Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Dale Lennon football press conference transcript
09/03/2012 | 12:00:00 | Football
By Joe Honn
SIUSalukis.com
CARBONDALE, Ill. - Saluki football coach Dale Lennon held his weekly press conference on Monday. Southern Illinois will travel to Miami (Ohio) to open the season with a noon Central Time game on Monday in Oxford, Ohio.
Q: How do you stop a duo like (Miami QB Zac) Dysert and (WR Nick) Harwell or is it simply about containing them?
"Well, you try to limit big plays. They're going to be good. You're going to have to be patient. They're going to have success moving the football. They're a good passing team. There's reasons why passing teams stall. There's a dropped ball here or there and I know that was something that hurt them against Ohio State. They had more dropped balls than they characteristically do. You just have to keep them in front, and you have to make sure you come up and make the tackle. You have to make them earn everything they get."
Q: What did you determine were the biggest problem areas with the secondary last week?
"Well, we gave up too many points. A lot of it was their up tempo offense created a lot of mental errors. They are correctible, fixable, but at that point in time we weren't prepared to execute the defense to the level that we needed to."
Q: Your run defense was pretty good. What has to happen for it to be successful again this weekend?
"We'll take the same approach. We still think you have to stop the run. The last thing we want is for a passing team have success running the ball. If we can have some success limiting their rushing attack that will help us with our pass defense. We have to do a better job with our pressure package; getting to the quarterback, getting hits on him, and forcing some turnovers."
Q: Miami gave up 44 sacks last year. Do you feel like you can get a lot of pressure on them?
"Well, that's to be determined, but that's what we do. We feel that we can do that going into every game. I do think it's a stage where our players are looking forward to it, and I think they will step their level of play up also. Hopefully that translates into improved performance."
Q: Eastern took away your weapons by doing the pooch kick, and it's hard to get pressure on the quarterback when they throw the quick passes. Is there any way to address that?
"If they're going to give us the ball at the 35 or 40 yard line, we'll take it every time. If you get one first down, you're right around midfield. There are teams in our league that will potentially do that every now and then, but I think Miami (Ohio) will kick it deep and count on their guys coming down and covering us. The quick passing game is one thing where we're going to have to be patient. The whole concept is they're looking for five, six yards. We have to make sure that a five, six yard gain doesn't turn into a 15 or 20 yard play. Most offenses have that, but they don't want to consistently go to it. It's a play that's part of football. The key to defending it is to get your hands up, get into passing lanes, knock the ball down and make sure you get the tackle when they catch the ball."
Q: Do you expect Miami to come out throwing, or will they try to establish their running game?
"I think they definitely try to establish the run game. Their strength is their pass. I wouldn't be surprised if they test us deep early. I expect to see some deep balls early in the game."
Q: If (QB) A.J. (Hill) has to be the guy to go, does that alter the game plan at all or can he do the same things Kory (Faulkner) can do?
"They're different quarterbacks. With A.J., we want to have a plan that's more to his liking and his abilities. Plus, he's a left-handed quarterback so everything has to be flipped as far as how you call some things from the sideline. But you do that with every quarterback. They aren't all the same. You have to adapt as you go."
Q: Can you get any useful information out of watching Miami (Ohio) play a big school such as Ohio State that you can transfer to our level?
"We exchanged tape with them, and watched them on TV, but it's football. You don't have to look too far to see elite teams have success against teams that people thought didn't have a chance to even be on the same field. You have to play your game. You have to play at a high level. You can't give up easy scores. If you do that, you'll give yourself a chance to be competitive, and we want to go get a win. We play in a conference that we think is very competitive top to bottom that is capable at performing at a high level. We like to think we can line up and play some good football."
Q: Did the team draw confidence from the way other Valley teams performed this past weekend in debuts?
"In the past I would have used that. I'm not going to use that this year. They know what is going on. I want us worrying about us. I don't want us thinking about how Northern Iowa played Wisconsin or how Youngstown beat Pittsburgh. I want them thinking about how we're going to be playing Miami (Ohio). But there is a confidence that can be absorbed. Were not going to dwell on it, but it is something the guys are aware of."
Q: Do you have a day or a deadline where you make the decision whether Kory is good to go Saturday, or is A.J. starting?
"Right now, Korey is starting Saturday."
Q: After looking at film of Eastern's defense, were they blitzing a lot? What was the problem as far as protection?
"It's a combination of things. They did a good job of using their pressure package. We also had some things here and there that were disappointing to see. We got beat on some one-on-one matchups. That's something that we have to address."
Q: You had 77 rushing yards as a team on Thursday. How do you get the run game going, and do you have to get Mika'il (McCall) more touches?
"Well his touches could be with the pass game. And that's the thing with all of our backs. You look at their touches and you have to include the pass receptions in there. When you're playing catch up ball you have to do some things different that you wouldn't like to do. We have to remember that we did score 28 points. We were having some success offensively. It was that last quarter and 10 minutes that we just didn't do what we needed to do. If you go back to the Eastern Illinois game, you look at what I think was the turning point, there was 5:55 left in the third quarter and we had second and one in their territory. We ended up with an illegal procedure and eventually had to punt the ball. You have to get back to the fundamentals and play good hard-nosed football, and I think that time we got a little too fancy."
Q: So will you guys scale back the playbook?
"No. We still try to do what we do best, but it's being aware of the moment as much as anything else. You have to make sure you give your players a chance to be successful, and that's the job of us coaches. We have to give the players a chance to be successful and put them in positions. Then it's up to them to perform."
Q: When you have two teams coming off bad loses, where do you feel like your teams' edge is in this game?
"I don't know. We played on Thursday. That's probably a benefit. We've had a chance to put it behind us. I think there's still remnants. I felt it today in practice. We were just a little flat. Hopefully tomorrow we can get that excitement that I'm looking for."
Q: Coach, you hardly fumbled in the spring and the fall practice. But you had six turnovers in the first game. How much do you think that was the first game and how much do you think that can be a problem?
"That goes back to how you do things that week leading up to the game week. We didn't scrimmage. We didn't do anything in that week leading up. One reason I usually like doing that is to prevent complacency. You look at Kory's two interceptions. He threw those balls like he was in practice against the scout team. If I had to do it over, I probably would have done a live scrimmage just to keep that sharpness. We weren't sharp Thursday night. You have to have that instinct of hanging onto the ball. We didn't have it."
Q: You forced four turnovers, but you didn't get any points out of them. How big is that for you?
"There are some turnovers that are manageable and some that are critical. Our turnovers that we had, several were critical. We turned the ball over inside the five. That's like giving up points. We had the chance to make a statement, and we turn around and give up the ball giving them the short field. Next play, they score a touchdown. Those are critical turnovers that can lose you a football game. Their turnovers, I'm sure they weren't happy about it, but they were at places on the field that weren't too costly."
Q: When you know what's coming from this team, and you actually have film of them, is that easier for you guys to prepare?
"Yeah, it is nice. We know what we are going to see, what their strengths are, and their strengths are very impressive. You do take comfort knowing the fact that Zac Dysert is going to throw the football a little bit. You feel like you're more prepared because you know how they are going to attack you."
Q: You said you need a big challenge game to pick (your team) up. What would a win do for you this weekend?
"Well, it basically puts you back where you want to be. Anytime to beat a I-A team, that's a huge game for your program. Not to mention the confidence your team will gain in doing it."
Q: Do you expect to use the underdog role for Saturday?
"We didn't have a good game on Thursday night. The focus will be a lot on us. With motivation you have to be in the right state of mind to use certain things. Right now I'm more concerned about us than playing the underdog or anything else. We need to make sure we know who we are, and then we can put our best game on the field."
Q: You have a bunch of fifth year players. If I can take you back to when you first got this job, what was your recruiting priorities?
"Our first recruiting weekend was January 16th. We basically had less than three weeks until signing day. We were just trying to get recruits. Who's left, who's available, just calling as many resources that we had. Fortunately, a lot of them have made it through. For me personally, I like this senior class. I like the group of fifth year guys that we have. We've been through a lot together. I think there's a bond that we got that can hopefully help us through the tough times."
Q: How important do you think it is for them to get the program in the right direction before they graduate. After seeing where it was, then the two subpar seasons and now a chance to have a better record.
"I think that's an obvious question. It's very important to all of us, just not the fifth year seniors. It's something that we take a lot of pride in, representing Southern Illinois. And the expectation that goes with the representation is that we need to be successful and competitive."
Q: Do you basically run the same packages of plays for all your running backs or does it vary?
"No, it's different. There's certain plays that Steven does better and some that Mika'il does better."
Q: How well do you grade your backs after this last game?
"The backs graded out pretty well. It wasn't on them. You look at the numbers they had, but we didn't have the chance to establish the run the way we wanted. We did have some success running the football but not to the level we wanted. Especially in the third quarter, we were looking to take control of the tempo. That's when we needed the run game to step up. Unfortunately we ended up playing catch-up ball instead."
Q: In the matchup with Harwell, is he a guy that you are going to double or zone or play differently?
"Let me just say that we have to know where he's at all the time. He's that good. He's a favorite of Dysert, and he's not afraid to throw it to him. His presence will be known."
