Wildcat - Steam Matchup
Keith Murphy
Wednesday May 22, 2002
This season’s af2 schedule contains a number of pairings where the same two teams play on consecutive weekends. “I don’t see it as a problem this week; but you might want to ask again next week. I don’t like playing teams back to back. It’s tough playing back to back but you’ve got to do what you have to do.” Siegfried doesn’t expect much of a change in the ‘Cats game plan over the next two weeks, “I don’t change us as much as I react to them. You do everything you can to win. If we get fortunate enough to have some kind of a lead then, obviously, I’m going to want to save some things; but we do everything necessary to try to win each week.”
Siegfried says that Roanoke is a good team, “They have a good quarterback in Volarich, They had every opportunity to beat Albany last week in Albany.” Roanoke lost that game 37 – 32 last weekend. But the Steam boast the third best record in the division and trail Cape Fear by only ½ a game.
The Steam have faced some off the field turmoil in recent weeks, but Siegfried doesn’t believe that it will distract them come game time, “They weren’t distracted against Albany last week. But, you’d have to think they’d be distracted a little bit. However, I’m approaching this as if their team’s not worrying about what’s going on in the front office. That’s basically what I do; I don’t worry about our front office, I don’t worry about the stands, all I worry about is our team. I think they’ll be ready to roll and I think it’s going to be a good game.”
The Wildcats continue to rank among the top defenses in the league even though Siegfried is known as an offensive-minded coach. “I am an offensive coach; no doubt about it. But my mindset with big guys is defense. Most of our big guys are very good on defense. We’ve had some offenive linemen come in here who couldn’t do anything on defense and they are no longer playing with us. So, in turn, we’ve got mostly defensive linemen on our team. That’s where it starts. We’re strong on defense right now so we’ll go with what’s working.”
Siegfried still hopes that the ‘Cat offense will continue to improve. In the early part of the season the Wildcats struggled in the red zone, but with the addition of Mike Gluski, the team has become more efficient. “I’ve looked at our red zone stats and we are 0 for 4 for field goals inside the red zone. From a scoring offense standpoint, if I take away those four field goal misses; we’re like 16 for 20 on drives that we were trying to score touchdowns in the red zone. That’s not too bad. But we’re still 16 for 24 overall. But 0 for 4 in the red zone for field goals is unacceptable. They should be like extra points.” Roanoke has not been much more efficient as they are only 19 for 29 on red zone attempts. The two teams rank 28 and 29th in the league in red zone efficiency.
The Wildcat offense has improved with Gluski at the helm but Siegfried is still not pleased with the unit’s performance. “It’s not our offense so much as it is individual mental mistakes. On Saturday we had an illegal formation penalty called against us at the one-yard line. The receiver pretty much just walked into the end zone before the snap. That cost us five yards and since it was fourth down we went for and missed a field goal. Stuff like that. It’s the mental mistakes that are hurting us. It’s not anything we’re doing wrong as far as the package. It’s the penalties, the mental mistakes, the stupid things. We fumble the ball on a sweep because the fullback takes his eye off the ball. That’s what’s happening to us in the red zone.”
The ‘Cats are also still battling the injury bug. Troy Esprit, who just had an ankle cast removed, is still on the injured reserve list. Joining Esprit in civilian clothes this weekend will be Kelvin Suggs and Wilmont Perry.
Kickoff is set for 2:30 pm Saturday at the Roanoke Civic Center.
Dr. Murphy has nearly 20 years of media experience ranging from radio to the Internet. He has served as webmaster for two AF2 teams and the football team at Fort Valley State University. He is a professor at FVSU and directs www.bunniwerks.org, a non-profit rabbit rescue organization. He has been commissioned as a Kentucky Colonel. Murphy is also serving as a first party editor of af2 stories for ArenaFfan. For more information about Dr. Murphy see: www.keithmurphy.info
