Lance Guidry’s defense has only allowed 26 points through two games, and he’s hoping to keep the momentum against Ball State. He met with reporters to discuss the latest:
On the FAMU game: I thought we played hard, played with great intensity. Didn't play perfect by any means. We knew the quarterback would be a little bit of a problem with him scrambling and extending plays. He did that, and he got them in some opportunities where they really could have scored. They were near the goal line, and we were able to hold them out, which is always good. We were really looking to try to get a shutout, but they did enough offensively to create field position and knock down three field goals, so hats off to them.
On Tyler Baron: He's really big and powerful off the edge and he's twitchy. He’s just playing hard. He's recognizing plays and cutting it loose right now.
On Robby Washington playing CB: We got him a couple reps. He played a little bit at the end, played some man free with him. Robby’s a really good athlete. I think he can play some man coverage and he can probably play a little bit of corner, a little bit of nickel. We'll keep working with him and teaching him what we got on defense.
He's just moved over to us. He’s starting brand new, and that's hard when you're starting brand new. It’s just plugging him in and playing things that he can be able to obtain right now. Because he just moved, he's got to understand all the language, all the lingo. I think it could be long-term for him. He's a really good athlete, and I think he can do all the things he needs to do to play in the secondary.
On Wesley Bissainthe’s development: Growing up, just getting experience. I think D-Nick has got a lot to do with it. Coach Nicholson's a **** of a linebacker coach. He's played the game at a high level. His daddy was a linebacker as well, so he's a guy that's grown up as a ‘backer since he was a little kid. He relates so many things to them, and he's really had a big growth with him, along with Coach Sab [Joseph]. Wesley's playing really fast right now. He's not thinking a lot. He's just playing carefree right now. We need him to continue playing that way.
On Zaquan Patterson: We wanted to get him in early in the first half when the game was still competitive. We got him in and he did some good things and he'll continue to grow. There's no experience like game experience. You can practice all you want, but you’ve got to get in the game.
He had a really good week of practice. He was locked in. And hopefully going forward, we can continue to play him anywhere between six, 10 snaps, 15 max. But he's doing good. Injuries happen, then he'll have to play more. But I think he's right on pace. It's hard for a safety to come in as a true freshman and play. So he's ahead of it, I think. He continues to do good things. We'll keep playing him more and more.
On Jaden Harris: He's very smart. He understands the whole defense. He can call it all out, but when you get on the field and you've got to make the checks, it's different. You've got to be comfortable with that. So we tried to play him with Meesh as much as we could, but at the end, it was him and Markeith. When we bring him in, it's good that we put him in with Meech so Meech can handle all the calls and he can just play.
On the communication: It’s been good. It didn't cut out at Hard Rock at all. So it flowed really good. At Florida, we had a little bit of problems. There was probably about 15 snaps maybe we couldn't communicate at Florida. But here, we had no problems. It was good. It was really clean the other night.
On D’Yoni Hill: Injuries happen, but D’Yoni’s got a lot of game experience. D’Yoni’s really smart. I wish he'd have picked up that ball on the sideline. He got down on it. He was trying to pick it up and run, but D'Yoni's a really good player, and he'll be a key to this defense for sure.
On Northern Illinois’s upset of Notre Dame: I've been on that same side. I've been the guy that was looking to try to get an upset. I harped on it all week, because you never know. Your number could be called and you could lose one.
Going into Notre Dame [at Marshall] was a really tough task. I know exactly what Northern Illinois went through. It was down to the wire with us. It's really hard to make that upset. But in college football, anything can happen. You play the game through four quarters. It seems like the longer the game goes, when a team that's not supposed to win stays in it, the bigger opponent gets tighter and tighter. You start looking like, “My God, this can't happen to us, this can't happen to us.” Of course, with Notre Dame, it's happened to them before. It’s a tough deal, but it can happen to anybody. I've been on both sides of the coin, so it's a tough deal.
On Ball State: They remind me of Miami of Ohio a little bit. They've been playing together for a while. They're in sync. Miami of Ohio had a really good season last year. They didn't play necessarily good against us, but they had a really good year. This group's a lot like them. They'll be prepared.
They're not going to be intimidated at all. They're scrappy. We’ll have to get after them real, real early, for sure.
On the FAMU game: I thought we played hard, played with great intensity. Didn't play perfect by any means. We knew the quarterback would be a little bit of a problem with him scrambling and extending plays. He did that, and he got them in some opportunities where they really could have scored. They were near the goal line, and we were able to hold them out, which is always good. We were really looking to try to get a shutout, but they did enough offensively to create field position and knock down three field goals, so hats off to them.
On Tyler Baron: He's really big and powerful off the edge and he's twitchy. He’s just playing hard. He's recognizing plays and cutting it loose right now.
On Robby Washington playing CB: We got him a couple reps. He played a little bit at the end, played some man free with him. Robby’s a really good athlete. I think he can play some man coverage and he can probably play a little bit of corner, a little bit of nickel. We'll keep working with him and teaching him what we got on defense.
He's just moved over to us. He’s starting brand new, and that's hard when you're starting brand new. It’s just plugging him in and playing things that he can be able to obtain right now. Because he just moved, he's got to understand all the language, all the lingo. I think it could be long-term for him. He's a really good athlete, and I think he can do all the things he needs to do to play in the secondary.
On Wesley Bissainthe’s development: Growing up, just getting experience. I think D-Nick has got a lot to do with it. Coach Nicholson's a **** of a linebacker coach. He's played the game at a high level. His daddy was a linebacker as well, so he's a guy that's grown up as a ‘backer since he was a little kid. He relates so many things to them, and he's really had a big growth with him, along with Coach Sab [Joseph]. Wesley's playing really fast right now. He's not thinking a lot. He's just playing carefree right now. We need him to continue playing that way.
On Zaquan Patterson: We wanted to get him in early in the first half when the game was still competitive. We got him in and he did some good things and he'll continue to grow. There's no experience like game experience. You can practice all you want, but you’ve got to get in the game.
He had a really good week of practice. He was locked in. And hopefully going forward, we can continue to play him anywhere between six, 10 snaps, 15 max. But he's doing good. Injuries happen, then he'll have to play more. But I think he's right on pace. It's hard for a safety to come in as a true freshman and play. So he's ahead of it, I think. He continues to do good things. We'll keep playing him more and more.
On Jaden Harris: He's very smart. He understands the whole defense. He can call it all out, but when you get on the field and you've got to make the checks, it's different. You've got to be comfortable with that. So we tried to play him with Meesh as much as we could, but at the end, it was him and Markeith. When we bring him in, it's good that we put him in with Meech so Meech can handle all the calls and he can just play.
On the communication: It’s been good. It didn't cut out at Hard Rock at all. So it flowed really good. At Florida, we had a little bit of problems. There was probably about 15 snaps maybe we couldn't communicate at Florida. But here, we had no problems. It was good. It was really clean the other night.
On D’Yoni Hill: Injuries happen, but D’Yoni’s got a lot of game experience. D’Yoni’s really smart. I wish he'd have picked up that ball on the sideline. He got down on it. He was trying to pick it up and run, but D'Yoni's a really good player, and he'll be a key to this defense for sure.
On Northern Illinois’s upset of Notre Dame: I've been on that same side. I've been the guy that was looking to try to get an upset. I harped on it all week, because you never know. Your number could be called and you could lose one.
Going into Notre Dame [at Marshall] was a really tough task. I know exactly what Northern Illinois went through. It was down to the wire with us. It's really hard to make that upset. But in college football, anything can happen. You play the game through four quarters. It seems like the longer the game goes, when a team that's not supposed to win stays in it, the bigger opponent gets tighter and tighter. You start looking like, “My God, this can't happen to us, this can't happen to us.” Of course, with Notre Dame, it's happened to them before. It’s a tough deal, but it can happen to anybody. I've been on both sides of the coin, so it's a tough deal.
On Ball State: They remind me of Miami of Ohio a little bit. They've been playing together for a while. They're in sync. Miami of Ohio had a really good season last year. They didn't play necessarily good against us, but they had a really good year. This group's a lot like them. They'll be prepared.
They're not going to be intimidated at all. They're scrappy. We’ll have to get after them real, real early, for sure.
