Coach Holmes watches over the team as they prepare for Southern Illinois

Game Notes

HAMPTON, Va. —  After coming off a great win over the 2007 Southwestern Athletic Conference Champions this past Sunday in the 4th Annual MEAC/SWAC Challenge, the Pirates are ready for their next match-up.

The Pirates will travel to Carbondale, Ill. to face a team that went 12-2 last year and was one game away from playing for the NCAA Division I FCS Championship Game, but fell short against the Blue Hens of Delaware. The Salukis will be playing their first game of the 2008 season at home against the Pirates.

“They (Southern Illinois) are a sound football team and we are going to have to match their intensity if we are going run with them,” Pirates head coach Jerry Holmes said. “Our defense has to show up like they did against Jackson State this past week and with [Wakeem] Goode having a great showing we are going to need that again this week from him and the rest of the defense.”

Southern Illinois will enter this weekend’s game with a new man in Dale Lennon as head coach. 

Going into the game, senior linebacker Wakeem Goode had the following to say about the game: “We have to take it one practice at a time and go into the game and give it our all and with the team that we have … the only people that can beat us is ourselves.”

The Pirates and the Salukis are set to go head-to-head on Saturday, Sept. 6 at 6 p.m. CST. You can listen to the game live on WHOV 88.1, the home for Pirate athletics, with Rob Dixon and Shamar Woods calling the action.

For more information on Hampton University football, please contact the Office of Sports Information at 757-727-5811 or visit the official Pirates website at www.hamptonpirates.com.

The original story was published here: http://www.hamptonpirates.com/News/football/2008/9/3/HAMFB_9-3-08.asp?path=football

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