September 25, 1999
TU football nightmare: Time to wake up, rebuild from mistakes
By Andy Cole
Sports Writer
The only thing missing from Tiffin University coach Cam Cruickshank's nightmare last weekend was a guy in a hockey mask with a chainsaw. The Dragons led in the fourth quarter, but lost in the closing minutes to Trinity International University, 27-24, to fall to 2-1.
"I think my worst fear came true in that we believed all the hype about ourselves," Cruickshank said. "We didn't come ready to play emotionally. We weren't focused, we weren't intense, and there were times when we couldn't do anything right. Much of that is my fault. As a coach, it's my job to get these guys ready and make they are prepared to play a football game.
"We need to focus and get back to the basics this week. It doesn't matter what a team's record is, we have to come ready to play. I'm glad we lost early in the season as opposed to later in the year because now we can look at what we did wrong and re-evaluate ourselves. The loss was disappointing, but it's inconsequential because it's not in our league."
At the very least, the Dragons will get to re-evaluate themselves in a new kind of environment...a night game. Tiffin kicks off with St. Xavier tonight at Frost-Kalnow Stadium at 7 p.m.
St. Xavier will bring the same offensive look that Trinity showed to the Dragons with a wishbone set. Cruickshank's club will need to be prepared for pounding up the middle by the St. Xavier offense and continuous blitzing by the St. Xavier defense.
St. Xavier's best players on the offensive side of the ball are running back Jason Markowicz and split end Ed Bryant.
"They've got big running backs," Cruickshank said. "They're all over 220 pounds, and they have a lot of unusual offensive formations that we're going to have to line up right against.
"Defensively, they will blitz five, six or seven men all the time to start the game. They'll adjust to what we do and how effective we are from there.
"Blocking and tackling and reduction of turnovers and penalties will be key this week. We didn't tackle well at all against Trinity, and we had three turnovers after turning it over just once in the first two games. We need to cut down on those kinds of mistakes."
Tiffin may be able to play the St. Xavier scheme to its advantage because the visitors will have a young defensive secondary. If seven men blitz, TU quarterback George Whitfield should have only man-to-man coverage on potential big-play receivers Willie Spencer, Kenny Lochart and Kyle Baughman. A combination of early big plays and solid running by Steven Ingram (26 carries, 181 yards vs. Trinity) could force St. Xavier out of its blitz package.
"Any time a team brings that many guys at you, they're going to get some tackles for losses and some sacks," Cruickshank said. "We have to take advantage of what they do give us. Theirs is a defense that really lives by the sword and dies by the sword. Our offensive line and our running backs are facing a big test."
Cruickshank took his team to the College Football Hall of Fame on the way to Trinity last week, and one of the soundbites from famous coaches seemed to apply this week for TU.
"It said 'you can't turn intensity on and off,'" Cruickshank said. "If you wait until pre-game to build up the intensity, it won't stay with you for very long. But if you start at the beginning of the week and build it up gradually and slow, it stays with you.
"Where practices are concerned, we need to start getting more and more intense as the week goes on. We have to prepare differently and correctly. We didn't get anything positive besides that lesson out of the Trinity game."