Key quotes from ECU head coach Mike Houston's pre-Michigan press conference
East Carolina head coach Mike Houston met with the media on Tuesday to preview the Pirate's upcoming clash against Michigan.
Here are the key quotes from his time with reporters.
On getting his team ready to play in a big venue
In those past games, we were playing in big venues. We played in front of 80,000 fans at South Carolina and I think that our players from the start in those games, didn’t let the surrounding environment impact them. They stayed really dialed in and that’s the reason we’re going to the stadium on Friday. We want to check off the box of this, one of the largest stadiums in the country, and there’ll be 110,000 in there but you’re playing on the same dimensions with the same rules and you’re playing against 11 guys. It’s about keeping the focus on doing the things that we do every day in practice and just not letting the environment be too big for them.
On handling the crowd noise
Fortunately, we’ve got a lot of experience playing in loud environments. I don’t think anything will ever compare to the Fargo Dome up in North Dakota and I’ve been to The Swamp. I’ve been a lot of different places. BYU was very loud last year. When you’re preparing for venues like that, we try to simulate that in practice during our team periods, by adding so much noise that it makes it hard for the kids to communicate, because that’s what it’s going to be. When it gets loud in that stadium and it’s hard for us to hear on offense, we’ve got to focus in on being able to communicate without verbal words. Our offensive staff has a lot of experience handling stuff like that, and we’ve been working on that for a few weeks.
On having an extra week to prepare for Michigan
They should have figured out how to function last week and that’s the first week that you exchange scouts. It’s challenging for those guys. You have a freshman that comes in here or you have a guy that’s been in the program for a year or so. Everybody’s trying to make the travel squad and suddenly you’ve figured out that this year you’re going to be early starting out because it changes and is fluid throughout the year. You start out on the look team and that messes with your psyche a little bit. That’s just human nature so we try to work through all that last week. The difference is now it’s game week and I don’t have time to worry about anybody’s feelings right now. We’ve got to go out there and get work done. verybody has a role, everybody’s got a job, everybody’s going to be committed to the common goal, which is the Pirates getting a win. Everyone has to go out and they’ve got to do what they’re supposed to do on a daily basis. Today’s practice is fully padded but I am trying to be conscientious that I want us fresh on game day. We’ve made it about as short as you can possibly have on a Tuesday which means every rep today is critical. We don’t have time to repeat a play or a look because somebody’s not focused. Our focus today at practice is critical and I do have very high expectations for it.
On Michigan's coaching situation
I’d rather them sit some of their players out. You know what they have coming back? I don’t think it will impact their scheme at all. They have an experienced play-caller that will call the game on Saturday. We know him a little bit and I’m sure that they’re coaching the team throughout the week. They’re going to put the game plan together. They just have to get a couple of guys implemented on game day, so I think it’ll have a minimal impact.
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