MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Joey Jones along with senior offensive lineman Steven Foster and senior defensive lineman Randy Allen met with the media Monday to review Saturday's Sun Belt road game against Arkansas State and preview this Thursday night's nationally televised contest versus Troy.

South Alabama Head Coach Joey Jones
Opening statement: "Obviously we have five days to prepare for our game against Troy.  In some ways I feel it's better to have the short turnaround.  I've never been high on having two weeks to prepare for a game.  I think you can over-think things.  When you have four days to prepare [for an opponent], you get what you need to done in a simplistic way.  I think when we've played the best has been when we've had the simple game plans.  I think this is a good thing for us."

On sizing up Troy: "Troy is a much improved team.  Defensively is where they have really stood out.  They play good team defense and play hard.  Offensively, they have a really good quarterback in [Brandon] Silvers from our area down here, he throws the ball really well.  They also have a big running back in [Jordan] Chun, he's 230 pounds or so.  
"They have changed a little bit of what they do offensively.  They aren't necessarily the big-play team that they might have been in the past.  They are kind of a ball-control team now.  They really want those 15- to 20-play drives to try to eat up the clock and they're doing a good job of that in their run game and their quick throws from their quarterback."

On what the team did yesterday to mentally get over the tough loss to Arkansas State: "We had a long meeting yesterday.  I talked to them about where we were as a team.  We've probably played the toughest schedule through the first six games in our conference.  There hasn't been a game that we've been favored in this season other than the Nicholls State game and we've come through with a 3-3 record.  
"My challenge to the team was to be 1-0 each week for the rest of the year.  We're going to do everything we can to win this ball game and move on to the next one.  We have a chance to have a great year, we're a good football team.  We've played an extremely tough schedule and our guys know that.  We could be anywhere from 1-5 to 5-1.  We've had a lot of close games and played teams tough, won some close games.  Our guys are continuing to fight through and I like where our minds are at right now."

On Troy's ability to force turnovers: "I don't want to use the word opportunistic about their defense, but they're creating a lot of those opportunities defensively.  They're giving the ball to their offense a lot inside the opponent's 50-yard line and giving them a short field to try and score.  They are really confident on defense and it's going to be a great challenge for our offense to try to control the ball on them.  It's going to be a great ball game to watch and a great one to be involved in.  Our kids are very excited as I know their kids are."

On the play of Troy's quarterback Brandon Silvers: "He's a very good quarterback with a really good arm.  I think he fits Troy's offensive system really well.  He catches and throws as well as anyone I've seen.  He doesn't take many sacks; I believe he's only been sacked once this season.  He's not going to take a sack if he can help it; he gets rid of the ball and does a great job in that aspect.  I can tell that [Troy] has coached him not to take sacks because as soon as he gets pressure, he makes the smart decision to throw it either out of bounds or away from defenders."

On how Arkansas State's defensive line caused issues: "We struggled a little bit with their defensive front.  They are good and we knew that coming in.  They have 14 senior starters with eight of those on defense.  We played solid.  I didn't think we played great.  We've got to do a better job of controlling the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball in order to win ball games."


Offensive Lineman Steven Foster
On what they are doing to get ready for Thursday night's game against Troy with the quick turnaround: "It's a big-time game for us with it being an in-state rivalry game.  That factor is going to be good motivation for us.  Yeah, it's a quick turnaround for us, but you just have to attack it like any other game and do what you've got to do to get ready.  The coaches have done a good job with the game plan and giving us time off and rest.  I feel we'll be ready to play."

On how anxious they are as a team to get back on the field: "We're very anxious.  It's an in-state rivalry game and there's a lot on the line both on and off the field.  That's a big motivation in itself to right the ship and get this thing going back in the right direction."

On the improvement of Troy this season, compared to last season: "Defensively, they're a much improved team and they play well together.  They've done a great job with their program.  I think it's going to be a good ball game."

On what went wrong offensively Saturday night against Arkansas State: "Arkansas State's defensive line applied a lot of pressure to us and gave us some trouble. They had a fresh set of guys every few reps and that played a big part in it.  We can't make excuses though and we just have to focus on coming together this week and fixing the problems we had."


Defensive Lineman Randy Allen
On what they are doing to get ready for Thursday night's game against Troy with the quick turnaround: "As Steven [Foster] said, this week is more about the mental preparation than the physical.  We've just got to be ready to go on Thursday."

On how anxious they are as a team to get back on the field: "Being from California, I don't know much about the rivalry, but if we win this one, we're one game closer to achieving our goal of playing in a bowl game."

On the improvement of Troy this season, compared to last season: "On offense, the quarterback gets the ball out of his hand pretty quick and doesn't take that many sacks.  He's only had one all season.  They have a good running back who finds the hole and gets down field.  He doesn't stretch things to the sideline, so we have to bring out pads.  Their offensive line gets after it as well.  We have to just play assignment football.  This year they are a physical team."

On what limits the sacks Troy allows: "Not to take any credit away from their offensive line, but I feel that their quarterback makes their offensive line better.  They are doing a great job blocking for him, but at the same time, their quarterback is doing what he's coached up to do with getting the ball out quick.  The times that he does hold onto the ball, we've got to capitalize on those opportunities."

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