JSU GAME NOTES

Opening Comments:
“We have played four games now and have found out something about our football team in everyone of them. The one consistent thing is that we have managed for all four come down to the last play. The good news in all that is that we have made the play in all of those games and the result is that we have won four football games. I think we continue to find players that step up and make plays. Brooks Robinson and Robert Gray make the last two plays this past weekend with passes into the endzone. Robert breaks up one and Brooks intercepts one. The circumstances that we got caught in during that fourth quarter, I think they got most of their yardage in the last two possessions – all credit to them.”

“I said at halftime that they were not going to quit because they have a lot of pride and that they would play till the end. The starting quarterback went out after we put pressure on him. The guy who came in, had been the starter and he changed the pace of the game and made a lot of plays. I think it re-ignited them. We did not recover an onsides kick, so it went from a very commanding position to a desperation position at the end.

We had some people play really well in that game. We ran for 260 yards and it's really the first time that we have controlled the score offensively. Jamal (Young) had his best day and I think sometimes it was more Jamal than it was the guys up front, but they did do a good job. Jamal's performance was more outstanding than the numbers showed. Marques (Ivory) continues to put things together to make drives work. This was a game where they didn't give you a lot to work with. He did a great job of managing the game. Antonio Bonner has been playing every game at a high level. We leave this game full of challenges to get better and to move on to the next one.”

On Murray State:
“Murray just had a lopsided win against UT Martin and had a very explosive offensive game. They have an offense that goes back to Hal Mumme and Mike Leach at Texas Tech. It's a really spread out offense that puts some positions at a disadvantage. I think they have more speed on the field, offensively than we have played against, including Ole Miss. Defensively, they have a lot of names that have been playing there for a long time. This new staff added their scheme and intensity. I think they are just out-right playing better than they have ever played with maturity to go along with it. It's going to be a tremendous challenge for us. I hope our players learn that each week is going to be an enormous challenge. We need to get where we don't play up and down and get some consistencies. People are going to bring their 'A' game when they play us. Our goal is to win the conference, so we have to play it one play at a time and one game at a time.

On playing at home:
“I hope our student body responds just like last time we played at home. I think our student body is the key to the intensity and excitement that our football team has and plays with. I think they make the rest of the stadium more dynamic and we need that kind of environment to help us against a fine Murray State football team.”

On preparing for Murray State's offense:
“We have four games on them and we know they have a system and we know what that system is. That system has won a national championship at Valdosta State. We probably know more about this team than what we have faced in the previous four weeks. We have played with a bunch of uncertainty in the last couple of games on defense. We haven't played our best on defense as of yet and I think a lot of that is contributed to the uncertainty. They are really good at what they do and have a history of doing what they do.”