[gorillapittpray]

STOMPIN' GROUNDS!!
UL MONROE IS CONFIDENT HEADING INTO THEIR HOME OPENER AFTER WINNING AT OKLAHOMA

(JUNIOR DEFENSIVE BACK COREY CLAYTON GRABS HIS SECOND INTERCEPTION OF THE GAME TO SEAL THE VICTORY FOR THE WARHAWKS)

MONROE, LA - With all the talk of this explosive high powered Warhawk offense, it turned out to be the defense's plays to help preserve a season opening upset win over the then #13 ranked Oklahoma Sooners.
If you read into stats then youll believe that OU's Alex Cummings picked apart this secondary. He was 26-30 for 313 yards and two touchdown passes. But if you watched the game you'd see why not to beleive it.
"We played a lot of over the top coverage" Clayton said after the teams practice Tuesday afternoon. "We allowed him to take everything underneath and he did it, we were not gonna give up the long ball to those guys."
Clayton and the rest of the defense used the new 4-2-5 scheme showing zone blitzes and different movements to force OU underneath and his bend but dont break style came up with three critical plays that helped turn the game and get the win. The key is can they now carry that momentum over against a FCS school next weekend. Head coach Eddie Polly addressed how he feels his team did as well as the challenges of playing a FCS team this weekend.


Opening Statement...
ON THE BUZZ AROUND CAMPUS
Obviously, it's been a busy last few days. We're still very excited about what happened. I'm not going to say I'm surprised, either. I've said multiple times I like the chemistry of this team. I've had several questions over the last few days about what this means for the program. I think it was a little bit of a culminating event. I think a lot of the things that we've been talking to our players about came to fruition this last Saturday.
There is a lot of work still to be done. I think we mitigated a lot of those first game issues-penalties, turnovers, etc.-that generally plague you the first game, and I'm thankful for that. We still have significant work to do. There were still some mistakes that were pretty costly in the game. Not a lot of mental errors, but some technical errors that we will be working on getting corrected.
I'm happy for our players. They worked so hard to get the reception that they had after the game in Norman and the reception we had when we got back. Those are special moments for the players. These guys have four to five years to live a dream. It's our job as coaches to make sure some of those special moments happen for them.


ON PREPARATION AFTER A BIG WIN
I told the players on Sunday that we have to come back down to Earth. On the practice field, there was a white sheet, and on that sheet we had written 'Cloud Nine'. I wanted the team to jump off of cloud nine as we walked off the practice field so that we could come back to reality. (CHUCKLE IN THE ROOM)
The reality is that we don't have a team full of Heisman Trophy winners, but we're not devoid of talent, either. In all the conversations I've had over the last few days, you have the ones that maybe saw bits and pieced of the game and said "You know, you played with these guys and it was a fluke." The others say, "How does it feel to beat Oklahoma when you are just ULM?" I certainly don't look at our team as just ULM, and that can't happen. I think we played well, and I think we can continue to play well.
We need to recognize and understand who we are. As I told the players on Sunday, it has to happen this week at practice. You have to be the same person that you were last week. That's the guy that gives us opportunities to win. I think if you get caught up in all the distractions that are part of the big wins, then you're not going to be the guy that will allow us to win. That's going to be the real challenge for us now. I can tell you I'm still the same guy and the staff is all the same people, and our players will be the same people. I think they recognize why we have success and why we had success on Saturday.
We dont know much about FCS Southeast but we will prepare against them like their the number 1 team in the country.


AROUND THE SUN BELT

• Western Kentucky got the upset bid over Kentucky 21-17
  
• Cedric Edwards grabbed 4 interceptions returning one helping the Trojans beat UAB
• Texas State and UL Lafayette came up short with losses while Georgia State and South Alabama got wins over FCS schools
• Player of the week honors went to Troy's Cedrick Edwards who also garnered National player of the week honors for his four interception performance. Tight End Jeremy Brooks hauled in 7 rec for 128 yards and 3 touchdowns helping him get offensive player of the week.

Matchup Preview | September 7, 2013
	@
Grambling State Tigers (--, Away)		Louisiana-Monroe Warhawks (1-0, Home)
AT MALONE STADIUM HOME OPENER! UL Monroe comes home for its home opener against FCS Southeast. It will be a challenge to see how this team comes out the gates after an emotional win last week against the Oklahoma Sooners. FCS schools have given division ones schools tough games and hopes to continue that trend this weekend. Offensively it will be key for quarterback Jonathon Mansfield to have a big day. He play average against Oklahoma throing one interception and no touchdowns. He was however smart with the ball helping the Warhawks get 6-8 on third downs. His targets are plentiful. Corey Preston came out of the Oklahoma game as his sure number 1 receiver hauling in five receptions for 100 yards. Fellow receiver Conner Richardson wasnt far behind with 94 yards on four receptions. The Warhawks know they can run the football and that was evident watching Cameron Porter last week. Expect this offense to open up the pass a bit more and take shots to the end zone to build confidence and get the season opening crowd into the game. Defensively its simple. Keep doing what their doing. Right now they are playing confident even tho its just been one week. They slowed down one of the nations top offenses and help a All Big 12 receiver to just one catch for 6 yards. Expect this defense however to be a little more aggressive as they slowly add in new schemes with this 4-2-5 scheme. Should be a good one, UL Monroe in a route