Mike Clowney Opening Statement: It's good to be back at home. We've played pretty consistent here at home this year. Erskine is a good football team. It's like you look at their record and it's pretty much exactly where we are, but the thing that you see out of them is they're a super athletic group, and their kids play with great energy, great intensity, and this should be an exciting football game.
Q1: Let's talk schedule for a moment. This is the first time that Carson-Newman has played at night in the month of October at home since 2010, which is the second Saturday night game this century at home. Why do this for the environment?
You know, I think it's something the kids always ask for. They like playing at night. I think for coaches we're old, like, let's play at one o'clock and go home. To be able to kind of create an environment that, you know, it's something that they see a lot now, the better games on TV are normally played at night you know. You get a chance to normally get a crowd here. I think Tennessee kind of scheduled on top of us right now, so we'll have to talk to somebody over there about that. But you know, it is normally a good environment and a fun for our kids.
Q2: Erskine, two-quarterback system, Bryce Jeffcoat and Austin Parker have rotated. It feels like clockwork. Jeffcoat for a couple series, Parker for a couple series. How are they similar? How are they different? What challenges does that two-quarterback system pose?
I think the biggest thing for us is just kind of still staying consistent with our plan on defense. You know, the differences for them is just kind of the way they move. One runs a little bit better, other one throws, and so we just have to make sure that we do a good job of communicating who's in. I don't think there'll be a different plan based on who's there, but we have to be aware of who's in and what's going on.
Q3: Breast cancer awareness game and certainly Christy Bowlin always on the mind for that with the 5k that morning. It feels like there are always some guys with some pink on the shoelaces to honor somebody. What's that mean to play on a day where her and her family are recognized?
Yeah, I think she's someone that's been super close to us and it's crazy how time moves, and you don't realize that whole situation and severity of it. But Christy's somebody that we were just super appreciative to have the opportunity to be around. You know, one thing that will stick out to me is just her personality and the way she conducted herself on campus. She was just super lovable to everyone, always trying to find a way to work things out in the best interest of the Eagles, and we miss Christy a ton.
Q4: This is a game where you follow up really your first toe stub of the year. It felt like you'd been trending upward and then a five-turnover game against Tusculum. How do you avoid letting that hurt you twice?
That's something that has been on my mind because it's one of those things I feel like every game that you can come back and you can say, alright, we've been better here, been better here. So, I think there's still some things that we did better. I think there's some things that we did well. You know, the problem is like, we created way too many critical errors in that football game. The big plays defensively to turnovers offensively. You take those out, which you can't, you know, and it is possibility of a different football game, and so we can't take them out of that game, but what we need to do is be able to take them out of this game. It goes back to, I think guys understand now, like when I'm being annoying about taking care of the football, that it's something that's critical. I mean, because we go from a game to where we're averaging one or less a game to where we basically double that in one day just because we weren't conscious of what we were doing. It's something that we have to make a point in practice. We've got to go back and make sure that every single time we carry a football, we're securing it the right way defensively. That's one thing we always work on. We go back and look at your practice schedule and say, did we get this? Did we get that? That's where coaches kind of assured me, yeah, we worked on that. Well, you know, we've got to work on it better. So, that's the theme this week is making sure that our work carries into Saturday and that we're just working on doing things better.
Q5: Obviously it's emphasized, but Erskine, for their up and down nature, has forced a lot of turnovers. Up until this past week, they were the league leaders in turnover margin until Tusculum jumped them with a five-turnover day. How mindful can you be with that knowledge in hand?
No, I don't think it changes anything with the exception of just us making sure we don't do it. You know, they've been able to create them because they play with a ton of energy and we saw that from Tusculum, so we have to bring the energy and attack, and that's where the big thing for us is putting them in those situations in practice to where we know you're going to get bumped. We're going to try to scratch and claw the ball both offensively and defensively to make sure that we're aware of it going into this game. That way we don't have a problem during the game.
Q6: You've moved the ball consistently on the ground this season, even with the turnovers. With the exception of West Georgia because stats didn't exist prior to that game, you've exceeded your opponent's rushing yards allowed per game total. What's that say about an offensive line that has been more consistent than it was a year ago, but still has some degree of patchwork to it?
Yeah, and I think that was, in this past week's game, why we talked to Coach Ray. It's consistent that there's three, four guys moving and there's always one that we've kind of got like a little tussle going on in the backfield. That's why I always tell him I do my line test. I draw a line on video, and I want to see if when that play is over with, our backs are to that line or their backs are to that line. So, that's one thing that you've noticed last year. I mean, I think we were looking at three or four guys that's kind of behind that line. This year, we're kind of getting things moved, but then there's still just every now and then one or two guys behind that line. You know, we had a lot of trouble with the backside in running things down. And so, we've got to make sure that we'll do a good job of getting things sealed. Those guys, from a progression standpoint, we still have to play a lot better coming off the football. That's something that will challenge them with this week.
Q7: You have exceeded a lot of offensive totals historically for Carson-Newman football because of the nature of the offense that was run here for four decades. Braxton Westfield's already in the top 20 for catches in a season and receiving yards. Ivan Corbin has multiple games where he's thrown 25 times, which hasn't happened. What is the expectation for these, I suppose, benchmarks, given the history of Carson-Newman, and yet the newness and tweaks that you've added to the option offense?
You know, I think the big thing for us is we're consistently playing with a long field. You know, we've got to make sure we do a better job of creating short fields for ourselves. That's getting stops on defense and working the kicking game, and then also just kind of consistently moving the ball once we kind of get in the red zone. I think the biggest thing for us, regardless of all that, the turning point has to be, consistently putting points on the scoreboard. Now, we can consistently move the football, but now we've got to get the ball across the end zone and input points on the board.
Q8: You bring up fields. Last year you were only scoring on short fields. I mean, no scoring drops longer than 70 yards a year ago. This year, that's the vast majority of your scoring drives. You need to create some situations to generate some short fields, if, how many of those in a given game is a fair expectation to have?
You know, I think you are looking at trying to make sure you create at least four or five of those opportunities for you. If you create four of those and you score on two or three of them, and then you still put a couple of drives together, you're looking at high point totals that give you a chance to win. But you know, if every single time you've got to go 70, even when you get a couple first downs and you're punting, I think that's big though. Just having guys be conscious of getting first downs. The times that we don't, if you punt where we can pin them in and you've got to go get stops on defense, but that's where you're talking about putting the whole thing together, offense, defense, and kicking. You know that when you do that, that's a total team effort. Then that's what wins games for you.
Q9: Defensively for Erskine, what sticks out to you about that side of the ball?
They run around. I mean, their guys, they run around, man. One picture that sticks out in my mind, linebacker runs in the hole. A guy chips and he sees the ball going in the gap, and he just throws his back in the gap. That's selling out to make a play, and that's the thing you see from those guys.
