Explaining the fumbles
October 22, 2009
Troy lost three fumbles against FIU, or else 42-33 would have been a lot worse. The fumbles came when backup QB Dantavious Parker lost one trying to stretch for a first down, when starting QB Levi Brown was pressured and sacked and when Brown and RB Shawn Southward botched an exchange.
It looked like Parker was down. He probably was, but that didn’t mean there wasn’t a way to correct it.
“Dan tried to stick the ball out to get a first down, which he already had,“ offensive coordinator Neal Brown said. “We tell our guys to never extend the ball. If you extend the ball, you’re always putting it out. I’ve lost a game like that before (at Delaware). He tried to stick it out and lost it.“
Levi Brown said he had two hands on the ball for the first fumble, but the guy made a good strip. Neal Brown said Levi had the ball around his belly, when it should have been at his chest.
“Levi fundamentally wasn’t very good,“ Neal Brown said. “We talk about having the ball at your chest when you step up. He had it at his belly and we missed a twist so the D-end came in with pressure and got it out.“
Here’s how Levi Brown described the two fumbles.
“The first one, just got a rush from the outside and I was looking to left he came from right. I tried to duck underneath it,“ Levi Brown said. “I had two hands on the ball. Its not like I had one hand on the ball waving it around, so he got a good hit on it.“
(On the second one), “It was a read play and I was reading the D-End and I tried to pull it a little bit late. That was my fault.“
