Scots Prepare for Lawrence

October 24, 2001

Legendary USC football coach John McKay had a rough go of it in his first few years in the NFL, guiding a hapless Tampa Bay squad which lost its first 26 games. At one point during the skid, he was asked, “John, what do you think about your players’ execution?”

“I think it’s a good idea,” he replied.

Second-year coach Steve Bell wouldn’t go that far in describing the Fighting Scots’ 39-20 loss to Ripon in last Saturday’s Homecoming game, but the “E-word” was definitely in his thoughts.

“Execution,” he said, when asked why the passing game struggled for the second week in a row after playing such a vital role in Monmouth’s four-game winning streak to start the year. “We just didn’t execute. We’d either run a good route and the throw wasn’t there, or the route wouldn’t be run properly and the ball would go to where the receiver wasn’t.”

There was also the occasional dropped pass, and it added up to a sluggish 12-of-36 afternoon in the air for Monmouth. Quarterback Rob Purlee did have one hot streak, hitting on 3-of-5 passes for 78 yards as the Scots moved swiftly down the field to score, but that 1:16 drive saw Monmouth gain over half of its 148 total passing yards.

“What we’re going to emphasize this week is that we’ve got to get better at what we do,” Bell continued. “Our execution has been limited. We’re going to concentrate on what Monmouth College does in terms of execution on offense, defense and special teams.”

In terms of defense, the Scots would like to bottle their third quarter performance against the Red Hawks, as Monmouth reversed the game’s flow and got right back after a team it had trailed 26-7 at halftime. The defense opened the second half by forcing Ripon to go three-and-out, and it ended the Red Hawks’ next four drives by producing turnovers - interceptions by Justin Oertle and Matt Beverly and fumble recoveries by Matt Lerner and Tobias Dickerson.

Although the final three turnovers set Monmouth up each time inside the Ripon 30, the Scots only scored once, when Purlee hit Nick Martin for his second TD pass of the game. That made the score 26-20, and the defense forced another three-and-out, giving the Scots the ball with a chance to take the lead. But Monmouth went backward on three straight snaps (a stuffed rush, a penalty and a sack), the Scots punted, and Ripon’s Dan Henken broke a 34-yard reverse to set the Red Hawks’ up for their game-clinching score.

Henken, a former member of the University of Minnesota football program, was very impressive, gaining a combined 118 yards on four receptions and his lone run and scoring two TDs. Tight end Nick Vraney was also huge, catching three passes for 117 yards and two scores, and running back Troy DeVoe was even better than advertised, gaining 164 yards on 27 attempts.

The opposition’s talent level figures to drop off a bit now that St. Norbert and Ripon are in the Scots’ rearview mirror, but that doesn’t mean Monmouth can take its foot off the gas. The next opponent, Lawrence, who will visit Bobby Woll Memorial Field at 1 p.m. Saturday, will want some revenge for a 62-33 rout administered by Monmouth a year ago.

“You better believe that will be a motivation for those guys, as it would be for us,” said Bell, whose Scots gained 507 yards in Appleton last fall. “But instead of worrying a lot about Lawrence, our focus has to be more on what we’re doing.”

Bell and his staff, of course, are going to take a good, hard look at what the Vikings bring to the table, and that includes a balanced attack. When LU takes to the air, Zach Michael is a prime target. The sophomore caught 13 passes for 228 yards and three TDs last week in the Vikings’ 48-26 loss to Carroll, upping his season totals to 40 receptions for 631 yards and seven TDs. Lawrence’s quarterback is R.J. Rosenthal (86-of-200, 1,130 yards, 12 TDs) and Josh Graham emerged as the team’s starting tailback last week with a 154-yard effort off the bench.

Defensively, the 452 yards the Vikings allowed against Carroll would tend to suggest they’re vulnerable, but they’re actually ranked fourth in the league on that side of the ball (338.7 yards per game) compared to Monmouth’s eighth place standing (376.3). The Scots’ offense will be a tough test for Lawrence, though, as MC is ranked fourth (357.7).

“I think we’re sitting in a pretty good position,” Bell said, when asked about the remainder of the season. “We’re still 4-2, and we’re done with the two toughest teams in the conference. We might not like the fact that we didn’t beat them, but no one else has beaten them either. We still have to be positive, because we have a lot of goals to achieve. Are we going to win the Midwest Conference? No. Do we still have a lot to play for? You better believe it.”

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