Lumberjacks Making Most of Bye Week
9/26/2014 12:00:00 AM | Football
NACOGDOCHES, Texas - Stephen F. Austin may not have a game this Saturday, but that doesn't mean the Lumberjacks haven't been working hard all week as the team prepares for the final eight-game stretch against Southland Conference opponents. Head coach Clint Conque met with the media earlier this week and recapped the victory over Weber State, where the team stands through the first four games of the season and how SFA will be utilizing its bye week.
On the victory over Weber State:
“Its always good to good to win, and to do it against a Big Sky opponent here in Homer Bryce and to have some success, it is very rewarding. I’m very pleased with a lot of aspects. I thought we were a very physical football team, I thought it was a very physical football game overall. To start 3-1, that hasn’t been done since 2010, and we haven’t won three in a row since 2011, so the kids feel good about that. When you start breaking it down offensively, a big night moving the football. No offensive penalties. We took two delay of games intentionally there, but no offensive penalties and no turnovers, and I thought that was very positive. We were able to establish Gus and our running game a little bit; both the running backs and the quarterbacks. We hit some big plays. The problem is we are getting to the redone and we are getting tackled, instead of finishing those plays. We just need to finish those big plays so the next snap is an extra point and not another offensive snap. Defensively I thought we played really well. This team put up 30-something points on the road last week against Sacramento State, really played a physical and fine football game against North Dakota State, and really moved the ball on Arizona State. I thought we answered the challenge there. Defensively, the thing that tarnishes it a little is that we had probably six or seven defensive holding or pass interference calls. That’s something we’ve got to get fixed. Outside of that I thought defensively we played really well. They had a very good back that could play for a lot of teams in this country. Their quarterback was a quick release winner type kid but I thought the defensive really rose up against a Big Sky school, and I have great respect for that conference overall. There is always something to work on, but overall pleased with the win to move us to 3-1. It was certainly one of the bigger crowds we’ve seen at Homer Bryce in a while and the kids really fed off that energy.”
On Aaron Thomas getting to wear #16 on Cally Belcher Day:
“It was a special night to honor a special individual. I did not have the privilege of knowing Cally, but I’ve heard the stories about the young man. One of my former defensive coordinators, Denzel Cox, was on the field the day Cally passed away. I was vaguely familiar with his stories before I came here last January. To take that number out of retirement for one game and honor that young man, we probably could not have selected a better individual that Aaron Thomas. Aaron was incredibly humbled to wear that number he clearly understood the significance of that night and wearing the number 16 jersey. He went out in Aaron Thomas fashion and played really hard and he made plays on the kicking game and offensively. I hear there was a big turn out of former teammates from 20 years ago. Certainly the young man made an indelible impact on this program and I thought it was a classy way to honor him and we could have not picked a finer individual than Aaron Thomas.”
On the competition at kicker:
“We’ve missed two 20-yard field goals and shanked an extra point. Every point is precious and they know that, so we just got some areas to grow there but there are a lot of aspects I’m pleased with. What’s really cool to see is the confidence level of the players and how we have matured. You could say well look at the opponents and they’ve only won this many games, but look at our record last year. We weren’t at the top of the food chain, so any success we have early in the year helps us build some confidence and momentum and its pretty cool to see the kids playing with some confidence, particularly on the defensive side of the football. Offensively we are seventh in the nation and that’s great and all that but I think defense is where we’ve seen the most significant growth.”
On where the team stands after the first four games:
“Well we’ve got to get well. That was a very physical game. We’ve got a couple of young men that would probably play this week but they could use a little bit of time down. Although we don’t have a game this week, there’s an awful lot of work to do, both in the weight room, in the classroom, and in film study. We are going back and self-scouting ourselves on both side of the ball and it gives us an opportunity to work on the player development aspects of our program. Some of our back-ups, third team guys, redshirt kids, we’ll have opportunity to work with them on a couple of practices this week while we give some of our frontline guys some much-needed rest. When you look at it, we’ve gone eight straight weeks counting camp, we get a break and then we’ve got eight more weeks. We certainly understand that in conference everything is magnified. We all know each other very well so mistakes become very critical. A lot of the games in this league are decided by one score or less and so we’ve got some areas to clean up, especially the kicking game and penalties because we aren’t pleased with that. The young men understand it because against a little bit more explosive teams, those mistakes will get you beat and they know that.”
On the focus of the bye week:
“Player development is a big part of this. Rest and rehabilitation, some academic healing, and get back in the weight room. We’ll get on the road for the first time Thursday night and Friday here in the state and then Saturday is a down day for the coaches so we can recharge. We need a day to take a step back away from the players so that we can recharge. Obviously we’ve got one eye on our next opponent which is our conference opener but right now, this week is about us and its about focusing on our health, our academic well being, a little bit of recruiting and some self scout. It’s important that you grow your redshirts and your second and third team guys because you don’t know when you’re going to use those guys. The schedule is so difficult, but also the future of our program is sitting down there on scout teams and we want to spend a couple days this week working with those guys. A bye week is a little bit different week but a lot of work is going on here at the Fieldhouse and at Homer Bryce.”
-SFA-
