Middle Tennessee head coach Rick Stockstill watches from the sideline during the second quarter of an NCAA football game against Illinois Saturday, Sept. 26, 2015 at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill. (AP Photo/Bradley Leeb)

I talked Monday afternoon with Middle Tennessee football coach Rick Stockstill, who brings his squad to Western Kentucky at 11 a.m. Saturday.

Here are Stockstill’s full comments on the rivalry game:

RICK STOCKSTILL

On confidence in his team despite tough losses: “We’ve had a very, very challenging schedule here to open up the year. We had three losses to Alabama, Illinois and Vanderbilt, and realistically we had a chance in Illinois and Vandy. We had the lead with a few minutes left in the game and didn’t hold on to it, but I’m proud of how we’re competing and how we’re playing. It just hasn’t shown up in the win-lost column yet.”

Moving on from Vanderbilt loss: “We have to. We practice on Sunday and Monday is our day off. We worked out yesterday, so we put the Vanderbilt game behind us. Now we’re just focused on Western Kentucky.”

On MTSU’s offense and his son, quarterback Brent Stockstill: “I like where we’re at offensively. I think we’re doing some good things. We didn’t run the ball very good against Alabama, Illinois and Vanderbilt, but those three teams – Alabama’s No. 10 in total defense, Illinois is 28, I think, and Vandy is 21 or something like that. That’s three really good defenses. We’ve really thrown the ball a lot this year – a lot more than we ever have. We’ve been fairly successful doing that. I think Brent has done a great job in his first five games. … He’s made smart decisions with the ball, and he’s been very accurate with the ball and has done a nice job, so I’ve been pleased with his progress.”

On importance of turnover margin: “It usually is in close games. If you go back to last year, we didn’t have any turnovers, and Brandon threw that interception right before the half. That enabled us to go and tie it up at the half, so they can look at it as, ‘We only had one turnover, and it cost us seven points.’ When you have two good football teams playing, ball security, turnovers and the team that can make the fewest mistakes is usually the team that comes out on top.”

On WKU’s offense, including Brandon Doughty’s play and loss of Leon Allen: “I’m sure they miss Leon, because to me, he was the complete package back there. He was good in the passing game, and he was good at running the ball. But Brandon, he’s really, really good. He’s a special quarterback. He protects the ball and spreads it around to several receivers. He can make every throw in the book and is playing with a lot of confidence. Whatever accolades he’s earned and whatever people have said about him, it’s not enough.”

On saying in July that WKU-MTSU rivalry had become healthier on the field: “To me, that’s college football. You don’t need to have all that trash talking and pushing each other after a play – all that kind of stuff. Just play a good, clean football game and let the fans do all that in the stands. In the field, I just believe you be first-class, play hard and play the game the way it was meant to be played. I think that’s what Jeff wants, and to me, that’s the way this game has been played the last several years.”

— Zach Greenwell