Opening Statement:
“We’re extremely excited to be a part of a historical day Saturday, I want to give a lot of credit to Karl Benson, our commissioner, on how he stabilized the league and really established credibility. Certainly the divisional format and the championship game has proved to be a huge positive for the league, and we’re excited about representing the West Division. Extremely proud of our players and our staff for the perseverance and the improvement that we’ve shown throughout the year, and looking forward to the matchup Saturday.
“I want to go back and give some credit to Coach Viator and his team and staff and the way their team competed and played in the game Saturday. It was a heck of a football game and we have a lot of respect for how they go about their business, being right here in our state.”
“This is a tremendous opportunity for our team. I think we’ve been in playoff mode for several weeks now, and really tried to focus on improvement and trying to get ourselves in position to where we could win in advance. We’ve made it to the championship game and certainly I think it’s because of that, because we’ve been able to do that. But we’re still looking for that complete game, we’re still looking to put all three phases together and play our best football. But we’re excited especially as a first-year staff to be part of Saturday and we look forward to this opportunity and challenge.”
On Appalachian State:
“Obviously they’re number one in the league in scoring defense and scoring offense. They’re a product of consistency and stability. I think they really know who they are, they’ve got a blueprint that works, in terms of how they play defense and offense and certainly on special teams. All three phases complement each other. They have really good team speed, good at both lines of scrimmage, good at rushing the ball and playing rush defense, and they’re plus five on the year at takeaways. In general they’ve settled in there, Coach Satterfield has done a great job. As time has gone they’ve recruited through their assistants, you have to give Coach Satterfield some credit, he’s been able to handle attrition on his staff, a lot of credit to him for keeping consistency there in their scheme, their routine, and the culture they have there. Their transition to FCS to Division I football has been awesome to watch, so we have a lot of respect for how they play. It’s no surprise to me that they’re in the championship game and representing the East.”
On Appalachian State defense and how it affects play calling:
“Obviously that wouldn’t be very smart for me to answer that question, I think they’re good at defending every type of play. You don’t hold opponents under 300 yards of total offense a game on average if you’re not good at everything. They know exactly who they are, they know how they’re put together, they have good answers and they’re just multiple enough to create issues for you. But it starts with effort, pursuit, fundamentals, and good players. They do a really good job on defense for sure.”
On season start:
“I think we grew a lot, I think our entire building grew relative to knowing what to expect Sunday to Saturday, knowing what a typical week looks like. I think each person in the entire organization has gotten better at their job, whether it’s the equipment guy, the trainer, certainly graduate assistants and quality control people, players, full-time coaches, myself even being a first-time head coach. We just gradually improved at our process week to week, certainly I think some of that adversity that we went through earlier this year ended up being a positive. It really made us regroup, re-center, take a good look in the mirror, challenge our players to develop some ownership. The two games against the SEC West teams are one thing, but the loss to Coastal was a little bit of a catapult game for us, where we had to kind of regroup a little bit. It challenged our character and I think the character of these kids and the consistency and professionalism of our staff showed up. We stayed the course, we knew it would be a little bit of a journey, and the journey’s not over. So we’re going to keep chopping away and see how much we can get out of this group.”
Returning to Boone for the second time this season:
“It ended up being a 10 point game, we generated some offense in the game but not nearly enough to win the game. Defensively we hung in there for a while, special teams it was probably a scratch. It was a well fought game, we were able to make it competitive, but certainly lots of areas for improvement and I think they probably feel the same way. Logistically, getting to Boone, traveling to Boone, having been through that this year I think we’ll try to make that process a little smoother. I think it’s a positive for us, we’ve been there before and we know what to expect, nothing’s going to catch you by surprise. Bottom line is they’re going to put the ball down and the players are going to play, that’s what it is going to come down to.”
On the state of Appalachian State as a football program:
“Well, they’ve always been a very competitive team, even going back to my time as a player. They’ve always been a team that had an identity, very competitive, very well supported, I think they have good alignment with their administration and their athletic department, they have a group of fans and alumni that want to be good, they want to be competitive and they take great pride in playing a high level of football. You’ve seen the commitment from them in their transition from FCS to Group of Five ball, certainly they’ve made that transition well. They’ve made facility improvements, and they’ve recruited well. I think they’re in a place where they can pull from lots of different areas to put together a good roster. And they sell tickets and they’ve got a strong showing, it’s one heck of an environment. Winning tradition is often times undervalued in my opinion, no matter what level of ball, if there’s an expectation and a tradition of winning. I think that’s where Coach Satterfield has tremendous values, for a number of years as a player and assistant coach, whatever the case may be, going back to his experiences and it meaning a little bit more. I think all those things are very important. They’ve got a number of former players that are involved on their staff as well. Tradition is critical when you start talking about this game and sustaining success.”
On playing career against Appalachian State (2-2):
“A lot of good days and a lot of bad days, I would say. Some of them you’d probably want to forget. Back then in the Southern Conference it was kind of Furman, Appalachian State and Georgia Southern was kind of the teams that were in contention each year. It always was very competitive with those three teams, that’s what I kind of like about being in this league now, you get a chance to play against some of those teams that I played against as a player in the old Southern Conference. A lot of fun, man, that’s what I would say. Sometimes I have to pinch myself, that I get the chance to coach football for a living. I love the strategy and the competition, but I love just being a part of a team and the people that are involved in this game and the opportunity that you have to impact people and get to know lots of people. I see it no different. Competition, if you’re a real competitor there’s nothing better than college football.”
On the logistics of getting to Boone:
“We’re going to put together the best plan we can, maybe quality control the trip from last time. We’ve got a great plan. Troy Wingerter, our operations guy, worked closely with our athletic director Bryan Maggard and assistant AD Nick Yantko. We’ve got great support from the president, the CFO, we’ve got a really good plan to try to be prepared as much as we can. We’re going to dot every I and cross every T, we’re committed to winning here. Certainly when you’re working through logistics from a travel standpoint there’s all kinds of ways to try to improve there and we’re prepared to do that.”
On biggest difference in team from six weeks ago:
“I think it’s all intangibles, I think it’s ownership, there’s been a focus on improvement, I think there’s more accountability relative to doing the job. I think our process has worked. Our staff has done a really good job of utilizing the personnel we have. Certainly we’ve seen rookie players make improvement, we’ve executed at a higher rate, and we’ve eliminated some of those inconsistencies and deficiencies that we’ve had in the past. Now how that measures up against App State I don’t’ know, but I think we have a lot more belief, a lot more confidence, I think we’re a much more tight-knit group, I think it’s a group that’s excited about this opportunity and anxious to compete Saturday.”
On being locked into a bowl game after winning last Saturday:
“We tried not to think about that or talk about that any at all. I think it was a little bit of an external factor that we couldn’t control, I think our guys did a really good job of focusing on the things they had to do, prepare well and play well, but now that that is kind of a given it’s a positive for our program and our team, certainly for our university, to have an opportunity to reward our players with a bowl game, a week away, an opportunity to play another game for these seniors. Certainly I think there’ll be some gratification and rewards that will come from that. A big step for our staff as well in our first year, to be able to really secure that with a win, not only to win the West but also secure bowl eligibility 100 percent. I think it was something that was in the back of our mind but we really didn’t talk about it at all.”