Murray State University Athletics
Pannunzio speaks at press conference
9/26/2005 12:00:00 AM | Football
Murray State Racer head football coach Joe Pannunzio addressed the media today during his weekly press conference.
ON THE BEGINNING OF OVC PLAY: "The reality of the situation is that we have a new start at Tennessee Tech this week with the beginning of OVC play. We have to get to playing the way we are capable of playing. We've also got to find a way to win at Tennessee Tech, and since I've been here, we haven't done that yet. This is a big week because we have to find some confidence and the only way to do that is to win at Tennessee Tech."
ON RACER OFFENSIVE WOES: "I'm worried about our offense. Really, we haven't had a good half on offense since the first half at Mississippi State. We pride ourselves in running the ball. Some of (the 135-yard total offense performance) was us, but the rest of it was Illinois State. They have an outstanding defense."
ON DEFENSIVE CHANGES: "We're still making changes. We went through every mistake we had and are taking steps toward correcting them. This week, we will be moving some kids around on defense. Some guys who haven't played much will get a chance."
ON QUARTERBACK SITUATION AT ILLINOIS STATE: "I don't regret the decision to start Ryne Salyer. We needed to get him in there because we will need him at some point this season. Ryne is a lot better than he showed. I probably made a bad decision to put Ken Topps in. He didn't practice until Thursday, but I wanted to get something going. I'm just glad we got out of there without getting Ken or Ryne hurt."
ON EFFECT OF ILLINOIS STATE LOSS: "Usually when you get beat like that, you may have some finger-pointing, but we haven't had any of that. We have developed some leaders on this team, and we need them to step up and show us the way. We had a heart-to-heart talk with the team, and what we're missing is confidence. The only way to get confidence is to go out and make plays. Mistakes are compounded when you play a great team like Illinois State."
