Mike Jacobs press conference transcript

Mike Jacobs press conference transcript

Jacobs: How’s everybody doing today? Good, appreciate y’all being here.

Certainly an exciting weekend in the Glass Bowl last week. Really, really proud of how our players responded. We were happy to get the win against Temple, but we came out of that game thinking that, man, we just didn’t play our best football, right? And so had a really great week of practice all three days – Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday, leading into what we felt was gonna be a really big contest and test for us against San Diego State, who, again, was a nine-win team a year ago.

And so I thought our players handled the challenge of the week of practice. I thought we showed up. The most-ready team wins, and we came out, and we were aggressive.
We had them on their heels early. I thought we played super physical at the line of scrimmage, and really in all three phases. And I felt that the things that we had not done well or well enough against Temple, we made significant improvements on.

I thought our defense had a tremendous game plan to stop a really powerful running team. We were able to hold them to 48 yards. Thought we tackled significantly better, and really were just downhill all day at them. I thought we did a good job confusing the quarterback some as well.
And then offensively, much more balanced attack for us last week. Again, the week before against Temple, we thought we had some advantages on the perimeter. This past week, we went into the game hoping to be a bit more balanced, just in the sense that we felt that’s what it would take to win the game.

And as we came out and we played and played well, we’re able to run the ball for over 210 yards, 4.4 a carry. Obviously, John Alan continues to play at an extremely high level, had 284 yards, three touchdowns. It’s now two games, we’re 73 pass attempts without a sack.
We were 50 percent on third down, we were plus two in the turnover battle. So all those things lead to a really resounding victory. And I’m extremely proud of our players for how they played and, frankly, how they prepared for that game.

So with that, rolling into Ball State week, great challenge on the road for our first MAAC contest. Ball State’s traditionally a place where we have not played our best football always. And so we know we’ll have a challenge going over there. I think they’re extremely well-coached. I think Coach Uremovich does a great job. He’s an O-line guy, and so he knows how to put a roster together.

I think they’re running back is super talented. I think their O-line does a nice job. They’ve played two different quarterbacks throughout the course of the season. And it’s hard to get a bit of a beat, right, because they play Ohio State, they play Liberty, and then they play Stony Brook. And then last week played a solid Kent State team. And so we’re anticipating a well-coached team that’ll work to get back on track.

And we know we gotta go over and play our best football.

Question: You talked about Ball State and also just recent struggles with conference games on the road. Really anything can happen in those kinds of games. But just what’s the key to winning that type of a game, especially in a conference opener and just maintaining the momentum that you guys have had in the Glass Bowl so far in translating that to a road game?

Jacobs: It starts with our preparation. It’s as cliché as the day is long, but we have to have a great week of practice. And I think if you do that, if you’re really locked in, if you’re taking full-speed reps and you’re working on the things that you don’t do well, I think you have a chance to play well.

I think from a coaching standpoint and logistically, how do you win on the road? I think you try to eliminate as many distractions or things that the players can have issues with and have a really, really tight travel trip planned. Our director of football operations, Addie Ward, does a great job planning all of our trips out. And I think that just eliminating distractions, making sure the food’s on point, making sure we’re on time, handling the things. And then frankly, for me, making the day as much like each week as I can. So we eat dinner at the same time, we try to arrive at the hotel at the same time, we have family game night at the same time, they have snacks.

And so, to try to keep things as consistent as possible, I think it allows you to stay in rhythm and flow, even if you’re on the road.

Question: You mentioned this before, but they still haven’t named who’s gonna be the starting quarterback for this week.

Jacobs: They probably won’t. They’ll keep us guessing

Question: What’s it like preparing for two different scenarios there and just kind of the unknown? You talk about preparation, what is it like preparing for an unknown at that position?

Jacobs: Well, I think it’s important, you can’t chase ghosts, right? We have to go on what we’ve seen. And the good news is it’s not like the first game of the season when you’re uncertain.

We have four games to look at now, three of which were the young man who had transferred from Texas State. And he presents some challenges similar to the Temple crew, because there’s a lot more plus-one run when he’s in there. He does a nice job with that.

And so, we’ll prepare for what we’ve seen. We won’t chase or make things up. But, yeah, you gotta have a couple different scenarios, and you gotta be mindful that maybe you have to carry a few more things in your toolkit this week based on potentially seeing two quarterbacks in the game.

Question: Just overall, how does the mindset shift from non-conference to now back to MAC play? Kind of having that 0-0 mindset with the team now. Just with Ball State having struggled this season, how do you keep the guys focused and maybe not look too far ahead?

Jacobs: I mean, there’s no reason to look ahead. For as well as we’ve played in pockets this season, me, as the coach who’s hypercritical, we have not even come close to playing our best football game or our most complete football game. We’ve done some things really well. Like, I’m super proud of our guys, and I love coaching them. But I think that’s encouraging.

They’re like, hey, we haven’t played our best yet. And then I think the fact that, listen, anyone can win the MAC. The goal is to win the MAC, right? And so to win the MAC, you gotta play well, and you gotta do it in conference. And we’re all starting off 0-0 right now. At least for us, there are a few teams that have played conference games. But for us, this is the first conference test.

And so we have to go into this with the mindset that, hey, one of our goals is to win the MAC championship. And so we have to do the things, and we have to have the habits that lead to those results.

Question: Last Saturday, what’d you think of the home crowd?

Jacobs: Listen, I thought our students were there in droves. Some of them were spread out because it was family weekend. So they were maybe sitting with their families in the shade. But it’s the best crowd we’ve had in the three home games.

When you give away breakfast sandwiches and beverages, you hope they show up in droves. I would have in college. So listen, the things that we can control is we can continue to win football games and put a really good product on the field. And when a team plays that way, people wanna show up. And eventually the crowds will continue to grow. The word will get out, and people will come.

But again, this is a good football team. They play for one another. They resemble the characteristics of the city. So I thought it was solid.

Question: Coach, after a 3-1 September that included the program's 600th wins, how do you evaluate month No. 1 and how satisfied are you with it?

Jacobs: Yeah, listen, we’d love to win them all. I think for coming into a season where there are so many unknowns: new coach, new coaching staff, 58 new players, 51 players who were here but maybe didn’t have as big a roles. What is their role look like, and what will it be?

I’m encouraged by what I’ve seen. I’m encouraged by how quickly this group’s come together. I’m encouraged by how hard they play, right? The effort piece is so critical. So, yeah, I’m excited about what’s to come. But listen, the big games are in October and November. And the caliber of opponent ratchets up. What we’re playing for is more important now because it’s for a conference championship. And so I’m excited to build on what we’ve done.

Question: Coach, you had a big turnaround defensively from last week to this week. What really clicked to cut passing yards allowed in half?

Jacobs: Yeah, I think, again, I thought we did a good job with some of the things we were doing structurally to present some challenging looks for the quarterback. And then I thought our defensive line played really well. I thought we put them under pressure and duress. There weren’t a ton of sacks, but we were affecting a bunch of throws.

And then when again, we were able to stop the run at such a rate that you forced them to be a bit one-dimensional, and then we did a good job covering. The one thing they had done well was throw the deep ball really well. And so, other than a couple where we misplayed the one late in the fourth quarter where we should have had an interception. But other than that, we generally did a good job stopping them. And I think a lot of it just had to do with some of the pre-snap looks we were giving the young man.

Question: Did you happen to get one of the kegs and eggs shirts?

Jacobs: I did not. I’m an XL. If anybody has one, I’d love to. Feel free to bring one by. I'd love to have it.

Question: Bryson Hammer obviously played a huge role offensively. Can you speak to just how special it is to have a dynamic player like him that can affect the game both on offense and defense?

Jacobs: Yeah, I think it’s been really special. We’ve had a different leading receiver each week of the season. And so, I think that those guys, the selflessness that they’re playing with, right, the fact that they’re, hey, I'm gonna go do my job. And if I do my job blocking, if I run my routes when I’m not the primary target really hard, then, eventually, good things will happen.

And as we scheme things up and we look for holes, it’s really hard to double cover somebody when the rest of the group is fully capable. And what Bryson does is, obviously, he’s got great feet. He’s super fast. He can win in man coverage. He knows how to sit down in zone coverage. And he’s got great hands. And he’s got the potential for yards after the catch.

And so, when you have those things, and then you have other talented players opposite them, it creates enough one-on-ones where they can’t really lock in or double cover somebody in particularly. So, we look forward to him continuing to grow for that whole room, right?

That was maybe the most depleted room coming out of the coaching change in the portal, with Jason having been a wide receiver coach. So many of those guys chose to follow him to Connecticut. And so, there was a lot of what-ifs. And again, people give us crap sometimes for taking FCS guys. But we took guys that we knew had played a bunch of football.

And then what you’re seeing is the guys that stayed are being looked at through a different lens and finding purpose in the new offense. And I think that part’s really special.

Question: Isaac Zay, such an impressive start to the season for him. What has he done to lead to this start?

Jacobs: Yeah, I think, again, I think it’s his practice habits. I think it’s his film study. I think our defensive line has done a good job, right? Kind of the unsung, no statistics, if they’re eating double-team blocks, then your linebackers have the ability to run free.

And then he’s just got a nose for the football. He plays with elite effort, and he’s around the ball a lot. And when you’re around the ball a lot, chances are good things are gonna happen, whether they’re a bunch of tackles or whether you have the chance for takeaways. And so, I just think how he practices, how he prepares, the film work that he does, I think has really allowed him to be in position. Then he’s an elite athlete.

Thank you, I appreciate you guys.

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