Published Aug 27, 2024
What Fresno State's Tim Skipper said about Michigan
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Josh Henschke  •  Maize&BlueReview
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On combating Michigan Stadium's crowd

I love hostile environments to be honest with you. I think that's the magic of college football. You get 110 in the stadium and it's loud and it's rocking, you can't hear. You want it to be as hard as it can possibly be. That's just the way I think about it. We did a lot of stuff with noise, we played crowd noise over the speakers and things like that. The coaches having to communicate with the players with the new technology that we have in the helmets and things like that. We definitely have a lot of tools we can use. We'll see exactly how loud it is and when it gets loud we'll go to the tools that we need but we definitely been practicing that.

On approaching the game as a double-digit underdog

I never think about losing. I think about it's 0-0, we breathe the same air so why not go out there and try to win? College football is hard. Every game is going to be hard no matter who we're playing. We'll just stick to our plan, play hard, play Bulldog football and let the chip fall as they may. That's kind of how I look at it. I'm not a negative guy, I'm a positive guy so I think about trying to find ways to win.

On whether he's coached against Michigan and what he's heard

Never have. I've worked at Central Michigan but we never played against Michigan. We have Coach Baxter here who worked there so he knows a lot about the stadium, knows how to win. Comes in there — I know a lot about Michigan. You can get all four seasons in one day. We'll see how it is when we get there and things like that. It's going to be loud, there's going to be 110,000 people there. Some people say it's not as loud as you think and all that. I anticipate it being loud. The defending national champions, they're going to be celebrating the championship and all that stuff. It'll be loud in there. We'll be ready to go for a hostile environment.

On preparing for a new-look Michigan

College football every year, the roster is going to change. They still haven't decided on who their starting quarterback is going to be so we've had to practice against different styles. We've been doing that since last week so we'll see what happens during the game. We're anticipating seeing both, we're ready to see both. They're going to do it however they're going to do it and we're gonna have to adjust. You get ready, see all the stuff they did last year and you get into that first game and there's going to be new wrinkles. They obviously have a good coaching staff also. They're going to do things that are good for their quarterbacks and their O-line and their running backs. That type of stuff. We'll see how it goes. It's a game of adjustments, it really is. It's not halftime adjustments. It's going to be series-to-series adjustments. We wait until halftime, this game will be over. We'll be adjusting as we go.

On whether the off-field distractions will impact Michigan on the field

I have no idea. That's stuff they have to deal with. I'm just worried about our team. As long as we're ready to go and we're ready to go and fight, we'll be fine. The other side of that thing we'll find out. I have no idea what's going on with that.


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