2024 BOWL:Ìýbeat Washington State 52-35 in Holiday Bowl
RETURNING STARTERS:Ìý2 on offense, 5 on defense
KEY PLAYERS:ÌýQB Rickie Collins, QB Steve Angeli, WR Darrell Gill Jr., DB Duce Chestnut, P Jack Stonehouse
KEY LOSSES:ÌýQB Kyle McCord, RB LeQuint Allen, TE Oronde Gadsden, WR Trebor Pena, WR Jackson Meeks, DE Fadil Diggs, CB Clarence Lewis
FRAN BROWN ON THE TEAM:Ìý"We're building a culture. Culture is how you win. There will be two to three plays that will make our season a great season or the season we ain't want. So we just got to prepare so when those plays come we're ready for them. We could fall back on our training when we're tired. We fall back on our training when we get down. We've got to be able to fall back on the training, focus, lock in with each other, remember the hard work we went through and be able to pull through it. We are not the most talented team in the country, but we can be the hardest-working and we can be the most connected."
BROWN ON THE RUNNING BACKS AFTER LOSING LeQUINT ALLEN TO THE DRAFT: "We've got some good backs. LeQuint's going to do an amazing job at the next level, but we've got five running backs. We've got three that I can truly count on right now. So we'll be fine. That's how the game goes, right? You know Jim Brown played at Syracuse and then after he left, guess what happened? Ernie Davis came. And then after him, guess what? Floyd Little. Syracuse getting running backs won't be a hard job to do. We've got some really good backs. We'll be fine."
S BERRY BUXTON III ON THE RUN DEFENSE: "Run defense is really about discipline. Something we focus on is dying in your gap, essentially. Do your job and trust the guy next to you is going to do his job. Sometimes we didn't always trust that the person in front of you is going to do their job, so you try to do too much. But I think this year everybody's focusing on their job and trust other people to do their job. If you're in that ‘A’Ìýgap, stay in that ‘A’ gap because there's somebody else for that 'B’Ìýgap."
