When Steve Bell's Monmouth College football team hosts Beloit in the Midwest Conference opener this Saturday at Zorn Memorial Stadium, they'll face a familiar opponent with an unfamiliar look.
"They'll be much different than last year," predicted Bell of the team he'll see in a 1 p.m. kickoff. "Some of their personnel has changed, but that's every team every year. The main thing is they've changed their scheme. We really won't have past history to go on now, so we'll prepare the best we can and adjust on the fly."
The Scots adjusted on the fly last week, beginning with the opening kick which had to be pushed back from a 1 o'clock start to a 2:15 p.m. kickoff when Coe's team bus broke down. After the visitors had taken a 17-7 halftime lead, the Scots were able to tweak the offense and defense, outscoring the 22nd-ranked Kohawks 15-6 in the second half. But two missed PATs left the Scots on the short end of a 23-22 score.
"Coe took advantage of some of our mistakes," said Bell. "That's (the mistakes) something we've got to fix this week. Our focus is on correcting those mistakes and moving on to Beloit. It's cliché, but we've really got to focus on one game at a time. This week it's Beloit."
Monmouth got off to a slow start last season at Beloit as Monmouth fumbled on its opening possession and the Bucs converted the turnover into points. Working from the Scots' 14-yard line, Beloit took just five plays to jump on top 7-0 in the game's first three minutes.
The Scots then came back to take a 10-7 halftime lead on an Ace Henricks field goal and a 16-yard TD run by Trey Yocum, but the game was far from over. The Bucs regained the lead early in the third quarter before Monmouth reeled off three straight TDs to win 31-14.
Beloit's resiliency in last year's contest is something that is of concern to the Scots, despite the University of Chicago's 17-0 blanking of the Bucs in Week 1.
"We've got a ton of work to do this week," claimed Bell. "Beloit has played us extremely tough at times. We've got to bring it and set the tone for what we expect and live up to the standard we expect out of our guys, play in and play out."
Last week, Bell, who is sitting on career win No. 99, got what he has come to expect out of Yocum, once the Scots were able to make a few adjustments. Monmouth's all-time TD leader cranked out 96 yards on the ground to go with Brik Wedekind's 267 passing yards. Meanwhile the defense kept Coe at bay with two interceptions, including a key second-half pick by Kenny Fogerty at the Monmouth 44.
"We were good at times against Coe," said Bell. "But we were inconsistent. We need some consistency against Beloit. They'll be a tough opponent to prepare for. With their schematic changes, we only have last week's game to go on and that's not a whole lot of information. You'd like to have a few more games to go on."
One area where the Scots have excelled in the past is the ability to keep their game plan fluid. Bell believes in-game adjustments are a key.
"It happens every game," claimed Bell. "You see what's working and what's not working. Then you make the adjustments and hopefully it's not going to take a major adjustment. We have a limited knowledge base on Beloit this year. They could expand what they do. We just have to be prepared and make the adjustments needed."
