Head Coach Frank Solich
Opening Comments
"I thought Saturday would be relaxing and I would get the opportunity to sit around and watch a few games, but I did not find it at all that relaxing. I kind of wish we were playing. There were a lot of upsets and a lot of games that were very, very close. Some things remain true in fact; turnovers play a role in any kind of an upset or any kind of a win. I think that was true this past Saturday."

"We have an opportunity to go on the road for the first time, and I am really looking forward to that. If you are going to be a good football team, you have to play well on the road and not just when your home team fans are in your corner. When things are stacked up against you a little bit on the road, you need to step up. I think the personality of the football team will be that way, and I think they will respond very well. I think it will be a very good football game. Southern Mississippi is a football team that has excellent speed, and they are well coached. It is obvious there are some areas in which they are doing extremely well. We talked a little about turnovers there, and they are 11th in the country in turnover margin. They have done an excellent job of producing turnovers and taking good care of the ball. They are eighth in the country in punt returns. There are some areas that just jump right out at you. If you aren't careful about what they are capable of, then you could find yourself battling from behind. It should be an interesting game, and I think the players are excited about going on the road."

"The extra time off can work for you or against you. I think in some ways it came at a good time. We weren't really banged up where we needed extra time to heal up. It came at a point in our schedule where our guys were able to get a break in order to prepare for Southern Miss. We will be able to give them a little bit of break coming off of the game against Southern Miss before starting preparations for Troy State. I think that part of it fits pretty well in our schedule right now."

"In terms of the Thursday night game, we aren't used to a Thursday night game. We'll leave Wednesday of course, and it is a matter of sitting around all day. It will be a little bit different for us. Yet, all in all, I think it will come down to two football teams playing very hard, and I think it will be a great football game."

On playing from behind in their first road game:
"I don't think that we would panic or get out of what we are all about. Of course, if you are in the second half and you are down by a couple touchdowns, the complexion of the game changes. The one thing we have done, which is probably not obvious other than to the players and coaches, is that we have worked very hard during practice in terms of our throwing game. We feel if forced into it, we can operate a throwing game. You need to operate it well in order to engineer a comeback. I know we have worked our two-minute offense well throughout the early practices and leading up to practices to this game. We are capable of engineering an attack where we put the ball exclusively in the air, maybe a draw play or screen play or two like most other teams do when they are trying to come back from a big deficit."

On the differences in personality between the 2003 team vs. 2002 team:
"I am counting on it being different since we are playing on the road. This team has been excellent as they approached games and fall camp. We have talked about what they have been all about in the off-season and going into fall camp. You can only go on that, and there isn't much more to go on. I expect they will respond to playing well in a tough atmosphere. We are all anxious to get that done and see how we do."

On his comfort level in abandoning the passing game against Southern Miss:
"I think they are very good at stopping the run. The problem is that they are good at stopping the pass, and they have excellent speed on their defense. Their secondary people and linebackers can run. We will test the water, but we will see what we can do and what we cannot do. We have had time to change things up a bit, and they have time to the same things. One thing they have been extremely good at is stopping opponents in the red zone. Their goal-line defense has been outstanding in the first three games. Of course, we have struggled putting touchdowns on the board once we get inside the red zone. It is going to be a big challenge for us."

On benefits of playing on a Thursday night:
"I think any time you play well on television with that kind of national exposure it is a positive for you. If you represent your team and your school well, it is positive for you and your team. The other positive was we were able to give our guys some time off, and we will be able to give them a little bit of time off this next week. I think that may be a plus when you talk about the extended number of games in a season. You have to look at things a little differently, and you have to approach things a little bit differently with the number of games that are played now in college football. National exposure is great and a little bit of time off during this part of the season is great. In addition, we have been able to utilize last week in trying to get better, and I think there are areas where we need to get better."

On Thursday night games and heavily favored teams getting knocked off:
"I don't know why that would be other than the atmosphere of a night game is somewhat different than a day game. It is always more challenging to play on the road when it is a night game. You are spending more time just sitting around in a hotel you aren't accustomed to. In turn, there are things that are a little bit out of the ordinary when you are in a regular routine of playing on a Saturday night. If you look at Colorado State, who is used to playing on Thursday nights, they have not been upset too many times on a Thursday night game, and it comes down to familiarity."

On how pleased he has been with the offensive line:
"You know the struggles with the passing game may not be as dramatic as you think. If you look at our passing percentage, it isn't that bad. It really comes down to the number of times we have thrown, and so far we have not been forced into throwing situations. I think that is probably good. Our time of possession - and I brought that up because it has been a reoccurring theme for us - I think we are over a plus-16 minutes in time of possession. If you can run the ball, then you probably want to do that. If you look at Ohio State in the championship a year ago, they didn't put the ball in the air an awful lot. They relied on their running game. If you look at Coach Osborne's championship years, it was primarily the same way. If you aren't running the ball, then you have to have the ability to throw it. We don't believe that we've shown that we don't have the ability to throw the ball and be successful. We just haven't had to do it where we are putting the ball in the air 20, 22, 23 times."

On the O-line and luxury of being able to run the ball:
"It is what we look for and what we strive for, and it is what we practice. We want an offensive line that is able to have movement about it and be physical. We want an offensive line to show complexity in the running game versus having a couple runs then dropping back and having pass protection all the time. It still is our thinking that if you are able to control the ball, and if you aren't turning the ball over, those things are going to add up to be plusses for you. Texas Tech and Oklahoma State are both great throwing teams, but time of possession-wise Texas Tech is last in the Big 12 and Oklahoma State is second from the bottom in the Big 12. That statistic probably doesn't mean much to them. In their passing game, they are getting a lot of big plays. Texas Tech's passing game is almost like a running play with a short throw with a gain of six or seven yards. There are a lot of ways to approach offensive football, some running teams who only throw the ball deep and maybe throw it 12 or 14 times a game. Yet, they count on hitting two or three deep balls. Some teams try to build in more of a multiple approach even though they are a running football team, but you may not see it in a football game until it is needed, and it hopefully is going to be there when it is called upon. How good of a passing team we are remains to be seen."

On how much Richie Incognito has grown over the past year:
"Richie is having a great year. I think he has played within himself, and he has played under control the whole season at this point. It has been a real plus for Richie and a real plus for us. You add that up, and he is doing everything that is asked of him. I think he is an excellent run-blocker, and he has improved very much his pass protection technique and his pass protection skill. He is all about wanting to be a complete player and a great player and for that to show in every game. I think it has showed in every game."

On playing at Southern Miss and the stadium atmosphere:
"There is a lot of noise. We have worked long and hard since the end of the Penn State practices working with fan noise. We have done it down on the grass with portable speakers with crowd noise. We have practiced fan noise in the stadium. We expect it to be a loud atmosphere and we know it is going to be hot. It will probably be somewhere in the high 80s and humidity in the mid to high 80s. Practicing in the temperature we are in is probably not beneficial to us. We have talked about continuing to hydrate ourselves. We are trying to get our players to force water down themselves so it doesn't become a situation where all of sudden they become thirsty during a game. We are trying to get a lot of water down to prevent cramps and anything that would prevent them from finishing out a game strongly. We have continued to condition well. Any time you go down into heat and humidity to play four quarters is not automatic. I think the crowd will be very much into the game."

On Southern Miss having a history of knocking off conference teams:
"Well every game is unique in a lot of aspects. We recognize how good Southern Miss is and they have a very good program. It won't be easy and it will be a difficult situation to go down there and come away with a win."

On the aspects of the first road game:
"We need to find out what we are about. We have taken a business-like approach in which we handle it in a manner that reflects how you play. I think it is going to be a battle."

On Ross Pilkington:
"I think he has great hands. He is a physical player with excellent strength and the ability to run patterns."

On whether or not he has witnessed any fatigue from players in the fourth quarter in the last three games:
"I am pleased with the way the team has held up throughout all four quarters. I look at Josh Sewell and he has been great in the number of snaps. He has held up play after play and game after game. We need to be careful as the season goes on because guys could get tired. We need to make sure we continue to build depth."