COACH'S CORNER: SE UNABLE TO CONVERT ADRENALINE INTO WIN

To the fans of Cape Girardeau and to our students here at Southeast Missouri State University, thank you for the great turnout of over 9,800 for last Thursday's season opener against Southern Illinois.

You held up your end, we gave ours away (losing 30-27). Your attendance and the sound system from Horizons made for the best college football atmosphere since I've been here.

After the game, I made the statement that SIU didn't win it, we lost it. No disrespect to Coach Watson, his staff and players intended. I'm sure it was taken that way, however. They took better advantage of our miscues than we took of theirs. There is little doubt that SIU is an improved ballclub and will have much success this season.

Our team was as "jacked up" and anxious to play as I've ever seen during pre-game. Somewhere between the locker room and kickoff we forgot the disciplined process of winning games. No turnovers, no penalties, ball control and field position in the special teams, which led to four turnovers, 10 penalties and a defense that was on the field for 25 more plays and put in a hole many times. Not recognizing this anxiousness and settling our players down is entirely my fault as the head coach.

Defensively, our players played extremely hard through entirely too many difficult situations following several three-and-out series by our offense, turnovers and poor field position from our lack of kickoff coverage.

The defense did rise valiantly but in the end ran out of gas against SIU's offensive line. As stated earlier, we couldn't afford to lose several key performers and Angel Rubio was one of them. This, unfortunately, happens in the game of football and someone must step up, now!

Offensive inconsistency and not taking advantage of good field position following turnovers and kick returns was the difference in the game. Too many times we played timidly in the offensive line.

We did come out and put together three excellent scoring drives. But, for a "veteran" unit, it was a disappointing performance that must turn around quickly. We only ran 52 offensive plays and controlled the ball 12 minutes less than the Salukis. This doesn't help our defense at all.

SIU out-executed us on their kickoff returns for excellent field position and a huge momentum swing touchdown after Greg Klund's fumble return for a go-ahead touchdown. We ran down the field and stuck to blocks instead of using speed and agility to get to the ball. It killed us.

Justin Terrill had a good night punting through erratic snaps and pinned SIU inside the 20 twice. However, he was our leading tackler in kickoffs, suffering a mild concussion

I'll be second-guessed for kicking the extra point to make it 30-27 rather than going for two. We kicked the onside and had we recovered it, we would have had the opportunity to score a go-ahead TD or kick a tying field goal, avoiding a loss. Had we gone for two and made it, we can kick a field goal to win. If we miss the two-point play, our only chance to avoid the loss was to score a TD for the win.

The decision was made based on the fact that our defense played their tails off and by kicking the extra point we had two choices to avoid the loss, now moot after not recovering the onside. Playing to avoid losing is NOT our intention, but in and up-and-down game of miscues and missed opportunities, it was the choice for the moment, and for the defensive effort.

As poor as the first half was, the second half was as entertaining, especially the fourth quarter. Even through the roller coaster performance, we still managed to get the ball in Dione Tyler's hands on the last play. It was just too late.

Out of adversity comes strength. We created enough on Thursday to last the whole season. With three tough road contests coming, we'll find out how strong our squad is. We're not interested in what's behind or in front of us, but what is "inside" of our team.

This team will bounce back. Eastern Illinois (Saturday's opponent in Charleston, Ill.) is a solid team. We'll need disciplined execution and ball control to come out with a much needed win. We did some awfully good things Thursday night at times. We must simply build on them and play hard, consistent ball.

Again, thanks for the great turnout. We know the type of success on this road trip that is needed to get you back. Hang in with these kids. They'll do it.

John Mumford is the head football coach at Southeast Missouri State University