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Cid coordinators speak

Citadel head coach Kevin Higgins was at the funeral of safety Rod Harland's father on Monday (if you did not read about it in Sunday's P&C, Harland's father was killed last week in Hartwell, Ga.) So offensive coordinator Dave Cecchini and DC Isaac Collins filled in at Monday's news conference.

It was an interesting chance to pick their brains that we don't often get during the season. Here's what each said about the team's slide in losses to Elon and WCU after an OT effort against App State:

Collins: "Defensively, I think it's just been part of the process. We have some new guys, a new staff, and I think that we've been kind of plodding along. We got to the App State game, and our whole mission that game was we weren't going to give up the big one. And for the most part, it held up. And I think the offense came out on fire and made that game a lot closer. We haven't had a point, and I think our kids would agree, where we've been playing well, offense, defense and special teams, across the board. We haven't had that consistency.

"And part of that is the moving parts. We've got some new guys we're trying to break in, and they can go 15 or 20 plays of pretty good football, and all of the sudden six or seven plays, and it's a completely different ball game. I think in terms of effort, I don't think that's changed in our kids. I think Elon was unfortunate, we fell behind early. But as I tell people, for a long time, that game was 23-0. So it wasn't out of hand until later on in the fourth quarter. Certainly, this past week we had a chance. I think our kids are looking at it like there were two games we had a chance to win, we were in position to win, and came up short. If you win those two games, you are not having the same conversations we're having right now.

"The thing I've stressed to our guys is that the formula works -- when we've executed, got turnovers, gotten off the field on third down, we've been successful. And that's what they are focusing on, how do we fix those times when we are not getting off the field. We're looking at a little bit differently, just in the sense of how we prepare and practice, how we make adjustments and how it translates on the field. For our kids, just listening to the defensive kids talk on Sunday, that's really what they are talking about. Yes, everyone is disappointed that the season has not gone according to plan. But in their eyes, they know how close we are. It's just a matter of getting over that hump. And I hope this is the week we can put it all together in all three phases and play the way we are capable, and not dig a hole for ourselves either way."

Cecchini:

"On the offensive side of the ball, one of the issues we've talked about is that we have a lot of guys who played a little bit last year who are playing a lot, that we are really relying on. Obviously, this offense, everyone talks about Andre Roberts and we've tried to get the ball to him, he's our best player. But you look at the surrounding characters around Bart and Andre, everyone out there are first and second-year type players.

"All of them have talent, all of them can win football games for us and all of them have made plays. It's the consistency that is the main thing. You can get away with that when you are playing a team like Princeton. You can come out slow in the first half and make some mistakes and show up for 2 1/2 quarters and get after a team. To a degree, we did that against Presbyterian. Guys stepped up and made plays, and the times you don't, because your are playing against a lesser defense, that's okay, you can overcome that.

"But when you get to the defenses that play SoCon defense right now, of that caliber, those mistakes and that inconsistency really becomes apparent. We were fortunately able to play our best game against App State and have the fewest mistakes, but they still occurred and that's the reason we didn't win the football game -- some of those mistakes that occurred in overtime and on the final drive in regulation that required us to push back and kick a 50-yard field goal to try to win the game instead of a 30-yarder.

"We are doing our best, but unfortunately I equate it to my first year that I showed up as offensive coordinator here. You have a lot of guys who have talent but just aren't either comfortable in the offense yet or just don't have the experience yet to make plays on a more consistent basis.

"Right now, we are focusing on the offensive line to help us get better. We've got a new starter in there with Lincoln Kling, and the inconsistencies we've had there are more of a factor. A big part of playing offensive line is jelling together, having the same guys play in the same spots. We've been in a place since the season started where, we haven't been decimated by injuries, but we've always had something go on where we haven't been able to practice with the same five guys. We're always missing some one for some particular reason -- a small injury, mono, a player's grandma dies -- there's lots of different reasons, and we just have not jelled up front like we had hoped."

Much more to come

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