Mondays with Bobby, featuring Mitchell Henry

Comments from Bobby Petrino after Western Kentucky’s final practice Thursday before departing for Tennessee.

Bobby Petrino

    ”I thought we had a good week. Our players came out and we were able to have Sunday off and come back on Monday and get through the game, get the grades on all the video.

    ”I thought we had a good week of practice. Coaches are working hard on the gameplan, I think it’s a good gameplan, we’ve got to go out and be able to execute. We understand it’s going to be a real physical game. We gotta take care of the ball on offense and stop the run on defense. That’s probably the key to our ability to have success.

    ”Looking forward to it. I think our players are excited. We gotta travel well and go down and work hard to get a win.”

    Team’s focus: “We went through (Kentucky) on Monday and got that all behind us and came back on Tuesday and all our focus was on Tennessee. Working hard with the tempo at practice and the speed we want to practice at.

    ”We were better this week at it than we were a week ago. That’s one thing that’s real important as the year goes on is we learn how to practice better each week.”

    First true road game: “We do everything exactly the same. We travel to stay in a hotel down there instead of here and in Nashville. Basically we’re a routine team. We go through pretty much the same routine each week.”

    Underdog mentality: “We know it’s a challenge. We know we need to go down there and play well. We don’t have to do anything extraordinary to win the game. I think that’s something that our players – I tried to make sure they understand we just have to go play football the way we’re capable of playing, execute, do things right, play with great effort and it again it comes down to being in a position in the fourth quarter to win a game.”

    Playbook: “We’ve been doing a lot of things. I think Brandon (Doughty’s) got a good handle on what it is. Our style changes a little bit week to week, but we’ve been able to execute a lot of different parts of our running game, a lot of different parts of our passing game and play-action.

    ”We haven’t really held a lot back at all.”

    UT vs. APSU: “That always gets a little bit out of whack. They were up 45-0 and focuses change a little bit, so you don’t put a whole lot into that.

    ”What we have to do is worry about ourselves, making sure that we stay fresh by rotating the way we rotate and guys coming in and playing well when they get their reps – keep our backs fresh, do a good job with our wide receivers and tight ends on rotations and our defensive front.

    ”It’s really just worry about ourselves and what we can do to control the game to try to win it.”

    Injuries: “Nah, we’re in good shape. I’m happy about that.”

    The opportunity: “It’s the game we’re playing this week, so it’s the biggest game of the year and that’s how we kind of approach it. Each week that game is the biggest game of the week.

    ”I think our guys are excited about it because it is a good SEC football program and it will be a big, hostile environment. We gotta do a good job of focusing of what we have to do with our job. It’s great challenge so we’re excited about it. We just need to go down there and play well.”

Filed under: Football, Talkin’ bout the Tops