Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Kill Previews Indiana State game
10/22/2001 | 12:00:00 | Football
Oct. 22, 2001
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Indiana State Preview: "Offensively, they run about every play in the history of football. They run a lot of offense. This will be a very difficult preparation week, because they do a lot of things. We will have to be very well prepared. They basically beat Southwest Missouri by running what we do offensively, toward the end of the game. They also run the "I" and several different plays out of several different formations, so they are very difficult to prepare for."
"The bottom line is, I think we have lost seven straight games to them, so there is not any question that we should be motivated to play and to play better. They have a good ballclub, they beat a Division I opponent and Southwest Missouri State, and I am sure coming off that win, they are going to feel more confident. We will catch a good Indiana State team, one that has had our number."
"I think we match up a lot better with Indiana State than we did with Eastern. I did not realize Eastern was that physical. They had a good looking team. I was optimistic going in, but I want to give them credit, they made us look bad."
Plan for this week: "I think everybody, including the players and media is wondering what coach Kill is going to do. If I'm going to come uncorked, throw tapes and jump on the roof, things like that. I've thought about it, but no, we will just go back and rethink our goals a little bit. We are 1-2 in the Gateway, and we need to concentrate our goals on being 2-2 and giving them some hope, giving them a goal that they can reasonably reach. We need to keep a good attitude."
"We are going to give them a day off. I am going to talk to them and say 'take the day, soothe it over, but on Tuesday have your tail end ready to go.'"
Freshmen play: "I figured we would play around 10-12 freshman this year, and I think the only thing that might take us out of that plan is injuries. That is the thing that I am concerned about. We are losing depth in the kicking game due to injuries, and there is no question that there are a few of the freshmen that could help us right now, but I hate to do that this late in the season.We have a plan and are going to stick to the plan. Nobody is panicking right now. At this point in time, I will not pull a redshirt off to play.
Koutsos approaching the record: "Everybody talks about records, but to me football is a team game. Tommy is a good player, plays hard, runs hard and has probably been the thing that people have hung onto in Southern Illinois football through the struggles. He is a hard hat, lunch pail player who relates to the community. But I think Tommy would be the first one to say that if we were 5-1, and he wasn't even approaching the record, he would take that in a heartbeat."
Keeping the faith: "That is the great challenge here, getting these kids to believe. It is hard for the people who have been here for a long time to believe when they have struggled for 18-20 years. There are probably people here in this room that are skeptical whether I can do this thing or not. That's okay. Is there a chance we can fail? Hell, yeah. There is a chance in everything in life. If you get married, there is a chance you might stay married 18 years like I have or be divorced in three. If you don't take a chance, you don't get anything in life. I think we have to keep plugging away. If the kids see us keep working, stay in a routine, and keep working, I think we will get it turned.
