Southern Illinoise University Athletics
Head Coach Dale Lennon press conference transcript
10/12/2015 | 12:00:00 | Football
By Tony McDaniel
SIUSalukis.com
Opening Statement
“We’re excited to get started this week. There’s a big challenge in front of us heading to Indiana State. It’s a team that taught us a few lessons last year, so we’re looking forward to seeing where our team is this year. The previous games we’ve been involved in have prepared us well. Now, we’re at that point where we need to step up and perform and perform at a consistent level, and that will be the challenge. Indiana State is definitely as good as their ranking. They’ve got a team full of juniors and seniors. It’s a very veteran team that has played a lot of football for them. The challenge will be high.”
Q: Do you fell like you’re catching them at a good time? They’re coming off a loss and kind of banged up.
“You never know when you’re catching any team, whether it’s a good or bad time. You just take it as the schedule presents it. For us, I think it’s a good game for us. We’re excited to get back on the road; we’re excited to be playing a ranked team. I’ve heard a comment made that from here on out we’re going to be underdogs in every game we play, so that too is something we’re well aware of. The challenges are high, but that’s exactly what we want and need right now. I think it’s a good time for us to be on the road and going to play Indiana State.”
Q: What impresses you about their offense?
“Both offensively and defensively, they’re very well coached. Schematically, they really do schemes that allow their players to play well. They don’t get caught out of position very often. The reason they’ve been successful is that they play in their schemes very well. Offensively, they’re got a nice combination. They’ve got a quarterback that’s been an understudy of Mike Perish over the last couple years. He is definitely very confident in running that offense. They’ve got a couple running backs that are extremely talented. They’ve got four or five receivers that are contributing well to the offensive production. Their offensive line is a veteran offensive line, as their whole team is. A lot of these guys have been playing since they were freshman and a lot of that experience is showing. They just make you defend every component of their offense, which is going to be challenging.”
Q: Their offensive line has allowed a significant amount of sacks. How can you take advantage of that?
“I don’t get into stats. You don’t know the situation that those sacks occurred. Were they playing catch-up ball? Were they in control of the game? Those type of things always factor into it. Sometimes you’ll have opportunities to pin your ears back and get after them. Other times, you’re not going to. When you go into a game, it’s not necessarily the sack total you get. It’s the defense of the entire package. We had some difficulty last year. They scored some big plays on us, and that’s definitely a concern, giving up the big play. Those are the areas that we’re probably more concerned about.”
Q: It’s fall break this week. How do you use that as an advantage?
“I think for both days the guys can be like professional athletes. They don’t have any school demands. All they need to do is just focus on getting their lifts in, watch film, and kind of get ready for the game plan. Take care of their academic studies, do some study table. It’s kind of a relaxing period; and when we hit practice tomorrow, I hope that the focus is where it needs to be, and I hope we can have a productive practice. I’m hoping that this fall break could be a good couple of days for us just to focus on football.”
Q: They’re a heavily penalized team. How do you account for that when game planning?
“You make your team aware of the fact that this is going to be a very aggressive game. Something you look for as coaches is the penalty tally. That tell you how they play the game. They’re very aggressive. They’re very passionate. They want to establish dominance on the field. You’ve just got to be ready at all times. You cannot let your guard down.”
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"We've been talking about how every week is a season. Don't look beyond this week. This is our season. Everything we need to do exists in this week."
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Q: Connor Underwood is missing time. How different are they without him?
“He’s probably one of the best defensive players in the conference. When he’s out here, he is an impact guy that can make a difference. Without him, they have guys who can come in and cover, but, like anybody, you’re better when your best players are on the field.”
Q: Besides experience, what is the biggest difference between Matt Adam and Mike Perish at quarterback?
“Experience is big. That’s where I was very impressed with Perish. I think he was one of the main reasons they had the turnaround they had, going from last place (in 2014) to a playoff team. That’s what I’m seeing now. The fact that Adam has been the understudy, he’s doing a lot of things that are similar. Naturally, he’s not Perish, but he has his own style of play that he has that has allowed him to be successful and win some ball games. He’s only a sophomore. He’s with a bunch of juniors and seniors, so he’s one of those guys too that I think his level of play will continue to improve as the season progresses.”
Q: They play a bunch of different backs. How do they utilize all of them?
“Very similar to what we do. They’ll spread it out. They just want to distribute the football in as many different ways as they possibly can. That’s kind of the nature of football now days. They do have enough in their arsenal where they’ll keep you on your heels defensively.”
Q: You’re entering a stretch where you play 5 of 6 ranked or top-25 teams. How is the team embracing that?
“We’ve been talking about how every week is a season. What that emphasizes is don’t look beyond this week. This is our season. This is everything that we’ve got to do; everything we need to do exists in this week. Then we’ll take care of business the next week. This is the nature of the game. We can’t be looking at how high the mountain is. You’ve got to get to that first ledge before you can think about going to the second ledge. That’s our approach.”
