"Make plays."
This is the mantra Coach Dean Hood is issuing to his Colonel football team, as Eastern prepares to take on Big East opponent Louisville at Papa Johns Cardinal Stadium Saturday, Sept. 11.
Hood, whose Colonels are coming off a disappointing loss to Missouri State, said he knows his team will have to execute and make the plays if his team expects to upset the Cardinals.
"We fully expected to win against Missouri State,"
Hood said. "I thought we had a great summer, great training camp. I thought we were really ready to play. We were really disappointed. Players didn't make the plays they should have and coaches didn't make the calls they should have."
With just one game down, coaches and players still understand every possession counts.
"We had dropped balls, missed tackles, mental errors on assignments,"
Hood said. "You have to make plays. Everything is a concept of transfer. From individual workouts, to a group setting. From the group setting, to the team stuff. From the team to the scrimmages and then to the game."
Senior linebacker, Jordan Dalrymple, understands what his coach is saying.
"We have to go out and make something happen,"
said Dalrymple, who recorded six total tackles in Week One. "Last week we didn't make it happen. We have to get better."
Dalrymple, will look to anchor a defense that has the task of stopping the Cardinals' rushing attack, which gained 190 yards against the University of Kentucky Wildcats in week one. Against the Bears, the Colonels allowed 189 yards rushing.
"We have to play assignment football, that's one thing we didn't do last Friday,"
Dalrymple said. "We have to shut down the run. And just play our kind of ball."
Louisville will use a duo of running backs in Bilal Powell and Victor Anderson. Powell, who was named a member of this week's Big East weekly Honor Roll, rushed for 153 yards and a touchdown against the Cats. The Cardinals starting quarterback, Adam Froman, also has the ability to escape the pocket, tuck it and run.
