Head Coach Chris Hatcher answered the media’s questions about the bye week at a press conference Monday. Here are a few of his main points.

“Any time you get a couple days off to recharge your batteries and get away – players get away from coaches, coaches get away from players – it never hurts. Especially after we’ve been through a long camp.”

“One thing that we’re excited about, though, is we finally get into some form of a routine. We played a Thursday night, had a few extra days off, then play a game and have the week off. So looking forward to getting into some sort of seasonal routine, if you will, as we head into this upcoming opponent of Western Michigan.”

“This is our second money game back to back. It’s almost like we play three money games, back to back to back, with Louisville, Western Michigan and Jacksonville State, as good as they are. The schedule has done us no favors, but you’ve got to show up and you’ve got to be ready to play.”

“We play a Western Michigan team that hasn’t had much success in the past few years. However, I think they’re a much improved football team. Again, they’re at a level higher than us – more scholarships. I think the biggest improvement in their team is on the front lines. I think they’re much improved offensive line-wise, much improved on the defensive line. Which, if there was an area that I didn’t want them to improve in, it was those two areas, ‘cause those are the two that usually give us the most trouble when we move up a level in play.”

“We feel like we’ve got a good game plan. We always play to win, this week will be no different. So we’ll just have to wait and see how it goes on Saturday.”