MOBILE, Ala. – University of South Alabama football head coach Steve Campbell, offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield, defensive coordinator Greg Stewart, along with offensive lineman Brian Ankerson, wide receiver Jalen Tolbert, defensive lineman Jeremiah Littles and defensive back Davyn Flenord met with the media Monday to preview Saturday's game against Troy.

Head coach Steve Campbell
- On the team's quarterback situation this week:
"Desmond [Trotter] should hopefully be back this week, we'll see how that progresses; I think the little bit of time off has definitely helped his shoulder get better, he seems to be feeling well.  It will be good to have him back out there to help Chance [Lovertich].  As of right now Chance is definitely the starter, but it will be good to get Desmond out there so we can get back to work and see where we are at."

- On if the end of the Tulane game contributed to the team's performance against UAB:
"I worry more about the UAB loss turning into two losses more than I did the Tulane game, I don't think that game bled over into this game.  We ran into a really good football team and did not play well — as good as we needed to play — and they took advantage.  We fought back, it was 14-0 pretty quick right out of the gates and we were able to cut it to 14-10.  Once it got to 21-10, we were back down inside the 25-yard line and had an opportunity to make it a 21-17 game.  I thought that we ran out of bullets and they did a good job of being able to put the game away, we didn't respond when we needed to after that.  We gave a good response after the early 14-0 deficit, we responded with a lot of what we had and made a couple of plays to get us back in the game.  After that point they made more plays than we did and were able to put the game away."

- On Troy:
"When you watch Troy you saw against Middle Tennessee offensively they were prolific, they ran the ball well, threw the ball well and played with tremendously high tempo; you could see all of their skill guys making plays.  They've got a lot of length at receiver — Reggie Todd is an outstanding player, Tray Eafford is an outstanding player, they have a number of really good receivers.  Their quarterback can really throw the football, their running back was the [Sun Belt Conference] preseason offensive player of the year a year or two ago and they have a strong offensive line.  Brigham Young was able to do some things that created some problems, we need to do a good job up front of getting some pressure on the quarterback and making him uncomfortable and do a good job of covering their really good receivers and keeping their ground game under control."

- On the Trojan defense:
"I think they are good up front.  Wil Choloh is as good a defensive lineman as there is in this conference, and Carlton Martial might be as good a linebacker as there is in the country.  In the secondary they have a returning all-conference guy from two years ago who was hurt last year.  They have good players at all three levels on defense.  They can really run and do a lot of different things defensively, they mix a four-down with a three-down front.  We need to do a good job offensively of communicating, protect the quarterback and establish some things on the ground to not put so much pressure on the passing game."

- On the importance of this week for the team mentally:
"It's big.  This is the biggest week of the year because it's the next week, and coming off of a loss with the way we played last week it's really big.  There are a lot of factors that are outside of our control, and I think as we go through this what we need to do is control the things we can control and go out and play our best football on a weekly basis.  This week it's important for us to have great practices.  You win the game in the preparation, we need to do a great job of preparing, having a great plan and executing the plan so we can go out on Saturday and play the way we are capable of playing.  Our guys know we have a chance to have a great football team, what we have to do is focus, play one play at a time, set the tone early and then finish."

- On the importance of putting everything together this week:
"It would be huge.  Right now, we control the conference race; it's week one in the conference schedule and we hold the cards.  If we go out and play the way we are capable of playing and put four full quarters together, we'll have a chance to start conference play 1-0."

- On the lack of takeaways in the first three games:
"We've had a couple of opportunities; it gets down to making the play.  The plays are there to be made, we're close but we need to finish on those plays.  The ball has been on the ground a time or two and we've had opportunities to get on it.  The guys are working hard in practice to finish those plays so we can create a couple more turnovers.  Let's get a little more pressure on the quarterback so he does throw us the football, and let's finish the play when he does that.  The guys want to do well and are working extremely hard to correct those things, they want to make those plays so now we have to step up and make them.  They've got some fourth-down stops — those are huge plays — and on third down Tulane was 1-of-11 and Southern Miss was under 30 percent so we were making plays there.  We have not created the turnovers that we want to create but we have been making plays to get off the field."

- On setting up situations to make it easier to convert offensively on third downs:
"We need to gain at least four yards on first and second down.  Obviously we need to run the ball better or we need to be a little more efficient in our passing on first and second down so that we don't wind up in those third-and-longs.  We can definitely help ourselves by being better on first and second down."

Offensive coordinator Kenny Edenfield
- On Chance Lovertich's game against UAB:
"A couple of things he did really well – he scrambled a couple of times and really was a good runner with the ball, and he made some really good throws under pressure a couple of times. We've been working on that, and thought he did a really nice job of that. The touchdown pass and the penalty right after, that showed his toughness right there. There are some things we have to work on. We have to get his eyes in the right place on a couple of plays, where if he could have had his eyes in a better place it may could have helped him a little bit. I thought he played well overall. We played good enough to win, we just have to find a way to score some points and do a little bit better job of that."
- On the running game early in the UAB game:
"We thought motion would really cause them some issues. We had seen on film where motion had caused them a little of confusion, but evidently it did not in this part. After about three motion runs, we decided to get away from those and had a little bit more success. We had planned on having a few motion runs going in (to the game) as part of the game plan, but it didn't work out like we thought so we went back to some different kinds of runs for us. We definitely have to be able to run it better on first down."

- On Troy's defense:
"They're fast. Number 5 [Will] Choloh is a very good defensive lineman, and they have great team speed on defense."

Defensive coordinator Greg Stewart
- On if there are similarities to what Troy and UAB try to do in the passing game:
"Troy does some things a little different [than UAB]. UAB came in planning to either run the ball or throw it deep. I feel Troy's passing game is a little more controlled. They do a lot of underneath routes. They'll try to hit some benders and will throw it deep if they're able to, but I think it'll be different than what we saw against UAB. I'm sure they'll try to hit some shots [down field] because UAB was able to hit some on us, but I don't feel that will be their focus. They try to catch the ball and get it out either in 12-yard routes or on screen routes. That's more their game than trying to run stuff off play action and throw the ball over your head."

- On what the defense needs to do to try to create more turnovers:
"We have had some chances at some turnovers. We've tried to focus on that a lot more during practice. Against Tulane, I felt we should have had four or five turnovers. We're trying to simulate those situations more in practice like we've seen through the first three games. Against Tulane, there was a play that you could see we needed a change in speed to get a ball that was on the ground. We're working on playing hard the whole way through and not assuming something is going to happen. If you're running as hard as you can when the ball comes out, you're going to be in a better position to pick it. We've done drills in our turnover circuit where we are trying to get interference in front of receivers before they have a chance to catch the balls. That's been part of our emphasis the last couple of weeks."

- On UAB hitting the big play on the first play of the game:
"UAB came out on that first play and hit us deep. We're going to see those type plays, but we've seen them before and defended them. I thought that play got us off kilter a little bit. We had started fast the first two games of the season. We were able to settle down later, but when you play a really good team like UAB, you can't have those starts. You have to be consistent and come ready to play from the first to the last play. It took us too long to get settled back down and playing with good stance alignment technique. Against good teams, you have to be able to do that because those things are going to happen. We're going to see those types of plays again and we're going to continue to work it until we stop it."

Offensive lineman Brian Ankerson
- On last week's game:
"We had individual mistakes and narrow misses that could have turned into big plays. We were disappointed in the loss, but we want to turn that around this week. It is imperative that we get back on the field and put the season back on track."

- On thoughts on Troy's defense:
"Troy has a good defensive tackle who is back on the field, but I know we can handle them. We have a good game plan for this week to prepare us for the game."

Wide receiver Jalen Tolbert
- On making bigger plays and the importance of that against Troy:
"It is very important that we start faster so we can make bigger plays earlier in the game to change the momentum. We are definitely going to work hard to do that this week, while we will continue to work on making contested catches and making plays."

- On reaction on social media about his touchdown versus UAB:
"I personally do not like to drink the poison and harp on the past for too long. I feel like I did not do enough to help the team win the other night. I'm ready to practice and start this week, so we can come in strong and maybe I can do more on the field, and give ourselves a better opportunity to win the game."

- On the familiarity of players and the rivalry with Troy:
"It's a big rivalry game and a big bragging rights game. For me, playing against [Carlton] Martial and A.J. Lewis from Murphy and some of the other guys like Reggie Todd. To be able to say 'We took the belt back' will be a good bragging right to have."

- On the formula to beat Troy:
"We have to start with more energy, faster and make more plays while limiting them. I feel like we did not accomplish any of those things last week. As we go into practice this week, that will be a strong point to make. It is at our home stadium, so we know we have to bring the energy, momentum and everything we have."

Defensive lineman Jeremiah Littles
- On moving forward coming into the week's rivalry game:
"Last week, we did not have enough energy. We want to be able to start the game off fast like we did with Southern Miss and Tulane. There is plenty of motivation for this week's game with it being our rivalry game and with it being the 'Battle for the Belt'."

- On responses to UAB's play calls:
"UAB made some good calls, but we did not execute as a team. Anything small can turn into a big play, so we must do our job as a team."
Importance of getting back on the field: "We are urgent to get out on the field, but we still want to take it day-by-day to prepare and be ready for the game."

Defensive back Davyn Flenord
- On putting the UAB game behind them:
"We are very anxious to get back on the field. We just need an opportunity to bounce back. Watching the games on Saturday, I wish we were out there just to get the chance to come back, but we will have this Saturday and I believe we will bounce back."

- On the lack of interceptions:
"We just need to keep playing ball and the interceptions will come. Of course, we want to create turnovers but as long as we keep playing fast those chances will come."

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