- Looking forward to playing football again after nine months.
- They want to get back to “just winning.” They feel they’ll be competitive in 2015.
- WKU has a great QB in Brandon Doughty, who was CUSA Player of the Year. “He does everything you want a 6th-year QB to do.” He can extend plays, make tight and intermediate throws, has gotten better about putting points on the board and cutting down turnovers. Three or four times, he distributed the ball to 11 targets.
- They want to make Doughty uncomfortable and be aware of play-action, which WKU likes to use.
- “This is a statement game for both teams.”
- “It’s an opportunity for our fan base to see who these kids are in 2015.”
- Was asked about QB turnover in the league. Said he wasn’t really concerned about that.
- They’ve had tremendous change under OC Andy Ludwig, players have a different character and demeanor and they’re confident.
- The structure on the sideline will be that ‘he’s head coach 99.9 percent of the time.” Kenwick Thompson and Marc Mattioli will help with making defensive adjustments when he’s paying attention to the offense.
- Ludwig will be in the box. Mason will make replay challenges and other such in-game decisions.
- If there’s an opportunity to give input in a play call—fourth-down conversion, two-point conversion—he will.
- He’s got a game-day checklist of 65 points that will help make those calls. It’s something he learned from last year. There was a sheet with these things that he’d had missing for 18 months that just popped up this off-season and that’s helped.
- QB won’t be addressed publicly as to who’s the starter. We’ll see it on opening night. “We’ve got two quarterbacks who are more than capable of playing.” He feels this takes the pressure off his QBs.
- He and Ludwig knew a week and a half ago who the QB would be.
- They’re past 2014.
- On true freshmen playing: “You may see between eight and nine.” Made mention of special teams but said all might get offensive or defensive snaps.
- WKU has had 99 snaps in games at times, that’s why there’s an emphasis on depth and having people ready.
- At one point he redirected questions away from 2014
- Was excited about how they were able to fly around defensively. Said he had to back his guys down from where they were from an intensity standpoint.
- They want to take the ball away, stop the run, defend the deep ball vs. WKU.
- “It’s a fun challenge. I like the chess match,” he said when asked about stopping the WKU offense.
- He’s seen little things in defensive communication, tackling, etc., that he didn’t see last year. Feels Ludwig does the same things.
