The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga football coach Russ Huesman, senior offensive lineman and team captain Synjen Herren and junior linebacker Nakevion Leslie met with the media on Tuesday afternoon and discussed the No. 8 Mocs' upcoming season opening game against No. 7 Jacksonville State.

Select quotes from Tuesday's lunch can be found below.  For the full interviews, check out the MocsVision video links included with this story.

Kickoff for Saturday's CODE BLUE game at Finley Stadium is 6:00 p.m.  The matchup is the only Division I game between top-10 opponents this weekend and features the highest-ranked non-conference team to visit the Mocs in Finley Stadium.

Head coach Russ Huesman
Opening statement.
"I think everybody realizes what type of game this could be, in my opinion, with two excellent football teams.  I think we have a good team with good players.  I think Jacksonville State has a really good football team and really good players and good coaches.  Both teams deserve to be where they're ranked.  To get two top-10 teams in Finley Stadium, to open a season up, first game of the year, all those things are huge.  I think we'll have a great crowd, we need a great crowd. This thing is going to come down to the wire.  I think we're both going to play well, and if we both play well, it's going to be decided in the fourth quarter, or overtime, or whatever it is. These are two good teams going at it.  I respect Jacksonville State and what they've done. I think their coach has done a fantastic job there taking over that program.  It could be one of those epic battles."

"You want to win every game.  Whether it's this game, the next game, the Florida State game, whatever it is, you want to win them all.  You guys will probably make it out to be more important than any of the other games; it's not.  It's one of eleven. We're going to play hard. They're all the same to me. We want to win them all. This just happens to be the one that's up this Saturday. So we're going to play hard and get after them like they're going to get after us."

Do you learn more about your team sooner by starting with such a tough opponent?
"That's a great question. You probably do, but again we had a good team last year.  It showed up that we had a good team, but I don't think we had a good team against Central Michigan or Jacksonville State.  Jacksonville State really, thoroughly whooped us.  We were very fortunate to get that thing into overtime. We got beat on both sides of the ball.  Fortunately, we had a couple of pick-sixes and somehow kept it in the game.  Defense made enough plays to keep it in the game.  Realistically after the Jacksonville State game, I didn't know what kind of team we had to be honest with you, but we had a good team.  If something went right in overtime and we won that thing, we probably didn't deserve to win it.  We'll play better this year.  I have a good feeling."

On the negative yardage in the third quarter against Jacksonville State last year.
"I went into the locker room last year and looked at our offensive line and none of them were sweating.  I said, 'Well what's going on here? It's 95 degrees out and we don't have any sweat coming out.'  I wasn't a happy camper in that locker room. Some of the guys that were in the locker room probably remember that. Again, we were young up front.  I don't think people realize this.  Me personally, I probably shouldn't have went in there and yelled at them. We had three guys on the offensive line that had never taken an offensive snap in a college game.  You lose one of your best players, Synjen Herren, in fall camp and we're shuffling people around. Chris Malone did an unbelievable job at getting those guys better and better as the year went on. You win and lose games up front. I'm not saying we lost that game up front.  We had to grow up and we did.  Those guys played great.  I'm proud of our offensive line.  They (Jacksonville State) had some good players, and they have them coming back too.  But I think we're a year older in some critical spots."

On Jacksonville State's defensive line.
"They're really good up front.  That's where they go. I don't think there's any question.  They've got some talented kids in the secondary.  I think they're replacing a couple of linebackers. They were successful last year because of what they did up front and how physical they were up front.  You couldn't get any push up front on these guys.  It wasn't just us, a lot of teams couldn't get push.  They're athletic, they're long, and they're big.  I think up front is where it starts for them, defensively.  We're going to have to execute offensively to move the ball on them.  Again, we're a year older.  We have a lot of players back. We'll see how it goes."

On Jacksonville State's defene pressuring Jacob Huesman last year.
"It was probably all the way across the board.  They covered us pretty good.  We didn't get a whole lot of separation.  We didn't block them great.  Jacob didn't have a very good game.  I mean, I'm not telling anybody what they didn't see.  Pretty poor game by him.  He made some bad decisions with the ball in his hands multiple times.  He'll play better this week."
 
Synjen Herren, offensive lineman, senior
Thoughts on what game week feels like
"It's been a long time coming, especially for me personally, sitting out last year.  And everybody is tired of hitting everyone from camp. It's good to have an opponent now.  Everybody has those jitters, and just ready to actually play a game."

On last year's game against Jacksonville State.
"We kind of threw the guys into a fire last year, having to switch some people around.  They're (Jacksonville State) good up front, but we're coming in hoping that we can match that."
 
Nakevion Leslie, linebacker, junior
Thoughts on what game week feels like
"You wake up on Tuesday morning, first day of preparation, and you get those chills in your body.  You start to get those butterflies already.  That's what it feels like to me.  It's very focused.  The attention from everybody just changes.  Everybody focuses in, practices hard and goes hard in everything they do because they want it to be just right and ready for the game."

Are the hits harder in a hyped-up game like this, or is it just another game?
"I feel like it's just another game.  All the hits are going to be the same.  Since it's JSU, you're going to try to go extra hard, try to do more than what you usually do just because it's them.  But it's usually just the same."

What's the buzz like around campus and town?
"When you go out to places downtown, everybody's saying, 'We need a win this Saturday.  We've got to have a win.'  I just left class and my teacher pointed at me and Keionta and asked if we're ready and excited about it.  There's a lot more buzz around town than there was last year."