McNeese Postgame: Mike Elko

so obviously first of all thank you to the 12th man you know it it never ceases to amaze when you come out here on a Saturday morning at 11:45 a.m. and there's 990,000 strong in Kyle Field uh pulling for you and and we talked a lot this week about the strength of the the support for this program and how strong it is it's the people who show up every weekend in Kyle Field and so we thank them for coming out I thought from our guys you know just um proud of the way we handled it you know I think when you get into these games it's really important that you you play to standard and to your level and I think we did that in the first half I think we were really efficient on the first half on offense I thought we did a really nice job uh getting into Rhythm and getting going and then defensively we made the stops that we needed to make and so that we were able to get into halftime and put ourselves into position where we could play a lot of guys in the second half and so in the second half we got a lot of guys reps and opportunities and uh you know it wasn't pretty at times it wasn't to the level we needed it to be at times but the only way those guys are going to learn is going to be to get on the field and get into game action and so we were able to do that and we'll go back and study the tape for them and and figure out how to clean stuff up and so uh now it's turning our attention to next week and and first SEC game a road game uh we know what both of those things mean to this program and so we have a great week of prep and get ourselves ready to go and so from there I'll open up the questions first row on the left ol yeah Mike uh so what do you think of uh Connor's footwork and his your uh overall valuation of his play today I thought his footwork was amazing um no we'll go back and watch the film but but listen like you Conor's going to respond and we talked about that and and you know there's a lot more to this season than just responding today um but we certainly didn't anticipate anything else than what he did on Monday owning it going out and having a really good week of preparation and coming out here today and and playing and so uh we'll go back to work and do it again and and come out next Saturday in the swamp and and have to have a really good day stay in front left mark Mike last week you mentioned you were still kind of looking for ways to get separation for the receivers after you know obviously just looking at the sideline do you feel like you were able to get a little bit more of that today do a little bit more what you wanted to do offensively yeah I mean it's it's so hard to judge you know today is not the day that we'll learn the answers to that question I mean we know that I think we went out there we did what we were supposed to do um you know we got to continue to improve we got to continue to detail up what we're doing we got to continue to get better and um you know a lot of that stuff will be next week in the swamp to the right Carter Mike uh what about Conor's performance did you like and also how would you assess how Marcel looked yeah I I think Connor was efficient I think he was what 11 to 14 um you know he went out there he did what we asked him to do um you know I thought he saw things well uh maybe missed one that I think he would like to have had back but you know I think for the most part he did what he wanted to do and you know I think Marcel's still working on just consistently you know functioning the way you want him to when he's out there and so uh I thought you saw some good signs from him I thought he made some good throws I think there were some throws he wish he had back but uh again until you get out there and get the game experience uh don't forget that's the first snaps he's taken live in this offense now too and so uh I thought it was great for him to get out there and you know again we'll go back to work and get better second row on the left Alex guys on defense we talking about creating turnovers just what did you see from the two interceptions you had and just kind of some heads up plays on tip balls yeah I think we were opportunistic you know I think you know again we talk a lot about the turnover battle and and winning the turnover battle and we were able to do that today and um I think pressure created both of them you know which is always a good thing too and um you know but both of those kids made a made a nice job getting getting their hands on a tip ball and we got some good returns out of it so that was good to see second row on the right Brent I'll ask the Terry busy question today how nice is it to have that option on offense when you want to you know the 65 yard touchdown run obviously yeah I think he's an extremely talented kid uh we've known that for a long time I think um again every week he's getting better uh at learning how to be a receiver you don't forget that he you know wasn't really a full-time receiver in high school and so I think every week he's learning how to do that at a better level and also do you feel like this program is now ready for SEC play on the road I don't think we have much of a choice I think next week we're going down to the swamp and and I think the expectation is we're going to go down there and play our football and um so yeah that's where we're at coach go back to the left coach did you notice anything differently from Connor this week compared to last week mentally and if so what little things did you notice no Conor is a really good quarterback he was a really good quarterback last week he's a really good quarterback this week he'll be a really good quarterback next week front left Travis uh a couple guys out with EJ eni Scooby and and then Jay got hurt what's kind of a status on those guys yeah Jay's fine he he wanted to go back in he was chomping at the bit to go back in we just figured it wasn't it wasn't worth the risk um so he'll be fine Scooby we fine we kind of held him precautionary he was probably could have played had this been a conference game today it just wasn't you know in his best interest long term for the season to go out there and keep pushing it so we were able to hold him uh EJ was a game time decision and he just wasn't able to go we fully expect him to be back and obviously eni hasn't played all year and so we don't expect him back for a little while gotcha uh and uh the uh 12th man the the walk-on kickoff team uh how long was that in the works and why is that meaningful to you yeah I I just think that's something that's really special to this program and and it's been in the works you know all year you know it's something that we have we know what that group means we've talked a lot about it uh today there was an opportunity to utilize it and so we were able to do it it was great for those guys it's always great to see how the fans respond to that you know it's it's uh it's special the 12thman connection at this University is really really special and so it was cool to get them out there today and it was cool for them to experience it as players and to see the fans react to it was an awesome aome moment coach we'll go back behind the lights first of all Tyler Mike la last week you said you know it wasn't bad but you wanted to see more kind of dominance on the line of scrimmage and controlling that just from the sidelines today how how do you feel like um you guys did controlling line of scrimmage wise yeah I mean I think at halftime we had really controlled the rushing game uh I think in the second half we didn't do nearly what we wanted to do on defense in terms of of running the stopping the Run um you know again we we were the better team today and so we kind of expected that we'd be able to control the line staying back behind the lights to the left Parker talking about the line of scrimmage just offensively you know rushing for over 300 yards what what stood out to you about the Run game today and how do you think you can carry that over you know SEC play you're going to have to kind to have to bring that over yeah I mean I think we went out there and we we established a line of scrimmage I thought we hit the holes the right way I thought Levan's a really talented back and so we gave him a lot of space to run today and he was able to take advantage of it it was good that we were able to kind of get him out early and keep the hits off of him a little bit because it's a going to be a long season and um you take a pounding in this league and uh running the ball is going to be critical for us to have success you go on the road in this conference uh you're going to have to be able to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and so it'll be Paramount next week staying back behind the lights on the right Ben uh Brent asked the Terry bus a question I ask the Moose question uh seeing him involved a little bit more in the game today you know obviously had the touchdown just what uh what allowed in terms of how the game plan played out him to be able to be a factor and just what were you seeing from him to be much more of an impact this week yeah I think he had a much better week of preparation I think that was good to see obviously um he didn't get to get in a ton last week and and uh uh we challenged him to to do the things he needed to do to put himself in position to have a successful game and I think he did that starting on Monday had a really good week of preparation we felt really confident that he was going to be able to go out there and execute what we wanted him to uh and and when he does that and he's consistent he can help us and so we did that today time for a couple more third row on the left on the aisle coach last week you talked about wanting to get the offense more comfortable put Connor in more comfortable situations can you talk about kind of the prep this week getting the first drive ready how coach Klein kind of pre what plays were going to go in the execution of that first drive yeah I I think you know you look at you look at ways to kind of move the ball around and and attack the team that you're going against I think that's just kind of part of how you put your offensive game plan together and uh I think it's it's good that back-to-back weeks we've gone out and taken the first drive of the game and scored I think that's a a good thing to get yourselves in Rhythm and so um yeah I think it it was a good way to start the game Luke you got a question far left this will be the last one we'll get the players in coach can you talk about the benefits of emptying going down the dep chard and getting those guys game reps and just seeing how they hold up and how they perform in game uh game action yeah I I think it's you don't learn until you get out there on cyle field and and you know it's real easy to be a young kid in this program and have these visions of what it's going to be like uh I told him you know from the sideline it always looks easy you know until you actually get out there and you got to function and see things and operate and uh both sides of the ball and so um you know those moments are really good they're really good to see some of those young guys we got T Jazz out there we got Jordan lock Hart out there a bunch you know Miles Davis will remember that first play that was his first play where he came up and lit up the running back and so that'll be something will remember for the rest of his life and um those kids are talented kids and they're going to help us at some point and some of them are going to have to help us this year and so uh it's just really good it's really good to get an opportunity to get those eyes out there and let them play a little bit coach thanks for your time we've got the players ready y thank you guys