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SIUE Post-game Comments from Andy Benoit

Oct. 13, 2009

UNO Head Coach Andy Benoit answered questions from PrivateerFootball.com following the Privateers road win, 21-14 at SIU-Edwardsville.

Do you have an injury report?  On the broadcast, Wags made it sound like you had a lot of guys banged up.

Coach Benoit:  "We are a bit banged up. Concordia Game took a little more toll than we thought. We are waiting on confirmations on a few guys before I make the call that they will be out for the season. We had a couple of guys not play last week that should play this week – Nash, Taylor (assessment pending), and Corso (assessment pending). McNamara looks like he will be out for the year. Caballero (leg) is questionable this week, pending further evaluation. I have a couple that I am waiting on right now. The only injury that we had from this past week was Giambelluca (hand) – awaiting more details on him. We had several guys not make the trip last week due to midterm commitments – they’ll be back this week as well."

Comments from the game?  You guys bounced back from the loss at Concordia to win a big conference game on the road.

Coach Benoit:  "This was a good game for us. On paper we were a bit stronger than the scoreboard showed, but the scoreboard is what counts. It was a big win – it was a rebound from the Concordia loss, our first conference win, and a rival win. We have developed a good rivalry with SIUE. We like playing them and they like playing us. They are a great group of coaches and players and we look forward to many more games in the future. This win puts us one step closer to our goal. Every win from here on is big. I think we had some plays that worked well in the passing game, and I believe that Brady is starting to mesh with all of his weapons on offense (Davis and Guidry had great games). Our running attack hit its stride – Preston had his first career 100+ yard game here and Robert Jones ran with intensity – they are a strong combination. On defense, we put great pressure on their QBs. Six sacks, two picks, several turnovers, we played solid – I cannot ask for more if you give up less than 180 yards total to an opposing offense and put pressure like that. I believe that several guys played well on defense – Giglio, Boisseau, Dinett, Doran, Giambelluca, James, Zeigler and I could continue because this one was a big team effort on defense."

Hate to keep bringing up the unsportsmanlike conduct calls, but even Wags mentioned that they seem to occur frequently.  Can you address that?

Coach Benoit:  "We had two in this game. One was a facemask – that one looked like it could go either way. The other was not worth a flag (in my opinion). We had a young freshman on kickoff turn to his teammates after making a tackle and was excited. He was flagged at that point. I don’t believe a coach should whine about flags after the game, but that one was one that I would take contention with. He’s a good young man and was excited. We are attempting to play disciplined football here. The players know the things that I will not tolerate – jawing with the refs, fighting, taunting players, deliberately trying to hurt people, cheap shots – all of that will not be tolerated. I do want them to play aggressive, but we teach them (and have taught them) that there is a fine line between stupidity/unsportsmanlike conduct and fair play. We don’t always get the same in return – believe me (and sometimes that’s not called). These players know that the first person they don’t want to see if they are unsportsmanlike is the coach – me or one of the assistants."

Miami of Ohio beat Marquette 46-0 last week to go to 3-1 and remain unbeaten in the MCFC.  What do you expect from them next week?

Coach Benoit:  "Well, I can expect that they are a GREAT football team. This will, in my opinion, be one of the (if not the) best conference games this year. This may very well be the best college football game in Southeast Louisiana this week. And it’s between us and Miami (OH). There is a lot at stake in this game. Miami can pretty much wrap up the conference with a win. We can continue our stake for the conference with a win and take our championship campaign to the Xavier game. Overall, they are physical and have team speed. I wish we could pack Gormley this weekend because this will be great football at our level."

Anything special planned this week on campus to promote the game against Miami?

Coach Benoit:  "The guys, along with the spirit groups, are going to go into the buildings to sell tickets and will post signs. I know that some folks are doubting whether or not they have been selling tickets or making the same effort they did last year. Trust me, they have been trying to sell the heck out of those tickets – the difference this year is that they were trying to sell season tickets instead of individual game tickets. For this game and Xavier, they will be doing individual game tickets. Also, there are several Greek organizations that are having activities this week where many will be coming to the game. And, Admissions is hosting its largest recruitment event of the year (Get to Know UNO) and those prospective students/parents will be allowed to purchase tickets and attend the game. I believe that we will see greater crowds for this game and the Homecoming game."