Mike Norvell Weekly Press Conference Highlights

Opening Statement
We are back at it here with another game week, hopefully this week we'll actually get the game. We're excited about the upcoming week, obviously last week was very unique with the circumstance with the game being canceled. I want to take a moment to say our thoughts and prayers are with everyone in the state of Florida that's dealing with the storm. We continue our prayers for their safety, for all the families, people that had to relocate, just know that you are in our thoughts and prayers throughout that situation.

Moving forward for us here this week there's still a lot of questions, still a lot of unknowns. We've been back practicing since July 28^th, and we've only played one game. So there's been a lot of preparation, and to only really get that one opportunity, one that was played in some pretty unique circumstances, we're excited about getting back on the field. Our guys, I have to give them a compliment for the maturity that they've shown. The preparation and the work they've put in, they've handled a lot of different things and quite a good deal of adversity here early when it comes to their schedule and their routine, but they've responded in a first-class manner. They're definitely looking forward to this Saturday. To get the opportunity to go out there and compete against a nationally-ranked opponent on our home field, it's definitely a great week and I know they're going to be excited about the preparation leading up to this game.

Is there such a thing as too much preparation?
You know, I think that's a really good question. I think that with as much as we've practiced without playing more than the one game, and one game that was definitely affected by the weather, we're still trying to get a sense of who we are. There was a good amount of positive that we were able to take out of the first opportunity we had, but to be able to go out there and see exactly where we are with this football team is something I'm looking forward to seeing. You can prepare for what you believe is going to come, but you still don't have a great sense of where we are. I think that the game experience is going to provide that opportunity, and to do it against a top-25 opponent is going to be a lot of fun.

How important is this game for not only the school, but for the conference?
I think every out of conference game is always important for the conference because that's something that people look at. How are you competing against a program from outside, and if you're a non-Power 5, how are you competing against the Power 5? I know as a conference, we had a win last week against a Power 5 opponent, which obviously continues to put focus on the quality of the young men and the teams that we have in our league. So we want to go out there and do everything we can to put ourselves and our conference in a position to be successful. To continue to bring the notoriety to what we're doing here.

What stands out when you look at UCLA?
We're going to be playing a really good football team. A football team that I would say in the last five quarters is playing as good as anyone. I think obviously it starts with their quarterback on offense. The game against Hawaii was just about perfect. I think he was 22-of-25, multiple touchdowns, no interceptions, played just a phenomenal football game. Obviously the last quarter of the A&M game he threw for almost 300 yards in one quarter. He's playing at an extremely high level. He's seen pressure, he's seen coverage, he's seen a lot of different looks and he has handled himself really well. When you talk about a lot of quarterbacks, usually those top level quarterbacks, you always want to get them hit, try to rattle them and try to get them out of the game. The thing that's probably been most impressive about Josh (Rosen) is that even though he's been hit he's maintained his composure, he's gone out there and played the next play. I think he's playing at a high level.

I think when you look at their defense from the second half of the A&M game and their last week against Hawaii, they've done a really nice job of mixing what they're doing. They're going to be very multiple up front, they'll show you a lot of different fronts. They have the guys on the perimeter, including they've got a true freshman corner that's one of the best that we'll see this year. Their defensive front has a lot of depth in it so they're able to roll a bunch of guys. They've got a great deal of experience, guys that are coming back and have played a lot of football in that league and special teams is going to be big. So when you look at this football team that we're going to play, it's a very well rounded team. I think they're garnering some of the respect they've earned with their ranking here this week, so we know we've got a challenge in every aspect.

Your offense hasn't had a chance to really show itself, is there any advantage to that?
I guess yes and no. I don't know about advantage, we're still trying to see who we're going to be this year. You can go and watch film from this past season, you'll see how our guys operate and what we do. A lot of the first game positives were that we were able to establish the run and we were able to have some direct runs that developed into explosive plays. That's something that we want to continue. Now, doing it against a top-notch defensive line, that's going to present its issues. But that's what our guys are excited about, that's what our coaching staff is excited about, is that this is going to be a great test to see exactly where we are. I know our guys have been working extremely hard on that week one to week two improvement, and that has extended a few days. But we didn't really get a whole lot more time for UCLA than what we would have because our whole focus was on UCF last week. I guess that flipped on the plane trip home. I could tell you that to say it's an advantage that they don't have as much to see, we have a lot of returning guys, so they get a pretty good sense of who we were, but we're all excited about who we're going to be.

University of Memphis Athletics

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