Coach Charles Kelly
Q: What were the big positives you guys took away from the win last week?
A: The biggest positive was the support of our fans, our students, alumni. I mean, everybody involved. I know our guys appreciate that. I know I appreciate it. And we have started creating a real home field advantage here. They value that a lot. We're very thankful. I was really proud of our guys, not for the result of the game, just because we improved in a lot of areas that we need to. Our focus was on becoming a better team. Offensively, we had to execute better. We wanted to get better in passing efficiency, because we know we got to do those things down the road. We had to improve in tackling, on defense, eliminating explosive plays. So we did that. So I was very proud of our guys for doing that, for concentrating on what it takes to get better instead of just the result, because the results will come when you when you do those things. We still got some things that we've got to fix. We had more penalties in this game than we've had all year. Some of those were aggressive penalties, which you're going to get when you play fast. Some of those penalties, the ones we've got to be able to control, are the ones we can control, the self inflicted penalties. I'm pleased with our effort. Now it's a new week.

Q: Give us your overall scout on Southern Miss. 
A: Well, first of all, Charles Huff, he and I worked together at Alabama. I think a lot of Coach Huff. He's a good football coach. He was a running backs coach, assistant head coach when I was there, he did a really good job at Marshall. I don't know what their predictions in their conference. I'm assuming that they were predicted to win the Sun Belt this year, because basically they have the entire Sun Belt championship team that transferred to Southern Miss. So I'm sure they were predicted. They got really good players, led by their quarterback. They got good receivers, they got good running backs and athletic offensive line. Got a ton of respect for Blake Anderson, their offensive coordinator. He's been a really good OC, and was a really good head coach is on for a long time. They're really active on defense again. I think they have seven starters on their defense that were at Marshall last year. So these guys know how to win. I mean, they've won a conference championship already, and they're by far, I mean, they're by far the best football team we've probably seen, I mean, they got players everywhere.

Q: With it being the final non conference game, is there something you kind of want to see from your team as you prepare to get back into Conference USA?
A: I think the biggest thing for us is we have to focus at every position of what we've got to do to get better, whether it's at receiver, whether it's at linebacker, whether it's at quarterback; I don't mean for it to sound boring, but what the grind is, it's boring, hard work. And that's kind of our focus is embrace the grind. Well, it's boring, hard work. So it's the same thing over and over and over and over that you have to do. You don't change up what you do every week. You gotta work at those things continually. We're playing one of the best football teams we're going to see all year this week again, like I said a lot of those players have won a conference championship, but it's not about the other team. It's about what we do. We got to get better ourselves. That's what our focus has got to be.

Q: Your offensive line has only allowed three sacks so far this year in four games, and eighth in the country in rushing. It just they're young, but it seems like they're really good.
A: I say it over and over you and I have talked many times about this, but there's no better person leading that group than than Rick Trickett. Our players believe in him. In fact, our whole team believes in him. They know what he does, how he coaches. He's a very demanding guy, but our players have played very well too, they respond to coaching. I do think one of the things that helps us in the sack category, is that we're so consistent running the football, so we think we're creating more balance in our offense. And that's what you want to be. And I said that when I took the job, we want to be very balanced in what we do, and we want to be able to throw the ball, because we got guys that can catch it and make explosive plays, but we got to be able to run it, but all of that works together to help in the protection.


Unknown 7:11
In the first half, the passing game was a little out of scene. Just followed a little bit right or a little bit left. What does Clint do to change that? Because they got much better in the second Well,

Q: Seems like maybe the best two games, especially complimentary football wise, have been at home. How do you get find that success to take it on the road 
A: I felt like even the first game, we played pretty complimentary football. We didn't get the result that we wanted because we gave up some explosive plays in the end. But even though we didn't score a lot of points, we kept the ball a long time in that game, and we had a couple things call back in that game. I don't think it's about being on the road. I think it's a mentality of, no matter where you play, don't matter if we go out in this parking lot and play, we got to execute the right way. We always want to be able to play complimentary football, because that's how you win football games. But there's going to be nights where, hey, the offense is hot and, you know, the defense may struggle, and there may going to be games where the defense is hot and the offense may struggle. And, it's kind of a little bit of, when we went on the road, a little bit at UCF, we did a good job of controlling the ball against UCF, but we didn't score a whole lot of points, and it was opposite when we went to Georgia Southern; we scored a lot of points, but we weren't doing a good job of managing them defensively. So I don't think it is about where we're at, where we play. It's just, we just got to execute.


Q: Tell us a little bit about the two players who came in today. 
A: With Caleb, we didn't know each other. I knew him as a player, but I had not been involved with him recruiting prior to to getting here, and I remember the only thing that he asked was, Coach, I want an opportunity. He didn't ask for a number. He didn't ask, promise I'll start. He didn't ask any of that. All he said was, I want an opportunity. He's made some big plays for us this way, and it may not show up in the number of yards, but they were critical. The two plays he made against Liberty were critical plays in that game. And he's been a great teammate. I mean, I get on his butt like everybody else, he'll be the first to tell you, but he responds; if you challenge him,  he will do it. And that's the thing that I've, I've appreciated. Mac was one of the first guys, I think the first night I got the job, I think I talked to him that day. I go to see him on a home visit. We have a snow storm, a blizzard. And I mean to get off of I-75 to get to his house over there, around McDonough, it took a long time to get his house at night. When I left his house, what was it about? Seven or eight inches of snow. It was terrible. And I drove back, and I was going back to my back to my house. I had not moved from Auburn yet, so I was going to go back there and stay the night, go to Montgomery the next day and see some other players. Well, I got stuck on the interstate. The interstate shut down. I-85 shut down, so I spent the night on the Interstate in my truck till about 8:30 the next morning. So I will put that in my book one day about recruiting Mac. But Mac is a, he's a great athlete, played baseball in high school, very instinctive. A lot of people were asking me about him in the Liberty game, he came up, made some big plays, and he's gotten his opportunity, and he's bought into what we're trying to coach, and just like Caleb, he's one of these guys, all he wanted was an opportunity.
 

Caleb Coombs
Q: Can you just talk about what goes through your head as you're green and defensive running around for the play?
A: I've been playing for a while, so it took some time, but normally I'm looking at the safeties I play in the slot, and that taught me a lot that I didn't know if it's one high or too high, depending on my route what I'm doing, but Coach (Clint) Trickett also makes it a lot easier for me too, because I feel like most time we're on the same page and we're speaking the same language. So yeah, it's easy transition for me.

Q: How's your transfer process been? You finally found the opportunity you wanted?
A: Yes, sir, for sure, I do. I think it's been long and it's been hard, but I think it's all been worth it.


Mac Sanders
Q: What's it like playing at home?
A: I love it here. It's the atmosphere, the students, they pack the house here. Alumni has come back. It's great playing here, for sure. It helps us out a lot. With the fans. They get loud so and they give us confidence of how we play. So it definitely helps me out and the team out.

Q: How do you take the success you've had on the road?
A: For the defense part of it, we always have effort. We always are flying around. We just gotta just do the details right, just like Georgia Southern we didn't do everything right. We weren't fitting in the right places. But we always have effort. I think it just comes down to details. And what Coach Kelly says, dominate your box. If we do that, we'll be fine.