Coach Stockstill Addresses Media
Coach Stockstill took time out his of preparation for this weekends game to speak with media on Monday. The Blue Raiders are traveling to relatively uncharted territory this weekend when they go to the state of Ohio for the first time since 2004.
Coach Stockstill addressed this weeks preparation before opening the floor for questions.
“Wathching [Bowling Green] on film, they’re a wide open, spread team. A lot of four wide and empty sets, they throw the ball around a bunch. Lots of screens, lots of vertical throws down the field. They also have two really good backs, both of them are a little bit smaller, good in space, very dynamic. Their receivers have speed, a couple of them are from Florida (known for producing speedy players) The quarterback is a senior, a bigger guy, don’t see him as much of threat as runner through two games they’ve played. Their offensive line is really big and do a good job from a protection stand point. Defensively, they’ve played two contrasting teams offensively in Ohio State and North Dakota.
They have new first year head coach, so its a little bit of an unknown as to what we’re going to see. There a team that’s solid in the kicking game. With the past success that they’ve had, its going to be really good football game. We’ve got to correct our mistakes and get better from where we are after these first two games. I think we improved in some areas from the first to the second game, but we still have a ways to go in getting more consistent in those areas. Looking forward to the challenge of going on the road and playing a really good MAC team.”
The Media talks to Stock
Q. How will the early kick time affect you and your staff’s preparation on game day?
A. I told our team wrong yesterday, I thought it was an 11 o’clock eastern start, 10 o’clock our watch. Then they told us this morning its a 12 o’clock eastern start. We played a bunch of 11 o’clock games last year, so you have to prepare for it during the week. You have to get your rest, hydrate, eat, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. You cant wait till Friday because your not going to get much sleep on a Friday nigfht. So thats just part of the mental preparation that you have to prepare for in this week’s game. Every kick time is going to be different, so you have to prepare for it now, you can’t come out and be tired or sleepy. You’ll end up getting your butt beat if you do that.We talked about it yesterday so we’ll be prepared for it.
Q. After watching tape of the game at Vanderbilt, what is the biggest take away your team can improve on?
A. Offensively, we did a good job of moving the ball against a really good defense. There’s not too many teams that will put up 500 yards and 24 points against that defense. We did a lot of good things, we ran the ball a little better then last year, but that’s still an area we can improve on as we move forward. The fumble, we have to correct that, that’s just an unforced error. We had an off side penalty there on fourth and two that made up long yardage. Looking at it offensively, we protected well. You throw the ball 65 times and only give up one sack that came in the last three or four minutes of the game. Brent did a good job of finding his second and third receivers. We dropped too many balls, we had eight drops in the game. Defensively, we have to eliminate the explosion plays in the run game.
Quarterback Brent Stockstill Takes the Podium
Q. During the weather delay how did you and your teammates stay engaged in the game?
A. We made some of adjustments, i dont know long we were in there, it felt like a couple of hours, but probably an hour and half or so. But we made adjustments, had some time to relax, get some fluids in us. There really wasn’t much to do, just stay focused on our game plan and figure out what we needed to do coming out of the break.
The Blue Raiders (1-1) play at Bowling Green (1-1) this Saturday in the second leg of their back to back road games. Kick time is at 11am ct. The game can be watched on ESPN 3 and heard on Blue Raider Network.
