“Troy is a well-coached, well-run football program. Their first game didn’t turn out as well as they would have liked. Our first game kind of sounded in reverse. The reality is you’ve got to look at the tape and see what you’re doing well and what you’ve got to do better. They’re doing the same thing as we’re doing regardless of result.
“Larry Blakeney is one of the best football people I know. I’ve known him and his staff a long time. We will have to have a great week of preparation. We’re going to have to tomorrow challenge our team to have ourselves ready. I know we’re going into a circ umstance on a Saturday evening in Troy, Alabama where it’s going to be serious football and it will be a great test for our team.”
[On last season’s 5-0 road record] “The best peer leadership I’ve been around. Your team is controlled more by its teammates than you do on the road in actuality. I thought our seniors a year ago were the best core group of leaders and the best peer leaders I’ve been around. And so I think we had a maturity level where you understood what you had to do.
“David Helton has just been as steady as a rock. That’s a thing that’s based upon his ability to step in and play mike backer when he’s never had to do it for any extended period of time. He was better today in practice because of what he got accomplished in the game. David br ought it. He’s been a tremendous leader.”
[On QB Thomas Sirk] “I think he is a tremendous young man and fierce competitor. He is extremely tough, extremely tough. But I want him to remember that you can be fast and tough, so play fast and use his speed a little bit more sometimes than using his power.”