Sun Belt Championship Pregame Quotes

Sun Belt Championship Press Conference
Nov. 30, 2018 | Boone, N.C. | Owens Field House
 
Appalachian State
 
Head Coach Scott Satterfield
 
(Opening Statement)
 
"First of all, we're so excited to be in this game, the Sun Belt Championship game. And, No. 2, it's right here in Boone, North Carolina. When we set off in our camp in August, one of our goals was to win the Sun Belt Conference, and we wanted to host it. We're a program that has done a lot of firsts, and we like doing that in a positive manner. For us to be able to host this game is a great honor for us, and we're able to showcase our program here on national TV as well as our crowd, one of the best crowds in the Sun Belt Conference. We can't wait to get this game going."
 
(On hosting the championship at Kidd Brewer Stadium)
 
"I really didn't know all that was happening until we drove up and saw some of the signs up here. They're covering up all our As, but that's great. We're excited about hosting this game and playing here at our field. We don't have to travel, and you have your same routine. We're showcasing the Sun Belt Conference. They're wrapping our stadium with all the Sun Belt logos, and we still have our A in the middle of the field. They're not covering that up. It's an honor to play it here against a great opponent. We know it's going to be a great game, so it'll be great for our conference to showcase that on national TV."
 
(On winning Sun Belt Coach of the Year)
 
"It's a reflection of our players and staff. That's the bottom line. I'm not one to want to be in the spotlight. I don't like that. I want all our players to get recognized and our coaches. This is a team sport, and we have 115 guys in our locker room and if we all work as one, a lot of guys are going to get recognized. I'm more proud of having 20 guys getting some kind of recognition throughout the Sun Belt Conference than for myself. It's a reflection of what they've done over a long period of time. We've been one of the most consistent programs in the country over the last four years, and it speaks volumes to this senior class and what they've been able to do for our program."
 
(On the improvement of Louisiana throughout the season)
 
"Louisiana is one of the most improved teams in the country, particularly if you look where they were at last year, how they started the season and where they are now. Their staff and players have done a great job of believing in their process week in and week out, and they've gotten better. You can see it on film. They have confidence now, and that's a deadly combination because they have talent, too. Their strength is their offense, starting with their offensive line. They have three running backs, who I know can play against any other team in this conference and be successful. They have two quarterbacks who are very productive, and defensively they've gotten a lot better and are aggressive. They're a complete team, and their staff deserves a lot of credit for that."
 
Running back Darrynton Evans
 
(On visible Sun Belt festivities)
 
"We understand all the stuff going outside, but we just have our normal routine for practice. So, it's not really a distraction."
 
(On playing Louisiana for the second time)
 
"We expect that it's going to be a physical game. They are going to come back in here, and it's the championship game, so both teams are going to play their best. We just really got to stick to our gameplans that the coaches have been giving us all week and go from there."
 
(On taking over for Jalin Moore)
 
"It's really our whole team. Everybody is just playing for each other. So, the more we play for each other, the more people on the all-conference stuff. It just represents all of the team."
 
Defensive lineman MyQuon Stout
 
(On visible Sun Belt festivities)
 
"We try to keep it similar to any other home game. We're going to stay to our routine like coach Satt said. At the end of the day, this is all that we worked for this summer and spring. We're just ready to play at this point."
 
(On playing Louisiana for the second time)
 
"We played them before, you know. We know that they have a good offensive line, good running backs on the offensive side of the ball and they got some play makers. The biggest thing on the defense side, we're just going to do our jobs."
 
(On hosting the Sun Belt Championship)
"For this senior class, this is pretty much everything that we've dreamed of. We were committed to the program when we were 4-8. Then our redshirt year, we end up being 1-5 and then just watching them boys finish off 7-5 by winning six games straight. You know, that's big. To just get a chance to compete for the conference championship and holding it here at our home stadium, this place that I worked so hard for. Some of these redshirt seniors that have just put so much into this program to become top 25, it's just a happy ending at this point right here. Now, it's just time to finish."
 
 
(On the mid-season media hype)
 
"We can only do what we can control. Yeah, we ended up losing to Georgia Southern, but at that point it was a stepping stone. At that point, it was time to get better. We knew that there was going to be a chance that we could possibly be in this conference championship, so it was just putting all the pieces of the puzzle back together and finishing strong so we could get to this point at where we're at. We are not worried about what happened in the past."
 
(On recent All-Conference Awards)
 
"Mostly, it's a blessing. I've been two-time honorable mention. So, just to be first team-all conference just shows that some of these coaches in the league are looking at me and at what I do. All four of our starting linebackers are on an all-conference team, so that's just big showing what the D-Line does as a unit. We're just getting recognized for what we do."
 
(On the #10Strong Motto)
 
"At the end of the day, we are 18-22 years old. Being talked to by your fellow friends is different than from hearing it from a coach. We could easily be like coach is trying to get on me, but having your teammate and your leader pull you to the side, it's a different impact. It's 10 Strong, it's not just one strong. We can't win the game without the other nine (position groups)."
 
Sun Belt Commissioner
 
Karl Benson
 
(Opening Statement)
 
"I think it's safe to say, regardless of the outcome tomorrow, you look back on the 2018 season, it really couldn't have been scripted any better to get these two teams to the championship game. Starting from a nonconference standpoint, we had strong nonconference competition with another win over a Power Five Conference, with Troy beating Nebraska. The momentum that carried over from last year, the excitement, the energy, knowing that the championship game was going to be played for the first time.
 
The number of teams that were in contention, especially the last three weeks on both sides, East and West, there were still six teams playing for something with three weeks to go. You talk about significant games and important games, nothing could have been more than last Saturday with Troy playing (in Boone) and Louisiana playing at ULM and Arkansas State playing at Texas State, all having an impact on the two teams that finally got here.
 
In looking back globally at the season, we were 21-18 in our nonconference play. That's only the second time in the regular season that we've been at .500 or above. We were .500 two years ago in nonconference play, and this year we broke that. What's significant about that, it captures the scheduling strategy and scheduling philosophy that I tried to bring to the Sun Belt back in 2012. That was scheduling nonconference games in a strategic manner and not in an economic manner. What I inherited in 2012 were multiple games against Power 5, whether they were called guarantee games or payday games, our schedules were full of those. Regardless of the amount of money, normally they came up as Ls. As we got into the new CFP, we knew and I knew how important it was for the Sun Belt to be able to compete with our peer conferences and the computer rankings that are used to distribute the revenue that the five conferences get from the CFP had a direct correlation between nonconference record and those computers. History shows the more nonconference games you win, the better overall winning percentage you'll have.
 
I've been preaching and we've been preaching for several years about the need to develop a schedule that limits the number of games against teams from Power 5 conferences. We have been very, very successful. Our presidents, our chancellors, our athletic directors, our coaches have bought into it. What it means is we almost had seven bowl-eligible teams this year. We were 21-18 and only two teams did not finish above .500. Eight of the 10 were either 2-2 or 3-1 (in nonconference). We had 12 games against Power 5 teams this year. That means two teams played two and everybody else played one. That's the model that we've wanted to get to and will continue to get to. The computer rankings will take into account the bowl games, but as of today, we were in the No. 3 position with our (four other) peer conferences. The Mountain West and American are above us. Conference USA and the Mid-American are below us.
 
As I finish out my career here at the Sun Belt, if there's one thing I hope I've left behind, it's this scheduling philosophy.
 
(On getting a team into a New Year's Six bowl)
 
There's going to be some drama in the Group of Five. If UCF wins, obviously they will be the highest-ranked team in the Group of Five and go on to play in the Fiesta Bowl. If they don't, and Boise State loses, remember, it has to be a champion. A lot of confusion this week, if Central Florida loses one game, they'll still be the highest-ranked champion. They have to be the champion. Without getting too far ahead of ourselves, if App State wins, they are a champion with an 11-2 record with a loss against Penn State and a loss against Georgia Southern with their quarterback going down. As much as the committee talks about the eye test and taking injuries into consideration and various factors, with Zac (Thomas) not in there after the first series, who knows what happens in that game."
 
(On the argument for the Sun Belt and in the New Year's Six conversation)
 
"Fresno State is definitely No. 25, but we don't know if App State is No. 26 and what is the gap between App State and Fresno State today. I think it's pretty narrow. That would be my take on whether App State could jump over Fresno State. How much has the committee really has drilled down and evaluated App State? Each conference, all ten conferences, are earmarked for two committee members and those committee members are in charge of knowing everything about conference X, Y and Z."
 
"This committee member said (referring to App's mid-season AP No. 25 ranking), 'I didn't know that much about the Sun Belt Conference before the season, but I know now just how good the Sun Belt is.' That is again an example Sun Belt credibility, integrity and relevance. We are a relevant conference."
 
"We are a conference that have come so far in the last five years. I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge just how good the Sun Belt has been for App State and how good App State has been for the Sun Belt. I would say also that the two teams that we have here, with Louisiana being a charter member back in 2001 and App State being a newbie, that even makes it a more unique championship game tomorrow with the way we have been able to mold these teams together."
 
Louisiana
 
Head Coach Billy Napier
 
(Opening Statement)
 
"I'm certainly honored and privileged to represent the western side of our conference. It was a challenging year for our staff in the first year, but I'm very pleased with the fight that our players showed. We didn't get off to the start that wanted, and this group showed how they've grown throughout this season. They overcame some early losses and we put ourselves in position down the stretch to keep ourselves in contention. This has been a great team to coach. It's been an honor for me to get to know these guys and be their coach, and we've enjoyed this journey together. It's been a lot of fun, and we're not finished. We have a couple of games left to play here, so we're excited about the future of our program. We got off to a really good start in terms of what we want to do here and what type of identity we want to have as a football team and as a football program. We have a program that's built around investing in our players. It's all about development here, and we've got a really specific plan for those guys relative to who we want them to be as people and what we want them to accomplish as students while they're at the University of Louisiana. They're certainly making progress as football players, not only as individuals, but collectively as a team. We have outstanding leadership. We appreciate the support from the university community. Our fans, alumni and everybody have been behind the Cajuns down the stretch. I would also really like to thank my staff. That's one of the things we did a really good job of was we hired a tremendous staff, not only the coaches but the support staff. All of those people should be commended for the job they've done throughout this season. They've done a really good job with this team. This team bought into what we were trying to do, and as we continue to grind away and get better at our process, we've played better football down the stretch. We've made tremendous progress in terms of the intangibles we play with. I'm very pleased with the progress we've made and I'm excited to participate in the championship game."
 
(On the challenges Appalachian State poses)
 
"Appalachian State has a program that over time has really proved to have some stability. The coaching staff has done a great job, obviously I have a lot of respect for Coach Satterfield and what he's built here. Certainly, it wasn't great here at the beginning with a little bit of a rocky start, but they stayed the course and have a really good football team. This team in particular has a number of weapons on offense that can be difficult. They have a really good quarterback, not only can he beat you with his arm, but he's got great mobility and can extend the play and he's a big threat to run the ball as well. They have a veteran group at offensive line. I know they lost a running back early, but they have a talented group at running back. Certainly, they have playmakers at receiver and a solid group of tight ends that really allows them to be versatile. Defensively, it's a great football team. They've got an identity and have been running this concept for a number of years through different coordinators. They do a good job of creating negative plays and getting takeaways. It's difficult to run the ball and difficult to get explosive plays. Offensively and defensively, they work well together. It's what makes them hard to beat. Their team speed creates some issues on special teams. Often times it comes down to matchups, and they've got a good couple of returners as well. It's a good football team, and they've proved that throughout the year. We've got a lot of respect for them and look forward to competing against them."
 
(On using both quarterbacks)
 
"We have unique situation in that we've got two players that can play effective football for us. It's a dynamic that you're going to continue to see in college football, whether it's at the University of Alabama or at the University of Georgia. The biggest thing for us is that our players have tons of respect for both of these guys. We had a very competitive battle to decide who the quarterback was going to be. Andre being a senior and being a little more established, he won the job and performed better in training camp. He put himself in position to be the starter, but Levi is also a tremendous leader on our football team. He's a guy who really represents what we want our program to be about in terms of the type of teammate he is and the integrity that he has. He's deserving to play, and, in my opinion, we feel that it keeps our backup more engaged. He knows he's going to get to play, so he has to prepare at a high level. It puts you in position to where if you lose the starter then you have a guy who is battle-tested and has been in there and made some plays."
 
Louisiana linebacker Jacques Boudreaux
 
(On the trip to App that turned the season around)
 
"I think, personally, from a team standpoint. Last year, we had a 63-14 loss. I think a quite a lot of people kind of held their heads and did not know what to expect. Coming in as we did the last time we played them, I think we showed a lot of spunk in this team. We can hold our own and that we can play. Ultimately, we look forward to competing tomorrow."
 
Louisiana offensive lineman Kevin Dotson
 
(On the trip to App that turned the season around)
 
"The first game we had, it just kind of proved to us that we can play and that we belong here. There's no need for us to get beat that bad like we did last year. That should not happen, but we that coming together now, that we can really do anything that we really feel like."
 
(On Louisiana's running attack)
 
"Our whole front five, we just come together. Five is one is what we say and what we always say. So, you can't think too highly of yourself. You can't put yourself above anybody else. So, when we come together, it's the whole line has to do their job. That's the only way that we are going to our little bit of praise. When we all do it together, it makes it easier."