MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Steve Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield, defensive coordinator Greg Stewart, along with defensive lineman Jeffery Whatley, linebacker Riley Cole, offensive lineman Roy Albritton and running back Tra Minter met with the media Monday to preview Wednesday night's game at Troy.

Below are some highlights:

Head coach Steve Campbell
- On facing Troy on Wednesday:
"We're excited about playing Troy, we've had 13 good days of preparation which has been good for us — especially at this time of year — to give some of our guys with bumps and bruises a chance to get some good rehab in and to study Troy offensively and defensively.  They are a very athletic team on both sides of the ball, their quarterback can hurt you with his feet and his arm.  It's a game that we are really looking forward to, it's for the 'Belt.'"

- On what he saw evaluating South Alabama with extra time since the last game:
"We saw that on third down we could have helped ourselves.  We were a play away from beating Georgia Southern and if we could've made a play or two more on third down we could've stayed on the field and given our defense a chance to catch their breath."

- On playing on Wednesday night:
"We've approached it like we would a Saturday game, we backed everything up four days and went from there.  A week ago we played on a Thursday so we're familiar with midweek games, it's not that different for us."

- On Troy's approach with a new coaching staff:
"They are throwing the ball around more this year than what they have in the past.  Defensively they have a real similar set up to what they've used over the last couple of years, but offensively they are spreading the ball out considerably more."

- On Troy:
"Troy is an outstanding football team.  Offensively their quarterback is a guy who can hurt you with his feet and make all the throws, and they have some big, physical wide receivers.  Defensively they have good size in the front seven and a lot of speed on the back end in the secondary.  They have really good return guys who have had big returns hurt some people on special teams."

- On what the team has worked on with extra time to prepare for the game:
"Our punting game the last couple of weeks has been really good; we have a freshman punter who last week did an outstanding job of flipping the field for us and pinning the opponent deep.  We were 50-50 on kickoffs last week, Diego [Guajardo] — who is also a freshman — put two out of the back of the end zone; unfortunately the two that we didn't put out of the end zone we kicked out of bounds, which hurt us with field position.  We've worked on those during the open date, and also worked on third downs offensively and defensively.  In the red zone we need to make sure we score touchdowns whenever we get down there, and if they do get in the red zone we need to try and hold them to field goals.  Those were things we were able to concentrate on with the extra time for preparation, which will be the keys to being successful this week."

- On having a ranked team in the Sun Belt Conference:
"I voted App State really high this week, I had them as a top-20 team; they are a very good football team.  We've played good football teams all year, I had Memphis rated really high before this past week and Nebraska was a top-25 team when we played them.  When you play in this conference you are going to play some of the top teams in the country.  App State, to me, is one of the top teams and they've proven that, they beat North Carolina which took Clemson to the wire.  Georgia State beat Tennessee, Tennessee then turned around and beat Mississippi State.  Georgia Southern — who we took to double overtime and had multiple opportunities to win the game — had Minnesota beat until Minnesota made a play on third-and-29 and then converted a fourth down.  When you play in the Sun Belt Conference, week in and week out you're playing some of the top teams in the nation.  Every team in this league has beaten or played well against the top Power 5 teams in the nation, Troy will be no different this week."

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield
- On Troy:
"I think we are going to play really well. We have had a really good week of practice. Our guys have been really excited all week. We got some good fundamental work done and got some guys who were banged up really healthy. We competed against our defense a bunch the last few days, so we're excited and ready to go play; we're tired of going against each other. It feels like fall camp a little bit."

- On Troy's defense:
"Very similar, structure-wise it is almost exactly the same as last year. I think they were a little more experienced last year with guys who had played a lot of football, so they did a few more things in the secondary than they are now. Their front is pretty good, but they have two really good linebackers. They are playing really well, and are really good linebackers in our league. They (Troy) like to move their front around a little bit just to disrupt the offensive line. We're going to have to be able to handle that, which we have worked hard on, and we're going to have to score some points. They have done a good job of scoring (offensively), so you know you have to match them point-wise."

Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart
- On preparation and goals for Wednesday night's game against Troy:
"It's been a good 13 days. Like Coach Campbell said, we had an opportunity to get some guys healed that have been banged up. We had a few extra days to look at what Troy is doing [offensively]. We spent three days working on the option [before the Georgia Southern game], and now you are preparing for something completely opposite offensively where they spread it around, get four wide and do a good job with it. Troy is a team that scores a lot of points and they're going to move the ball. What we have to do defensively is that we have to do a good job in the red zone. They're going to get down there some, but we're going to try to bow up when they do and try to hold them to field goals. Another key to the game for us is that when they throw the deep ball, which [Troy quarterback] Kaleb [Barker] does really well, we have to win those 50-50 deep balls. Kaleb is also able to make plays with his legs, he doesn't really like to run, but when he does, he's dangerous. Troy is the type of team that tries to lull you to sleep and you don't want to let them start running the ball. They don't do many things running the ball, but they do them over and over and then try to pop you. If they do pop you, it usually works out well for them. Troy's a good team and we're fired up about playing them."

- On Troy's second quarterback who had to play a little against Missouri:
"They didn't change their scheme very much. Against Missouri, I think they were just trying to get out of the second half. I don't really know much about him, but I don't see them doing anything different when he's in there. I think [Baker] is going to play. I've heard he's questionable, but I don't see that."

- On boing back to Troy and if this game is any more meaningful to him:
"It doesn't. We're just trying to win one game at a time. They have a different colored jersey than we have on, and we're just worried about South Alabama and trying to get ourselves right.  But I would like to win over there."

Defensive lineman Jeffery Whatley
- On the Troy game:
"It helps get your body back under you because we had a short week going against Georgia Southern last week. Since it's a rivalry game, you get up for those games. It's the most important game, because it's the next game."

- On Troy's quarterback Kaleb Barker:
"He can make plays down the field; he has a really live arm. As far as extending plays, he doesn't take the sack. He gives his receivers enough time to go down field and make a play."

Linebacker Riley Cole
- On the Troy game:
"Going into a rivalry game has definitely given us – especially with a big break – it really helped us a lot to prepare for them, look at the film and pick out all of the things that they do. That's really helped us."

- On Troy's quarterback Kaleb Baker:
"Especially with him coming off a knee injury last year, he doesn't want to run the ball as much, so he likes to stay in the pocket and move around in the pocket more. Hopefully that will work to our advantage."

Offensive lineman Roy Albritton
- On the Troy game:
"The main focus we've been working on all week is to execute, out-physical the person in front of us and get everything going vertical north and south."

- On what the Troy game means to them:
"I've been here for the last four years and it's probably one of the more odd rivalries in the nation, where the away team has always won, and it's meant that no team keeps the belt more than one year. We know what's ahead of us and what we need to do to get it done."

- On what they've been working on during the off week:
"It gave us a lot more time to prepare for things and nitpick at the film that we viewed. If we saw an error that they made that we can capitalize on, it gave us more time to analyze the defense that's in front of us, down and distance, what they do, how they do it and what's causing them to do that."

Running back Tra Minter
- On the Troy game:
"The main focus is to win the game, to go into Troy and dominate."

- On what the Troy game means to them:
"Troy was my first offer out of high school, so it means a lot to me to win the game. The first year I was here, we went in, dominated and took the belt. I feel like we're going to do the same this year."

- On what they've been working on during the off week:
"We just need to execute more on offense. Obviously, we didn't finish the game [against Georgia Southern] offensively."

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