Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Head coach Dale Lennon press conference transcript
09/19/2011 | 12:00:00 | Football
Sept. 19, 2011
By Logan Lee
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki football coach Dale Lennon held his weekly press conference on Monday. Southern Illinois, which is coming off a bye week, moved up two spots to No. 13 in the Coaches poll and one spot to No. 14 in The Sports Network media poll.
Scouting Missouri State
They're coming off of a three-game stretch which would be very challenging regardless of what level you're at, opening up at Arkansas, then going to Eastern Kentucky, then finishing up last week at Oregon. You look at their numbers, I think you have to be careful how you view their numbers. The things that I see when I look at it is that they're pretty balanced. You look at their run-pass combinations and they're pretty equal -- the rushing yardage, the passing yardage, the total offense. I think that in itself is impressive. I think they're averaging close to 300 yards per game in a pretty rough (schedule) with Arkansas and Oregon being the challenges there. The thing I'm really impressed with is they don't turn the ball over. They do a very good job of taking care of the football, they have limited turnovers, and they also haven't had many penalties -- only 12 penalties over the first three games. That to me indicates that they're a pretty disciplined football team. Those are things you take a look at trying to get a feel for what their personality is.
Then I think you take an even closer look at the stats from the Eastern Kentucky game. Again their run-pass was very close, in fact, they were playing catch-up football against Eastern Kentucky so they threw the ball a little bit more. Trevor Wooden, that was his first start at quarterback. He did a great job, 22-for-32. They had 411 yards of total offense and did a very good job of taking care of the football, no turnovers in the course of the game, just doing a lot of little things right. Third down conversion, they were 9-of-18 at 50 percent, so I think when you see those numbers, they're a type of team that we're expecting to come in offensively that can definitely move the football up and down the field.
You look at the running back situation, they're kind of similar to us as far as their run game is concerned. Trevor Wooden at the quarterback spot, he is going to get his carries, he's going to be a guy that we have to be aware of what he's doing out there on the field. Then they have two veteran running backs in Chris Douglas and Stephen Johnston who are both seniors and have played a lot of football for them, and they know what this league is all about, so they are very capable. Then Vernon Scott came back this past week and got a little more playing time. He was injured against Eastern Kentucky, so he's getting more playing time here, too. So they have a good group of running backs that I think are very capable.
Their receiving corps is very good. In fact, you look at Jermaine Saffold's numbers, right now it's not that impressive with eight catches for 166, and the reason I say that is because in our game last year, he had nine catches for 176 yards. So he's a guy that we had trouble with last year and he put up some incredible numbers against us in our game. They can definitely distribute the ball around the field and they have a lot of guys that are capable of making plays.
Moving on to the quarterback -- as I said Trevor Wooden is their starting quarterback. The first game they had (Kierra) Harris starting for them against Arkansas, put up respectable numbers, but Trevor Wooden is a guy that they've been kind of waiting for. I think he is going to continue to get better as the season progresses. Good numbers, 28-for-45 and no interceptions yet , he does a good job of just taking care of the football. He is the guy that I think makes their offense go.
Defensively, naturally it's a little tougher to get defensive numbers when you're going up against teams like Arkansas and Oregon, but they do have some players returning that have played a lot of football for them. When you look at their defensive line, number 97 (Mikel) Ruder, he's started now going on his third year, so he's kind of the anchor man up front. All four of their linebackers have played through the years. (Nick) Canavan is a returning starter and then you look at (Rodney) Kelly and (David) Ingram who played a lot of football against us last year, so there is a lot of experience at the linebacker spot as well as in secondary.
And then you look at the kicking game, they have a good kicker and punter, so they are very solid there. Both of these guys return from last year and are very capable. They're All-Conference guys that could get those types of numbers at the end of the year.
With the film that we watched, naturally we spent a lot of time watching the Eastern Kentucky game and then we'll also spend a lot of time watching last year's game. It ended up being a 51-41 shootout and there are a lot of numbers there that aren't very friendly to us. Offensively, we were able to get 475 yards, but we gave up 495 and it was one of those games defensively where we weren't happy with the results. Any time you give up 51 points, that's not a very good day at the office. Offensively, we were only 1-for-9 on third down conversions. They were 8-for-15, so that's not good. We had three turnovers in the course of the game, they had zero turnovers in the course of the game, so those are things that we have to improve upon as a football team and are things we're going to be emphasizing this week as far as our preparation is concerned.
Q: It looks like Missouri State runs a similar offense to SEMO. Is it similar?
A: Yeah, it is. Defensively there's carry-over even from Ole Miss, as far as when we were preparing for the quarterback that came in later -- a lot of zone-read type stuff and that's pretty common in college football today. There is a lot of carryover from the previous games with their defensive schemes, and so far I think who we've played has helped us I think as far as preparing.
Q: Is one of the differences Wooden's size?
A: Wooden is a pretty good athlete. He started last year as a receiver for them. They had Cody Kirby, an All-Conference quarterback for them that was pretty good. In fact Kirby had 346 against us last year, which was his career best, so Wooden has been waiting his turn to take over and he's very athletic.
Q: Can you talk about the challenge of preparing for a guy like him because you only have two games to scout from?
A: Number one, he's shown good accuracy, so you have to respect the pass. I think he's a good enough quarterback where you just can't try to stop him from passing and hurting you but he's a good enough athlete that if he decides to run, he can get his yards, too. So it goes back to basic defensive philosophy where you have to be sound and make sure you cover all your bases and make him earn everything he gets.
Q: How does Wooden compare to Kirby?
A: I don't think he's had enough of a chance to develop his game yet to be compared to Cody Kirby. Kirby was pretty good. He was one of the best quarterbacks in the league. I think Trevor Wooden could be on that track, but Kirby was a four-year starter and so right now it's probably a little early to make that comparison. Kirby had a great feel for the game where he could make plays because he knew the position so well.
Q: How does the approach change for the start of conference play?
A: Well it's one game at a time. You ask the guys what the biggest game of the year is and this is it. This is the start of everything and we want to get a good start. From here on out we have a nine-week schedule, but it's one game at a time. You want to get off to a good start in the conference, and last year we didn't. I think it is important to get that first win because that can make all the difference in the world with what kind of season you have.
Q: Does the new stadium still feel new to you?
A: Nope. At the end of last season it felt like home, and I think we finished pretty strong with Western Illinois and Indiana State, so right now it is home.
Q: What kind of advantages do you feel like you have?
A: You alway have a home-field advantage just being at home. With the familiarity, we practice there every day so we feel good about it.
Q: Do you expect Missouri State's hunger level to be different as they're still looking for their first win?
A; Number one, they don't like us. I think that's obvious after comments that were made in the paper after last year's game. They just flat-out don't like us, so they're going to be ready for this game, they're not going to be intimidated coming in. They've played at Arkansas and Oregon, so coming to Carbondale won't intimidate them. They'll have a little chip on their shoulder and we have to be ready for that.
Q: Did you feel like the time of possession in their game, especially against Oregon, was a little deceiving in the sense that the Bears dominated the time of possession?
A: Oregon is deceiving. The week before, Nevada had 39 minutes of possession time and got beat 66-20, so possession time sometimes is one of those overrated stats, especially in today's game. It doesn't mean as much as it used to where teams used to always have the same kind of philosophy in controlling the football. That's not necessarily the case in today's game.
Q: Why do you think you've been so good at third down this year?
A: There's a lot of season left. It's something we've been talking about and emphasizing since December. Third downs, being better at turnovers, and explosive plays were the three things coming into the season that we've emphasized to the team every day. You can't just have a good third down percentage, you have to take care of the football, which we didn't do against Ole Miss.
Q: How satisfied have you been with (Jessy) McMullins' play at right guard and is there a chance that he and (George) Danilkowicz could both play guard?
A: We have to work the possible combinations and right now there are some that could extend into the tackle position. We are going to get banged up on the offensive line, so we want to make sure that we have guys that can come in and have several different combination varieties, so that's what we will work on this week. We know what George can do at a guard and he may be able to help us out at the tackle position. The thing with George is that his game is very smart, he's a technician, where Jessy's game is very athletic, so they're kind of two different types of linemen, but they both have some very good qualities.
Q: What is the back story behind Victor Cravens (transfer from Oklahoma)? And did you seek him out or did he seek you?
A: He's just a transfer that came in after school started and was a late add-on. And it was a little of both.
Q: How comfortable are you in getting into another shootout with Missouri State if that presents itself this weekend?
A: We'll do whatever we have to do to get a win. If we have to be in a shootout, we'll be in a shootout. If it's going to be a defensive battle, then we're ready for a defensive battle. Each game takes its own personality once it starts. With Missouri State last year, they had some games where they put up incredible numbers and then the last game of the season they end up beating North Dakota State, 3-0. So you just never know what type of game you're going to have until you're in it and you have to adjust defensively.
