Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Kill Previews Ball State Game
09/10/2001 | 12:00:00 | Football
Sept. 10, 2001
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Excerpts from today's press conference...
On Ball State: "Ball State has played two Southeast Conference teams, and the SEC has the best football in the country probably. They played Auburn and Kentucky. They have a good football team, an experienced team, a team that has been through a lot of adversity, and last year they came back towards the end of the year and played very well. I have coached against some of their coaches, and I know they will have them prepared and hungry for a win. We know exactly what they are going to do, Ball State is not going to try and trick you. They are a very sound football team on both sides of the ball. They've got a good scheme, a lot different than what we went against on Saturday. We went against a tough situation on Saturday where they blitzed probably 90 percent of the time. We aren't going to see as much of that against Ball State as we did against SEMO, because it is a different style of defense."
His thoughts after losing at SEMO: "It takes time. I wish I had that magic wand and could just zap it. I think people here are so starved for success that they can't hardly take it. Boy, I want to give it to them right now, but you know what, it just doesn't work like that in life."
On Bart Scott: "He has a deep shin bruise and is still limping around, but probably should be ready for Saturday. That was a key factor when he went out. When Bart is out of the game, we aren't the same defense, that is the bottom line, that is how important he is. He made a lot of plays in the first half. "
On the offensive line: "They played surprisingly well. I'm not saying that critically, but they haven't been together that long. We didn't blow a lot of assignments up front. We have to get better, don't get me wrong, but I thought that was a real plus in the football game.
On the importance of a pass rush: "Anybody in the NFL or college, if they don't rush the quarterback, they are going to be in trouble in the passing game. No matter where you are at, you have to have a pass rush. I think that is critical, and again I think that is the reason Bart Scott is so important to us. We can't let anybody sit back there and have all day to throw the ball. Maybe if we had 3 or 4 players across the board we could do that, but we don't and we understand that."
On the SEMO game: "I think some of our guys expended themselves in the first 12-14 plays of the game, went all out, had all adrenaline flowing and they were sapped right there."
On Madei Williams: "He has not played for two years and I think for whatever reason, and I am sure he puts it on himself, I think we have to understand that he has been in our system a sum of three weeks. He wasn't here all spring long. I think he is learning fast. He beat us up here on Sunday to see the film. He wants to do well, but again he has come into a new system, hasn't played a lot, and this was his first game. As this thing goes we will see how he matures, and these next few weeks are real critical, for our whole football team. Our whole football team has to improve, not only Madei. We all have to. He didn't do as well as he thought he would, but he did some positive things. We are going to try to concentrate on the positive things he did, and the negative things we are going to work hard at."
On playing a I-A team in Ball State: "We have a very difficult schedule, but there is nothing I can do about that for a couple of years. You need to and want to play I-A teams, but you don't want to come out of those games so beat up that you can't play the rest of your schedule either."
