Arkansas State's 80-17 victory over Iowa Central CC has put opponents on notice that the Red Wolves are very serious.
ICCC Head Coach Brent Nelson was quick to praise ASU for their dangerous backline play and the mobility and fitness of their tight five. And Red Wolves Head Coach Dominic Shaw knows he has a good outfit.
"We’ve got quite a good system and we had the boys come back a week early, doing three-a-days, and that put us in a good place," Shaw told GRR. "We've got a good vibe and we're trying to get as much momentum as possible going forward."
The thing about Arkansas State this season as that now they're an independent team instead of in a conference, the way they look at games has to be different. As other independent teams such as Central Washington and Grand Canyon have learned, every game has playoff implications.
"Every game is like a test match," said Shaw.
What that means is the Red Wolves have to be switched on for every game. Despite that, Shaw isn't all that wrapped up in wins and losses. He can't be.
"We were pretty good against Iowa Central," said Shaw. "But we weren’t paying too much attention to the score. Really it was process-driven, and we are looking at our first two games as being 100% process driven. What I am looking at is, are the boys fit enough to run the system? What we want to do is make sure our players are super-fit and make sure they are developing a skill set and are executing that skill set at a competent level at a high speed. We want to play fast."
