Knights must develop killer instinct

Posted Sep 3, 2009 by Adam Adkins

Updated Sep 3, 2009 at 01:21 PM

During the first half of Robinson’s Kickoff Classic last Friday night against St. Petersburg, the Knights looked like a team poised for a bounce-back season. Then, the wheels fell off.

A poor second-half performance led to Robinson’s 29-13 setback to the Green Devils, and Knights coach Mike DePue said he wants to see his team display a new attitude after the break in the team’s season-opener this week against Leto.

“We’ve got to develop a little more of a killer instinct in that third quarter to make ourselves a winning football team,” said DePue, whose team led 6-0 at the half. “I think they learned their lesson from what transpired the other night, and hopefully we’ll become a more mature team because of that.”

Leto was one of two teams the Knights defeated last season. Robinson is 5-1 against Leto the past six years, though the teams have split the last two meetings, which have been decided by a combined six points.

DePue again stressed the importance of getting the 2009 season off on the right foot. The Knights have a deep, experienced junior class, but it’s one that also hasn’t had a lot of success on the field, and DePue fears early losses could quickly diminish the optimism surrounding his program.

“There is a culture of defeatism that can be developed over a period of years. We’ve gone 2-8 and 1-9 (over the past two seasons) and these guys have not had the snowball effect of winning game after game after game,” DePue said. “(The past few years) all of the sudden there is a spark, but then a letdown. We’ve got to have that spark be very consistent in the next few weeks.”