 Hello and welcome to the Ed Hodl show presented by Buffalo Wildlands. I'm Greg Royce, showed by Stevenson Head Football Coach Ed Hodl. Coach, how you're coming off the bye week is as always, you're undefeated on the bye week. You're able to get a little bit of rest, get some working as well. Just talk about how the past week went. It's been good. We've had a chance to get some guys healthy, get some guys some much needed rest. From an injury perspective, we were able to get some guys rehabbed, get them back on the field. So we're excited that, you know, I think we're getting better as we move into the second half of the season. Yeah, absolutely. Like you said, you know, especially some of the younger guys, maybe this is the first year we'll go around college football to get that break to kind of, you know, recoup. And maybe, you know, catch up on some schoolwork and things like that. Yeah, it's tough when you're a freshman, you know, what they think they're ready. And then they get to this time of year and you start to see them fall off on the field. You start to see them stressing about schoolwork with midterms and things like that. So we were able to give them some time off to make sure that they had the opportunity to catch up academically, really focus on their midterm exams and really put their best foot forward academically. And I think that for us, that should allow them to springboard into the second half of the season. Because as you know, you know, when we get to the end of the season, it's Thanksgiving and then it's exams. You know, it happens really, really quick. And so for us, you know, having that week in the middle of the year has been really, really beneficial for us. Yeah. Now coming off the bi-week, you jump right back into it. You jump into homecoming this week. I'm just talking about, you know, once again, a sold out game. And so it's a great atmosphere here at Mustang State about homecoming. Homecoming here is special. You know, when you get 3,500, 3,700 people packed into Mustang Stadium, it's an exciting environment. But we've done it. We approach it the same way we do every year. You know, for us, it's about being the best football team that we can be. And, you know, the homecoming festivities are awesome for everybody but the football team. We have to do our job on Saturday and that's win a ball game. And that has to be our singular focus. Yeah, absolutely. Because obviously if you don't do your job, the rest of the homecoming is a little bit of a downer for everybody else. Absolutely right. And for us, that, again, that's our job and we hopefully will have some success. Yeah. Now you face an all bright team that, you know, historically, it's been a very close series. I think, you know, except the first year and last year, they've all been decided by touchdown or less. And, you know, they're coming off a couple of close games where, you know, they lost a lot of last play after you lost in the fourth quarter against Wilkes last week. So they're really in some ball games. Yeah, they had a chance to win the Wilkes game last week. You know, they were in the red zone with, you know, just under a minute or so to go in the game and, you know, had an opportunity to win it late. And I think what you're seeing is, you're seeing what is a good football team who's just struggled to get some traction from a confidence perspective. And I think when you play in those close ball games, I think it gives you a little bit more incentive because you know how close you are. And I expect them to be ready to roll on Saturday. I expect them, you know, to be to make it a four quarter game. Like you said, it's, you know, I don't think besides the last year's game in the first game, it's been a one score game. And I expect nothing less from them coming in here Saturday. Yeah. And, you know, coming off the bye week and a little bit of rest. So what can we expect from your guys? Hopefully a little bit more bounce. Again, you'll see some guys out there that we're finally getting back and healthy, which is exciting to see. You know, we want to be efficient on offense and, you know, we want to generate turnovers on defense. You know, not a whole lot has changed for us schematically or philosophically over the last week. You know, we've got to be the best football team that we can be on Saturday. All right, coach. Well, thanks a lot and best luck on Saturday. We'll chat next week. Thanks, Greg. All right, for Ed Hoddle, I'm Greg Royce. This has been the Ed Hoddle Show.