Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football Team Prepares for Youngstown State
10/29/2001 | 12:00:00 | Football
Oct. 29, 2001
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Koutsos Needs 116 Yards to Break Rushing Record: Last Saturday, junior RB Tom Koutsos added 59 yards to his career rushing total, giving him 3,063 yards. He now needs 116 yards to surpass Karlton Carpenter as SIU's all-time leading rusher. In addition, Koutsos has rushed for 100+ yards four times this season in seven games. In his career, he has 14 100-yard games, second only to Carpenter (16) in school history.
Punt Blocking Dawgs: Southern Illinois has blocked six punts in seven games so far this season. Freshman LB Cortez McBerry became the most recent Saluki to come up with a block when he did so Saturday against Indiana State. Jason Newell leads the team with three blocks.
Rotating QBs: The Salukis have rotated quarterbacks ever since the Northern Iowa game. Kevin Kobe continues to start and be the team's most effective passer, completing 51.9 percent of his passes, while Madei Williams excels as a runner, third on the team with 297 yards rushing and a 4.2 yard average.
Scott Continues to Dominate: LB Bart Scott continues to make his case as one of the top linebackers in the Gateway Conference. He ranks among the conference leaders in tackles (83), sacks (4.5) and tackles for loss (15). He has also intercepted two passes and broken up three others.
Three True Freshmen Start on Offense: The Salukis started three true freshmen on offense Saturday, WRs Jason Hollingshed and Justin George, and G Loren Flaharty. On the season, 11 true freshmen have played.
Dawg Bites: SIU has been outscored 62-7 in the first quarter this season but holds a 61-41 edge in the second quarter... RB Brandon Robinson, a walk-on from Purdue, now has 299 yards and is averaging 6.8 yards per carry...The Saluki defense leads the Gateway Conference in interceptions with 10.
Offensive Allignments: With starting TE Ryan McAllister continuing to be sidelined with a knee injury, the Salukis have been starting the game in a four-WR set. SIU has also used the power-I formation with a tight end and fullback.
I-AA National Rankings: RB Tom Koutsos is 22th in rushing (107.7), Andre King and Derrick Corker are 40th in interceptions (.44), Chris Gadson is 42nd in kickoff returns (22.7) and P David Grandt is 35th in punting (38.7).
Injury Report: TE Ryan McAllister (knee), LB Justin Martin (shin), are out...LB Jason Nolda (concussion), OL Matt Anderson (knee), DL Ron Doyle (knee) are questionable.
Excerpts From Coach Kill's Weekly Press Conference
Youngstown St. Preview: "They are pretty much like four or five teams in our league. It could go either way. If you have watched our league scores, anytime you have Illinois State, who hasn't won a game, go beat Northern Iowa, who hasn't lost a game. Our league is very unique in that way. There are three or four teams in our league that are very senior oriented, and Youngstown is one of those. They are senior dominated, you can tell by the way their players play and look. They are very strong, very physical and very talented. In my opinion, they have a very talented quarterback who does a lot of things. We are going to play a very good football team, but you can say that the rest of the way. We aren't going to catch them at the best time. I am sure they are in a pleasant mood after they got beat on Saturday against Western Kentucky. I am sure they will be happy and accommodate us by not playing real hard. I doubt that, I think they will be ready to play, and we will get their best.''
"I don't worry about Youngstown State near as much as I do our football team. We practiced this morning and enjoyed that a whole lot. We are experimenting with morning practices this week, and that is something we might do in the future. It gets them out of bed, gets them going, and then they can go to all of their classes and stuff in the afternoon. We thought we had a good workout this morning and good meetings, and we just need to keep teaching."
State of the team: "We played much better in the kicking game, and I thought our youngsters, our freshman, played much better last week."
"We are still trying to learn what to do. We made too many mistakes. We have a lot of kids who haven't played. We are still teaching a basic brand of football. They are trying. We are playing hard, but we didn't play well at times. Some of them just haven't played. They were second and third stringers last year."
"We have some catching up to do. We have to keep our players here and get to work in the weight room. I am confident we can get it done. We are teaching the basic fundamentals right now.''
"The most important thing we have got to do to get our football program going is the weight room. We aren't going to get all of the premier players in the country. We are going to have to make some of them. Western Illinois has them, Indiana State is making them, you have to make some players. We have to be patient enough to do that.''
"We still don't know what it takes to win here. We all have to get better.''
