Murray State University Head Football Coach Matt Griffin addressed the media today at his weekly press conference. Griffin talked about the game against No. 6 Illinois State, the fan support for the Racers during their first home game and this week's opponent Tennessee Tech.
Murray State will host the Golden Eagles on Saturday at Stewart Stadium. Kickoff is scheduled for 6 p.m.
ON MURRAY STATE FAN SUPPORT: “I was thrilled with our fan support last week. We've got to thank our fans. They were great to be out here with a tough day weather wise. Not only with the fact that it's raining but goodness the rain damaged homes and damaged businesses in town and they still managed to come out. I'm appreciative of it, as is our kids and coaches.”
ON THE TEAM'S PLAY IN THE FIRST HALF COMPARED TO THE SECOND HALF: “In the first half we kind of missed a couple opportunities, which against a team as good as Illinois State, you just can't do. We had a fourth and one and we get stopped. We got a tremendous interception by Michael Sturgis that we just don't cash in on. Two plays later we give it right back. Then you give them two short fields to start the second half. It's a little frustrating, but at the same time our team did a whole heck of a lot better. I'm really pleased with the way we ran and tackled on defense. That right there, from the week before, is certainly much improved. We're going to build off that and hopefully it snowballs in the right direction going into conference play again.”
ON QUARTERBACK ZACH BARNARD'S TWO TURNOVERS EARLY IN THE THIRD QUARTER: “On the fumble, there was a speed rush off the edge and we got beat. We have to clean that up. Certainly that hurts us but that's kind of uncontrollable for the Q (quarterback). The pick, was he forcing it, yeah a little bit. Again, similar to the two mistakes he made against Tennessee State. He's a young guy who's a great competitor and a guy I have the utmost confidence in to run our offense and really to just grow as a quarterback. He knows and he'll get better from it. In that situation trying to do a little to much, but as I said earlier when you give that football team, and they are the sixth ranked team in the country, a short field twice you're digging yourself a whole.”
ON RUNNING THE BALL AGAINST ILLINOIS STATE: “The backside backer is a heck of a football player. He closed some seems up pretty quick and that's his job. In their defense he's the tackle guy. He runs great and there's two or three instances that he's very good. Then you go back to the first play of the game, we got a great play called, and we're kind of half a man away from Chad Cook maybe going 70 yards for a score.”
ON WHETHER OR NOT THE TWO TURNOVERS EARLY IN THE SECOND HALF TOOK THE WIND OUT OF THE SAILS OF MURRAY STATE: “We talk to our kids all the time about playing the next play, having a short memory. You've got to do that. We talk to them continuously about good, bad or indifferent you have to go play the next one. Maybe this week the defense listened a little harder and did that. Again, football is a game of momentum. I know, even before that second one I was trying to find a way, think of a way, that we could flip momentum back our way. The opportunities just didn't present themselves in the kicking game or anywhere else.”
ON IF THERE WAS A TURNING POINT IN THE FIRST HALF WHEN MURRAY STATE SCORED TWICE TO TIE THE GAME: “Offensively we didn't execute the first two times we touched the football, and the kids knew it. Again, that first play of the game, half a man away, little things like that certainly come into play. If you get a couple first downs you might feel a little bit better about yourself, if not scoring on that first drive then certainly setting yourself up for the second one. Some of their over-play and the way they rolled coverage set us up for Rod (Harper) in the pass game. It helped us with the play-action, which is what we went to and took advantage of some things they were doing.”
ON THE OHIO VALLEY CONFERENCE RACE EARLY IN THE SEASON: “It's wide open. To say there is a top half and a bottom half in this conference is not true. The parity in this conference is outstanding. Anybody can beat anybody on any given day. You have to prepare week in and week out, and our kids know that. We haven't changed how we prepare. We haven't changed what we tell them. It's still a one game season right now and it's Tennessee Tech. That's the only thing in front of us. You control your own destiny. Don't waste energy on the uncontrollables. Worry about ourselves right now, take care of us getting better and we'll have a shot at anybody.”
ON TENNESSEE TECH: “They've gotten better in each one of their ballgames, offensively, defensively and in the kicking game. They always play good defense, they always run to the ball, they always hustle, they're well coached and they're smart. They've gotten better week in and week out. We'll have to be at our best this week. Four games in a row you can see the improvement. Year in and year out they're very good on defense. We've just got to execute better on offense, no matter who we're playing. In turn that takes heat off your defense because you're controlling the clock and you're not turning it over. They're in a similar situation quarterback wise, they've got a transfer that's getting better with every snap. They're finding themselves offensively and that's going to take some time. They did a couple of real nice things against EKU that helped them and I'm sure they're going to build off that coming into our game.”
ON TENNESSEE TECH WIDE RECEIVER LARRY SHIPP: “I think he's an outstanding receiver. He's a big target, he's athletic and he runs well. It's the type of receiver you want. You look at some defenses in our conference, they have a 5-7 or 5-9 corner. Well what do you want to offset that? You want a 6-2 or 6-3 receiver. He's that guy. The thing that makes him a little bit better against a six-foot corner, which he'll face with our kids, is he can run. He's a guy we always have to be conscience of.
ON MURRAY STATE WIDE RECEIVER ROD HARPER: “Rod's a special talent. The thing we want is for him to keep being consistent. The great thing about Rod Harper is he's a fairly level headed guy. I like that about him. That's a different bunch on any football team to coach, the receivers. It's a task I don't envy, those receiver coaches. I like Rod's demeanor. His preparation during the week is really outstanding.”
ON MURRAY STATE SENIOR CAPTAIN J.R. WEBBER: “The guy's as good a football player as I've coached. I've said that before. The design of our defense, the eight man front is really a nine man front. He's the unblocked guy. He's an outstanding football player. He's a good tackler. Really he was a little bit down, he had two missed tackles and it was like the world was coming to an end as he watched those.”
ON IF THERE'S ANYTHING COACH GRIFFIN HAS LEARNED ABOUT HIS TEAM IN THE FIRST FOUR WEEKS OF THE SEASON: “There's going to be a lot of things. The one thing I'd like for them to get on the same page this week is let's play for 60 minutes. We've had lulls. We've had a poor start, we've had a poor second half. I'd really like the guys to focus on that this week. It's almost the time of the year in which you'll come off some of the physical parts of practice. Now it's about tempo, energy level and focus.”
ON PUNTER TIM WRIGHT'S STATUS AFTER BEING INJURED AGAINST ILLINOIS STATE: “I think he's okay. He rolled it (ankle) pretty good where he couldn't extend off it. I think he'll practice today. If he can't, Sean (O'Brien) did a nice job. Sean's a pretty explosive kid, a talented kid. We'll be okay if he has to play.”
ON KICKER SEAN O'BRIEN GETTING A KICK OFF ON HIS FIRST COLLEGIATE PUNT ATTEMPT AFTER A BAD SNAP: “He handled it pretty well. The most impressive thing he did was he got the thing away because that could have been a huge blow to us. They might have scored off of it, they might have gotten it to the 10. It was a good play on his part.”
ON THE TEAM'S EFFORT AGAINST ILLINOIS STATE: “Our team effort this week was probably the best of the four games, as far as running around, flying to the football. That part cannot and will not be questioned by me or any guy on this staff. I'd like to see that keep up.”
ON REDSHIRT FRESHMAN QUARTERBACK ZACH BARNARD: “He's still learning. Again, it's all hindsight, he wants some things back. He's just going to keep learning. The guy is a sponge. Coach (Mickey) Fein does a great job with that group. If you watch him practice and watch him play there's not a lot of difference. That's what you want. We've got some guys behind him that keep him on his toes in practice."
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