Northern Illinois Huskies
DeKALB, Ill. - Northern Illinois defensive end Larry English wants everyone to know how much he respects Saturday's opponent, Tennessee.
"Tennessee is a different animal when it comes to the team and the talent they have in that organization," English said.
That doesn't mean that English and his teammates will walk into Neyland Stadium expecting a blowout.
"They have more pressure than us," English said of the Vols (1-3).
At Tuesday's weekly news conference, NIU coach Jerry Kill was asked over and over about how the Huskies (2-2) will prepare for the biggest and loudest stadium it will play in this season.
Kill, an unabashed fan of SEC football, said he'll be excited to coach his first game against an SEC opponent.
"It's just different," Kill said. "I've been there."
Kill also asserted that his players will be ready to play and won't have a shock-and-awe look once the game starts. His concern, which won't be answered until gameday, is what will happen when Tennessee starts to have success against his team.
"You have to play loose," Kill said. "That's all you can do. You control what you can. That's our concentration."
It will be a huge difference from last week, when the Huskies played at Eastern Michigan. The announced crowd of 17,159 was actually a lot closer to less than half that number of warm bodies in the seats.
"That was something we talked about," English said of the big difference. "It's a challenge to go in and be ready to play in a stadium where there were no fans. ... both are a challenge to play in."
English and the senior group of Huskies have the experience of playing against big name opponents in larger-than-life stadiums.
The Huskies have gone to Maryland (2004, lost 23-20), Michigan (2005, lost 33-17), Ohio State (2006, lost 35-12), Wisconsin (2007, lost 44-3) and Minnesota (2008, lost 31-27).
English called Wisconsin and Ohio State the toughest of the two big road trips, but believes his team is mature enough to handle the environment of Tennessee. He wasn't the only one who felt that way.
"By us doing these trips when we were younger it has matured us more and it allowed us to come together," wide receiver Greg Turner said.
If what Turner said turns out to be true, the difference in the game could go back to English's statement about which team is under more pressure to win Saturday.
"We don't have any pressure, we just need to play loose," English said, "play hard and see what happens."
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Comments » 17
TheVolMan writes:
numero uno
RocketVol writes:
Loud Stadium? You can't be serious.
TurboFan writes:
Okay, for the speeellinng impaired.
The headline says "play loose" as in "not tight".
It does not say "play to lose" (pronunciation: 'luz') as in "we lost the f-ing game".
Just thought I would help. No need to thank me. j/k
Telling, though, that Kill thinks UT will "have success" against NIU.
Hucklebuckle writes:
Give me back Jim Rome!!! Who thought we needed another homer show.
Spread the word....
servinggrant writes:
NIU, if you get a 10 point lead you will have more fans in that stadium then UT does.
WeLoveTennesseeVols writes:
Just a lot of negative vibs.
govols22231 writes:
if any lead
MANVOL writes:
Category Mid-American Conference Actual
North Ill.Rank Leader
Rushing Offense 4 Kent St. 197.4
Passing Offense 9 Ball St. 285.4
Total Offense 5 Ball St. 470.4
Scoring Offense 2 Ball St. 41.4
Rushing Defense 1 Northern Ill. 118.75
Pass Eff Defe 3 Ball St. 101.6
Total Defense 1 Northern Ill. 305.5
Scoring Defense 1 Northern Ill. 15.75
Net Punting 1 Northern Ill. 41.69
Punt Returns 6 Ball St. 22
Kickoff Returns 11 Temple 31.53
Turnover Margin 2 Akron 1
Pass Defense 6 Eastern Mich. 142
Passing Eff 4 Ball St. 170.81
Sacks 5 Western Mich. 2.2
Tackles / Loss 1 Northern Ill. 7.5
Sacks Allowed 5 Ball St. 0.6
I know it's the M.A.C but they have a decent offense ranks 2nd in Scoring offense. There defense is leading the M.A.C. in most defensive categories, oh ya and they have 5 INT's. This may not be the cake walk most is thinking especially with our offense.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
NIU is carrying a brick. The odds are, though, they cannot add it to the load.
TommyJack writes:
Nothing about this game could surprise me. We could win by 30, or lose by 10. Neither would surprise me. Pay more, expect less.
pdhuff#552644 writes:
Good info, Manvol, but good luck to NIU catching any of Crompton's tosses ala Aubie game.
fedupvol writes:
Ditto...what noise?? should be able to hear coaches making up excuses, clip boards flying, and NIU fans cheering! Unfortunately!
orangebloodgmc writes:
Rocketvol and fedupvol,
Unlike any of the whining quitting fairweather "fans" around you, my brother will be at the game representing our family and we don't quit, leave early, boo, nor sit quietly fretting and wringing our hands about the sky falling, but will be loudly cheering the Vols to the very end. We were just raised that way.
IBleedOrange444 writes:
For all you posters out there, please take note. The title of the article states that NIU is going to play loose, meaning they will spread the ball around, maybe runs some trick plays, bring lots of blitzes, basically throw caution to the wind. That's what it means when you use two o's. If you mean to say lose as in the opposite of win, it only has one o.
WYLOVER writes:
Empty seats are not very loud.
They should be fine.
msvolsfan writes:
You mean you were raised to be insanely naive and continue to accept the barfing that continues to go on by Tenn on the football field? With our terrible quarterback play and coaching, I see a maximum of 2 SEC wins this year and maybe, just maybe, a trip to the Papa Johns.com Bowl only to be embarrassed by some mid-major team. If you accept this kind of constant underachievement and idiocy that is dragging our program into the ground, then you are part of the problem as well. Wake up and face reality!!!
If Crompton takes more than 25% of the snaps this Saturday, I will not watch another game this season.
volsforever writes:
I remember the days when can we beat Florida was the only question during the entire year. Now, NIU has everybody from the youngest fan to the AD wondering if we can score a touchdown and prevent them from running the score up on us. It's time for a UT bailout. Be sure to vote.
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