By Mike Marzelli, Pine Bluff Commercial
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Mo Forte lit into his Arkansas-Pine Bluff football team in the locker room following its embarrassing 58-3 loss to Southern Illinois, his voice booming through the locker room doors in the bowels of McArthur Stadium.
The message was loud and clear to the Golden Lions: Their performance Saturday was unacceptable.
"I think they understand where I'm coming from and if they didn't, that's a problem," Forte said. "We played a terrible football game and we need to take responsibility for all the things we did wrong and correct them because that type of game is not indicative of our program."
Forte didn't speak long, delivering his fiery speech in under five minutes, as he made sure the Lions know that there is still a tough road ahead of them.
"We come right back and have an opportunity to go out and play a mid-level Division I football team in New Mexico State that has a good program going," he said. "We need to turn things around in a hurry to be ready for that and I wanted to make sure the guys kept sight of that because there is no way we can play like we did [yesterday] again next week."
Wallace returns
Senior quarterback Chris Wallace got back on the field for the Lions late in the third quarter, leading a pair of promising drives that both came up short.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year looked more like his old self than he did in either of his previous two starts this season, showing good mobility and his trademark soft touch in completing four passes for 69 yards and running for 11 yards.
Esaw impresses
While UAPB's two-headed backfield of Martell Mallett and Mickey Dean combined for just 14 total yards in the game, reserve tailback Kenneth Esaw made the most of his opportunity in the fourth quarter.
Esaw carried the load on UAPB's final three drives and finished with 63 yards on seven carries to outgain the rest of his team combined.
Just for kicks
The effectiveness of Southern Illinois' offense spoke for itself. The Salukis put up 44 points and over 500 yards of offense before they were forced to punt for the first time. SIU punter Scott Ravanesi's first kick came with 11:35 to play in the fourth quarter.
New Look
The Golden Lions have added a new decal to the sides of their gold helmets. Debuted in last week's Arkansas Classic, a script "Golden Lions' emblem written in white arches across the crest of the headgear on both sides.
UAPB had not worn a helmet decal since 2003, when the traditional Golden Lion logo was emblazoned on the sides of the old black helmet that was discontinued after last season.
Forte had elected to go with a blank helmet during his three-plus year tenure until last week.
M4 absent
Much to the dismay of the Southern Illinois fans and a number of local high school bands who had gathered for the university's 'Band Day,' the Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South did not make the six-hour trip from Pine Bluff.
M4 is also not expected to attend next week's game at New Mexico State.
CARBONDALE, Ill. — Mo Forte lit into his Arkansas-Pine Bluff football team in the locker room following its embarrassing 58-3 loss to Southern Illinois, his voice booming through the locker room doors in the bowels of McArthur Stadium.
The message was loud and clear to the Golden Lions: Their performance Saturday was unacceptable.
"I think they understand where I'm coming from and if they didn't, that's a problem," Forte said. "We played a terrible football game and we need to take responsibility for all the things we did wrong and correct them because that type of game is not indicative of our program."
Forte didn't speak long, delivering his fiery speech in under five minutes, as he made sure the Lions know that there is still a tough road ahead of them.
"We come right back and have an opportunity to go out and play a mid-level Division I football team in New Mexico State that has a good program going," he said. "We need to turn things around in a hurry to be ready for that and I wanted to make sure the guys kept sight of that because there is no way we can play like we did [yesterday] again next week."
Wallace returns
Senior quarterback Chris Wallace got back on the field for the Lions late in the third quarter, leading a pair of promising drives that both came up short.
The Southwestern Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year looked more like his old self than he did in either of his previous two starts this season, showing good mobility and his trademark soft touch in completing four passes for 69 yards and running for 11 yards.
Esaw impresses
While UAPB's two-headed backfield of Martell Mallett and Mickey Dean combined for just 14 total yards in the game, reserve tailback Kenneth Esaw made the most of his opportunity in the fourth quarter.
Esaw carried the load on UAPB's final three drives and finished with 63 yards on seven carries to outgain the rest of his team combined.
Just for kicks
The effectiveness of Southern Illinois' offense spoke for itself. The Salukis put up 44 points and over 500 yards of offense before they were forced to punt for the first time. SIU punter Scott Ravanesi's first kick came with 11:35 to play in the fourth quarter.
New Look
The Golden Lions have added a new decal to the sides of their gold helmets. Debuted in last week's Arkansas Classic, a script "Golden Lions' emblem written in white arches across the crest of the headgear on both sides.
UAPB had not worn a helmet decal since 2003, when the traditional Golden Lion logo was emblazoned on the sides of the old black helmet that was discontinued after last season.
Forte had elected to go with a blank helmet during his three-plus year tenure until last week.
M4 absent
Much to the dismay of the Southern Illinois fans and a number of local high school bands who had gathered for the university's 'Band Day,' the Marching Musical Machine of the Mid-South did not make the six-hour trip from Pine Bluff.
M4 is also not expected to attend next week's game at New Mexico State.
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