Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Football Salukis host William Penn Saturday
09/15/2004 | 12:00:00 | Football
Sept. 15, 2004
By Scott Mees
www.SIUSalukis.com
"We had an excellent practice," said SIU head coach Jerry Kill. "We may have had the best practice all year today (Tuesday)."
The Salukis fell only one spot, to No. 2 in both I-AA polls, obviously because they narrowly missed upsetting a quality Division I-A team on the road.
"You can't really pay attention to the polls," said SIU free safety Alexis Moreland. "At the end of the year is when it really counts."
Moreland added that the high ranking was good for the school and the community, but meaningless if the team does not finish the season with a conference championship and a return trip to the I-AA playoffs.
SIU (1-1) has rushed for 492 yards over two games.
"I wasn't really running like me in that game," Jacobs said. "I don't know what my problem was, but I could've run a lot better than I ran. The holes were there, but holes are never there a long time."
Kill added, "They (NIU) have got a very good defensive football team."
"It took me a while to get going in that game," Jacobs said.
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"We have moved on," Jacobs said. "We came up just a point short."
Sophomore Arkee Whitlock leads SIU in rushing with 205 yards after two games.
The SIU defense made some big stops when it had to against Northern, but still plans to improve for this week's contest.
"You want to think about it (the loss) because you want to get better," Moreland said. "We made mistakes as a team and at different units. You take the criticism, learn from it and get better."
The defense has allowed only 26 total points over its first two games.
Safety Frank Johnson leads the Salukis in tackles with 20, including eight solo. Linebacker Royal Whitaker is second with 14 tackles (six solo).
Kill expects the team to continue improving as the season goes along.
"We are preparing very hard," Kill said. "Our job, in this program, is to get better each day and each week. We are a better football team today than we were on Saturday, and that is our approach all year.
"It doesn't matter who we play, we're going to line up and get after it."
The William Penn Statesmen, coached by Todd Haffner, is 1-2 this season, and competes out of the Mid-States Football Association's Midwest League. The Statesmen fell to Drake Saturday 16-6.
"We just lost a game that we thought we should have won," Kill said. "We're going to be a hungry football team on Saturday."
