WKU Football: Recapping the Bye Week Press Conference Post Arkansas
On Monday afternoon, head coach Tyson Helton held his weekly press conference to recap the big win over Arkansas and discuss his team’s…
On Monday afternoon, head coach Tyson Helton held his weekly press conference to recap the big win over Arkansas and discuss his team’s plans for the bye week before they return to action next week against Southern Miss.
Here is a recap of what he said:
Had a great weekend, big win against an SEC opponent
“It was kind of a signature win for us”
Very excited for players and staff
Everyone is very proud to be a Hilltopper
That is over
“We’re moving on”
Focusing on recruiting during the bye week, specifically on Thursday and Friday
“We’re in a good spot, have a lot of momentum” (heading into the bye week)
“Two tough games ahead of us”
“As good of a position that we can be in this time of year”
“ We really want to do well in the month of November and finish strong”
“We want everyone to be proud of our full body of work”
Guys do a great job playing as hard as they can play and doing the right things
“Really want everyone to feel great about what we accomplish this season”
“That’s a big goal for us right now”
It really felt like old times (on Saturday)
“We haven’t been able to find the formula (before Saturday)”
“The plays were there, and the kids were doing things right but for whatever reason, we weren’t able to stay on rhythm, move the chains and create the explosive plays or series would stall out.”
“This was the first game where we were able to get done what our offense was supposed to do”
“Now we’ve got to take the next step and continue to do that”
“To have critical third and fourth down conversions with big plays afterward really created the momentum for us”
“It was great to see what we were able to do offensively”
“We’re going to do the same thing as we did last bye week”
“We’re going to practice tomorrow and Wednesday and give them Friday and Saturday off”
Start practicing on Sunday for Southern Miss
Excited about recruiting aspect of this (bye week)
“We can make up a lot of ground in recruiting”
“We’ve done a good job of position ourselves in recruiting”
“This is a big month for us”
“We’re able to get some good recruits heading into December and the early signing period”
“Recruiting will be a big focus for us this week”
“State of Georgia is a huge emphasis for us (in recruiting)”
They’ve got some great football there
“Atlanta area is big for us”
“We’re geographically positioned well being 4 ½ to 5 hours from Atlanta”
We’ve done well there (in Georgia)
“All of the states Alabama, Florida, Mississippi and anywhere within a 5 hour radius of Bowling Green we’re going to really put a focus on”
“We’ve established relationships in Florida”
“We’ll always continue to recruit Georgia hard”
(After Arkansas win) “Really excited to recruit this week because now you’ve got WKU brand that everyone nationally has heard of the last three days”
“To be able to go into a high school and see a high school coach and get that name brand recognition will help us tremendously in recruiting”
“Couldn’t have happened at a better time, so we’ll have to capitalize on that momentum right now”
“Our guys were great and they celebrated but it was really a normal win for us”
They were their normal selves on the plane
They had a business mentality again
“Told them to enjoy the win but we shouldn’t be able to tell difference next week”
They’ve handled all wins like pros and they handled this one like pros
Really very proud of him (Lucky Jackson)
Ty and Lucky have a very strong connection
You can see Ty looking for him now
It takes time to build that connection and trust
“We’re very happy for him”
He came up huge, especially on that fade route before the half to put the game out of hand before the half
He’s been to do that week after week after week
“We’ve got two weeks to go and I know Ty will keep looking to him”
“It was great to see (defense force turnovers), we’ve put so much time and effort into it”
Usually, you get your turnovers over the course of the season
Finally was able to happen this point of the season
The interception and run he made (Devon Key) was outstanding
“That was a big point of emphasis (forcing turnovers) for us and to finally see it happen for us was great”
Overall it was fascinating to hear about the Arkansas win and how it was a culmination of everything they’ve built towards this year. I’m excited to see the recruiting results over the next month and how the team reacts to the bye week and comes out against a tough Southern Miss squad.
Tune back for a lot more coverage over the last few weeks of the season. We’ll continue to keep you posted on bowl projections, q&a’s from the opposing teams and recruiting. Getting back to bowl eligibility was huge let’s hope they continue to finish strong.