in all sports. I think last year our basketball game was a really fun event and so, you know, it's always a fun game, and we're looking forward to going over and having a great game.
Q1: Tre Simmons has blossomed into one of the more prolific passers in in the SAC. He's first in league in just about all passing categories. First in league in total offense. What's it take to bottle up a dynamic guy?
You know, he's really a young guy that's similar to the kid from Newberry that we talked about so much. You just kind of see him being on a star on the rise. He's an athletic kid that is really good with his legs and can kind of create opportunities down the field where they make a lot of big plays just being able to buy him time and receivers working to get open. So, the big thing that we've got to do is we've got to stay with our guy. We've got to keep our eyes in the right place. We have to do some things to make sure we can hem him up and not give him time enough to get the ball down field.
Q2: Defensively, they've been hyper-opportunistic this season and lead the country in defensive touchdowns. You've given up one. Granted, that's the only score that has resulted from a Carson-Newman turnover this season. Point of emphasis or just something to keep in the back of your mind?
I think the biggest thing is like, they always have, they do, they gamble on defense and when you gamble, you are going to make some big plays and you are going to give up some. The biggest thing that we have to do is be sound. You know, don't push something somewhere if it's not there. We have to be smart with the football and you know, the opportunity for us to give to them and snap the ball again, like we need to snap it again.
Q3: The success from this past weekend, obviously the final 35 minutes were incredible. How do you build on it instead of getting fat cat syndrome?
I think that's what our meeting was about yesterday. It has the potential to be a highlight of this season or the highlight of this season. The goal would be for it to be a highlight of this season and for us to kind of, you know, use it and that energy to propel us forward. I think it's something that shows us what we're capable of accomplishing if we'll work to do things consistently, you know, so that's the big thing we talked about yesterday, putting a consistent game together, offense, defense, and eliminating a ton of mistakes. Now, going and being able to be consistent from game to game is what we're working towards.
Q4: You had to shuffle your line for the first time all season in that game. Brian Do goes down with an injury, Colt Sinor who was your number two center throughout fall camp moves over from left guard where he had been thrust due to injuries previously. Christian Jones takes his first snaps at left guard and then Claude Vangelus who'd been a backup third tackled seemed like he accounted for himself well. What'd you see from that group with some extended adversity and moving the ball well against the Wolves?
That's crazy. Claude had to flip from one side to the other side. That's where we talked about from a center standpoint, you know, everybody on our team needs to be able to somewhat snap because we got in a bind where we didn't have a center. So that's something that we've really worked on over the off-season to kind of developed that. So, Colt, you know, even though he hadn't done it this season because of the situation, he's done it some and so I thought he came in and performed well. Christian's probably the wild card because we haven't really played him at guard, but you know, he's one of your better linemen, so you always to make sure you get the right personnel on the field and then you try to get them in the right place. I thought Christian did a good job of going inside and being able to pick that up, and at least he was on the same side, so he had a concept of what was going on. So, I thought he did a good job of adjusting and then Claude's a guy that we feel like is a quality player that can play for us. He's just got somebody else in front of him right now that's probably played here a little bit more. But for him to come in, be the next man up and, and show that he has the potential to do what needs to be done, I think it's good for all of them.
Q5: Your previous road trips this season have been hikes. How can that be a benefit that you're just on a 45-minute bus ride over to Greeneville?
You get sleep in your own bed. You kind of get to keep somewhat of a regular routine, even like pre-game. It's not that much different from what it would be for a home game. So, the routine kind of stays the same. The biggest thing is just getting on the bus, making sure we're timing with focus and concentration and building up to the game is, is one of the things that you want to make sure that you handle the right way.
Q6: Why was your team able to compartmentalize that blocked field goal at the end of the half and play their best football in a few years from that point forward?
I think it happened so fast, you know, and to have to go right back on the field is something I think that helped. We didn't really have time to think about it and that's where you always talk about mindset. That's where we had one or two guys on the sideline who were like, oh, here we go. You know? And it was cool to see other guys on the sidelines like, oh no, we're not. You know, and then just to see that, oh no, we're not mentality. They take the field and then just go finish the entire football game.
Q7: I mean to not allow a first down in the second half the way that you did. Obviously, they had their issues at quarterback with injuries and stuff like that, but what was it about the way that group came together in the second half to ensure that everything was locked down?
I think one of the major factors that we really haven't talked about is leading up to that game, I think we were the worst third down defense in the conference. So, it was something like, you know, not just for that game, but we knew that we needed to work on. It was really kind of making our guys conscious of that situation. It's cool like here at home, all of a sudden, I think guys kind of caught on because this song Turn Up was on and its third down and all of a sudden, the sideline got behind them, so we got first stop, we got the second stop. All of a sudden, the energy's kind of coming our way, our sideline starts coming alive and realized exactly what that situation was in the game. So, once we were a little bit more aware of the situation, I thought the guys were able to respond to it better.
Q8: How do you avoid a let-down this week?
I think we've got to go out and we've got to have a good week of practice. For us that the, the plan can't change. The plan has continued to get better and better every week. I think the people we play are going to get better and better. I think the situations in which we play in, if we do what we need to do, are going to become more and more critical. So, the biggest thing that we've got to do is we've got to go out, we've got to have a great day of practice today and tomorrow and just keep taking every day one day at a time. That's what we talked about last week, you know, every time a football gets put down, just go do what you can do on that snap. Then, just kind of see where it's at. We talked in the locker room, and our whole focus hadn't been worrying about the results. Just go do what you need to do and then hopefully you can start getting the results to fall in place.
Q9: The last year plus you've tried to be a little more balanced on offense and I guess maybe with the game plan because of the weather you were more run heavy on Saturday. Do you feel like that that's maybe a turn in the tide for your offensive group to maybe be a little bit more aggressive in the run game?
Yep. I think that's something for me that's always been kind of a challenge for us. I think, you know what we've always done, and it's one thing people say you need to be more balanced, and you know what you need to do is do what you've got to do to win the football game. So, you know, I think our guys did a good job last week and we were able to open some things up and then they gave a five-man box, so we were able to kind of find some spots in there to get good runs. I think being able to do the option stuff was a big plus. You know, we've got some good athletes to try to get them one-on-one against people. I think something that we have to continue to do.
Q10: What's it say about the maturity level of your group in that locker room to not go from the mindset of we're going to be one in four, and we're down to a top 10 team, so we have no chance here to understanding that hey, we can turn this thing around and there's a lot of time left?
I think it still goes back to like the message every week that we talk about. That's one thing we talked about before. We felt like this group has a chance to be special at some point. If you're going to be special you've got to do something special. We knew I think if we work and are persistent then the opportunities would eventually come, but you know, now we have to make sure that we get to create those opportunities and make them continue to work in our direction. That's what we talked about a little bit earlier is building off of this and not letting this be it.
Q11: Can you put into perspective historically what was done against Newberry? I've gone back and looked at some of the greatest all-time comebacks in Carson-Newman football history, and there have been 14-point comebacks before, but it doesn't feel like there's been something where you just completely shut down a team like that defensively to rally. Have you been a part of a game like that? Yeah, I didn't realize until I came up to talk to you after the game that we scored 24 unanswered points. I think that's the mentality is like you don't really worry about what's happening in the game. All you can control the next play. So, it is getting those guys in that mindset, you know, like go win this play, win this play, and it's a touchdown. You go win the next play and win next play, touchdown. So, then that's what we talked about, you know, let's go get this game back to zero-zero and see if we can win the second half. Just taking that mindset, I think it is so critical. I remember being at Glenville State after I first got back up here. We went to Glenville State and we fell behind at Glenville State, and one of the kids walked up to me after the game. He was like I've never been a part of anything like that. I was like, what do you mean? He's like, anytime the team I was at before fell behind, we just always lost. And I'm like, that's the craziest thing I ever heard. You know, from just being in the programs that I've been in, that comes with a lot of confidence. You have to have a confidence to not panic when something goes bad because in reality that's just life. Things are going to go wrong, you know? And if you do what you need to do, then time will normally fix it. The only problem in a football game is we only have 60 minutes to get it fixed. Sometimes 24 is 15 and so you have to build a plan based on the time that you have to give yourself a chance. The good thing is all this stuff happened early enough in the game where we had time to just kind of continue to run our plan and not panic. The two-minute drill is set up to where you had to rush a little bit, you know, and to be able to get that score, like I said, and to go in at half time down just 14 to seven, you know, that provided a lot of encouragement going into the half.
Q12: Tusculum's returned a kick for a touchdown in three consecutive games at their place going all the way back to 2016. Your kickoff coverage hasn't had to contend with a ton of returns this year because Christian Erwin's put pretty much everything in the end zone. How mindful do you have to be of what's typically a pretty good Tusculum return team?
Hopefully Christian continues to put them in the back of the end zone and you don't have to worry about it. But I think for us, we've had some problems with that already this season. The big thing that we worked endlessly on, relentlessly on, is finding the fits. Our guys have to get down, they have to find those right fits to close off gaps and then squeeze in returners. They've got guys that are athletic. I mean they've already returned a couple kicks for a touchdown, and they're punt returners are really good. So, we have to cover, we have to work blocks the right way, and we have to come to balance and be able to make tackles. The biggest key is we've got to get a lot of guys there. We just can't have one guy in position and a lot of other guys kind of watching the game. We have to play with an all-out effort.
