COMMERCE, Texas -- A&M-Commerce head football coach Colby Carthel held his weekly media session on Wednesday prior to the Lions' afternoon practice. Here is the transcript of his thoughts on the Lions' loss out at West Texas A&M, the struggles that are happening on special teams and looking ahead to the showdown with Midwestern State Saturday evening.
On the mindset of returning home to face Midwestern State:
"There's always a lot of pressure playing at home. It's a big deal around here and we've got a tremendous opponent in Midwestern State who has, I believe, won or shared three of the last four LSC titles. They are coming in here as a ranked opponent, and they run the football like nobody's business. We know we have our work cut out for us there, because if you can't stop the run, it makes for a long evening."
On improving special teams following the West Texas A&M game:
"Special teams is one area where our depth, or lack thereof, is really showing. And we're not doing a very good job coaching it either. Special teams is usually made up of your fourth year juniors and third year sophomores, and that's what we're missing with a new team like this is that depth. It obviously cost us greatly at West Texas. Everyone points to the kickoff return [in the third quarter] but I look more at the first quarter where we cost ourselves 13 points and a big defensive stop. That game could have gone a lot different if we would have played special teams the way we should have in the first half. It could have really turned into a nailbiter there at the end but instead it got away from us. We're working on some different drills now and changing up some personnel, so we're looking forward to it getting better."
On what are the key factors to performing well on special teams:
"Maturity is probably the biggest key I put on it. Starters being mature enough to know that there is that third facet of the game. You see that in the NFL where those guys don't have any problems being a starter and playing on special teams as well with a small roster. We've got to get that culture change here, too, where you take pride on being on special teams. Again, along with maturity is the lack of depth where we have a bunch of freshmen just learning how to play and learning not to take a play off just because it's special teams. Knowing your role and looking at it from the standpoint of if they play 30 plays on special teams, they can be a dominant force in a game. We just need that maturity not to take plays off. You look at that field goal block [late in the second quarter against West Texas A&M], we have a chance to go into half down seven, but we're lazy up front, and that's just a lack of maturity in doing your job every snap."
On what to expect from Midwestern State's defense:
"They are very physical, and very tough to move the ball against. Their defensive coordinator Rich Renner has been there for a long time and is a very well respected coach in this league. He's a good friend of mine and does a great job. They have really good players up front and in the backfield. They have some seniority as well – they are a little bit older on defense than they are on offense. They are going to pose a good challenge for us to move the ball and get into the endzone."
On what the offense will rely on against the Mustangs:
"Hopefully Tyrik Rollison has a great game. But we've got to establish the running game. We haven't done a good job of doing that thus far. Some of it has been self-inflicted and some of it has been what the defense has taken away. But we really need to get that going more than what we have if we are going to have long term success. And then we just need to finish some drives. We had so many negative plays Saturday [at West Texas A&M] that we were facing second and 15 or second and 20 because of a tackle for loss or due to a penalty, and those are killers. Second and six you can handle. Second and 16, not so much."
On the number of penalties in the game against West Texas A&M:
"A lot of them were just lack of focus. Defensively, lining up offsides or jumping offsides on a punting situation and giving the other team the ball back will drive you crazy. We throw that touchdown on the first play and go up 7-0, and then we go out and stop [West Texas A&M] on a three-and-out, and they were giving us the ball back and we jump offsides. And then we scored on the second series, too, so if we stay onsides on that punt return, its 14-0, and that can change a ballgame. You never know how a penalty can come back to hurt you. We look at that punt return and those are two plays that had a big swing in the momentum and how the game ended up."
