(1-0) Central Michigan 49, (0-1) Presbyterian 3
Presbyterian is, if nothing else, consistent. Watching this opening contest of 2016 for the Blue Hose on Thursday night, this game could very easily have been mistaken for one straight out of the middle of the 2015 season. That’s both a good thing and a bad thing if you’re a Presby fan.
It’s difficult to tell from one game against an FBS opponent how much progress Presbyterian has made in the offseason but there are two things we can tell already. The defense is still as salty as ever. The offense is, well, more of a salt flat; a featureless horizontal plain, dressed up in white and devoid of life and movement.
Early on, the Blue Hose defense had a nice goal line stand and frustrated CMU’s Cooper Rush, one of the more experienced signal callers in college football, into a couple of turnovers. Unfortunately, the Blue Hose offense either did nothing with the ball or quickly turned the ball right back over again to the Chippewas. The score at the halftime break was 14-3 in favor of CMU and it should have appeared as if little ole Presby had a chance. Unfortunately, the second half happened and PC’s youth along with CMU’s superior depth came to the forefront and the home side rattled off 35 unanswered points, the vast majority of it coming on the ground.
Offensively, it was pretty clear that CMU’s game plan was to bottle up Presby RB Darrell Bridges and make QB Ben Cheek beat them with his arm. They did and he couldn’t. Factor in three turnovers and the offense never had a chance. Defensively, the Blue Hose were opportunistic and took advantage of some early Chippewa miscues but simply wore down in the second half.
What does this loss mean for PC? – They got paid and, hopefully, didn’t have any serious injuries. The defense should feel pretty good about itself and the offense still has work to do. CMU was very effective at shutting down the Presbyterian rushing attack and their tactics are now on game film. PC has Chattanooga this week and you can be sure that Chatty probably picked up some tips.
(1-1) Charleston Southern 57, (0-1) (D2) Kentucky State 7
Before we get to the game itself, we have to talk – because it’s relevant – about the big announcements out of Charleston Southern last week. The CSU athletic department released two separate statements regarding recruiting violations. In separate statements, CSU announced that head coach Jamey Chadwell along with another unnamed assistant football coach will be suspended one game apiece as a result of Level III recruiting violations and that certain unnamed student-athletes would be withheld from competition pending further review. Let’s ignore for a moment the fact that both statements were released just after 7pm on a Thursday evening and just happened to coincide with the kickoff times of games involving The Citadel and South Carolina and were, thereby, guaranteed to receive minimal media coverage Let’s also ignore for a moment the fact that it’s extremely rare – as in unheard of – for a Division I head football coach to be suspended from games due to a single Level III violation – or in Clemson’s case, 14 of them – I’d like to focus on the second statement involving players withheld from games because this is the one that has already started to matter.
Last week, I wrote in this space that CSU needed to dominate their undermanned opponent in all phases and avoid injuries. They did the first but not the second. The Buccaneers outmanned the Thorobreds at every position and the home side was up by two touchdowns before most of the spectators had found their seats. However, with just over four minutes remaining in the first quarter and with CSU up 14-0, starting Kyle Copeland went down with what was obviously a serious knee injury and he is out for the remainder of 2016. Copeland was replaced by redshirt freshman Shane Bucenell who helped the Buccaneers push their lead out to 43-7 just before halftime. At this point, Bucenell was also injured and did not return to the game.
This is where CSU’s statement about withholding players from competition comes into play. During the spring and during training camp, CSU head coach Jamey Chadwell remarked repeatedly about the quarterback competition between Copeland, Bucenell and Blinn Juco transfer, Robert Mitchell. It would be a safe assumption, therefore, that once Copeland and Bucenell both went down, the obvious next man up should have been Mitchell. Instead, they went with complete unknown, London Johnson, a redshirt freshman out of Clio, SC. (For the uninformed, Clio is pretty much two churches, a post office and a wooded crossroads between Bennettsville and noted I-95 tourist trap South of the Border. It’s basically a ‘Supernatural’ episode come to life). This, then, begs multiple questions: Is Mitchell also injured? Is he being withheld from competition in relation to the ongoing review? Did Johnson outplay him in practice? In any event, it appears that CSU is heading down to Florida State next week with their 4th-line QB running the offense. On top of all that, CSU RB Darius Hammond, who provided the only offensive spark against NDSU a week ago, also exited the game early with an indeterminate injury and did not return. Further, in his postgame comments, Jamey Chadwell remarked that CSU had been forced to sit a few starters due to the official review. The only other players who started against NDSU but did not play at all against Kentucky State are linebacker JD Sosebee and defensive end — and Big South Preseason Defensive Player of the Year — Anthony Ellis.
What does this win mean for CSU? – They won the game but that’s the only positive. This is a textbook example in football of a Pyrrhic victory, a win so costly that it might as well have been a loss.
(1-0) Virginia Tech 36, (0-1) Liberty 13
In a battle between two completely new offenses, it should have been obvious that miscues and the respective defenses would be the ones to decide the game because that’s exactly what happened.
Early on, it seemed that both teams were more interested in giving the ball away than moving it downfield. VT’s first score came two plays after a Liberty botched snap gave the Hokies the ball on their own 25-yard line. Not to be outdone, VT returned the favor moments later, giving up a sack and a fumble at their own 10 to set up Liberty for their opening touchdown. Through the majority of the first half, the defenses took advantage of each other. With 5:00 remaining in the half, a Liberty defender with the incredible name of Alpha Jalloh – clearly named after a reggae band I’ve never heard of – scooped up a Virginia Tech fumble and returned it for a 13-10 lead. This was, apparently, as much nonsense as the home side could take. VT QB Jerod Evans found a gap in the line on 4th & 1 and ran for 30+ yards to set up the go-ahead-for-good score.
In the end, the Flames’ defense held up relatively well all things considered. The unit had only pulled in 12 turnovers in all of 2015 but collected four fumbles in Blacksburg and, until team depth and Isaiah Ford took over – Ford is an absolutely legit player, by the way; he is, in fact, too legit to quit – , it felt like Liberty could make a game of it. However, special teams and the newly-minted offense were problematic at best. Liberty’s freshman kicker shanked his first extra point. Early in the second half, the punt returner fielded a kick at his own 5-yard line – which you don’t do – and ran backwards into the end zone – which you definitely don’t do – where he was tackled for a safety. The following kickoff went out of bounds — which you absolutely don’t ever do after a safety — and VT took advantage of being set up at midfield with a touchdown drive. That’s a 9-point swing without the offense touching the field, not that the offense could have done much with it anyway. Liberty barely scratched out 150 yards of offense on the day, an effort that was severely hampered by 11 procedure penalties.
What does this loss mean for Liberty? – You can pretty much cut and paste the similar paragraph from Presbyterian-Central Michigan above. $$$, hopefully no big injuries, defense good, offense bad. The big difference is that Liberty has a home game against a Pioneer League team this week so, hopefully, they’ll see some improvement in the necessary areas.
(1-0) Monmouth 23, (0-1) Lehigh 21
On paper, this looked like it could be a very good game and the final score would seem to bear that out. The stat line, however, says differently as Monmouth largely dominated this game from the outset.
Lehigh never really found an answer for Monmouth’s defensive pressure up front or for the nimble legs of Lavon Chaney. Lehigh quarterback Nick Shafnisky spent most of the first half running for his life while Chaney found 5-yard gap after 5-yard gap in the Lehigh line. At the same time, MU negated the Lehigh pass rush by having quarterback Cody Williams throw the shortest passes imaginable. It was slant, hitch, screen, out, hitch, slant, slant – seriously, Williams only threw three passes downfield the entire day and one of those was picked off – all of which added up to a full fifteen minute time of possession advantage for the Jersey Hawks. Still, it’s a credit to the Lehigh team that they scrapped their way back into the game in the second half and gave themselves a chance to win. But, a killer interception in the 4th quarter gave Monmouth the chance they needed to put a nail in the coffin.
What does this win mean for Monmouth? – Make no mistake, this win is huge for Monmouth. Lehigh may not be the team they once were but they’re still a respected program, particularly within the northeast region, and starting off the season with win on the road is crucial for Monmouth.
(1-0) Gardner-Webb 31, (0-1) Elon 6
Last year’s meeting between these two was a near-scoreless pillow fight. For the entirety of the first half on Saturday, it looked like it was headed that way again. Then, something happened and I’m still not sure what it was.
Unlike last year, Gardner-Webb actually managed to sustain drives in the first half but, still, couldn’t manage to do anything once they got into scoring position. They got a field goal midway through the second quarter which Elon matched right before the halftime break but, early on, this looked like another offensive horror show unfolding.
However, GWU quarterback Tyler Maxwell started the third quarter off right, accounting for 58 of a 65-yard drive by himself. Running back Khalil Lewis punched it in from a yard out and the Runnin’ Bulldogs had a 10-3 lead. After an interception and an Elon field goal, Maxwell again accounted for the majority of the yardage on a 76-yard drive and Lewis again found the end zone and G-W took an eleven-point lead. At this point, Elon completely fell apart. Elon’s Chris Blair levelled Lewis five yards deep in the end zone, drawing the first of several obvious personal foul penalties. Elon defenders would rack up three more personal fouls, half of the teams eight flags on the day, handing Gardner-Webb first down after first down and piling on the yards and points.
Let’s be clear: when you level the ball carrier five yards deep in the end zone, it’s a childish, amateur move. Unfortunately, that’s pretty much what Elon looked like on the day. The entire Phoenix team looked completely unprepared to play a regular season game. They appeared disorganized, unsure of where to line up and wholly undisciplined as a unit. If they had come onto the field wearing practice jerseys it would have made a lot more sense because they played like they thought this was going to be a scrimmage. It also completely boggles the mind that Elon’s defense could have spent the last several months preparing for a team whose offense revolves entirely around a running quarterback and, apparently then, never accounted schematically for that running quarterback. Maxwell rolled up 150+ yards of rushing and, on most of those plays, was just scrambling with no defender near him or obviously assigned to him.
What does this win mean for Gardner-Webb? – It’s big. There’s no doubt about it. Despite Elon’s complete ineptitude, there’s nothing about this win that can be downplayed for GWU. It’s a dominating win against an in-state FCS rival and a former conference rival. It’s a big win for recruiting in the state of North Carolina and it’s a huge boost for the team going into their home opener against The Citadel.
(1-0) ETSU 20, (0-1) Kennesaw State 17 (2OT)
Outside of Charleston Southern suspending people, this was far and away the biggest surprise in the Big South this week. The common reaction I noted when people saw the score to this game was an open mouth and the words, “What happened?”
Carl Torbush. That’s exactly what happened. The man’s a defensive genius. Give him a few players and nearly a year to prepare and he will figure out how to shut down your rushing attack. I’ll admit, I picked KSU in this game mostly because I didn’t think ETSU had developed their defensive talent enough yet. Clearly, I was wrong.
Schematically, ETSU effectively took away the pitch by gumming up the edges and compelling the Kennesaw rushing attack to try to gain yards through the heart of the defense. This forced Kennesaw into throwing the ball and cut their rushing yardage virtually in half from their 2015 average. The Owls still had some quality chances to take a commanding lead but a key goal line stand in the first quarter and a turnover two drives later only helped the Buccaneer cause and another late fumble killed any chance of a game-winning drive in regulation. In the first overtime, now playing without starting quarterback Trey White, KSU found themselves backed up to 4th and a 5K but were bailed out by an acrobatic touchdown catch by wide receiver Justin Sumpter. Unfortunately, when KSU’s freshman kicker pushed a field goal wide right in the second overtime, there were no defensive acrobatics to save the Owls.
What does this loss mean for Kennesaw State? – Well, it isn’t good. KSU only has eight D1 opponents on their schedule and they just lost to the one team that was seen by many as the most winnable of the lot. On top of that, starting quarterback Trey White was injured while sliding (Isn’t sliding supposed to keep the QB from getting unnecessarily hurt?) and it remains to be seen how long he’ll be out. The good news is that the next team up is NAIA Point University who KSU beat 56-17 a year ago. It bears absolutely no relevance but it’s interesting that the final margin in last year’s KSU-ETSU matchup was virtually the same score.
Biggest surprise of the week: Charleston Southern’s dual announcements regarding suspended coaches and players.
Biggest disappointment of the week: See above.
