Wednesday link

September 02, 2008

By Drew Champlin

Here’s my feature on Troy running back DuJuan Harris.

Decision on game hopefully comes today. Game or not, we’re chatting right here on this blog Thursday at 8 p.m. CST. I will upload the software later today.

Inside the game: Troy 31, MTSU 17

By Drew Champlin

Here’s a weekly feature I’m going to try to run where I get coaches and players to analyze key plays, good and bad, during a game. It would be cool if I could get a video clip of the play, but we’ll try that next week.

OFFENSE

THE GOOD
Situation: Troy ball, 3rd and 3 at the Troy 42 with roughly 4 minutes left. Score is Troy 24, MTSU 17 but Blue Raiders have scored twice in the quarter already.
Call: Troy set up in trips right with Kennard Burton as the single wide to the left.
What happened: Troy quarterback Jamie Hampton was pressured, but eluded pressure and found Burton for a gain of 6 and a first down. Troy scored a touchdown on the drive and milked 4:12 off the clock.
Offensive coordinator Neal Brown on the play: “MTSU zone blitzed to the trips. We had three on the right and MTSU zone blitzed to the trips side.
Jamie opened his eyes and looked at Kennard on the single side, which he shouldn’t have done. He should have gone to the three-man side. The defensive end dropped in front of Kennard. Jamie looked at him and he wasn’t open, so he got flushed out that way. Kennard did a really good job of what we call on the scramble drill. What we teach is get to the sidelines, drive up, hit the brakes and come back and that’s what he did. He went up two or three steps, slammed on the brakes, turned around and that’s when Jamie hit him. That was a good play.“

“He should have gone over to the trips side. The encouraging thing on that deal was that he panicked some early in the game and just took off and ran, but this time he moved around the pocket and found someone.“

THE BAD
Situation: 2nd and 10 from the Troy 24. Troy is up 24-3 with four minutes to go in the third quarter.
Call: Four verticals
What happened: Hampton’s pass was intercepted by Ivon Hickman, who returned it to the Troy 17. MTSU was later stopped on fourth and goal.
Brown on the play: “We were running a four verticals. He read it inside and he threw it to the cross instead of the seam, which was wide open. The guy (Patrick Cherry) we had running the seam might have gotten caught, but it would have been a 45-50 yard play.“
Hampton on the play: “I was throwing to Andrew Davis who was running a crossing route across the middle. It was a bad play all around on my part. I made a bad drop and a wrong read, and that’s normally what happens when you make a wrong read, it gets picked off.“

DEFENSE

THE GOOD
Situation: MTSU has the ball, 4th and goal at the Troy 1-yard line. MTSU had just intercepted a pass and was driving, though down 24-3 very late in the third quarter
Call: Goal line defense
What happened: MTSU quarterback Joe Craddock was stuffed at the goal line by Troy linebackers Bear Woods and Boris Lee.
Defensive coordinator Jeremy Rowell on the play: “They called time out and went from two-tight, two-back to their tight end 1-back stuff. They were in trips and tried to run quarterback power. The fullback went to the edge and TMo (Terence Moore) levered the fullback. The guard’s pulling around and Boris and Bear have to make it right. The guard went right and the quarterback went inside. Boris and Bear were right there. Boris hit the right half of him and Bear hit the left half of them from the quarterback’s point of view.“

THE BAD
Situation: MTSU has the ball 1st and 10 at the Troy 46. The Blue Raiders got momentum when punter Will Goggans’ punt was credited for just 16 yards after the rugby kick hit a Troy player who was chasing the ball. It would have gone for much longer. There was 9:11 left in the game and MTSU was down 24-3
Call: Zero blitz
Result: MTSU quarterback Joe Craddock hit Malcolm Beyah for a 46-yard touchdown pass. Beyah beat Terence Moore deep in man coverage.
Rowell on the play: “We were in a zero blitz. We didn’t get to the quarterback. Sherrod (Martin) took a bad angle. He would have been unblocked. Tavares (Williams) was coming and he made a great move on the back. The quarterback was backpedaling and he just threw it up. T-Mo had his eyes looking at the quarterback and didn’t get his eyes on the wideout. When you’re in zero coverage, it’s man-to-man with no help anywhere. One mistake and they’ve got you.“

“I wanted to come after them figuring that they were going to do something to change the momentum of the game and I helped them. It was a bad call probably on me.“

“Like I explain to our guys, it’s not always how good your good is, but how good your bad is. How bad are your mistakes?Are they touchdowns or are they 5-yard plays? In that scenario, it was really bad. We didn’t execute the blitz properly, and it was a touchdown.“

Troy-LSU game update (6:20 p.m.)

By Drew Champlin

6:20 p.m. CST - Talked to head coach Larry Blakeney real quick. He’ll be on Trojan Talk with Barry at 7, so more will be discussed there I am sure. Here’s what we had to say. Here’s an AP story with more LSU stuff, and here’s my online update for the day.

Good news is my DuJuan Harris feature runs tomorrow, and you’ll enjoy the comments he had about Florida A&M, the other school that recruited him.

“We’ve heard nothing. They’re supposed to meet in the morning and make a decision. They were supposed to meet this afternoon and make a decision. I imagine they’re trying at all lengths to play this game, but are having problems.“

5 p.m. CST - Still no change, Troy officials haven’t heard anything

2:47 p.m. - Update from the Times-Pic in New Orleans on the game. Looks like we’ll find something out in a couple of hours.

11:57 a.m. CST - This is what I’ve got for now. Was chatting through e-mails with Troy sports information director Ricky Hazel about credentials, and asked him what he had heard about the game. He gave me the OK to use this e-mail.

“Just got a voice mail from Michael (Bonnette, LSU’s sports information director). He said they have extensive damage, no power any where in the city. The campus has extensive damage. They are supposed to meet this afternoon to make a decision.“

Take that for what it’s worth. I was optimistic this morning on John and Barry’s radio show, but now I’m not so optimistic. I’m bad about predictions so don’t go by what I’m predicting.

Here is my online update. It pretty much says what I just said here.

Also, for coverage from Baton Rouge, go to The Baton Rouge Advocate online.

Tuesday link

September 01, 2008

By Drew Champlin

Here’s my notebook from Troy’s weekly media session yesterday. It leads with Bear Woods’ performance, with a game update, a road trip snafu and an area of concern.

I’m on around 8:35 a.m. CST on Sportsline with John and Barry. That link should take you there.

Also, from The Advocate in Baton Rouge, a update, well sort of on the situation.

Back from Troy

By Drew Champlin

About to get stuff ready for this week. They want to play the game Saturday, and as of now they are. What happens tomorrow? No idea. Guess we’ll find out.

Bear Woods didn’t get Sun Belt Defensive Player of the Week. Some guy from Arkansas State who had just 7 tackles but forced a key fumble and had a key interception did. Bear’s tackles may go up from 14 or down once defensive coaches send in their official numbers.

Got features planned on Tavares Williams and DuJuan Harris planned for later in the week, plus a special teams story.

Quotable - Larry Blakeney on a possible schedule change if the LSU game gets moved to Nov. 15 - “I don’t know why we need to foul this schedule more than it already is. That’s just one of my open Saturdays.“

Stay tuned. Also, Dothan Eagle Trojan Chat at 8 p.m. CST Thursday.