MTSU was demolished by the Liberty Flames on Saturday, 37-17. Following the game, MTSU head coach Derek Mason met with the media and answered several questions; here’s a recap of his postgame press conference.

Mason’s opening statement

“Our football team had opportunities today, but the ability to capitalize just slipped through our fingers. I told our guys afterward that we can’t be about the peaks and valleys because that’s not how football is played. We’re going to make mistakes, and we can work through those, but for us, our guys just can put it away and keep playing and staying focused.”

“Way too many penalties for us today, penalties kill drives, and I think there were times when we had momentum but gave it away because of penalties. There were too many times in this ball game when we couldn’t get off the field. The important thing defensively is that you’ve got to stop the run. We knew it would come at us, but we didn’t do a good enough job to get the ball back to our offense, and our offense didn’t execute well enough, so the result is what you saw today. The Blue Raiders have got to be better.”

Mason on Liberty’s offensive adjustments throughout the game

“I think they did a good job of the triple option, and coming downhill, they gave us 12 and 21 personnel and ran right at us. So, the ball was getting contacted after three or four yards but was going for six to eight yards a carry, and when you bleed like that, it’s problematic. There’s no scheme for that; you must get the ball carrier down when you hit him, and we’ll have to assess if we’re strong enough.”

“We’re young, so the idea is to find ways to avoid it, whether by adding someone else to the box or using a shoot safety. When your safety gets 14 tackles a game, it speaks to where we’re at; we’ll be better in the future. But for now, probably not strong enough to hold up to get teams to do what we need them to do, so we get them to third down.”

Mason on questionable calls from the officials

“It’s part of it. I try not to do the referee's job, but if they look at Hayes’ play, he was never down and had the first down to make it first and goal; it’s been very inconsistent. I’m never one to get after officials, I’m not, but the consistency I’ve seen looks different from my 30 years of football. We have more technology than we’ve ever had, so the idea of getting it right is in front of us, but here’s the thing, we have to play better. Let's take care of what we can control, and hopefully, when they [referees] look at theirs, they have higher-ups that will look at it and grade them as we get graded.”

Mason on MTSU penalties

“To me, it’s a combination of youth and not executing; I don’t think it’s one or the other. Simon Wilson had two in a row, negating two big runs he didn’t need to hold. When you’ve got a bunch of young guys making popcorn-like mistakes, those start to add up, and that’s a lot of loose change.”

“That’s not blaming; it’s just saying that the execution part of the game continues to come back and put us in adverse situations. I told our guys afterward that we have to execute better and that you’ve got to be careful about frustration. There’s always enough negative, but where’s the get better? Where’s the fight? I want to see us get better. Let’s finish this thing the way we can; that was truly the message to the team postgame.”

Mason on Grant Chadwick being added to the Ray Guy Award watchlist

“[Grant] Chadwick is a great teammate. We talked last night as a football team, and Trey Turk was the punter here and had done a terrific job but had to step aside for a freshman. I think Trey has been the best cheerleader, and at the end of the day, it helped Grant grow. It can either be competitive or combative, but it’s always been competitive, and the confidence of an older guy who’s been through it to lead the way has been spectacular for him.”

“I don’t think he [Chadwick] worries about awards, what he tries to do is go out and compete, that’s what we wanted from the young man. Just compete, and the accolades will come if you do your job. He’s been terrific and fun to watch; many people are singing his praises, but we’ve got two games left, and we need to ensure he stays locked in.”