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<b>Coach Rickey Bustle’s Opening Comments:</b>
“We faced one of the best offensive lines that we have faced. When you look at the fi lm you see guys guessing and trying to makes plays. They are not trying to hurt you; they are trying to make plays. There are guessing where the ball is going to pop and not covering gaps. That is something that we have to do as coaches. We have to keep driving into their heads that the whole scheme of the defense in coverage. If you are supposed to be an outside third, deep third, that is where you are supposed to be. You don’t let someone drift over in the shallow and you sneak over there are try to pick it off when a guy goes running behind you. You have to trust what you are being coached to do and that is what you have to do. Offensively, we miss our three tackles that we don’t have. It is a big part of our offense. We miss those guys.
“We have some young guys that are playing their first and second games, and we have one playing out of his position. He has played that position some, but he has big a guard for the last two years. It causes us to struggle. The answer is that we can now get better at those positions because I don’t know if we are going to get those guys back, one of them for sure. We have got to be able to throw and catch a football. We had a couple drives the other night and it was good to see us make a couple of big plays down the field with Mike running and Jason making a good adjustment on a ball and Mike making a good throw. We have to keep taking those shots and trying to hit them. We are struggling at doing things consistently. We have to be able to throw and catch a football. We have to get the ball in Tyrell’s hands more. He is not running the football enough. We had a lot of plays the other night, but we have got to keep that defense off of the field. I was pleased with our special teams’ eff ort. I thought we held a good return guy on our punt team.
“Spencer Ortego did a nice job of punting the football. It is good to see him coming around. I thought our kickoff team did a nice job. We have to keep focusing. We had a team meeting last night where man of the players spoke and I am not going to get into what they said, but it really moves you to see how much they care and how much they want to do well. The bottom line is we get out there with those bullets flying and things aren’t happening just right, you have to stick to the plan and not revert back to something that you think you should be doing. It is just a matter of doing what your coaches tell you. This team is not going to lay down, and the coaches are not going to lay down. We are going to get ready to play Florida Atlantic, who I think is one of the top teams in this league. I think they are a great team. If I could have had two votes at the conference meetings in July, I would have voted for them and Troy. I think a year ago they were where we are now. A lot of young players are growing up in their program and I think they are an awfully good football team.”
<b>On Keeping the Team Upbeat</b>
“It’s not turmoil, it’s just frustration. It’s frustration and the reason why I think we can keep this team up is because of the character of this football team. Our players care and they don’t fi ght among themselves. They don’t point fi ngers. They know what needs to be done and they know they can do it. It is just frustrating more than anything. Our character has to get us there. What kind of person do you want to be? It is easy to sit there and quit. We are not going to have guys do that. We are going to show up and be ready Saturday. I watched them practice last night and I think we got some things out. It wasn’t fussing, it was just people talking about playing with heart and reaching deep inside and know that we are better than what we are showing and getting back to work to make it better.”
<b>On Players Being Out of Place on Diff erent Plays at Arkansas State</b>
“I think we got into the game and just kind of panicked a little bit. All of a sudden we couldn’t stop them for a series or two and then we start guessing. As a football player you are going to make all kinds of mistakes. It is not going to fi t the scheme. Everybody has a job to do on every play. When the bullets are flying out there, and you are playing so many young guys, that is your form to do sometimes, go make a play to stop them, rather than just play the responsibility out.”
<b>On his Team Getting it Together This Season</b>
“I think they can. They have done it, but it has to be done on a consistent basis. Mature through this season, mature through this frustrating time and stay together as a team and coaching staff , and then we are going to do that.”
<b>Defensive Changes</b>
“We bounced a little bit between the stacked defense. We threw a few four-down linemen in there the other night to try to help us on the run and we just need to mix that up a little bit better.”
<b>On the Changes in Defensive Play from Last Season to This Season</b>
“I think it is that it is a new scheme, new terminology. The biggest thing is that we are playing with a lot of young players. I don’t need stats to tell me that we are not playing as well. It’s a combination and it is taking longer to learn what we are trying to do. It’s learning the players, and the players learning the coaches. Like I said before, I hoped that is wouldn’t take this long, but the combination of being so young and playing a lot of young kids, it makes it tough.”
<b>On his Coaching Staff</b>
“This is a great coaching staff . They brought a lot of things to the table that I am really pleased with. The great thing is that we are on the same page and we are working together on this.”
<b>On his Team’s Goals</b>
“To improve every single day. Whether that is going to result in a win or not, I don’t know that yet. We are going to work to improve everyday to give us a chance to win on Saturday. That is what this team needs to do, and we are going to do that.”
<b>On Florida Atlantic</b>
“When we played them last year I though they were pretty good, and we went over there and won 6-0 and it was a dogfi ght from the first second to the last second, and to see how many young players they were playing with. They are a good football team.”
<b>Comparing Florida Atlantic to Other Teams </b>
“I think in their running game they have got an attitude like Arkansas State. They are going to run it right at you. When you look at them offensively, they are not a spread team like we have been seeing so much of. You look at them and it is like a pro attack. They throw a lot of deep comebacks and deep outs which you don’t see in college football a whole lot. They will spread you just a tad, but not much.”
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