JRK wrote:
Colonels are a pretty good football team................Fourcade is really good for a FR............he can run well enough to keep you guessing and with the level protection he had today can put the ball downfield into small windows.....even though we got started better on offensive we got only 3 points in the early going.............Ponder punted really well and gave us chances to bottle them up deep....did at times but Nicholls broke out pretty easily a couple others......did gave up a lot offense but 3 INTs including two by Tyler Williams late in Q4 led to the win..........
Nicholls outgained Bears by 471-382 including 340 passing........Blackman and Ledett ran really hard and upfield.......Wells has a couple nice sweeps with one for a TD.........Desmond Smith had 5 receptions for a career total of 208............Norwell is 213.........both he and Jatavious dropped sure TD passes to keep this game close..........
Nicholls had a couple DBs and-line that were really solid....#72 gave us fits trying to block him........only 3 tackles but pressure all night ....LB Allen Pittman had 19 tackles!!! We rarely got much push on their d-line............
Just glad to get the win.............probably the best 5-5 team we have seen on The Stripes...
Officiating was atrocious
Agree with all you said 100%...
I believe Antwon Wells and Carlos Blackmon have separated themselves from
the rest of the running back by committee group. Blackmon showed a burst
and power combination that is very impressive.
Way too many penalties again...but some of that due to the Jr. High officiating
crew that was assigned to the game by the conference. I fully understand why
the Nicholls sideline went ballistic after the interference call. The officials had
let it go all day until the end. Good thing for the Bears he made the call when
he did.
Uncharacteristic drops by Desmond and Jatavious or this might have been an
easier win. Both later by the way had big catches to keep drives alive an are
a dangerous duo for teams to defend.
Nichols was better than I expected...Freshman QB is very talented and their
WR beat UCA deep on a few occasions. Press man to man coverage by the
Bear corners give up some big plays but got 3 Int. and a pick 6.
Hayden had numerous chances to run when flushed out of the pocket but
chose not to...maybe a result of last weeks hit that took him out a few plays.
Defense gave up a lot of yards but shut down Nicholls in the redzone more than
once. Evidently Coach Campbell has supreme confidence in this bunch...for
good reason. They play extremely hard on every snap. D line was held all
day by the Nichols O line but got zero called.
I thought the offense was passive with 2 minutes to go when 1 first down would
have sealed the victory. 2 plays for minus 10 yards and then a unsportsmanlike
penalty to boot looses 25 yards total and have to give the ball back to Nicholls.
But the Bears still won the game...9-1 and 8-0 and headed to the playoffs.
I still wish the attendance would have been better but thankful for the fans who
did show up.
On to Sam and the conference championship game...
BPSG
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GO BEARS