Murray State University Athletics
Weekly Press Conference
9/22/2003 11:00:00 PM | Football
Quotes from head coach Joe Pannunzio during the weekly football press conference on Sept. 22 following the Racers' loss to Indiana State on Saturday night. Up next, MSU will open its Ohio Valley Conference schedule at Tennessee Tech on Saturday, Sept. 27 at 2 p.m.
On the Racers' 1-3 start to the 2003 season:
"We don't ever do things the easy way, do we? This is not the way we wanted to start the season. The reality of the situation is that, right now, we're 0-0 in the OVC."
On the status of his team after last week's 17-10 loss to Indiana State:
"I thought we made some strides last week, but we still have a lot of holes to fill and questions to be answered. It starts with our offense. We have to be a little more explosive in what were doing. I started to see some signs in our offensive line that we're coming together. I still have big concerns about the way we're throwing the football, but we're hopeful that'll come together. Defensively, it looks like we have a chance to have a pretty darn good defense, but we can't have the lapses we had last week. Our special teams are coming together and I think we're going to be alright there.
On this week's OVC-opener with Tennessee Tech:
"This week is a tough week for us. Tennessee Tech is a team that's always really, really well coached. They're very fundamentally sound, and they let their opponents make mistakes and use those against them. This morning, I was watching film of Tech and Northern Illinois, who just beat Alabama Saturday night and beat Maryland earlier in the year, and with two minutes to go in the half, Tech was only down 21-10. That shows you that they do have some good athletes, and they're a pretty good team."
"You combine that with my track record over the last eight road games being 1-7 and our program's track record over the last seven games at Tennessee Tech being just 2-5, and you know we've got our work cut out for us this week. But I am very excited about the game and I'm fired up. I think our kids are looking forward to it, and we were in this same position a year ago, so I hope we can pick it up and go."
On the strides of the MSU offense:
"We're starting to move in the right direction. In looking at our offense, obviously, I'm not happy and I'm not pleased with what we've done, but there are a couple of key factors involved that we must remember. First, we didn't have Justin Ard (starting tackle/center) in practice until right before the Valpo game. We didn't get Dustin Hughes (starting center) in the lineup at center until this past week. Dustin probably made as much of a significant impact for our offensive line as any player we've had since I've been here. Then, you compound those problems with losing Jimmy St. Louis (starting tight end) in the second series of the season and I think we really haven't been able to adjust to all of that until now."
On the Tech offense:
"They're a no-huddle team, and they do a real good job with it. They get you in some situations where you don't have the right personnel on the field and it allows them to expose your weaknesses. They have a really nice wide receiver that can stretch your defense, but they also have the ability to run the football right at you. Another thing they do, which is a little different, is they have big splits between their offensive linemen, and that can be tough to deal with at times."
On the Tech defense:
"They're very fundamentally sound. They don't do things to hurt themselves or make mistakes to give up the big plays like we did early in our game Saturday. They're just real sound at what they do, and they're athletic enough to make plays."
On how he hopes to help solve the Racers' recent struggles on the road:
"We're going to do a few things different than we normally do. Usually, we don't leave for a game until late on Friday and we go straight to the hotel, but this week, we're leaving earlier in the day and going straight to the stadium at Tech and workout there. We're going to try and change up some other little things here and there and change the mood for our team. We've got to find a way to win on the road. This is a big game for us."
On the Racers' chances in the OVC race:
"Somebody is going to win this league that's just like us right now. Whoever wins this league is going to be just like us and there's no reason why it can't be us. We've still got as good a shot as anybody in this league to win the thing. Winning a conference title starts this week, and I hope we can get off to a good start in the conference race."
