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SAU Looks to Remain
Undefeated
The Fighting Bees are fresh off a dominating
performance at Waldorf last week, where they came home with a 31-3
victory, improving their season record to 2-0. That is the same record
they held last year when they traveled to Upland, Indiana to face Taylor
University, which turned out to be a convincing 48-7 victory for St.
Ambrose.
This year, it's the same situation, with the same records for both teams,
but SAU will get a crack at the Trojans at Brady Street Stadium. Their
record may be the same this time around, but Taylor is a much different
team.
"They're a better team than they were when we faced them last year," SAU
head coach Todd Sturdy said, "They had a chance to beat William Penn late
in their game last week, which is something they weren't in position to do
against the Statesmen last year. Their kids realize that they're a team on
the rise and they're getting better every week."
The Trojans defense is something that at first glance, may look to be
their Achilles heel, allowing an average of 527 yards and 38.5 points
through their first two games. The majority of those yards came courtesy
of Anderson University, who amassed 503 yards in the first half against
Taylor in the first game of the season.
"Their first game was very misleading, with a lot of fluke plays
happening. If you look at last week's stats, they made a lot of positive
adjustments and played very good defense against William Penn, so that's
what I'm concerned about," Sturdy said.
Taylor held the lead against the William Penn last week with two and a
half minutes remaining, but couldn’t hold on, allowing a rushing touchdown
with just over two minutes left in the game.
The stats don’t look great just by looking at them, but luckily for
Taylor, this game won't be played on paper.
"This is about as good a defense as we'll face all year," Sturdy said,
"They're a team that has a lot of enthusiasm and excitement and know
they're improving every game, which is a scary trait to have in an
opponent."
The SAU defense hasn't been too shabby to start the season either,
contributing to the Fighting Bees undefeated start to the 2005 season. The
‘D’ allowed just 172 total yards last week, while only giving up a field
goal to Waldorf. They also forced the Warriors into five turnovers, while
only giving up 66 yards in the air. With conference play on the horizon,
SAU is hoping for more of the same, which would put them in good position
with a win Saturday.
"2-0 is better than being 1-1 or 0-2, so I think we're happy to be where
we're at. It would be great to be 3-0 going into conference play and would
give us a lot of momentum that we can build upon each week," Sturdy said.
But before the Fighting Bees, ranked 13th in the nation, can focus on the
Mid-west division of the Mid-States Football Conference, they'll have to
take care of business against this MSFA Mid-east division foe.
"Taylor is a well coached team and doesn't make a lot of mistakes because
of that reason," coach Sturdy said
Taylor has received excellent play from the quarterback position so far
this year, throwing for four scores and an average of 215 yards, while not
yet committing an interception.
"They do a good job across the board, offensively, defensively, and they
have a great special teams unit. They are not going to do a lot of things
to beat themselves," Sturdy said
Since this game won't just be handed to the Fighting Bees, they must force
the Trojan's to make uncharacteristically bad choices.
"Taylor presents a big challenge to our program," said Sturdy, "We have to
be disciplined and win the turnover battle. If we do that, we have an
excellent chance to win on Saturday."
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