These two player interviews took place while I was talking to the two coordinators.
DARIUS BRADWELL
What is the feeling going into a game with a big atmosphere like this against a top five team in American?
"Why not us. We're just as good as them. It's just the mental mistakes we have to get better at that and play our game."
What's been the most disappointing part of the start?
"We're good enough to beat those teams. They didn't beat us. We beat ourselves. That's the tough part. Also, we started off slow in both of those games and were always trying to fight back instead of just starting off good and just finishing the game, so those are the most frustrating things. "
How do you fix the slow starts?
"It's a mindset, a mentality. Instead of just waiting to see what they are going to do, we need to just jump out and play our game and be confident in ourselves. I feel like we are just as good as any team that we faced at the beginning of the year. We've just been beating ourselves."
What is the closest experience you've had to what Saturday will be like?
"Last year we played Oklahoma, so that's kind of close to it, but where I'm from in high school we had big games, so I'm used to it. The size of the crowd, if you don't love it then you shouldn't be playing this sport. That should get us going. Playing THE Ohio State University should get us going."
How does that experience at Oklahoma help prepare you?
From my experience, the Oklahoma game being a big club and a top-10 school in the nation and they were pretty good with Baker Mayfield that day, our confidence went up when we stayed in the game with them. We realized that we can play with them. That just gives a confidence boost. We just know we have to play hard."
What was that high school experience you were referencing?
"I had a lot of television games, IMG and stuff like that, so I"m used to big games with big platforms, It's just another game. I don't put more pressure on it because I feel like they are just the team as I am. I played with most of them in high school, so I'm used to it."
In finishing games, what has to change for this team?
"Like I said, mental errors, mental mistakes and honing our craft. At those moments, we just can't have mental mistakes. Like Wake Forest, we had a false start when we we could have had a first down and we probably would have scored on that drive. UAB, we had a holding and a touchdown got called back. Those are little things we have to work on and focus on, cost us the game. Just lik the SMU game, we lost by one inch, so we have to keep reminding ourselves of that."
ROD TEAMER
What do you think about going up to Ohio State and everything that goes into this experience?
"It's a great opportunity for our program and for our team. We are excited to go up there. It's not too often you get to go to Ohio State and play against those guys. We got to go play against Oklahoma last year. I missed that opportunity, so I'm excited personally to get on the field as well. You guys know the history behind their program. They are a great program. You see them on TV a lot."
What do you remember about the Oklahoma game?
"At Oklahoma? It was great. The fans were into it from the time we got off the bus until the time we took the field. Those games are fun."
What is the missing ingredient for this team in starting and finishing games?
"To be honest with you, I really can't answer that. It's not my job to worry about those things. The coaching staff goes up and checks those things out and we come to work on them at practice. As a player I just want to play the game. Obviously we know we start off slow. I can't put my finger on what exactly that is, but if we do find out we'll definitely make the changes."
What is the most frustrating part of not being able to find the spark you need in those critical moments?
"We try not to look at it as being a frustrating thing. You start getting frustrated this early in the season and you're setting yourself up for a bad season. We look at those things as an opportunity and as a challenge."
What do you say to a guy like Jonathan Banks when he makes mistakes?
"Honestly, coming to the sideline I don't say anything to him as a player because we are all trying to come out and do our jobs. We understand JB is our leader at quarterback and is just trying to make a play, so nobody got down on him or anything like that. We tell him to keep his head up, keep trying to make plays and keep fighting. As a defense it's our job to go out there and stop them if we get the opportunity. Unfortunately, the guy returned (one of Banks' fumbles) for a touchdown. Other than that, there's nothing to say about it."
How do you prepare for the crowd noise?
Definitely. The noise at practice makes it hard for us to hear each other and communicate. Obviously going up to Ohio State it's going to be hard to hear and communicate, so we need that."
Is it harder with the piped in crowd noise or the music you usually hear at practice?
"I would say it's probably a little harder with the crowd noise. You can kind of tune music out. Crowd noise is steady and there's no breaks. It's definitely harder."
How talented is Ohio State's QB?
"He's extremely talented. Just on sheer size, he's a huge guy and he has a quick release. Those two things you don't really find in college quarterbacks. We always talk about the timing of their routes. The ball is definitely coming faster toward us."
Do you also have to worry about him running?
"Not so much. Even though he has the ability to run, you can tell from watching film it's not so much what he wants to do or what their coaching staff wants to do. We know he'll tuck and run it, but we'll rally to him if he does.
DARIUS BRADWELL
What is the feeling going into a game with a big atmosphere like this against a top five team in American?
"Why not us. We're just as good as them. It's just the mental mistakes we have to get better at that and play our game."
What's been the most disappointing part of the start?
"We're good enough to beat those teams. They didn't beat us. We beat ourselves. That's the tough part. Also, we started off slow in both of those games and were always trying to fight back instead of just starting off good and just finishing the game, so those are the most frustrating things. "
How do you fix the slow starts?
"It's a mindset, a mentality. Instead of just waiting to see what they are going to do, we need to just jump out and play our game and be confident in ourselves. I feel like we are just as good as any team that we faced at the beginning of the year. We've just been beating ourselves."
What is the closest experience you've had to what Saturday will be like?
"Last year we played Oklahoma, so that's kind of close to it, but where I'm from in high school we had big games, so I'm used to it. The size of the crowd, if you don't love it then you shouldn't be playing this sport. That should get us going. Playing THE Ohio State University should get us going."
How does that experience at Oklahoma help prepare you?
From my experience, the Oklahoma game being a big club and a top-10 school in the nation and they were pretty good with Baker Mayfield that day, our confidence went up when we stayed in the game with them. We realized that we can play with them. That just gives a confidence boost. We just know we have to play hard."
What was that high school experience you were referencing?
"I had a lot of television games, IMG and stuff like that, so I"m used to big games with big platforms, It's just another game. I don't put more pressure on it because I feel like they are just the team as I am. I played with most of them in high school, so I'm used to it."
In finishing games, what has to change for this team?
"Like I said, mental errors, mental mistakes and honing our craft. At those moments, we just can't have mental mistakes. Like Wake Forest, we had a false start when we we could have had a first down and we probably would have scored on that drive. UAB, we had a holding and a touchdown got called back. Those are little things we have to work on and focus on, cost us the game. Just lik the SMU game, we lost by one inch, so we have to keep reminding ourselves of that."
ROD TEAMER
What do you think about going up to Ohio State and everything that goes into this experience?
"It's a great opportunity for our program and for our team. We are excited to go up there. It's not too often you get to go to Ohio State and play against those guys. We got to go play against Oklahoma last year. I missed that opportunity, so I'm excited personally to get on the field as well. You guys know the history behind their program. They are a great program. You see them on TV a lot."
What do you remember about the Oklahoma game?
"At Oklahoma? It was great. The fans were into it from the time we got off the bus until the time we took the field. Those games are fun."
What is the missing ingredient for this team in starting and finishing games?
"To be honest with you, I really can't answer that. It's not my job to worry about those things. The coaching staff goes up and checks those things out and we come to work on them at practice. As a player I just want to play the game. Obviously we know we start off slow. I can't put my finger on what exactly that is, but if we do find out we'll definitely make the changes."
What is the most frustrating part of not being able to find the spark you need in those critical moments?
"We try not to look at it as being a frustrating thing. You start getting frustrated this early in the season and you're setting yourself up for a bad season. We look at those things as an opportunity and as a challenge."
What do you say to a guy like Jonathan Banks when he makes mistakes?
"Honestly, coming to the sideline I don't say anything to him as a player because we are all trying to come out and do our jobs. We understand JB is our leader at quarterback and is just trying to make a play, so nobody got down on him or anything like that. We tell him to keep his head up, keep trying to make plays and keep fighting. As a defense it's our job to go out there and stop them if we get the opportunity. Unfortunately, the guy returned (one of Banks' fumbles) for a touchdown. Other than that, there's nothing to say about it."
How do you prepare for the crowd noise?
Definitely. The noise at practice makes it hard for us to hear each other and communicate. Obviously going up to Ohio State it's going to be hard to hear and communicate, so we need that."
Is it harder with the piped in crowd noise or the music you usually hear at practice?
"I would say it's probably a little harder with the crowd noise. You can kind of tune music out. Crowd noise is steady and there's no breaks. It's definitely harder."
How talented is Ohio State's QB?
"He's extremely talented. Just on sheer size, he's a huge guy and he has a quick release. Those two things you don't really find in college quarterbacks. We always talk about the timing of their routes. The ball is definitely coming faster toward us."
Do you also have to worry about him running?
"Not so much. Even though he has the ability to run, you can tell from watching film it's not so much what he wants to do or what their coaching staff wants to do. We know he'll tuck and run it, but we'll rally to him if he does.