Brian Kelly: Mississippi State Opening Statement
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SportsTranscript
00:00 We turn our attention to SEC play and certainly, you know,
00:05 this is what gets everybody's attention.
00:07 And not only do we play Mississippi State, but we play on the road.
00:12 And playing on the road in the SEC is a great challenge.
00:15 Playing an SEC opponent obviously doubles that.
00:19 And then you've got to deal with all of the things that go with travel,
00:24 playing at 11 a.m., cowbells, all of those things.
00:29 But you do it first and foremost with starting with great preparation this week.
00:36 And then, you know, your performance.
00:38 If you play really well, you don't have to deal with all those distractions
00:43 like any other opponent.
00:44 If you're not playing very well you're going to hear the – you know, any team's,
00:51 you know, band slogans, whatever they have.
00:54 So this is really about, you know, the challenge of playing on the road.
01:00 Handling the 11 a.m. start.
01:03 Playing a really well coached football team.
01:06 Zach Garnett has done a great job in his very short time of being a head coach.
01:13 They're really well coached defensively.
01:17 The scheme that they employ is the same as last year,
01:22 it has a lot of moving parts out of their three down defense.
01:26 And again, it's a difficult defense to go against.
01:31 Offensively, there's some – quite a different change there.
01:37 Going away from the air raid offense, going to a much more traditional offense.
01:46 It is one that, you know, certainly that many see in college football.
01:53 But they've got some really good players.
01:54 Will Rogers is probably one of the most experienced quarterbacks in the SEC.
02:00 35 straight starts, so when you have that,
02:03 you've got experience at the quarterback position.
02:06 It's a really good thing.
02:08 He's got 11,000 career passing yards.
02:11 Jaquevious Marks, outstanding running back.
02:15 And again, another guy that, you know,
02:18 2,100 yards rushing in games in 2022 – I mean '23 combined.
02:25 Leads the SEC in rushing through two games.
02:29 You know, two 100-yard games I misspoke already in 2023.
02:36 It's a good football team.
02:37 So, well coached, they've got depth with numbers on defense
02:42 in terms of seniors and graduate seniors.
02:45 So, coming off a really good win in overtime against Arizona.
02:50 So, a great challenge for our football team.
02:53 And again, anytime you go on the road.
02:55 I think their returners are weapons.
02:58 They've got two outstanding return men in terms of their punt returns
03:02 and kickoff returns.
03:04 Both of them were All-Americans last year.
03:07 So, we've got a challenge in special teams.
03:10 A challenge in facing a veteran quarterback and outstanding running back.
03:14 And certainly the challenge that the defense brings in terms of its scheme.
03:19 And then going on the road to Starkville and the early start
03:24 and all those things that you have to overcome.
03:28 So, with that we'll open it up to questions.