Focus Shifts to South Carolina at Weekly Press Conference

Jimbo Fisher, Tyree Johnson, Carson Green and Hezekiah Jones met the media on Monday as the Aggies held their weekly press conference in advance of the weekend's trip to Columbia to face South Carolina.

Videos and select quotes will be available below.

Select comments from Coach Fisher's press conference:

• Opening Statement/Special Teams:   Going back and reviewing the film, very good win at home against Arkansas. Anytime you get an SEC win it's good. Some really good things in the game. Thought our kicking game did a nice job. Caden's kicking the ball out of the end zone with no coverage, did a great job. Gave them no chance for returns. Our punt team did a really nice job. We ended up having to put in the fourth quarter, averaged about 42 yards net with no returns. Getting great hang time. Love it. Got a couple nice punt returns out of the deal, some great field position for us in that regard. Kicked one ball on the ground, we got a good kickoff return, got it back out past the 25 and did a real nice job there. Got our PATs and things going too.
• Opening Statement/Offense:   Offensively, sharp in the game. Had the first drive where didn't get points, then we scored six straight touchdowns. That was really good. Had a couple first downs the next drive, had a holding penalty and got set back, we were moving it again. Had a dropped pass that stopped us on that drive. Didn't want to take any chances when we were up three scores, managed the game and got out of it. Want to finish a little better there. Thought on third down we were excellent. Red Zone scoring touchdowns we were excellent. Had good balance as far as being able to run and throw the football. Protected the quarterback very well. Very few negative plays. Had three holding calls which is unfortunate. We've got to check on a couple, ask on a couple, they were close. We're going to make sure we're doing the right things and teaching the right things. Actually scored a touchdown off two holding calls in one drive. Bet I can count on one hand or maybe one finger if I've ever scored a touchdown with two holding calls on the same drive. Distribution across the board, different guys catching the ball, good reads. In our run checks, protections, pass checks, preparation, the things Kellen was doing were very good in that regard.
• Opening Statement/Defense:   Defensively, didn't get started off well. They got moving the football, got a score, but we answered. Big drives I thought were answering back on offense after they scored, answering when they got to 21-14 and making it 28-14, then the defense getting a big stand around the 30, 35 yard line not giving up any points before half was really huge. Then the offense scoring first drive of the second half to put us up three scores. Then defensively we settled down. We did a really good job of getting off the field on third down, gave up a couple too many big plays in the run game. Usually really good on the run. They had some things inside where we got out of gaps a little bit, out of gap control, trying to make a few more plays instead of staying inside with what we're trying to do. Things that can be easily fixed. Defense in the third quarter did really nice job and we were able to stretch the game out and play.
• Opening Statement/South Carolina:   Got a lot of things we've got to get better on. Still growing. But a good win at home. Got to go play a very good South Carolina team on the road. South Carolina has beaten some good teams. They play really good at home, night game over there's always tough. Will's a heck of a football coach. Mike Bobo, I've known him a long time. Very good football coach. They've got really good players. Both corners are ones projected to be first rounders, one preseason, the other one this season. So very good there. They've got rush guys up front, 52 and those guys can rush. The backers 53 and those guys, make a ton of plays. 5, 6 up front, those guys are strong. Strong offensive line. Backs can really run the football. The young back 20 is really doing a great job for them in my opinion. Physical. Quarterback's doing a good job there. Of course Smith had a big play on us last year. He's a really good receiver. Tight ends are good. They'll have a good scheme. We're gonna have to play well and got to do it on a short week. Got practice today, but tomorrow is off which is the right thing to do for getting our kids to make sure they vote, exercise their right to do that, get all that taken care of. But that does challenge you as far as preparation. Got to get things ready quickly today and then get back on Wednesday.
• When you look ahead to a team like South Carolina where you where you guys are favored and the way this team is playing, does it get harder when you have to live up to expectations?  You don't worry about that. Got to live up your own expectations. That's how you prepare every day, it's how you practice every day, it's how you think. That's the world you have to live in. You're never a favorite in any game. Everybody in this league can beat you. Everybody's got great players. It's about us preparing, playing, and handling our business one game at a time, one day at a time this week to get in position to be able to play on Saturday. That's not a cliche. That's the way we think, that's what we believe, and that's the way you have to do it. There are no favorites. There are no underdogs. You've just got to play the game and be the best you can be.
• How do you approach being highly ranked with your team? The guys are looking at they're top-10, and all the what ifs and the scenarios, what do you tell them?   Don't listen to the poison. You're going to believe us? Myself and the staff and everybody around you? Or are you going to believe people out there who are just writing things? They're going to write a story, if you win and write a story if you lose. They win both ways. There's no offense to that. We live in our own little world, You always hear, why are you not having success? Well I ask them, why are you having success? Because you block out the clutter. You play one game at a time. You live one day at a time. You do what you can do today, go to bed, get up, get ready to play the game this weekend, and that whole process puts you in position to have success. Doesn't mean you have success, you still have to go play. And that's what you keep reminding them each and every day, because human nature is to have complacency. Human nature is not to grind things out. Human nature is not to push to be great. It's to do well, take a break, and then get back at it. If you're going to have great teams, you can't think like that. That's something that is hopefully in the culture we're continually building and expressing, from our coaches to everybody in the whole building, A to Z, that the reasons you have success never changes. It's your preparation, your thought process, and your daily work habits.
• Your time at Florida State, you had a lot of top 10 teams going on the road. Do teams play harder against you because of that ranking? Did you find out it's a little tougher, or not, to win?   Yeah. When you become a target, or when you have success like we did down there for a long time, we definitely did. Teams are laying it out there. They can make a name they can make a season they can start a program. And I hope we can get A&M to that point. That's what our goal is, that everybody wants to play their best against us, which they do in this league anyway, if you're ranked and doing the things you've got to do. That's something we can't worry about. You've got to expect the other guy's best no matter what. It's going to be tough, it's going to be hard, and you go. But you know that you become a target. And we know if you do it for a long period of time, there's no doubt. That's just human nature. You as a competitor, you've got to assume no matter what's going on in the game that they're thinking that way about you. You can't worry about them, you've got to worry about how you play and expect that guy's best and play your best.
• Are there specific qualities that go into being a very good road team, and what kind of lessons do you take away from your first two road games this season?  I think being on the road, you've got to understand that you're going into a hostile environment. Everybody there except for the Aggies that are allowed to get tickets are not going to be for you. So you do have to have a chip on your shoulder. You've got to expect hostility. You've got to be able to stand by yourself and stand with your brothers on the team, and it becomes a mentality like that, which hopefully you have at home too. Most do, but you've got to have that thick skin. There's going to be moments where the crowd's going to get after it. There are going to be momentum swings. You've got to play the next play. The crowd gets controlled by how you play. And that's the big thing. If it gets out of hand, you've got to go back and play the next play. There is a maturity in that, not letting the emotions of the game and the momentum of the game get away. Just control what you can control, what's in front of you. You build a mentality like that. And I think we've taken that from our road games. We've won one, we've lost one. Both have had tough situations. Both have had big momentum swings in the game, and we've handled those at times really well. So hopefully those are areas we're continuing to grow and see progress in that area.