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Current time at Stony Brook 9:55 p.m. Thursday, July 16, 2009
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Coach's Corner #8 - A Letter From The Desk Of Coach Priore
Oct. 19, 2007
Stony Brook, N.Y. - First, allow me to state that we are not pleased with the outcome of our last game against the University of Richmond. Richmond was a nationally-ranked quality opponent who is certainly at a high caliber level and has been for many years. That stated, we had many opportunities for success during the contest, but failed to capitalize when needed. Looking back on the first half of the Richmond game, some important positive facts held true. During a large stretch of the game our time of possession was double that of Richmond (19:38 to 10:22), we notched more than twice as many first downs (12-5), and ran twice as many plays on offense (55-24). As a result, we would expect the scoreboard to read differently than it did. As I have consistently said all season and throughout my long career, fundamentals and focus are critical factors that must accompany the high performance by our key players. We have had signs of that and we are working hard towards that vision, but we have not achieved that goal. The question I have posed to the team is simply: "Who are we?" Are we the dominant team from the first half of the Richmond game, or are we the stagnant team of the second half? My feeling is that we are the team from the first half of the Richmond game, but we must learn how to compete at that dominant level on a consistent basis. Offensively we were able to move the football well in the first half. The offense held possession of the ball for 20 minutes due to excellent decision making in the passing game by Josh Dudash '08 (Beachwood, N.J.) and a hard-nosed run game led by tailback Conte Cuttino '10 (Uniondale, N.Y.) which put the Richmond defense on its heels. The second half of the game was the total opposite. The Spider defense came out of halftime enthused and ready to play and forced shorter drives by our offense. Good teams tend to do that . . . face adversity, adjust and overcome.
The defense got off to an excellent start in the first half by forcing Richmond to go "three-and-out" on several occasions. Stellar play by William Martinez '09 (Downey, Calif.) at nose tackle along with tough pursuit by the linebacker corps led by Tyler Santucci '10 (New Kensington, Pa.) shut down Richmond's top-ranked run game. This great effort showed in the time of possession differential in the first half. In the second half, however, bad field position coupled with big plays by the Richmond offense put the defense in a difficult situation to play their best football. This week, we welcome the opportunity to play a home game. As any team will admit, playing in front of a home crowd can work to your advantage. We expect a large, enthused and RED Homecoming crowd and a tremendous turnout from our football alums. Over 100 former players will return to campus and take part in the homecoming celebration. I hope you will get there early and take advantage of the Wolfstock Village and all of the pregame festivities leading up to kick-off at 3 p.m. It should be a great day. Our opponent, the University of Maine, is another Colonial Athletic Association (CAA) team with a long rich tradition of success. Their abilities have taken them, on many occasions, to the NCAA playoffs. At this stage of our program we cannot let those variables be a factor in how we perform. Positive performance, when the opportunities arise, will be something we strive to achieve. We are currently hard at work putting together a game plan and mentality for success. Your support will, of course, be a large part of that success. We look forward to seeing you and especially some of the founding members of our football team on Homecoming at LaValle Stadium. If you have not pre-registered for homecoming, you can do so at the entrance to Wolfstock Village on Saturday. As always, wear RED and Go Seawolves! Chuck Priore Below is an outline of the Homecoming Day Events: 11:30 a.m. - Ted Eppenstein `68 Hall of Fame Dedication Ceremony (Stony Brook Arena Atrium) |
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