Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football Team Prepares For Home Opener Saturday
09/17/2001 | 12:00:00 | Football
Sept. 17, 2001
CARBONDALE, Ill. -
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Excerpts from Coach Kill's Weekly Press Conference
Previewing Murray State: "We've been preparing for Murray State since we found out we weren't going to play on Thursday. Defensively they are a very aggressive football team. They've hit the Mississippi junior colleges pretty well and they have some very good athletes on that side of the ball. Offensively, they will be very similar to what SEMO was. They'll spread the field some and have a running back that does some good things. They are also solid in the kicking game. I can probably say the same thing every week, everybody (we play) seems to be pretty good and has some talented people on each side of the ball. It will be very challenging, and probably the toughest thing we've got to do...we are in the middle of September and we have only played one game. You always improve from week one to week two, but now it is like we've got to start again. I think the biggest concern we have as a coaching staff is that even though we've been practicing a lot, it's not like playing in a game. We are worried about timing and that kind of thing going into this next game. There is nothing like game day and game situations.''
Keys to the game: "I'll give you the same keys every week. You can't turn the ball over, you cannot do that and win football games. You have to be very good in the kicking game. I thought we were solid against SEMO, but we will have to be better. Can't give up the big play. If we do those three things, we will have the opportunity to win."
Injuries: Mark Shasteen is going to see the doctor on Tuesday, and hopefully he will get his cast removed, but he is going to play with or without the cast. Tony Anastasio is getting better, and would have played on Saturday if we would have played. The process of him having another week off is very important. Cortez McBerry is another young man who has turned an ankle and struggled with that, but we think we will have him this week. Bart Scott, to be honest, is still struggling, and didn't practice on Saturday much. That is a concern, and time will tell on his injury. It's not coming along as fast as we would like, and that is very critical to what we do defensively, because he is a very big, key factor. He probably would have had struggles if we had played him last Saturday. Took a helmet to the shin. It really effects his running.
On the new turf: I think it would be great to get on there today, great for a moral boost. We plan on practicing on it today. I was over there yesterday, and I'll tell you, the guys who hung in there all this time, they say it is layed as good as any turf has been layed. It is pretty nice and I think they have done it first class. Has it hurt us not being in the stadium? Yes, I think it has. No question.
On first home game: Really, I am just anxious to get out there and have an opportunity to play in a game and get our second game under our belts. It's always great to be at home, and hopefully we will get a beautiful day like we did on Saturday. It's going to be exciting playing in front of the home fans, and for our players, exciting to play on the new turf.
On the national tragedy: It hit home for some of the people who had relatives involved, and it puts everybody's life into perspective. We all love the game of football, athletics and sports, but we found out that there a lot of other things in our country that are a lot more important than that right now.
