RUSTON, La. - Louisiana Tech head coach Skip Holtz, senior offensive lineman Kody Russey and senior linebacker Ezekiel Barnett spoke with the media Tuesday in advance of LA Tech's (4-3, 3-2 C-USA) game at North Texas (3-4, 2-3 C-USA) on Thursday, Dec. 3, at 5 p.m. (CT), in Apogee Stadium.
 
Head Coach Skip Holtz
On playing a football game for the first time since Oct. 31:
"I hear No-Shave November is over. We are out of the No-Play November. For us not having the opportunity to play a game in November has been very frustrating to go four weeks in a row without playing. When you look back, our last football game was on October 31 here at home which seems like forever ago with everything we've been through with the highs and the lows and the emotional ups-and-downs with the preparations and cancellations. This football team is just really excited to have the opportunity to play. Normally we do this on Tuesday and we have to wait all the way to Saturday, but with a game on Thursday, we feel really good. We had testing this morning. We should be getting those results back really soon. I feel like, right now, this is going to happen which is really exciting for us as a football team. It's a lot like playing the opening game again. You have some nervous jitters. I'm not really sure how we're going to adjust to the speed of the game. Especially against a team that plays as fast as North Texas does. There will be a little bit of getting acclimated to playing a game again and the speed of the game, but I know this is something that North Texas had a very similar situation where I think they went 35 days without playing a game. It's uncharted waters for us right now. We're not really sure what to expect, but I know we have a football team that is really excited about having the opportunity to play. Every day that we get closer, I see more and more energy surfacing from our football team. We're out of the, 'Oh, well I wonder if this is going to happen.' Now, it's getting into, 'Hey, we're going to play.' This is exciting for us right now. We're really excited to have the opportunity to get on the field.
 
"Even though it's been a month of practice, I wish I would've been informed on the 31st we weren't going to play until December 3. I definitely would have structured the practices different, but it seems like every week you've been putting in game plans, getting organized and getting ready to play, and then on Thursday or Friday you feel like the rug has been pulled out from underneath your feet. The last two weeks have been a little bit different. Two weeks ago, we really took that week where we found out with ULM on Monday as kind of a week of rest. We tried to get another game for that week. Unfortunately, it wasn't able to happen. But, it was the last week of our quarter. We were in the final exams and the final week of classes, so we spent a couple of days in shorts and a couple of days in the weight room and really gave our players an opportunity to finish the quarter strong academically.
 
"Last week, being Thanksgiving and again finding out on Monday with FIU that we weren't going to be able to play, we went in pads on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We hit it really hard on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,. Then, without having a game in the month of November and not having a game over the Thanksgiving weekend, I felt like I needed to give the players an opportunity to go home. So, we broke our bubble for a couple of days on Thursday and Friday, came back and we started our game preparation for North Texas on Saturday. We came back and practiced Saturday, Sunday, Monday and here we are going to have our walkthrough Tuesday and our Fast Friday tomorrow morning and then we'll get on the bus and head over to Denton and get ready to play the game. It's been an interesting 30 days to say the least, but we're all really excited that, hopefully, that drought is over and we're going to have the opportunity to play."

On if the game feels more like a season opener or if it's similar to the time spent getting ready for a bowl game:
"What makes it a little bit different is you didn't know when the end date was, so every Saturday you had to be ready to play a different opponent. Your staff was putting together the game plans. You were going out and practicing against whether it was a three-down front this week then a four-down front. It really hadn't been like 30 days to get ready to play a bowl game in preparation. It's been broken into four one-week segments and each of those weeks have been different in trying to get ready for North Texas the first time and then trying to get ready for Rice and then starting the preparations for ULM and then starting the preparations for FIU. So, it's certainly been different then a bowl game and that's why I said I wish I would've known the end result on October 31. I would have structured this a little bit differently like a bowl game where you have 30 days to get ready for opponent where we've gotten ready for four different opponents in the last four weeks. It will be a little bit different, but at the same time we'll find out. It's uncharted waters here. When I opened the chapter of the coaching book to this chapter, it was empty. There was nothing written in it. There was nothing to go on, you just have to go on where your team is and what you feel like you need to do to get them ready to play."
 
On the importance of creating a balance in the run game against North Texas:
"It's very important because our defense is going to be on the field. When you look at North Texas, they are the number one offense in our conference and the number four offense in the country and 10th in the country in rushing. They are very explosive in what they do. They go at a very high pace and you're going to have to protect your defense. You can't go out there and try and match them and say, 'Hey, we can go fast, too.' Because if you do it that way, your defense is going to be out on the field for a very long time. They have two explosive running backs that are averaging six and seven yards a carry. Their quarterback is averaging 11 yards a carry. (Jaelon) Darden, their wide receiver, is still leading the country in touchdowns with 12 touchdown receptions and has had 58 catches on the season. They are very explosive, and when they go as quick as they do, it only takes one guy to get out of his gap or not fit the formation properly, and all of a sudden, they have homerun potential in the quarterback, both running backs and the wide receiver. So, that is what makes them so explosive. Offensively, you'd love to be able to say we're going to run the ball. You'd love to be able to say that. But, with what they do defensively, they play a pressure-oriented defense. They're going to put a lot of guys up in the box. They are going to try and stop you from running and they're going to try and force you to throw the ball. It's the way that they're built in that their defense compliments their offense and they try and make you play fast and get the ball back as quick as they can. That's going to the competition between the two is they are going to try and stop us from running and we are going to try and run it. They are going to try and go tempo to hit some homerun balls, and we have to get some stops on defense."
 
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