Quick recap of homecoming win

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Well, it was a win. The defense and the offense scored two apiece. There was a missed field goal and a missed extra point. We scored a single touchdown in three redzone trips. We committed 11 penalties (three were declined). We had three turnovers. (Why do I have it stuck in my head that Nathan Dick fumbled in the game? Did that not happen? And if it did, why don’t I see that in the play-by-play summary?) We were beaten in just about every single statistical category. And we still beat Southeastern Louisiana 30-23.

The defense came up with key redzone stops. If you cringed when thinking about our offense in the redzone, SELA was an even worse 0-for-3. Well, they were 3-for-3 technically, but they were forced to kick field goals each time.

The defense also gave up two touchdown plays from outside the redzone, meaning 20+ yards. Dominque Brown followed up the team’s second INT return for a touchdown – that felt like it would be the final nail for the Lions – by getting beat on a 54-yard touchdown pass just over two minutes later that set the final score at 30-23.

But even at that point it should have been a much more comfortable two-score game. Instead, the kicking game continues to struggle, and we left four points out there – wide left.

The offense sputtered along throughout the game, but when SELA took a 10-6 lead, the Bears responded with a touchdown drive capped by a great effort from Dominque Croom who went up over the defender for a 28-yard touchdown reception with just 12 seconds remaining in the half.

Running back Terence Bobo had four touches in the first half. With the 13-10 halftime lead, Bobo had six touches on the opening drive of the second half. The last of those was a 12-yard catch and run for a touchdown. Bobo accounted for 59 of 80 yards on the drive. Then, he only got the ball two more times in the quarter. A little puzzling. The run game continued the season’s struggles for the most part. Bobo did effectively end the game with a 56-yard run that brought out the victory offense. And he was the only one to have success on the ground. Bobo finished with 157 total yards (105 rushing and 52 receiving).

The Bears had a chance earlier to put the game away. I was yelling at Willie Landers to stay in bounds to keep the clock running after he caught a short pass. Turns out getting out of bounds would have been better. Landers fumbled at the 32 and gave the Lions a short field to go for the tie. That’s when Jestin Love did what he’s done a lot of lately, his second interception of the day. (His earlier pick was returned 25 yards for a touchdown.)

Love shared the LB Jackmon award with linebacker Frank Newsome. Newsome had 15 tackles, two tackles for loss and two pass breakups. Love added five tackles to his two picks. Seniors Tok Opeloye and Markell Carter both had solid games, and Jermayne Lett had probably his best game of the season with two sacks.

Bears win at Nicholls State

A collection of the stories that followed Saturday’s first conference win of the season.

• Quick score provides octane for Bears’ victory
  

  “I said after the game we might have to throw every stinking down but we don’t want to do that. I don’t want to put our defense in a bad situation that they have to get back on the field too fast because we can’t drive the ball. I want to get in a position n on third down that we can do what we want to do — either run or pass.”
  . . .
  INJURIES: Tight end Brennan Rushing and offensive lineman Matt Dickerson did not make the trip because of injuries. Conque said he hopes to have both back this week.

• Bears strike within 13 seconds in 31-7 victory over Colonels
  

  The Bears intercepted two passes, blocked a field goal attempt and forced two fumbles as the defense scored twice. The defenders, led by linebackers Tok Opeloye, Frank Newsome and Justin Heard, had had 10 sacks.
  . . .
  “We continue to not be able to run the football,” Conque said. “We refuse to knock people off the ball. We may have to throw the ball every stinking down.”

• Rough start too much to overcome

Scouting: Nicholls State

Required Reading

• Colonels looking for second straight SLC win
  

  Conque, a 1982 Nicholls graduate, has not been successful in returns to his alma mater. The Bears are 0-2 in Thibodaux (losses in 2000 and 2008), but they are 2-0 when playing in Conway, Ark.

• Bears head into territory in which they’ve never won
  

  “They’re a team in transition to the Spread and they’re adding diversity to their offense, but they are still using some option principles,” Conque said. “Caston is deadly with his feet. If his first or second reads are not there, he’s out. We’ve got to keep things contained in our passing lanes.”

  Of the 64 players on the Nicholls’ roster, 31 are freshmen.

• UCA kicking in lots of mistakes
  

  “I’m concerned about our kicking game. We have starters on all those units, because of our depth and injuries.”

Record: 2-4 (1-1)
2009 Record: 3-8 (2-5)
Mascot: Colonels
Conference: Southland
Head Coach: Charlie Stubbs, 1st season
Located: Thibodaux, Louisiana
Enrollment: 7,181

Last Year: The Colonels started the season 1-8 and finished with conference wins over Northwestern State and Southeastern Louisiana. But it wasn’t enough to save Jay Thomas. Nicholls gave up 42 points per game against D1 competition last year.

Last Week: Last week’s thriller with Texas State ended when the Colonels were successful on their 2-pt conversion in the fourth overtime. Both teams scored just 21 points in regulation, but Nicholls won 47-45. Even with all of that extra football, the Colonels only had 284 yards of offense. They scored on a 14-yard touchdown “drive” after the Bobcats muffed a punt,  a 70-yard blocked fg return, and a 37-yard touchdown drive to tie it at 21-21 with just 13 seconds left.

Players to Watch

• LaQuintin Caston (QB, #3, 5-8/195) – While Caston is the quarterback, he’s also carried the ball more than any other Colonel. He’s 57-for-119 for 740 yards, 7 ints, and 6tds as a passer. As a runner, he’s carried the ball 101 times for 468 yards. He’s averaging 170 yards of total offense a game.
• Jesse Turner (RB, #4, 5-8/180) – Turner may not get as many chances as Caston, but he’s been explosive out of the backfield. He averages 6.6 yards per carry and 79.8 per game. Turner is also the leader in receiving yards (169 total, 28.2 ypg, 15.4 ypr) and is second in catches (11). Turner had just one carry during the 2009 season.
• Kenyad Blair (WR, #2, 6-0/200) – Blair is the leading receiver for a team that completes only 9 passes per game. He’s got 13 on the season but for only 81 yards.
• Other receivers - Three others have five or more catches on the season. Joshua Warren, Brad Nelson and Chucky Nichols. Yep, his first name is Chucky and his last the name of his school minus an L. Nelson is a freshman who has recently taken the starting spot on the depth chart from Blair.
• Andrew Dolan (K, #98, 6-0/180) – If anyone has had more problems in the kicking game that we have this year, it’s Nicholls and Dolan. He’s just 2-for-7 on fg attempts on the year.
• Tarbbaris Hicks (FS, #29, 6-2/205) – Hicks leads the team with 50 tackles and 4.5 tackles for loss. He’s in on a lot of plays from his free safety position.
• Chika Madu (CB, PR, KR, #18, 5-10/180 – Madu is a backup cornerback who is the return man for punts and kickoffs. Madu and Warren are both back for kickoffs.
• The Secondary – While Hicks leads the team in tackles (by 20), he’s the only starter in the secondary without an interception. Madu, Bobby Felder, Siega Vergenal, and Brian Lewis each have one interception.

Other Notes

• After a poor performance in the redzone last week, Nicholls could be just what the Bears offense needs. They are 7th in the conference in redzone defense, allowing offenses to scored 85% of the time and touchdowns 70%.
• Another reason the Bears offense should be excited about this matchup: The Colonels are last in the conference, allowing 198 yards rushing per game. If there was ever a time for us to break through whatever wall has been holding us back, this is it. I know we’ve got decent numbers on the season as a team, but our quarter backs are the #2 and 3 rushers on the season in yardage.
• As noted above, the leading receiver for the Colonels has 13 receptions. Ken Robey caught 12 passes last week for the Bears.
• The starting right tackle, junior Jarrad Hernandez, is 6-5/360. That puts Nicholls ahead on the tale of the tape on the offensive line by a 23-pound average. The big guy distorts the numbers quite a bit. Let’s hope the speed of our defensive ends is a factor here on the few times that Caston drops back to pass.
• Nicholls is pretty much the same Nicholls team from a year ago. Their offense and defense are still near the bottom of the conference. And even with a new coach, the running game is still the focus.
• I noticed that tight end depth chart is 100% different from a week ago. Brennan Rushing and Jeremy Jester, previously his backup, aren’t listed on the depth chart any more. Rushing didn’t play last week, and they’ve been replaced by Josh Ragland and former defensive lineman Marshall Loyd. Ragland got the start last week at SFA.
• Last year, the Bears were up 35-6 at the half. Let’s hope for a similar performance this year to get back on track for the remainder of the season.

Final rehash of SFA and the season to date

I promise this is the last you’ll hear from me on the SFA loss. (It’s also the first you’ve heard from me, so…)

From FOOT84 on the forum:
I have never been one for making excuses for not winning, but you have to be objective.  Our defense gave up 23 points to SFA. They get 7 on a blocked punt. We don’t get the fumble on our first punt because of a quick whistle. we are on the 5 right before the half trailing just 13-7 and we get a field goal blocked. we get in the redzone 4 times during the game and come away with 7 points. 1 fumble and 1 interception more or less sealed our fate.  As bad as the final score may have indicated 30-7, in my opinion SFA did not dominate us.  We could have easily been up 14-13 at the half, but we did not make it happen. This team is really close to putting it all together.

Stay behind them.
GO BEARS

I’ve wanted to find time to point this out all week and haven’t had a chance. I watched the coaches show last night. My wife walked in and said all it was going to do was make me mad. She was right. But I wasn’t mad because we’re a bad team. I was mad because we had tons of opportunities to make this a close/winnable game.

We put up 411 yards of offense. Just 41 yards less than SFA. But our 411 yards only got us 7 points.

I was initially thinking the same things that were said on here about play calling and things like that. Do I miss all of the fly sweeps and pre-snap motion we’ve seen in the past? Absolutely. The unpredictability? You bet. But we moved the ball enough to score more than seven points. Both teams punted six times.

We played very similar games EXCEPT:

• Three turnovers for us; just one for them.
• We are 1-for-4 in the redzone; they were 3-for-4.
• We gave up a punt block for a touchdown.
• They made their one field goal attempt, ours was blocked.

We need to do better on several things (specifically on offense) to win games:

• Hold on to the ball. You just can’t fumble three times in a game. You especially can’t do it and expect to win against a top-5 team. And fumbling inside the 5 is unacceptable.
• Do not waste timeouts (we had none at the end of the first half and had to spice the ball TWICE when we had 1st and goal!). Coaches or players, whoever is responsible, it has to stop.
• Score touchdowns when we get into the redzone. We scored 79% of the time we reached the rz before last week. We scored a touchdown on 62% of those chances. Not 25%.
• Score points in the 3rd quarter. Period. Whatever is keeping that from happening, change it.
• Pick up positive yards on 1st and 2nd down. We have 17 third downs last week and needed an average of 7.4 yards to get a first down. That’s making it hard on yourself.

I would say run the ball more effectively, but if that’s not going to happen, Conque’s early UCA offenses didn’t run the ball and were still effective.

It’s a pretty easy game. Right?

Now let’s just get back to winning games starting tomorrow. I honestly don’t care how it happens.

SFA Postgame

• Carter plays strong in UCA setback
• Lumberjacks chop down Bears with second-half surge
  

  “Our red zone offense was really poor,” said UCA coach Clint Conque after the Bears lost their third straight game. “Ball security really hurt us. Our defense gave us a few big plays that created space a little bit between them and us.”

  . . .

  “When you play a top team like SFA, you have to take advantage of your opportunities,” Conque said. “I would have liked to have seen what would have happened if we could have taken advantage of those deep red zone opportunities and had avoided some of those penatlies. But it happened. We’ll grow and learn from this.”

• No. 5 Stephen F. Austin cruises (brief blurb)
• SFA rolls to 5-1 with blow out of UCA
  

  The Bears were victimized by miscues all afternoon having two kicks blocked, losing two fumbles, throwing an interception and recording 10 penalties for 84 yards. The offenses posted similar numbers; SFA gained 452 yards of total offense, while the Bears finished with 411.

Scouting: Stephen F Austin

Stephen F Austin

Record: 4-1 (1-0)
2009 Record: 10-3 (6-1)
Mascot: Lumberjacks
Conference: Southland
Head Coach: JC Harper, 3rd season, 18-23
Located: Nacogdoches, Texas
Enrollment: 12,845

Last Year: JC Harper’s first two seasons totalled four wins – all of them in year two. But behind star qb Jeremy Moses, the third season put the Lumberjacks back on the Southland and FCS maps. SFA finished 10-3 and reached the quarterfinals of the playoffs. SFA beat the Bears by a field goal last year in Conway. Our offense (and special teams helped with an onside kick) tied it up at 30-30 only to have the Jacks come back and kick the game-winning field goal with three seconds left.

Last Week: The Lumberjacks won a back-and-forth game against McNeese State 32-27. Get this, in an eerily similar ending to the above, Moses led SFA on a 12-play, 83-yard touchdown drive that only took 1:17 and put the Lumberjacks in the lead for good with just 55 seconds remaining. McNeese’s last chance ended with an interception – their third on the night. Moses finished 29-52-1 for 339 yards and four tds.

Players to Watch

• Jeremy Moses (QB, #3, 6-0/195) – If you’re reading this, you already know all you need to about Moses. He’s good. He’s averaging 306.4 ypg passing with 13 tds and only 3 interceptions. Following him in the conference stats is our own Nathan Dick, but it’s a distant second with 218 ypg with 5 tds and 1 int.
• Romont Hamption (RB, #1, 5-9/184) – They don’t run the ball a lot, but Hampton is their leading rusher with 63 carried for 260 yards. He’s also caught 18 balls out of the backfield.
• Graly Crawford (WR, #17, 5-10/175) – Crawford leads SFA in receptions and yards. He’s leads the conference in receptions (32) and is third in yards per game (75.2). Crawford is also the kick and punt returner and has returned of of each for a touchdown.
• Anthony Foster (WR, #19, 6-2/181) – Foster is next on the list for Moses with 23 catches for 256 yds.
• Cordell Roberson (P, #42, 6-2/192) – Roberson might not have as many catches as Crawford or Foster, but the biggest target leads the team with 5 touchdowns and an average of 14.6 yards per reception. All three of these receivers are just sophomores.
• Logan Barrett (K, #51, 6-1/202) – Evan Engwall, who kicked the game-winning field goal last year, is gone. Barrett has struggled some this season. He’s just 3-for-7 on fg attempts and 20-for-23 on PATs.
• Defensive line – SFA has wracked up a pretty stellar 17 sacks. Kenneth Charles, Malcolm Mattox, Rainey Sternes and Sean Warren have been monsters on the line. They each have at least four sacks. They are also huge with a 6-2, 281 average.
• Other defenders – MLB Jabar Williams and OLB Devin Ducote lead the team with 31 tackles. They have also combined for 6.5 tfl and 3 sacks. Ducote and CB Josh Aubrey lead the team with 2 interceptions. Derrick Choice joins Williams and Ducote on the experienced linebacker corp.

Required Reading

• Bears to face one of top FCS teams in the country
• Bears eyeing road rebound
• Moses, Brown square off with records at stake
• Comparing Quarterbacks (Part of the Southland pice by houmatoday.com)

Other Notes

• After starting his career 9-0 on tv, Conque’s teams have lost their last three (all three last season.)
• Moses is just one of five upperclassmen listed as starters on the offensive two-deep. They have a very young and very talented offense.
• Part of that young and talented offense is a big offensive line, averaging 6-4, 294.
• SFA is averaging 38.2 ppg on offense and only giving up 22.4 ppg. The scoring is inflated by blowout wins over Albany (59-14) and Lamar (71-3), but the defense hasn’t given up more than 27 this season to FCS teams.
• If SFA gets into the redzone, your best hope is to hold them to a field goal attempt. They have scored 17 touchdowns on their 24 trips inside the 20. The only time they haven’t come away with points they missed field goals.