DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois University head football coach Rod Carey spoke at NIU's weekly press conference at the Jeffrey and Kimberly Yordon Center to talk about the upcoming game with Western Illinois. Joining Carey were linebacker Sean Folliard, tailback Jordan Huff, Mario Jones, defensive tackle, and left guard Josh Ruka. Below are excerpts from the press conference.
 
NIU Head Football Coach Rod Carey
 
Opening Statement
"Like I said after the game, disappointed with the outcome of the game last Saturday. Certainly, thought we fought our way back into that game. Had our opportunities to get the game tied up, if not win it, but there again it was an uphill battle after spotting them 28-0 lead. With a good team like San Diego State, you're not going to be in a good position when you spot them that lead, and we certainly weren't. Proud of the guys, the way they fought back. Certainly had our opportunities there, but again fell short. That wasn't good enough, and we'll get back on the practice field here today to make those corrections first.
 
"Obviously we're well into our preparations for WIU, who is a very good football team. I think someone told me they were rated number 13 in 1-AA or FCS, and certainly have two good wins under their belt and then a bye week last week for prepping this one. A lot of respect for Coach Fisher and his crew that he's got. I know he's got a brand new staff over there. Done a nice job, 2-0, and really getting their stuff implemented. It's really taken a hold pretty quick for them. I know we're going to have our hands full this weekend. We have lots of history with I-AA or FCS schools. Certainly, we aren't going to take them lightly in any way shape or form."
 
On if Western Illinois has an advantage coming off a bye week
"I think bye weeks are always good. I think any coach would tell you they'd rather have a break dead in the middle of the year than early, but certainly, I'm sure they used it to their advantage. You'd have to talk to them to know exactly what they did. When we have full bye weeks, which we haven't had one, I think since '13 or '14, what you try to do is practice, and then get out on the road and do some recruiting. We try to multitask there. I don't know what they did, but I'm sure they've used it to their advantage."
 
On having a tough task ahead facing a strong FCS opponent
"We know it's going to be a four-quarter battle. This isn't going to be one kiss, walk out and have things go your way. They're a good team. They have good football players. We know a lot of their football players through the recruiting process and a lot of respect for them, and how they play, and their program in general."
 
On what he has focused on with the players heading into this week
"Sunday we got in their for our 24-hour rule, and that was a day that we absolutely had to get in and look at what we did good and what we did bad, build on the good and correct. We got on the field a little bit with the young guys and got them going. The old guys lifted, kind of got the bumps and bruises out of them. Then yesterday was an off day. It was good to see the guys coming in on their own, coming in watching film, and they're really embracing that 'on to the next thing' and really got their focus on this one. I think they're in a good place, all things considered. I think we're going to be anxious to get on the practice field today.
 
On if he has same the same mistakes week in and week out or different mistakes
"I think last week was more of a consistency issue where when you play a good team like that, you have a break down really, I think it was five or six play defensively, where we had one or two guys break down in fits and then you saw some big runs, some big plays.
 
"Those five plays, don't get me wrong, are a big deal, but for 63 or 64 plays, we certainly played good defense. I think you're seeing that consistency come. But now unfortunately you play back like that, those five plays aren't tackled for 10 yards, they're touchdowns. He turned them into that. I think that's more what we have going on right now."
 
On if there are any changes that need to be made on defense
"We're always changing things defensively. I think if you stay still you get passed by, so you're always moving forward in everything that you do on offense, defense and special teams. That certainly hasn't changed this week."
 
On if there is a new scheme for this week
"Scheme is always being tweaked for the game plan that we have in. Personnel, we have constant competition going. We play a lot of guys on defense and the competition need to keep going and keep getting ourselves better through competition."
 
On Ryan Graham's performance
"Once he got his legs underneath him, I thought he played better. I wasn't happy with the start he had to the game. He wasn't either, so I'm not alone in that. As he got going there, there was a time there, really end of the second quarter through most of the third, the whole team was playing well. It didn't last long enough, and we had too big of a hole probably to dig out of. Certainly, Ryan was right along with the heading the major catalyst for that."
 
On Drew Hare's status
"He is in surgery as we speak. You get different timelines from people. I think so much of it goes with how he heals and how the surgery goes, but the rough timeline is on game are in that three-month range. It's actually his hamstring from what I understand. I don't want to go into specifics because I don't know, but it's his hamstring."
 
On Western Illinois head coach Charlie Fisher
"The schemes are definitely different. New offensive coordinator, new defensive coordinator, new special teams, so the staff is different. There's carry over in personnel and obviously in some things they're doing. I can't attest to whether he gutted or not. I think he brought his stuff that they were successful with."
 
On if there is a quarterback competition
"Ryan is our guy right now, but every day is competition. We've got a guy in Anthony Maddie. I know he only played one play last week, but there's definite competition going on there, daily. That's something that I think is really going to help Ryan and Anthony. We certainly weren't in that position last year when we had this situation, but we are this year so it's good."
 
On Western Illinois running back Steve McShane
"He's like any good back that you face. He has good vision, he runs a good pad level and then he has good speed, so when you have that combination, that's what makes a good running back. He has all three of those things. I think his thing is he can really break some tackles and plays that pad level of his is really a challenge because he plays over his pads so you have to get him and wrap him up and keep him wrapped up. Otherwise, he keeps those feet moving pretty good. I think he would play no matter where he was at, what level he was at. He's a really good football player."
 
On if McShane is one of those players you gameplan against
"I think inside of every scheme and game plan that you do, I think you saw that last week, that we had more guys crowding the line of scrimmage because you're going try to get that running back stopped. I think for a good bit of the time we had that accomplished. You're going to do some of those things. They have an outstanding receiver too and a quarterback who can throw the ball. That always makes it challenging, when you have to do that. Now, there are certain things you can do inside the scheme, but you have to play defense. If you dedicate a whole bunch to something, a good coach will do other things to make you hurt for it. I think there's a give and take there."
 
On Western Illinois' wide receiver Lance Lenoir
"He's a big kid first off has really good hands and good speed too.  So his routes you can tell he's played a lot of football because his routes are crisp in and out of the cuts and he plays at full speed. Sometimes when you get really talented receivers but there younger sometimes those details you can tell but with this kid you really can't."
 
On concerns with NIU's secondary
"Well, I mean I think it's next guy up. I think Mayomi [Olootu] had a great fall camp and I think [Daniel] Isom and [Damarius] Brinson fall in that category too. Really felt good about our entire secondary in fall camp. Obviously, AB [Anthony Brooks] and [Albert] Smalls being out, I say they, along with Lurry, had probably the best camp. But those next guys certainly have a ton of confidence in. Mayo played last week quite a bit so he has a lot of experience under his belt now."
 
On if he wants to focus more on running the football
"Yeah and I thought we started off the game running the ball pretty well. I don't want to discredit San Diego State, because I thought that was the finest defense we played to date, I thought we ran the ball as effectively as we have all year. So, I think there was definite improvement there but, again I don't want to discredit San Diego State. They're a tough football club to run the football on. You know I like to see that get better. We need it to get better. It has to, there's no question about that. But certainly was effective at times on Saturday."
 
On how to handle the pressure of getting that first win
"You live one-week lives in this profession, that's all you live. If you hold onto what happened last week it can beat you in a good way or a bad way. If you're holding onto something good that happened last week, sometimes you lose focus. If you're holding onto something bad that happened last week and not correcting it, then it can hurt you the following week too.
 
"You live one-week lives and you put the blinders on and you keep your head down. At the end of it you kind of look up and see where the chips fall. You bet it's more challenging when you're sitting there and you haven't had the success that you wanted. But, it doesn't change the fact that you have to do it."
 
On the attitude of both teams going into Saturday
"I don't think that would've changed us if we were sitting here 3-0 or like we are. You know you got to live those one-week lives and that's what we're doing right now. Ton of respect for this team, this team has our full attention I can tell you that and I know our guys have come in and watch film feel that same way."
 
On if there is any in-state rivalry extra on top of this game
"Well I think it's right, and Sean [Frazier] and I agree on that, I think that there's a lot of value in playing the other schools in the state. You know Northwestern not in the public system but you got Northwestern, Illinois, Illinois State, Southern, Eastern, Western and us. I think there's a lot of value in playing these interstate games. I just think it's good for Illinois football to be quite honest. Because, you have a lot of high school players Illinois high school players playing on both teams and neighboring states to but I think there's just a ton of value to it."
 
On if you prefer to have one in state school vs each other a year
"I think, scheduling is such a relationship business and it's such a delicate business. But, absolutely I think that that's I kind of like that local thing. I know kind of the national thing is to get bigger games early in the year and all those things. But I think when you have other programs in your state I think to play those teams is a good thing. For your high school football base there and your fans. Cause there will be a lot of people in the stands on Saturday that maybe know kids on both sides and that's really good.
 
On if he has recruited any of Western Illinois' player
"Yeah, there's a lot of kids on Western's team that at some point in the recruiting process we had a relationship with. Where that relationship went for different reasons is different for every kid but, certainly yeah I know a lot of them."
 
On if McShane was one of them
"Yeah, he's a good back and we were definitely recruiting him."
 
Jordan Huff, Tailback
 
On if he knows any of Western Illinois' players
"I talked to them a few times over the past few months. One of them is actually my really good buddy, Cal Breedlove, and Justin Corbett. Corbett plays linebacker and Breedlove plays tight end we've trashed talked a little bit joking around but it's all fun in the game."
 
Josh Ruka, Left Guard
 
On how long it takes to build chemistry with a new QB
"We want to be the smartest unit out there this year. I think our whole line group has come together really well and with our youngest player being our center. He takes on a big load to get calls out there for us to know, pass pro which way to go and stuff, he's done a really nice job and I think our whole group has meshed together really well. We just have to be more consistent each week."
 
Sean Folliard, Linebacker
 
On what he sees on film that he needs to work on
"Yeah, defensively you know it just comes down to execution and passion for the game. I feel like at times we executed and at times we had great passion for it. But, we have yet to put it together for a full four quarters. What we're looking to do is come together, get it right and that's what we're planning on doing. We're planning on executing with great passion and being perfect in our alignments, assignments, keys, reads and just playing physical fast.  That's just what Huskie football is and that's what we're planning to do this week in practice and planning to put that out on the field Saturday. We're planning on moving forward ahead with for the rest of the season.
 
On Western Illinois running back Steve McShane
"He's a very good player he has a great O-line in front of him. I think their schemes fit him really well in the way he runs and his style. Got a lot of respect for the dude, but again what we're trying to do is focus on ourselves right now, make the right plays and play well as a defense."
 
On if the defense's pride has taken a hit
"I think if you talk to anybody on this defense, you know no one's happy with what we've put on the field so far. We know it. No one else knows it, but in our room we're trying to focus on ourselves, get ourselves right, get ourselves in the right position. We have a lot of talent, lot of great guys on this defense and I know every single one of them is ready to get back in the film room back on the practice field just get back to work and fixing this."
 
Mario Jones-DT
 
On keeping the one-game-at-a-time mentality
" It's not that hard. We always say practice one day at a time. Everything we do is based on that."
 
-NIU-