What Louisiana-Monroe HC Terry Bowden said about preparing for Alabama
On Saturday, when Lousiana-Monroe coach Terry Bowden leads his team out onto the field at Bryant-Denny Stadium, he'll check off another first on his coaching resume.
The son of legendary Florida State coach Bobby Bowden said he's never coached a game against Alabama in Tuscaloosa, but added that he's faced the Crimson Tide in the past during his stints with Auburn and Clemson.
Bowden leads a Warhawks team who won their home-opener against Nicholls 35-7. It was a much-needed bounce back for Louisiana-Monroe after getting dominated by Texas in Week1. With the team getting set to play its second Power 5 game on the road, Bowden said he and his team have looked at the three upsets from this past week as inspiration for the team's trip to Tuscaloosa.
Here is everything Bowden said about preparing for Alabama during his weekly press conference.
Opening statement...
“We’ve kind of been down this road with Texas and now we play Alabama, who is just as if not even more talented than Texas. Obviously, it’s close because they’re two very talented teams. But these two teams have more talent than anyone else in the country. It’s a great opportunity, it’s an incredible challenge and our players will work hard and are excited to get this opportunity. On one hand, as a longtime coach, a little bit of a historian of the game and someone whose roots are in Alabama, it’s a great chance for our guys to go to Tuscaloosa and play Alabama, one of the premier programs in the country over the many, many, many years. On the other hand, we are playing the defending national champions and a team that’s ranked No. 1 still in one poll and No. 2 in the other. We have a major challenge ahead of us. We’ll prepare ourselves this week, get excited about playing and look forward to playing. We just have to look at last week and see that anything is possible. We’re not favored to be in this football game, but I don’t think Appalachian State was favored to be in the game against Texas A&M ranked No. 6. I don’t think Marshall was expected to be in the game in Notre Dame, and I doubt Georgia Southern, who has a new coach coming off of a bad year, was expected to beat Nebraska in Lincoln and yet they did. You have to go in with the mindset to play our best game the best we can do and let things happen as they happen. Our guys have to go in believing that if I play my best and if my best is enough to pull an upset, that’ll be fine. That’s kind of how we are going in.”
On if he was watching the Alabama-Texas game…
"Yes. They were playing an 11 a.m. game so we were able to watch most of the football game. Of course, you’re watching because you’re watching that game or any other games such as Texas A&M and Appalachian State. We play Appalachian State later in the season as well. You see how talented both teams are and how good they play football. There is just no good way to defend (Bryce Young). He moves around so well, he’s always calm and he’s a Heisman Trophy winner. I thought it was interesting that he’s not afraid to take a sack. He takes them every now and then because he sits in the pocket for so long and his best plays are when he waits until the last second and can flick the ball. He has a tremendous quick release, he can flick the ball in a split second 30 yards downfield. He sits in that pocket until the very last minute, and I don’t think he panics if someone can wrap around from behind and catch him every now and then as he was caught Saturday. Even Utah State did that and he stood so long there that every now and then he got to him, but the scary thing is that there’s not much you can do to defend him. You rush too hard and their receivers are too good to play man-coverage. If you sit back and give him all day, he’ll pick you apart. If you leave gaps open, he’ll run it. He’s a quarterback that you have to watch him play and almost study to see how strong he is. He has such a great supporting cast around him on offense. The running back had a big 80-yard run to open the game against Texas, they’re going to be hard to tackle. Their line is massive and are coming together as an offensive line. Defensively, man can they run. They run so well. I believe Texas is a better team than people might have expected to start the season, but Alabama to me is just as good as expected. I think when people talk about the two levels, you have to start with the talent level on the team. They’ll have a talent level that we just can’t simulate in practice, or play against it during the season, except against Texas.”
On what he’s taken during his matchups against Alabama while at Clemson…
“My time at Clemson was as an analyst. Really it's a time for me to hone my skills and a lot of analysts are watching a position or helping a coach with a position and I was doing a lot of the behind-the-scenes work preparing for the game ahead. I did get to watch a lot of very good football and study good football without worrying about having to give a pregame talk or having to have a game plan or those things. I think the fact that was at Auburn for five games against Alabama and understand what it's like to play against Alabama with that type of talent, not with a lesser Group of Five team, but I do understand the atmosphere at Alabama and the in the way in which they play football and the way it's played in the SEC. I spend a lot of time in the SEC. Interestingly enough, I've never coached a game in Tuscaloosa. We played in Birmingham. We played home games in Auburn we played away games in the Iron Bowl at Legion field. Coach (Gene) Stallings and I played in the last Iron Bowl game played in Birmingham. But I did broadcast a game at Alabama, during my time at ABC. It's a great atmosphere as far as college atmosphere goes. Our players will be in an atmosphere they have to get through and past as well. We'll go out there Friday and kind of do a walkthrough just to get a feel for the stadium very much like we did Texas, but they'll have a game day atmosphere that has an impact on that game as well. All those things will factor in, the atmosphere and the intensity. But most of all just how good they are will be the thing you have to find a way to deal with.”
On if he expects to be heckled because he was the former Auburn head coach…
“Well, I imagine so. Once you coach somewhere, especially in that rivalry, you’re always the other team. I mean, I'll always be the ex-Auburn coach. The biggest thing is this game is not about me, I’ll be honest with you and I think Coach Saban will say the same thing, it's not about him. It's about those players on the field. At Auburn, we were able to put players on the field every year that were very similar to the ones at Alabama. We recruited the same players and we played against each other with the same level of talent. We're coming in here with a team that's a decided underdog that will be excited to play and we'll play our hearts out. But I don't think I'll have a lot to do with it and the coaches will have a lot to do with it, it'll be the players on the field. I don't want to make this game about Terry Bowden, the former Auburn coach. Not one of my players was born while I was in Auburn. Not one player that I have has any knowledge of that time or era because they were born after I left Auburn and went to ABC. They're not aware of that at all.”
On what his players know about the 2007 game and how that game is being used to motivate ULM for this Saturday…
“Well we don't practice on Monday, so Tuesday we'll go out and talk about it a little bit every day. It'll go along with it talks about the upsets that came last weekend, and the fact on any given Saturday, anything could happen. That 2007 ULM team goes into Tuscaloosa and wins 21-14. Now that was Coach Saban's first year and he usually does a massive overhaul his first year and he's won six national championships there since then. But I think we'll focus on the fact that it happens. I think you don't have to exaggerate to say that it happens. You have to be honest that they're favored and they're a much more talented football team, but you don't have to exaggerate because you got ULM beating Alabama in 2007, almost 15 years ago. But you've got other teams that are a Group of Five that are beating Power 5’s at their place, under very difficult circumstances and they'll be ready to play. If anything that I wish didn't happen, was that we didn't have all of those upsets last week. I don't think a lot of the players on the field will go back and think about 2007, they were so little. They will think about what happened last Saturday and I'm sure Alabama’s players will be reminded continually what happened to teams like Texas A&M. Jimbo (Fisher) played for me and coached with me for 14 years and you see how close things like that can happen. I almost wish that hadn't been that kind of weekend because I think that makes everybody aware, including our players, that on any given Saturday, all you can do is play your best and let the game unfold.”
On his relationship with Saban…
“We have not crossed paths very much in our lives, other than in the very beginning. He would not know me when I knew him. My dad recruited him out of high school when he was at Monongah High School. He had teammates like a guy named Kerry Marbury and Charlie Miller who played at West Virginia for my dad, who I got to know and I played with Charlie; I think he was a senior when I was a freshman. But I knew of Coach Saban when he was in high school. One of the probably greatest teams ever to play in West Virginia, the little town of Monongah where my dad recruited him. He was a short quarterback and ended up going to Kent State and then they've kind of known each other. Then when I got to West Virginia and played after my dad left, he was a defensive backfield coach on the staff when I was a running back. I got to see him as an assistant coach and then my last year there I was a graduate assistant and I did a lot of recruiting for him and traveling for him, but really beyond that, we haven't crossed paths at all. I'm not sure we've bumped into each other in that entire time since 1998. Obviously, Nick is just the premier coach in the country and has done so well and deserves all that credit. I do know where he comes from and how hard he's worked to get it. I've been able to watch him from West Virginia to the Cleveland Browns, through colleges and universities, and the players that I've had to play for me and coaches that I've had coach for me, have also coached for him. From Jimbo Fisher to Rick Trickett and other coaches that were on my staff that have since been on his staff. AJ Milwee who was quarterback coach last year, and many others that were on his staff. I know that he’s probably closer to my dad than me age-wise, he’s always right in between us. My dad and him got to bump into each other a lot more because in the last 10 years my dad went to one or two Alabama games each year with his friends, and Nick was always gracious and very kind to him.”
On if there are any weaknesses that ULM can exploit…
“I thought their fourth-team left tackle was not very good. I don't even know who their fourth-team left tackle is. No, I didn’t see any real weaknesses. I mean they just didn't break down that much. They won 20-19, came back and won the game and did not give up a lot of yards. There are not a lot of weaknesses. All you can do is not turn the ball over and try not to give up explosive plays. If a guy breaks three tackles in scores, you didn't really give it up, you tried your hardest. When you're out of position, and a guy runs uncovered and catches a pass for a touchdown, you don't want to give up explosive plays, or turn the ball over in a game like that. The biggest thing I can see is that we just need to take care of ourselves. I'm not sure we can look at any area of their team and say, ‘We're going to attack this guy or this guy,’ as opposed to just making sure we do our job. The way they played Utah State was probably the way Texas played us. The game got under control very quickly and you couldn't see any ability to challenge parts of their team. Texas was just too great of a football team. To me, the more you see a team like that and go play in a game like that, you want to make sure you take of what we do. Try not to give up turnovers, pick-sixes those types of things. Fumble scoop-and-scores, things that give up touchdowns that come very quickly and get you out of a game. Obviously the longer you can stay in a game, the better your chances of hanging around and something happening.”