As easy as it may seem, the SIU football team is not looking past its lowly Week 7 opponent.

The Indiana State Sycamores will travel to Carbondale this weekend as losers of their last 19 games and have won once since October 2, 2004.

Still, SIU coach Dale Lennon is not taking his opponent for granted coming off an emotionally tough loss to North Dakota State.

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“Anytime you overlook an opponent that is the cardinal sin,” Lennon said. “That is the bottom line in the game of football, respect your opponent. And if you don’t do that, you are setting yourself up for failure.

But the Sycamores’ continuous struggles in recent years is hard to overlook which is why Lennon said the theme during this week’s practice will be self-improvement and not the opponents’ record.

“Anytime you have a loss that doesn’t sit well, you need to get back on the saddle right away and we are excited to get that going,” Lennon said.

The Sycamores have been outscored 219-33 this season and are the only team other than the Salukis in the Missouri Valley Football Conference that has yet to score in the third quarter.

SIU running back Larry Warner said no matter the opponent, every conference game is vital to any hopes of a playoff return this season.

The Salukis already have two conference losses and some of the team, including Warner, are saying that every game has now become a must-win.

“It’s definitely pressure added,” Warner said. “In this conference, each game you have to stay focused and have to be determined to win.”

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The team’s main goal this week is keeping its focus throughout the entire game, a trait that hasn’t necessarily been portrayed this season.

The Salukis’ second-half blunders have been well documented and players and coaches say they are dedicated to fixing the flaw.

Lennon said a lack of maturity within the team has led to SIU’s inability to handle a lead or first half success.

With a Sycamore team that has been outscored 102-10 in the second half, the Salukis hope they can break their second-half slumber.

“We need another game to improve and take that next step forward and that is really going to be our focus this week is overall improvement,” Lennon said. “We aren’t exactly getting caught up in who we are playing.”

A week after blaring music into McAndrew Stadium in efforts to offset the noisy environment of the Fargodome, Lennon said the team would not add any particular drills in practice to prepare for the Sycamores.

Instead, coaches will stress focus early and often.

SIU quarterback Chris Dieker said the team needs to learn how to play with the same confidence in the second half as it has in the first half, when the Salukis have outscored their opponents 71-40.

“We can’t take them lightly based on their record or anything,” he said. “We just have to come out and play like we would any other team.”

Lennon said looking too much at the Sycamores’ horrid record could result in overconfidence and would tell his team to concentrate on playing a sound and fundamental game.

“We are not trying to overanalyze them,” Lennon said. “They are a team that has talent and has had some success early in the game. They need something to believe in and if they do have early success, then it could very easily become a four quarter game and that is what we have to prepare for.”

Brian Feldt can be reached at 536-3311 ext. 256 or [email protected].