2011 Football Game 11: The Citadel vs. South Carolina

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

The Citadel at South Carolina, to be played at Williams-Brice Stadium, with kickoff at 12:00 pm ET on Saturday, November 19.  The contest will be televised by South Carolina as a pay-per-view event. It is also available via the ESPN3.com platform and ESPN GamePlan. The game can be heard on radio via The Citadel Sports Network, with current “Voice of the Bulldogs” Danny Reed calling the action alongside analyst Walt Nadzak. 

—

I suspect that most of the previews for this week’s game between The Citadel and South Carolina will focus on the last time the two schools squared off at Williams-Brice Stadium. That was in 1990, and the Bulldogs famously stunned the Gamecocks, 38-35, with Jack Douglas scoring the winning touchdown in the final minute of play.

That game will be discussed in considerable detail by a number of different outlets. I’ve decided that writing about it on this blog, at least this week, is probably unnecessary. Instead of writing about that contest as part of this preview, I’m going to take a look at another game from the past, one that has been lost in the shuffle in recent years. I’m talking about an even bigger upset than the 1990 game.

November 11, 1950. Johnson Hagood Stadium. The Citadel 19, South Carolina 7.

—

On November 4, 1950, The  Citadel lost to Virginia at Johnson Hagood Stadium, 34-14, dropping the Bulldogs’ overall record to 3-5. The Citadel was 1-2 up to that point in SoCon play, having defeated Davidson while losing to Furman and eventual league champ Washington & Lee.

The game against UVA was, to say the least, not an impressive performance. Sportswriter Doc Baker of The News and Courier (who will be quoted extensively in this blog post) wrote that while the Cavaliers had a “strong running attack,” the Bulldogs’ own offense featured “spotty blocking”:

At…times it looked almost ridiculous as Bulldog linemen and backs got in the way of their own ball carriers.

Baker also noted that a “slim crowd” of “only 5000 (official)” had watched the game, which was “the smallest turnout to witness a collegiate football game [here] in many years, according to authorities at The Citadel.”

On the bright side, Baker did highlight the excellent play of two members of the team, linemen Jerry DeLuca and Sam Rubino, with the latter having played “almost 60” minutes of the game. Both would feature prominently against South Carolina.

The big sports news that day was the death of baseball legend Grover Cleveland Alexander, who had died of a heart attack. On the gridiron, Clemson had maintained its undefeated record with a big win over Duquesne. South Carolina had played Marquette to a 13-13 tie, the same final score of the Wofford-Furman game.

There was also a feature in the newspaper that day about The Citadel’s swim team, which was about to begin its season: “Citadel tank team loaded”.

The national news concerned General Douglas MacArthur and the situation in Korea.

The major sports story on that Tuesday was the hiring of Branch Rickey by the Pittsburgh Pirates. Alas for the Bucs, the Mahatma’s executive skills would prove to have eroded.

As the week progressed, reporting in the sports section detailed the preparation both South Carolina and The Citadel were making for the upcoming game.

While Wednesday’s papers brought news of Republican gains in the U.S. House and Senate (off-year elections were held the day before), there was also a report that coach Quinn Decker was considering some changes for the Bulldogs, specifically going to an all-sophomore backfield.

Decker, a former fullback at Tennessee, had not been able to field an all-soph backfield unit to that point in the season due to injury, but it was easy to see why he might want to plug in those players against South Carolina. The year before, the same group had played on The Citadel’s freshman team, and the Bullpups had surprised South Carolina’s frosh squad (the “Biddies”), 26-20. Players on that squad included Buddy Friedlin, Rudy Wilcox, Paul Drews, and Johnny Mamajeck. All would eventually play key roles against the Gamecocks on Saturday.

Another reason for trying out some new players would be that The Citadel was limited in personnel. While South Carolina fielded a true “two-platoon” team, the Bulldogs had several players who played both offense and defense, including four of its linemen. It made moving the ball on offense that much tougher, particularly against the Gamecocks defensive front, which was nicknamed “The Seven Sleepers”.

However, the real concern was on the defensive side of the ball, as The Citadel had to figure out a way to stop South Carolina’s great running back, Steve Wadiak. So good that he had two nicknames, “Steamboat Steve” and “Th’ Cadillac”, Wadiak (who was from Chicago) was one of the nation’s best players. To that point in the 1950 season, Wadiak had rushed for 814 yards, averaging 6.8 yards per carry.

(Highlights of Wadiak in action against Marquette can be seen here: Link)

Wadiak wasn’t the only threat out of the Gamecocks’ backfield, as Mullins native Bishop Strickland averaged 5.3 yards per rush. What South Carolina lacked was an effective passing game, so head coach Rex Enright (who had played for Knute Rockne at Notre Dame) spent most of the week working on passing plays.

That was seen as a good move in the press, as playing The Citadel was not expected to pose a challenge. The Gamecocks had beaten The Citadel 42-0 in 1949, and a similar outcome was expected in 1950. On Thursday of that week, Doc Baker wrote:

…at the risk of being called all sorts of things we will be “bold” enough to suggest there is not doubt as to the outcome of the game here Saturday…as much as we’d like to think about The Citadel staging a terrific upset we can’t help but feel the Gamecocks will win by just about any score they want.

Baker wasn’t exactly helping advanced ticket sales with those comments, although the newspaper did report that tickets could be purchased at several locations downtown, including Wehman’s Supply on King Street and the Ashley Flower Shop.

Baker wasn’t the only person not giving The Citadel much of a chance, as various sources had the Gamecocks as being 33-point favorites.

Enright was more cautious in his outlook. He told his squad, “I’m not telling you that you shouldn’t be able to beat The Citadel, but I am warning you that they have eleven hard tacklers on their team and they can make it a long afternoon for you if you’re not careful.” He also noted that the Bulldogs had played well in losses to Florida and Miami (FL). The Gators, in particular, had struggled with The Citadel, only winning 7-3 thanks to a punt return touchdown.

—

The Gamecocks were 3-1-2 at that point of the season, rebounding after an opening-game loss to powerful Duke by beating Georgia Tech in Atlanta and tying Clemson, 14-14. In the game against the Tigers, Steve Wadiak had rushed for 256 yards, still one of the all-time greatest individual performances in that series.

With the contest against Clemson ending in a tie, South Carolina was poised to win the “Big 4” state title in 1950, having beaten Furman earlier in the year (21-6). By defeating The Citadel, the Gamecocks would finish 2-0-1 among the “Big 4” and edge out the Tigers, thanks to Clemson not playing the Bulldogs.

(At the time the “Big 4” was a big deal, at least in the press. There were at least three different state newspapers that carried separate standings for the Big 4, and also standings for the “Little 4” — Wofford, Presbyterian, Newberry, and Erskine.)

On Friday, the Gamecocks arrived in Charleston, with the team staying at the Francis Marion Hotel. Things were mostly quiet. The News and Courier reported that there would be nine “sponsors” for The Citadel at the game. These were girlfriends of the regimental staff or the senior football players. The afternoon edition of the paper had pictures of five of them. It was a mild surprise that all nine weren’t featured, as newspapers of that time tended to insert photographs of young women into their pages at every opportunity.

The game against South Carolina was also designated as Parents Day, which may be the latest The Citadel has ever scheduled a Parents Day game. I am not aware of any other such contest played in November, except for the 1985 game (which was played on November 2).

Also of interest that day was news from Oslo, Norway, as the Nobel Prize for Literature was announced for both 1949 and 1950. The 1950 winner was Bertrand Russell. The 1949 prize had been delayed a year, apparently because the selection committee could not decide between Italian philosopher Benedetto Croce and English statesman/historian Winston Churchill. Eventually a compromise candidate was named, a year late — William Faulkner.

—

By gametime on Saturday, a crowd of around 11,000 had gathered at Johnson Hagood Stadium. The weather was excellent for football, with slightly overcast skies. Jack Huddle, The Citadel’s captain, greeted South Carolina co-captains Ed Pasky and Bobby Rogers at midfield for the coin toss. The Gamecocks won the toss and elected to receive.

As the two teams took the field, observers in the stands could see the disparity in size among the players. For example, The Citadel’s linemen all weighed less than 200 lbs., while no Gamecock lineman weighed less than 205 lbs.

The kickoff was returned by South Carolina to its own 44-yard line. The Gamecocks wasted the good field position, however, going three-and-out. The Bulldogs took over after a mediocre punt on their own 33, but went nowhere in two plays. On third down, The Citadel elected to “quick kick”, and Paul Chapman boomed a 62-yard punt that rolled dead at the Gamecocks’ 10-yard line.

South Carolina picked up a first down, but then lost yardage, and on third down from its own 25 decided to try a “quick kick” of its own. It would prove to be a costly decision, as an alert Sam Rubino burst through the line and blocked Tommy Woodlee’s punt. Rubino scooped up the ball himself and raced into the end zone for a touchdown. The PAT was missed, but the Bulldogs had a shock 6-0 lead with 10:20 to play in the first quarter.

Undeterred, the Gamecocks took the ensuing kickoff and proceeded to drive from their own 35 to the Bulldogs’ 12-yard line. On fourth and two from that spot, South Carolina picked up a first down — but was called for clipping. The Gamecocks went for it again, eschewing a field goal try, and didn’t make it.

The Bulldogs did nothing offensively (a theme throughout the first half) and punted. Again, South Carolina drove down the field, and again got nothing for its effort, this time losing a fumble on the Bulldogs 24.

The Citadel thus had the ball as the second quarter began. Another fine Chapman punt put the Gamecocks back deep in their own territory. The Bulldogs’ defense held, and for the second time South Carolina would be victimized by a blocked punt — and again the culprit was Rubino.

This time, Paul Drews would pick up the loose pigskin and score for the Bulldogs. The PAT was blocked, but The Citadel led, 12-0, with 11:35 remaining in the first half.

Stunned, South Carolina could do nothing with its next offensive possession. The Citadel would respond with its only sustained drive of the half (albeit on a relatively short field). The drive ended with a missed field goal.

(So, to sum up: in the first half, The Citadel blocked two punts, had one of its own PATs blocked, and missed another PAT and a field goal. Taking the 2011 season into account, I guess it’s fair to say that some things really don’t change.)

After the missed field goal by the Bulldogs, South Carolina drove to The Citadel’s 27-yard line, but got no further before the half ended. The Citadel finished the half with -14 yards of total offense, but led 12-0 thanks to the two return TDs.

—

There were two halftime performances to entertain the crowd. First, the South Carolina marching band played. At one point in its routine, the band moved into a formation so as to resemble the Confederate Battle Flag. I don’t know what is less likely to ever happen again — the Gamecocks band doing that, or South Carolina playing The Citadel in football at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

The other halftime show, however, has endured largely unchanged. The Summerall Guards performed in typically faultless fashion. It’s interesting to note that in 1950, General Charles Summerall was still the president of The Citadel.

—

The Citadel got the ball first to open the third quarter. The Bulldogs picked up one first down and then punted. South Carolina’s first possession of the half also ended with a punt, but Woodlee’s punt was downed on The Citadel’s five-yard line. The Bulldogs went three and out, and the subsequent punt went out of bounds at The Citadel’s 30-yard line. From there the Gamecocks would drive for their first (and only) score, with quarterback Pasky running for a two-yard TD. The PAT was good, and with 3:25 remaining in the period, South Carolina had cut the lead to 12-7.

The Citadel would move the ball a little on its next possession, but ultimately had to punt again, and so as the fourth quarter began South Carolina was in its own territory, trying to drive for the winning touchdown. However, the Gamecocks were victimized by a 15-yard sack, the first of three huge sacks in the quarter. After a punt, The Citadel took over on its own 41.

Bulldogs quarterback Buddy Friedlin (a native of Jacksonville, Florida) received a lot of praise after the game, and much of that came as a result of his play on this drive. First, he connected with Charles Fabian on a big 31-yard pass to get the Bulldogs near the red zone. Three more plays netted The Citadel nine yards. On a key fourth-and-one, Rudy Wilcox picked up two yards and a first down.

The next two plays did little, but on third down Friedlin scrambled nine yards for a first-and-goal on the Gamecocks 5-yard line. On first down the Bulldogs lost four yards.

On second-and-goal from the nine, though, The Citadel pulled the old “sleeper play” on South Carolina. In a maneuver that would be illegal today, Wilcox basically hid near the sideline while remaining on the field of play. The Gamecocks didn’t account for him, so Friedlin took the snap and whipped a pass to the wide-open Wilcox. The Florence resident scampered into the end zone for a TD. This time, the PAT was successful, and the score was 19-7.

Nine minutes were still left in the game, so a comeback was still possible for the Gamecocks, but those hopes were largely dashed when Hootie Johnson (yes, Martha Burk’s Hootie) fumbled the kickoff. The Bulldogs recovered. The resulting possession lost yardage, but The Citadel did manage to drain three more minutes off the clock.

Forced to abandon the running game, the Gamecocks got as far as midfield, but were derailed by a 10-yard sack by Jerry DeLuca (his second sack of the quarter). Later in the possession the Gamecocks would lose 18 more yards on another sack. The Citadel got the ball back, ran some more clock, and then punted it back to the Gamecocks with just 25 seconds left. South Carolina ran two more plays and the game ended.

—

Steve Wadiak did not have a bad day, rushing for 96 yards on 17 carries, but he was unable to break off a big gainer, something the Gamecocks sorely needed that afternoon.

The Citadel had won convincingly despite picking up just eight first downs. Friedlin was 3-7 passing for only 44 yards, but with no interceptions and that big completion to Fabian. Paul Chapman hurt the Gamecocks repeatedly with his fine punting. South Carolina was held to 130 yards rushing, low by its standards. The Gamecocks were also hurt by penalties, two lost fumbles, and those critical fourth-quarter sacks.

—

The headline of the Sunday edition of The News and Courier said it all: “Pandemonium breaks loose as Carolina is defeated by Citadel”. The A-1 story noted that it was the first win by The Citadel over South Carolina since 1926 (there had been a tie in 1928). According to the paper, Gamecock fans had planned a victory celebration at the local Hibernian hall after the game. Instead, the streets were filled with happy cadets. A group of them pushed an ancient jalopy, sans motor, up King Street, with a sign on top that read “Wadiak’s Cadillac”. Being dragged behind the vehicle on a rope was a headless gamecock.

—

Jake Penland, sports editor of The State, wrote that “the balloon of South Carolina players, pride, and overconfidence was punctured with a 19-7 bang by The Citadel.” He also stated that the game was “one of the most startling upsets in the history of this part of the nation.”

Penland wasn’t inclined to give the Bulldogs too much credit, though; in the days to come, he would blame the loss on the Gamecocks’ errant aerial attack. (Penland’s refusal to acknowledge that the Bulldogs had some good players of their own could be construed as starting a tradition among sports editors of The State.)

Doc Baker, on the other hand, was effusive in his praise for the local team, saying they had “made a liar” out of him, but that he was “the happiest liar.” Said Baker of the win: “It’s The Citadel’s greatest victory of all time.”

—

A chastened South Carolina squad would drop its two remaining contests of the season, losing to North Carolina and Wake Forest by identical 14-7 scores. Steve Wadiak would finish with 998 rushing yards and was named player of the year in the Southern Conference.

The loss to The Citadel by the Gamecocks handed the “Big 4” title to Clemson, part of a great season for the Tigers that culminated in an Orange Bowl victory over Miami. Clemson would finish the season 9-0-1, with the only blemish that tie to the Gamecocks.

The Citadel would lose its season finale to VMI, 13-7, to finish the year with a 4-6 record (2-3 SoCon). Quinn Decker would continue to coach the team through 1953, eventually returning to Knoxville to go into private business. The victory over South Carolina would easily be the highlight of his coaching career at The Citadel.

Jerry DeLuca would receive several post-season honors.

—

That was 61 years ago. What about the game on Saturday?

Perhaps it would be better if the game could be played at another location. The Citadel’s last three wins over South Carolina on the gridiron have taken place in Orangeburg (1926), Charleston (1950), and Columbia (1990). Maybe this game could be moved to Greenville…

I’m not going to say The Citadel absolutely can’t win the game, but it is unlikely. It is true that South Carolina is currently a bit challenged offensively, but it should be pointed out that the Gamecocks’ offensive line, even if not an elite SEC unit, would be a top unit in the SoCon. It will be a major challenge for the Bulldogs D to contain the Gamecocks, even without Marcus Lattimore. There is also no receiver in the league that compares to Alshon Jeffery.

Then there is the Gamecocks’ defense, which is outstanding, probably among the ten best units in the country. South Carolina has only struggled defensively when facing a team with multiple outstanding receivers and a quarterback who can get them the ball — i.e., Arkansas. That obviously does not describe The Citadel’s offense. It basically describes the exact opposite.

The only units on the field where The Citadel might have an advantage are the punt return and coverage squads.

South Carolina also won’t be outcoached. Steve Spurrier has been frustrated with his offense all season, but I have noticed in watching the Gamecocks play that he is willing to do what it takes to win a game, and if that means forgetting about passing for extended periods of time, he will do just that. Spurrier has largely been fair with his talent. That’s the sign of a good coach.

Ellis Johnson is one of the better defensive coordinators at the college level. He may not have been the greatest head coach in the world, but he excels in his current role.

That said, I expect the Bulldogs to be competitive this Saturday. This is not a “throwaway” game; it’s not a game to experiment or play a ton of freshmen, or anything like that. I trust the coaching staff understands that for alums and other supporters of The Citadel, a game against South Carolina is a little different than playing Arizona or Wisconsin or Florida.

It will be the final game of a season that has been instructive, if at times frustrating. It has had its moments, though.

It’s a rare home football game for me. I’ll be there, along with friends from as far away as Connecticut and Iowa. We want to see some snarlin’ Dogs on Saturday.

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Game Review 2011: Samford

Posted on November 13, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

Samford 19, The Citadel 14.

—

Ugh. I’m not sure what really needs to be said about this game, which The Citadel should have won but let get away. Just a terrible loss. I’ll just make a few haphazard comments and observations:

— Fashion update for this week: The Citadel went with the navy jerseys/white pants look for Homecoming, which I guess is its postmodern traditional look. It was the first time the Bulldogs wore that combo this season; they also wore them once last season, in the game against Chattanooga. The Citadel lost both games.

— The Citadel has now lost five consecutive “celebration weekend” games — in other words, Parents Day/Homecoming contests. It’s only the third time the Bulldogs have lost five straight PD/HC games, and the first time since the 1985-1987 seasons.

I think that’s significant because those are generally the two most highly attended games of each season. Continuing to lose those contests isn’t going to engender a lot of enthusiasm among the alums and supporters at the games. Of course, attendance on Saturday dipped below 14,000, a very disappointing crowd for a Homecoming game on a nice Saturday afternoon.

— I am the first person to say that The Citadel needs to be on television more often, but after sitting through all those interminable TV timeouts, I think I might settle for just the road games being televised. (Okay, I’m joking. Sort of.)

Then there is the “TV jinx”: The Citadel has now lost 16 of its last 17 televised games (counting ESPN.com), which is ridiculous. That total includes the last seven seasons. It could rise to 17 for 18 after this week’s game against South Carolina.

While I’m ranting, put me down as someone who hates the 3:00 pm kickoff…

— Samford ran 79 offensive plays from scrimmage, exactly what the Birmingham Bulldogs wanted to do, and those plays were not completely imbalanced in terms of run/pass. While The Citadel held the time of possession edge, Samford was able to sustain a number of drives, with five of them going for nine plays or longer. Dustin Taliferro managed to throw 45 passes without being intercepted.

Samford also rushed for 113 yards, lower than it would have liked but just enough for the victory. Of course, a lot of those yards came on the game-winning drive.

— The Citadel lost two fumbles, which hurt (particularly the second one), but the loss can be attributed in large part to the two blocked field goal attempts. The Bulldogs have now had four placekicks blocked in the last two games.

From my vantage point, the problem on Saturday was a protection issue. However, I might be wrong about that. Kevin Higgins stated after the game that “”We know our operation time is slow from the center back to the holder,” but this photo does make one wonder.

It goes without saying that it is unacceptable to have four kicks blocked over a seven-kick span. It appears that Georgia Southern exploited a flaw, and that this was not adequately addressed in the week leading up to the Samford game.

The Citadel has now lost three league games this season because of placekicking unit issues. I’ve said this before (actually, last week), but the Bulldogs do not have enough margin for error to survive continued woes in this area. The SoCon is an unforgiving league; if a team has a weakness, it will pay for that weakness more often than not.

— The playcalling at the end of the drive that resulted in the second blocked field goal was…frustrating. I realize that a lot of this is predicated on QB reads, but the sequence on first-and-ten at the Samford 11-yard line went like this: Darien Robinson up the middle for two yards, Darien Robinson up the middle for a one-yard loss, Darien Robinson up the middle for no gain. Oof.

I’m not calling the plays, and everyone should be thankful that I’m not, but a little something different had to be in order there. Toss sweep, anyone?

— I am on record as saying that alums have at times been a little hard on the corps of cadets, but I was very disappointed in the corps’ performance on Saturday. The upperclassmen did not even bother to stand for the opening kickoff.

I’m sorry to be an old fogey, but that’s simply not going to cut it. If the cadets are so tired that they lack the energy to cheer on their team for three hours, then I think they are clearly too exhausted to go out on the town after the game. My recommendation to Gen. Rosa and Col. Mercado would be to let the clearly fatigued young men and women of the corps stagger back to campus immediately after the game is over and head straight to bed. There is no need to worry about overnights/extra hours of leave, as an 8 pm lights-out would be much more appropriate.

—

On to game eleven. The scene shifts to Columbia. I predict a busy week is ahead for a certain ex-QB named Jack Douglas…

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

2011 Football Game 10: The Citadel vs. Samford

Posted on November 10, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

The Citadel vs. Samford, to be played at historic Johnson Hagood Stadium, with kickoff at 3:00 pm ET on Saturday, November 12.  The contest will be televised on the SoCon Network, with play-by-play by Darren Goldwater (formerly the “Voice of the Bulldogs”) and analysis by Doug Chapman. It is also available via the ESPN3.com platform. The game can be heard on radio via The Citadel Sports Network, with current “Voice of the Bulldogs” Danny Reed calling the action alongside analyst Walt Nadzak. 

—

This is another “combo” post, with a brief review of the Georgia Southern game and a preview of the Samford contest.

—

Georgia Southern 14, The Citadel 12.

There isn’t a whole lot to add to what has already been said and written about the game. I’ll just make a few points:

— In my preview of the game I devoted the better part of two paragraphs to Brent Russell, Georgia Southern’s star nosetackle. I expected him to be a major factor in the game, so news that he wasn’t going to play gave me hope that the Bulldogs could establish themselves offensively. I thought he was that important, and I think the way the game went bore that out. The Citadel rushed for a respectable 239 yards, averaging 4.6 yards per carry.

Russell’s absence surely had an impact on the Bulldogs’ ability to gain yards up the middle, as Darien Robinson had an outstanding afternoon, rushing for 92 yards and a TD on only nine carries. Good teams take advantage of opportunities, and I felt in this respect The Citadel did just that.

— While there was some focus on the missed field goal at the end of the game, that wasn’t what bothered me (especially with the wind issues). The two blocked PATs were what bothered me. It is unacceptable to have one PAT blocked in a game, much less two. Field goals are going to be missed from time to time, but PATs should be all but automatic.

The Citadel has done a lot of good things in the area of special teams this season, most notably the Bulldogs’ punt-blocking exploits. Cass Couey has had a fine year, and even the kick return teams have improved over the last three games (including Kevin Hardy’s tone-setting 50-yard return to open up the festivities in Statesboro).

The Bulldogs are still struggling with kick coverage and placekicking, however, and that isn’t all on the kickers, not by a long shot. Those struggles are also, unfortunately, not a one-year aberration. Thinking about this game, I remembered that I had written about another game against Georgia Southern that got away from The Citadel three years ago. That one also came down to placekicking problems.

The Citadel does not have much margin for error when playing football in the Southern Conference. It cannot afford to lose a game or two each season because of a recurring problem that should be correctable.

I’m not saying it’s easy, because it’s not. Alabama probably just lost a shot at making the BCS title game because Nick Saban didn’t have a placekicker on the roster capable of making long field goals under pressure — and that’s at tradition-rich Alabama, with 85 scholarships at its disposal (not even taking oversigning into account). Bobby Bowden and Florida State lost a couple of mythical crowns in the early 1990s because of an unreliable kicking game.

Despite those examples, your typical 50-year-old male thinks he can roll out of bed and make a 35-yard field goal. That’s just the way the position (and overall placekicking unit) is perceived.

— Okay, now for something tangentially related, but still worth following (at least, I think so)…

Some fans of the Bulldogs may remember that The Post and Courier elected not to send a beat writer for The Citadel’s game at Western Carolina three weeks ago. This was the first time in recent memory that the newspaper had not covered a SoCon football game involving The Citadel. The decision was reportedly not made by the sports department.

At the time, I wrote:

Obviously these are tough times for the newspaper business, so it’s not shocking the paper would cut an occasional corner.  This time it came at the expense of coverage for The Citadel’s football team, which should be a concern for any fan of the military college.

I’m hopeful it was just a one-time thing…

It appears to have been just that, for now. Jeff Hartsell was in Statesboro on Saturday.

The reason I am bringing this up again is that I noticed The Post and Courier sent two reporters to Fayetteville, Arkansas, to cover the South Carolina-Arkansas game. Both Gamecocks beat writer Darryl Slater (a recent hire by the paper) and general sports columnist Gene Sapakoff were at that contest.

It occurs to me that Cullowhee is a lot closer to Charleston than Fayetteville…

It probably doesn’t mean anything. It’s just something to watch.

—

Pat Sullivan knew he had to make some changes to Samford’s offense after last season, one in which a good defense could not make up for a less than dynamic offense. In 2010, the Birmingham Bulldogs averaged just over 10 points per game at home and finished 4-7 (despite an upset over Georgia Southern). The final game of the season was a 13-12 home loss to The Citadel.

Sullivan brought in several new coaches, with the key hire being 28-year-old Rhett Lashlee, a protege of Auburn offensive coordinator Gus Malzahn. Lashlee has installed the hurry-up/spread system run by Malzahn, the same offensive philosophy employed by fellow Malzahn acolyte Chad Morris of Clemson.

Thus, Samford’s meat-and-potatoes attack of years past has been replaced by an offense that spreads the field and tries to run 80 plays from scrimmage per game. It has been, for the most part, successful. Samford is averaging over 30 points per game, ranking third in the SoCon in scoring offense, total offense, and passing offense. It is also fifth in the league in rushing offense, a very respectable placement considering the three triple-option attacks in the conference tend to dominate that statistical category.

Samford has scored at least 17 points in every Southern Conference game this season, a far cry from last year. However, Sullivan’s squad has not been as strong defensively, perhaps in part because of the nature of the offense (Samford’s opponents have a time of possession advantage of close to five minutes). Samford is seventh in the league in scoring defense, next-to-last in total defense, and next-to-last in pass defense (though that is misleading, as it is second in defensive pass efficiency).

Samford has allowed at least 21 points in every SoCon game this season. The second half of games has occasionally been problematic, as the team has allowed 21 second-half points to both Furman and Wofford, and 24 to Georgia Southern.

In Samford’s five wins, the Birmingham Bulldogs have rushed for 304, 160, 181, 348 (Elon), and 303 yards. In its four losses, the rushing totals have been 61, 34 (Wofford), 84, and 92.

If that’s not a key indicator, I don’t know what is.

As far as how the Samford defense has fared against the other triple-option offenses in the league, Wofford rushed for 443 yards, while Georgia Southern’s ground attack put up 263. Both of those schools controlled the running game on both sides of the ball. I think a good goal for Triple O’Higgins would be an average of those two rush totals — 353 yards.

—

If you think Dustin Taliaferro has been Samford’s quarterback for a long time, you would be correct. He’s been taking snaps for Samford since 2008. The new offense seems to be to his liking (Kevin Higgins called him “much improved”). He is completing almost 62% of his passes this season, with 12 TDs against 8 interceptions. He threw three of those TDs against Furman.

Fabian Truss also had a good game against the Paladins, rushing for 136 yards. He was even better the next week against Elon, piling up 191 rushing yards in that game. Sullivan noted that Truss was hurt last week against Chattanooga, a game in which he carried the ball ten times for 46 yards. It was the fourth consecutive game in which his rush attempts from scrimmage had declined. Despite that, Truss still leads the SoCon in all-purpose yardage (he is averaging almost 30 yards per kick return).

Taliaferro’s primary receiving targets are Kelsey Pope (56 catches, five for touchdowns) and Riley Hawkins (33 receptions, two TDs). Hawkins is also Samford’s main punt returner, and he’s a very good one, leading the league in punt return average (11.7 yards). Samford has outstanding kick return teams and also has a solid placekicker in Cameron Yaw, who has made 18 of 23 field goals.

Samford will be motivated to win this game in part because a victory would clinch a winning season for the visitors from Birmingham. If Samford loses to The Citadel, it would have to win its season finale to get that elusive sixth victory. That last game, though, is at Auburn.

—

This is going to be a tough matchup for The Citadel. It is a winnable game, to be sure. Of course, that has been the case for the Bulldogs most of the season, which in itself is suggestive of the improvement the team has made this year.

It is also Homecoming, so a fairly sizeable crowd should be on hand. I hope that a significant portion of those in attendance actually wander into Johnson Hagood Stadium to watch the game. It should be a good one.

Congratulations to all the reunion year classes, particularly the Class of 1961, which is having its 50th-year celebration.

I’ll be at the game this Saturday. I won’t be at any of the reunions, but I’ll be in the stands, rooting on the home team. The weather forecast for Charleston is promising. I hope things are just as sunny for the Bulldogs.

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Citadel hoops it up: Basketball 2011-12

Posted on November 9, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

Yes, it’s basketball season!

Last year, there was a good deal of anticipation for Bulldogs basketball, as a senior-laden team was expected to contend for league honors, or at least compete in the upper echelon of the Southern Conference. It didn’t quite work out that way, to say the least.

The Citadel finished 10-22, 6-12 in the SoCon. The Bulldogs lost nine of their last ten games, and did not win a home game after January 22. Times were tough at McAlister Field House.

New coach Chuck Driesell wanted to play a more uptempo style, but the players seemed to have trouble adjusting after playing in Ed Conroy’s more deliberate system. In truth, though, The Citadel still played last season at a slower tempo than all but 35 schools in Division I. It wasn’t quite as slow as the year before (when the Bulldogs’ pace of play was in the bottom ten nationally), but it wasn’t exactly racehorse-style ball.

The raw numbers don’t necessarily reflect it, but once adjusting for tempo it is clear that much of The Citadel’s struggles, at least from a statistical perspective, came at the defensive end of the court. The Bulldogs allowed 1.112 points per possession, which ranked in the bottom 40 nationally (all numbers in this section per Pomeroy). The Citadel forced very few turnovers and allowed opponents to convert a way-too-easy 53.7% of all two-point baskets.

Given those statistics, it shouldn’t surprise anyone that the Bulldogs also fared poorly in categories like steals per game and blocked shots (though I can’t remember the last time The Citadel had a legitimate shot-blocker; it was probably back in the BRK days).

The team clearly suffered from the lack of a bigger presence in the post (two years after Demetrius Nelson had graduated, he had still not been effectively replaced). Another issue was a shortened rotation, as Chuck Driesell elected to go with just seven players (for the most part) over the latter part of the season. It’s my opinion (one shared by a number of other observers) that Bulldog hoops squads have a tendency to wear out over the course of a campaign, thanks to the rigors of the basketball schedule combined with the “being cadets and students too” thing.

Now most of the regulars from last year’s team are gone, and gone with them is a lot of experience (77% of the minutes played from last season). That experience provided the overwhelming majority of the team’s points (three career 1,000-point scorers, including alltime leading scorer Cameron Wells), three-point shooting (98.7% of all made threes, including career leader Zach Urbanus), and assists (83% of last year’s total).

—

Given all that, it’s not entirely surprising Driesell stated that “it almost feels like this is my first year.” He has had to do what Ed Conroy did four years ago, basically. Like Conroy, Driesell brought in an eight-man freshman class in his second season.

—

First, though, it’s worth noting the players from last season who are back, particularly 6’8″ junior forward Mike Groselle, who should be one of the SoCon’s best returnees. Groselle is a model of efficiency who shows particularly well in “advanced stats”, including effective FG% (60.1).

That would have been good enough for third in the SoCon among players who played at least 60% of their team’s minutes; Groselle narrowly missed that standard (59%). It will be important for him to play more minutes this season (he averaged just over 24 minutes per game last year).

Groselle also ranked in the top 10 in the conference in both offensive rebounding percentage and defensive rebounding percentage. With more playing time and a little more range on his shot, I think he would be a good match for Wofford’s Noah Dahlman over the last two years — in other words, a first-team all-league player and a candidate for player of the year. I’m not the only person who thinks Groselle could have a good year; College Basketball Prospectus suggested he “could be a trendy mid-major name four months from now.”

The lone senior on the Bulldogs’ roster is 6’2″ guard Cosmo Morabbi, who had an injury-plagued junior campaign after breaking his finger in the weight room. Morabbi was the player who I thought might benefit the most from a more-uptempo system, so his injury was doubly disappointing.

Before he got hurt, though, he had struggled with his shot. Morabbi is at his most effective when he is a threat from distance, especially the corner three-ball. He was 2-4 from beyond the arc in The Citadel’s exhibition victory over Tennessee Wesleyan, hopefully a good sign.

DeVontae Wright is a sophomore guard from Goose Creek who will have a chance to play more this season, provided he improves, among other things, his assists-to-turnovers ratio. He scored 13 points in 26 minutes of action in the exhibition game.

Bo Holston is a 6’4″ forward who is more of a 3-man; he was placed in the role of the 4 at times last season, a tough assignment. Holston is an “energy guy” who started 13 games last year.

There are a few other players returning from last year who may feature in the rotation. You never know when someone will suddenly get in the mix, as Holston did last season, or as John Brown did three years ago.

—

Driesell’s eight freshmen are a diverse lot, at least in terms of hometowns. He brought in eight players from seven different states (two are from North Carolina). The general consensus seems to be that the globe-trotting coach brought in a class with some athleticism, but which in at least a couple of cases will need time to develop.

I’m not going to pretend to know much about any of these guys. I also did not see the exhibition game (link: box score) in person, so I’m at a disadvantage in that respect as well. I’ll make a few comments anyway. Hey, it’s my blog…

C.J. Bray is a 6’7″ forward from Charleston (James Island High School) who turned down a football scholarship from Arkansas to plays hoops at The Citadel. At the very least, he should be an athletic presence down low. He started against Tennessee Wesleyan and played 19 minutes, scoring six points.

Ashton Moore is a 6’0″ guard from Virginia. He was the breakout star of the night in the exhibition game, going 6-10 from 3 and scoring 21 points. He also played 30 minutes, more than any other player.

When Moore wasn’t hitting from downtown in the exhibition, fellow freshman guard Lawrence Miller (4-7 from 3-land) was. The 6’1″ Miller is from Charlotte.

Marshall Harris is a 6’1″ point guard from San Antonio. He only played ten minutes in the game against Tennessee Wesleyan, but dished out five assists. I would not be surprised if his playing time increases once the season begins.

P.J. Horgan is a 6’8″ post player from New Mexico. The Blue Ribbon preview was high on Horgan, noting he led his high school team to the state semifinals and was second team all-state. He grabbed four rebounds in ten minutes of play against Tennessee Wesleyan.

Driesell didn’t skimp on signing size. Another example of that is 6’7″, 232 lb. Jordan Robertson, of Greensboro, NC. Robertson did not score in the exhibition game, but did reel in seven rebounds in 16 minutes of play.

Two other freshmen did not play against Tennessee Wesleyan. Dylen Setzekorn is 6’7″, but more of a swingman than a post player (at least, that’s my understanding). He’s described by Driesell as being a good shooter.

Michael Hundley is the tallest of the newcomers, at 6’9″, but only weighs 178 lbs. (according to his roster page on the school website). In the Blue Ribbon preview, Driesell said that Hundley “could be the sleeper of the bunch. He’s long and athletic and could be an excellent shot blocker. He’s got a chance, although he might need a year.” That suggests Hundley may be a redshirt candidate.

—

As expected, The Citadel is not expected to contend in the Southern Conference this season. The SoCon media picked the Bulldogs to finish last in the South division. College Basketball Prospectus rates The Citadel as the 10th-best team in the league (ahead of Georgia Southern and Samford). Ken Pomeroy’s preseason ratings rank the Bulldogs lower than any other team in the conference (298th in the nation). The Sagarin ratings are a little kinder, ranking The Citadel ahead of three other SoCon squads.

Blue Ribbon’s preview noted that it was “hard not to pick the Bulldogs at the bottom of the South Division because they have so little experience.” The Post and Courier also predicted a last-place division finish for the Bulldogs.

It’s hard to argue with those predictions and assessments, given The Citadel lost so much experience from a team that lost 22 games anyway. On the other hand…

One thing working in the Bulldogs’ favor is that The Citadel is not the only team that lost a lot of players. The College of Charleston lost three starters, including alltime leading scorer Andrew Goudelock and Jeremy Simmons, a key cog in the Cougars’ rotation. Wofford lost four starters, including Noah Dahlman (the best player in school history) and hardnosed rebounder Tim Johnson. Furman lost four starters too; one of them was All-SoCon forward Amu Saaka. That’s just from the South division.

The various polls and previews had a hard time trying to figure out the order of the SoCon South after the top two spots (Davidson and the CofC). While Wofford, Furman, and The Citadel all suffered heavy graduation losses, Georgia Southern only lost one starter, and also has Willie Powers III (an excellent scoring point guard) coming back after missing last season with a knee injury.

No one seems really confident in the Eagles, though. Part of that may have to do with Powers’ extensive injury history, but much of it is based on the fact that while GSU brought back a lot of players, those players only managed to win two Division I games last season (one of those, alas, was against The Citadel).

In other words, the SoCon South is wide open, other than the top spot (where Davidson seems to be a solid pick to not only win the division, but the league) and maybe second place (with the College of Charleston bringing in highly-regarded recruit Adjehi Baru).

As far as the rest of the conference is concerned, the SoCon North in general has more returning talent, and is perceived as being more settled as the season begins, with snakebitten Samford (literally!) a consensus choice to finish last (and that was before the Birmingham Bulldogs lost their starting point guard for the season with an achilles’ tendon injury).

Chattanooga is the favorite in the North, and generally considered the second- or co-favorite for the league title (with Davidson), though not everyone is on the Mocs’ bandwagon — notably the Pomeroy preseason ratings. Omar Wattad will fire from three-land all night long, sometimes forgetting the rules allow him to shoot two-pointers too. Keegan Bell is a fine point guard who will be first team all-SoCon if his field goal percentage improves.

Appalachian State lost alltime leading scorer Donald Sims, yet some observers think the Mountaineers may be better off. Ike Butts’ return is a major reason why; not every SoCon team has a viable post player who is 6’10”, 280 lbs. Omar Carter is the league’s leading returning scorer and a player of the year candidate.

Western Carolina brings back a solid squad as well and may be a nice dark horse pick. The Catamounts finished last season strong, winning 14 of their last 19 games. UNCG will play a slightly more reasonable non-league schedule this season, which should help the Spartans avoid another 0-15 start. Elon is a sleeper pick in some precincts, although the Phoenix may be a year away.

—

I think it’s likely The Citadel will have some hard times on the hardwood this season. However, the Bulldogs won’t be the only league team in that position, and if some of the freshmen can contribute early and provide a helping hand to Groselle and co., it wouldn’t be a surprise to see The Citadel have a better year in the league than expected.

I do believe that with more of his own players, Chuck Driesell will be able to fully implement his style of play. I am also hopeful that he will have a deeper rotation, which would help the team avoid the late-season stumbles that have habitually plagued the program.

At the very least, the defense (particularly in the paint) should improve. Offensively, besides shooting the ball well (obviously), I would like to see the Bulldogs make a concerted effort to get to the free throw line more, which has been a problem for the last three seasons.

Odds and ends:

— I’ve been asked to contribute to a kind of roundtable discussion about the league this season. This is going to be a weekly thing for the most part. The first edition for this season has been posted to a Chattanooga blog, Mocs Mania, and can be found here:  Link

— From what I can figure out, The Citadel will only appear on television once in 2011-12 during the regular season, and that will actually be in the season opener against VMI, in the All-Military Classic in Colorado Springs, Colorado. That game will start at 11:59 pm ET on Friday, November 11, and is being televised by the CBS Sports Network (not to be confused with CBS). The announcers will be Roger Twibell and Pete Gillen. With any luck, Gillen will try to call timeout at least twice.

The Citadel’s home opener against Clemson will be broadcast online, on ESPN3.com, as part of the SoCon’s season package on that platform. It appears this will be the only time the Bulldogs appear on the package.

It is possible (though not likely) that other games will be picked up for TV and/or ESPN3.com at a later date.

— The new tagline for the season is apparently “Pack the Mac”. I hope that venerable McAlister Field House is indeed packed this season (I am sure it will be for the opener). I would like to see an increased cadet presence this year as well.

—

I’m ready for the season. Very ready.

Filed under: Basketball, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

College Football TV Listings 2011, Week 11

Posted on November 8, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

This is a list of every game played during week 11 of the college football season involving at least one FBS or FCS school.  All games are listed, televised or not.  For the televised games (only live broadcasts are listed), I include the announcers and sideline analysts/reporters (where applicable).  I put all of it on a Google Documents spreadsheet that can be accessed at the following link:

College Football TV Listings 2011, Week 11

Additional notes:

— I include ESPN3.com games; they are denoted as “ESPN3”.

— I’ve listed the satellite affiliates for the SEC Network “national” game of the week (Kentucky-Vanderbilt) in a comment on the document.  There are numerous local affiliates, a listing of which can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the ACC Network “national” game of the week (N.C. State-Boston College) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the Big East Network game of the week (Pittsburgh-Louisville) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the Southland TV game of the week (Northwestern State-Sam Houston State) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the SoCon Network game of the week (Samford-The Citadel) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the WAC Network game of the week (Fresno State-New Mexico State) can be found here:  Link

— Also listed on the document in comments are the regional nets carrying the following games:  Marshall-Tulsa, Navy-SMU, and Duke-Virginia.

— There are comments in the document with additional information for several other games.

— ABC/GamePlan coverage maps for the 12:00 pm ET games (Oklahoma State-Texas Tech, West Virginia-Cincinnati) and the ABC/ESPN/GamePlan coverage maps for the 3:30 pm ET games (Texas A&M-Kansas State, Michigan-Illinois, Miami (FL)-Florida State):  Link

— BTN (formerly Big Ten Network) “gamefinder”:  Link

— BCS Standings:  Link

— FCS Coaches Poll:  Link

—

A lot of the information I used in putting this together came courtesy of Matt Sarzyniak’s alarmingly comprehensive and completely indispensable website College Sports on TV, a must-bookmark for any fan of college sports.  Also to be credited, as always, are the indefatigable information gatherers (and in some cases sports-TV savants) at the 506.com.  I am also assisted on occasion by helpful athletic media relations officials at various schools and conferences.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

2011 Football Game 9: The Citadel vs. Georgia Southern

Posted on November 3, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

The Citadel at Georgia Southern, to be played at Paulson Stadium, with kickoff at 2:00 pm ET on Saturday, November 5.  The game will not be televised. The game can be heard on radio via The Citadel Sports Network, with “Voice of the Bulldogs” Danny Reed calling the action alongside analyst Walt Nadzak.   Bulldog Insider will also provide free audio; the only video available for this game is being provided by Georgia Southern as part of a subscription service.

—

I’ve already written about The Citadel’s victory over VMI. There isn’t much to add to that, except I did want to briefly mention VMI’s fans.  The Keydets brought more supporters to Johnson Hagood Stadium than Wofford did, and weren’t too far behind Furman in the “travel” category. That’s very impressive, given that A) it’s a long trip, and B) VMI hasn’t had a winning season in 30 years.  Full credit to VMI’s fans, a group that surely deserves better results on the gridiron.

—

Now the Bulldogs face what could be their biggest challenge of the season to date, a road game against Georgia Southern, which until last week was unbeaten and ranked #1 in the country in both FCS polls. The Eagles saw their perfect season go by the boards in a 24-17 loss in Boone to Appalachian State, and are likely to be a rather surly bunch right now, just in time for Homecoming in Statesboro. Beautiful Eagle Creek may seem a little less beautiful right now.

One thing Georgia Southern can’t really afford to do at this point in the season is lose to The Citadel, because it would put the Eagles in a rather difficult position. Right now GSU is 7-1 with three games remaining. After hosting the Bulldogs, Georgia Southern finishes the regular season with two road games. One of those is in Spartanburg against fellow SoCon title contender Wofford, while the finale is a matchup with BCS title contender Alabama.

If Georgia Southern were to lose all three games, it would finish at 7-4, and would have a borderline case for a postseason bid. The record wouldn’t be great, and GSU would have finished the campaign with four straight defeats. Even more problematic would be the fact that the Eagles would have only six victories against Division I teams, as one of GSU’s wins came against Division II Tusculum.

Technically, an FCS playoff at-large team doesn’t need seven D-1 wins, but historically it has been a de facto rule that at-large candidates should have at least seven such victories. (That may change if there is more postseason expansion.)

GSU definitely needs to win one of its next two games to ensure a playoff bid, and probably needs to win both to garner a national seed.

Although the odds of Georgia Southern getting left out of the FCS postseason are low, it’s important not to overlook the problem of scheduling both a “money” game and a matchup against a non-D1 squad. While a team that closes a season with four straight losses isn’t likely to get an at-large berth anyway, what if Georgia Southern had lost earlier in the season (say, to Chattanooga, a one-point victory for the Eagles), and then finished the year with a win over The Citadel but a tough loss at Wofford, and then the expected defeat to the Crimson Tide?

A SoCon team with 7 wins and a loss to Alabama would normally be at worst a marginal at-large contender, but GSU would only have six D-1 victories and would presumably be out of the running.

That’s why it is better, when looking for a no-return home game, that ADs at schools with playoff aspirations try to schedule D-1 schools rather than D-2 or NAIA teams. It’s not that easy to find FCS schools willing to make a one-way trip, at least not cheaply, but it’s something that needs to be done. Of course, there is the additional risk that the school in question may be good enough to actually win the game.

For The Citadel, Jacksonville was an excellent season-opening opponent in this respect. Presbyterian would also be a good candidate, and of course there is a long tradition of games between the Bulldogs and the Blue Hose. Newberry, on the other hand, is probably not an option, since it is still D-2.

—

For some fans of the Eagles, the playoffs aren’t enough. There is still a significant group of Georgia Southern supporters who believe that it is time for GSU to make the move to the land of FBS. The school published a study on the issue two years ago. At the time I wrote about whether GSU should make the leap, the latest round of conference-jumping wasn’t even on the horizon, much less a staple of hourly news reports.

I think it is even more of a risk to move to FBS now than it was two years ago, because there is major uncertainty about what that division will become in the next few years. Georgia Southern (and Appalachian State) supporters hoping to become part of the FBS club are dreaming of a chance to join a league like the Sun Belt or, in a best-case scenario, Conference USA.

Even if that were to happen, though, in the current climate there is a possibility it would amount to jumping on a treadmill. If the much-theorized breakaway by the major programs to form super-conferences comes to pass, Sun Belt and C-USA schools are not likely to be part of the chosen few. They are more likely to wind up in a larger FCS.

—

The Citadel has won two straight games, reason for optimism in the continuing story that is Triple O’Higgins. However, I think there is still reason to be cautious. While I’m not one to complain about any victory, Western Carolina and VMI are not exactly the Pittsburgh Steelers and Green Bay Packers when it comes to football prowess. While the Bulldog D has generally been excellent this season, The Citadel’s triple option attack is still very much a work in progress.

That isn’t to say that strides haven’t been made, because they have. It’s just that the Bulldogs haven’t really had that “eureka” moment, or game, at least not yet. It may be that it won’t happen this season.

Was there such a defining game in 1988, the second year of Charlie Taaffe’s wishbone attack? Was there a specific game when everyone realized that the Bulldogs were no longer learning how to run the offense, but were instead refining it?

Well, I’m not sure. Looking back at the seven-game winning streak in 1988, there wasn’t a true breakout game in terms of rushing yardage. It was more of a gradual increase, from 290 yards rushing (Navy) to 322 (Western Carolina), then a blip downwards (187 vs. Chattanooga), then the two games started by Tommy Burriss (278 yards rushing against Boston University and 301 vs. East Tennessee State).

Tangent: as it happens, the two games Burriss started in 1988 both came against schools that in the next few years would drop their respective football programs. I don’t think this can be blamed on Burriss, however.

The contest against ETSU could qualify as the game that truly established the offense as a force, as in addition to the rushing yardage the Bulldogs threw for 199 yards, with the 500 yards of total offense being the most in a game for the cadets since 1980. The Citadel scored 48 points against ETSU (31 in the second quarter).

The game against the Buccaneers was the eighth of the 1988 campaign. In the ninth game, Gene Brown would return from injury and lead the Bulldogs to one of their more celebrated victories, a 20-3 Homecoming triumph over #1 Marshall.

It would be nice to have a similar result in the ninth game of this season…

—

It won’t be easy, though, as the Eagles rank first in the SoCon in scoring defense and rush defense. One big reason why is Georgia Southern nosetackle Brent Russell, who Kevin Higgins called “the best defensive lineman in the country at our level.” It’s hard to argue the point. In last week’s loss to Appalachian State, the redshirt junior registered a career-high ten tackles.

One of the more notable performances in Russell’s career came last season against Navy, when he completely dominated the line of scrimmage, a major reason why Navy was held to 193 total yards (109 rushing). The Midshipmen managed to win the game despite Russell’s efforts, 13-7.

I found it interesting that in his weekly SoCon teleconference, GSU coach Jeff Monken was quick to praise Mike Sellers, the Bulldogs’ sophomore center. When The Citadel’s offense faces Georgia Southern’s defense, the critical matchup could be between the two players who line up closest to the ball.

Incidentally (or maybe not so incidentally), Georgia Southern’s defense has forced a punt on their opponents’ opening possession six times. Presbyterian’s opening drive against the Eagles resulted in a field goal attempt that was blocked. The only time the opposition scored on its initial possession against Georgia Southern was last week, when Appalachian State’s first drive resulted in a touchdown. Obviously, that’s also the only game GSU has lost.

—

Jaybo Shaw, GSU’s quarterback, was injured early in the contest last season at Johnson Hagood Stadium, so (presuming he stays healthy) this will be the first time The Citadel has seen him in extended game action. The Bulldogs will get their fill of quarterbacks named Shaw, however, as they will face Jaybo’s brother Connor in the game at South Carolina. Two Shaws in three weeks is probably a record.

Shaw’s passing numbers are reasonably solid, if modest by comparison to “normal” offenses. He has completed 54% of his throws for five touchdowns, against two interceptions. More importantly, he is averaging 11.2 yards per attempt, as the Eagles are third nationally (second in the SoCon) in pass efficiency. Shaw has rushed for 261 yards and seven touchdowns.

He has distributed the ball well in GSU’s triple option attack, with a bevy of running backs featuring for the Eagles. Robert Brown, the starting B-back, is the leading ground-gainer on the season for GSU. Included in his totals are 178 yards versus Chattanooga, 140 yards against Samford, and 116 yards versus Elon. He is averaging nearly seven yards per carry.

Georgia Southern’s offensive line has included the same five starters in every game except for last week’s contest, with the two-deep released by the school indicating the standard five-man group will return for the game against The Citadel. Three of the five are seniors.

GSU leads the nation in scoring offense (41.1 points per game) and is second in rushing offense.

The Eagles are also dangerous on special teams. Laron Scott averages 35. 5 yards per kick return, tops in FCS. As for punt returner Darreion Robinson, statistics don’t tell the whole story. This effort against Appalachian State does: Link

—

Saturday’s game against Georgia Southern will be a challenge, but that’s all right. The players won’t be dreading the trip to Statesboro; rather, they will be relishing it. It’s an opportunity to see how far the Bulldogs have come, and how far they still need to go.

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

College Football TV Listings 2011, Week 10

Posted on November 1, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

This is a list of every game played during week 10 of the college football season involving at least one FBS or FCS school.  All games are listed, televised or not.  For the televised games (only live broadcasts are listed), I include the announcers and sideline analysts/reporters (where applicable).  I put all of it on a Google Documents spreadsheet that can be accessed at the following link:

College Football TV Listings 2011, Week 10

Additional notes:

— I include ESPN3.com games; they are denoted as “ESPN3”.

— I’ve listed the satellite affiliates for the SEC Network “national” game of the week (Vanderbilt-Florida) in a comment on the document.  There are numerous local affiliates, a listing of which can be found here:  Link

— The ACC Network will have “split national” games this week.

Local affiliates for Virginia-Maryland can be found here: Link

Local affiliates for North Carolina-North Carolina State can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the Big East Network game of the week (Louisville-West Virginia) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the Southland TV game of the week (Central Arkansas-Northwestern State) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the SoCon Network game of the week (Wofford-Western Carolina) can be found here:  Link

— Affiliates for the Montana CW Network (televising Western Oregon-Montana) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the WAC Network game of the week (Idaho-San Jose State) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the MAC Network game of the week (Ball State-Eastern Michigan) can be found here:  Link

— Also listed on the document in comments are the regional nets carrying the following games:  UTEP-Rice, Missouri-Baylor, Oregon-Washington, Duke-Miami (FL), and Middle Tennessee State-Tennessee.

— There are comments in the document with additional information for several other games.

— ABC/ESPN2/GamePlan coverage maps for the 3:30 pm ET games (Purdue-Wisconsin, Texas A&M-Oklahoma, Stanford-Oregon State) and the ABC/ESPN2 coverage maps for the 8:00 pm ET games (Notre Dame-Wake Forest, Kansas State-Oklahoma State):  Link

— BTN (formerly Big Ten Network) “gamefinder”:  Link

— BCS Standings:  Link

— FCS Coaches Poll:  Link

—

A lot of the information I used in putting this together came courtesy of Matt Sarzyniak’s alarmingly comprehensive and completely indispensable website College Sports on TV, a must-bookmark for any fan of college sports.  Also to be credited, as always, are the indefatigable information gatherers (and in some cases sports-TV savants) at the 506.com.  I am also assisted on occasion by helpful athletic media relations officials at various schools and conferences.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Game Review, 2011: VMI

Posted on October 30, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

The Citadel 41, VMI 14. The coveted Silver Shako remains in Charleston.

—

Links of interest:

Game story from The Post and Courier

Jeff Hartsell’s postgame notes column

Photo gallery of VMI-The Citadel from The Post and Courier

Game writeup from VMI’s sports website

Game writeup from The Citadel’s sports website

—

I got to the stadium early on Saturday, and decided to walk around campus. That gave me the opportunity to see the new Ring Statue (I guess that’s what it is going to be called). The statue is a great addition to the parade ground, and I like where it is stationed. It is also a magnet for photographers of all types (including me).

The campus as a whole looked good, even on a gloomy, overcast morning. Conditions improved considerably as gametime approached, and by kickoff it was nice and sunny, classic fall “jacket weather”. The only negative was a rather insistent breeze, but it wasn’t too bad.

The Hall of Fame inductions resulted in some familiar faces showing up for the game, including former hoopsters like Gus Olalere and James Stevens, just to name two. Nate Ross, Renaissance Man, was also on hand. It wasn’t surprising to see a strong basketball contingent, what with Randy Nesbit being one of the HoF inductees.

Dallas McPherson and Tony Skole were also honored, so more than a few ex-baseball players (like Anthony Jenkins and Mike Montei) were at Johnson Hagood Stadium. Phil Florence was enshrined as well. I had forgotten just how good a career he had in track, to say nothing of his abilities as a wide receiver; I was reminded of that fact during his introduction to the crowd at the half.

Charlie Taaffe wasn’t there, as Central Florida had a game on Saturday. I’m not sure the Knights really needed their offensive coordinator, as UCF shut out hapless Memphis 41-0, but Taaffe was represented at halftime by his son Brian. Tom McQueeney, one of about 300 McQueeneys to attend The Citadel, was also inducted into the Hall.

Just before I entered the stadium, I saw an older gentleman come out of the front of JHS, slip past the turnstiles, and walk over to a small group of people. They appeared to be family members. He pointed them in the direction where they were apparently supposed to go, and off they went.

After a moment, he strolled through the side gate (mysteriously open) next to the Altman Center. He then stopped briefly to take out a visitors’ pass and put it around his neck, a needless gesture if there ever was one.

If I had been a little closer when I first saw him, I probably would have greeted him. After all, Bobby Ross was the head coach for the first football game I ever attended. It was a win, too. I watched him amiably talking to one of the security workers for a minute or so, on the edge of the field. Then memories came flooding into my brain, and I turned away.

—

I was disappointed in the attendance. It was a good day for football (eventually), Clemson and South Carolina were both playing road night games, and there weren’t any truly interesting football games on TV in the afternoon. Just 11,184 people decided to go to the game, though.

Bobby Ross, who had the honors at the coin toss, might have been able to relate to the attendance woes. In his first two years as head coach at The Citadel the average attendance for a game at Johnson Hagood Stadium was just 11,692, not much more than the crowd on Saturday. However, in his last three seasons with the Bulldogs, the average attendance jumped to 16,718.

—

As for the game itself, some random thoughts:

— At halftime, The Citadel led 21-7. That was the good news, and the best kind of good news, since it was the bottom line. However, I found it worrisome that the difference in the half boiled down to two blocked punts.

After the first couple of drives the Bulldogs did not accomplish much on offense, and the defense allowed a touchdown drive by VMI that consisted of two penalties and six consecutive runs by Keydet running back Chaz Jones, most of them right up the middle. Jones finished the day with 112 yards rushing on 16 carries.

— Sparky Woods is a good coach, but if he had to do it over again, I suspect he might have done a couple of things differently on Saturday. I think Woods tried too hard to keep his offense “balanced”, as VMI finished the day with 33 rush attempts and 26 pass plays. Those numbers don’t account for sacks, so it was really more like 30 designed rushing plays and 29 throws or would-be throws.

The problem was that VMI was reasonably effective on the ground but putrid in the air. Only 9 of those 26 pass attempts were completed, for a total of just 68 yards. From my vantage point, it seemed the primary problem with VMI’s passing game was that its receivers could not get open. Meanwhile, the Keydets were averaging a respectable 4.7 yards per rush, led by Jones, who I thought probably should have received more opportunities to carry the ball.

— The decision by Woods that I found most perplexing, though, came in the third quarter. With The Citadel leading 24-7, VMI faced a fourth-and-seven on its own 29. The Keydets prepared to punt, which for their fans was a cover-your-eyes situation, as two VMI punts had already been blocked in the game, and another possible block just missed.

VMI survived yet another close call on this particular punt. The net was only 23 yards, but considering the troubles with the VMI punting game, and the fact the Keydets were going against the wind, it wasn’t the most terrible of outcomes. However, there was a penalty on the play.

It wasn’t roughing the kicker, but running into the kicker. If the penalty were accepted, it would be fourth and two on the VMI 34. VMI could go for it (after all, the Keydets had nothing to lose, down 17, and Jones was picking up good yardage on running plays). The Keydets could also decline the penalty, with The Citadel taking over at its own 48.

Woods elected to take the penalty, and punt again. I have no idea why. The result was rather predictable, as John Synovec came through the line untouched and blocked the punt.

Tangent: after Synovec blocked the punt, I noticed a Bulldog player (probably Chris Billingslea, always in the middle of The Citadel’s punt-blocking exploits) grab a Keydet in an effort to prevent the VMI player from covering the football. It didn’t matter in the end, as the ball was not advanced, but I think The Citadel could have been called for a post-possession holding penalty in that situation. Then again, I might be wrong about that.

— VMI did a good job adjusting on defense after The Citadel’s first two offensive drives. To this non-expert, it seemed the Keydets D was doing a fair bit of stunting and blitzing, blowing up plays before The Citadel could get to the perimeter.

The Bulldogs finally started to get back on track midway through the third quarter, with the offensive adjustments including the toss sweep (a play Georgia Tech would run repeatedly later that night against Clemson) and some misdirection plays. The Citadel’s wide receivers also did a better job of blocking in the second half.

— It’s not every game in which a team has eleven different players with a rushing attempt, but that was the number of Bulldogs who carried the ball on Saturday. One of those eleven was punter Cass Couey, who picked up twelve yards and a first down on a fake punt, the second time in his career he has made such a play.

I’m honestly not sure whether or not that was planned, or if he felt the pressure on his right and decided to take off on his own. It was a heady play either way by Couey, who is making a strong case to be the all-SoCon punter.

— The Citadel wore what is arguably the most aesthetically displeasing of all its uniform sets, the light blue jersey/navy pants combo. The Bulldogs had lost six consecutive games in which they wore navy pants prior to the victory over VMI.

—

I’ll close out this post with some photos I took on Saturday. They include several shots of the new Ring Statue, some pictures of the Bulldogs warming up pregame (I saw no Schembechler-inspired activity on that front), static game shots, an actually semi-decent “action” photo of the first blocked punt, a few other “at the game” pictures, plus a photo of that which is most coveted. As always, please understand that the photographer isn’t very good and his camera isn’t much better.

—

On to Statesboro..

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , | 1 Comment »

2011 Football Game 8: The Citadel vs. VMI

Posted on October 27, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

The Citadel vs. VMI, also known as “The Military Classic of the South”, to be played at historic Johnson Hagood Stadium, with kickoff at 1:00 pm ET on Saturday, October 29.  The game will not be televised. There will be a webcast on Bulldog Insider (subscription service), and the game can be heard on radio via The Citadel Sports Network, with “Voice of the Bulldogs” Danny Reed calling the action alongside analyst Walt Nadzak.  The two teams will battle for the coveted Silver Shako, universally regarded as the greatest trophy in all of sports.

—

I’ve actually written multiple posts on The Citadel’s football team this week. It’s the first time in a while I’ve done that. I reviewed the Western Carolina game, and also threw in my two cents on where the corps of cadets should be placed at Johnson Hagood Stadium.

Now it’s time for the long-awaited resumption of the Cadets vs. Keydets clash. I’m looking forward to this matchup, in part because the Bulldogs have a good chance of winning, but perhaps more so because I think it’s a shame the rivalry had to take a break in the first place. Be forewarned; I’m going to spend most of this post writing about VMI.

—

The fact the matchup has not taken place since 2007 is a direct result of VMI leaving the Southern Conference following the 2002 football season, which affected the ability of both schools to schedule the game. VMI had been a member of the league since 1924, so we’re not talking about a TCU situation here. Why did the school move to the Big South?

From a Jeff Hartsell article in The Post and Courier:

When VMI left the SoCon after the 2002 season, school officials claimed scheduling flexibility as one reason for the move. The Keydets were locked into eight league games in the SoCon; at the time, the Big South played only four conference games (it’s up to six games and seven teams now, including Stony Brook, which is in New York).

But there’s no doubt football futility played a role in the decision. In the six seasons before their departure, the Keydets were 4-43 in the SoCon, including three 0-8 records and two 1-7 marks, for a winning percentage of .085.

Let’s dig into this a little deeper. First, an aside: you know VMI fans (not to mention the school administration) wince when they see a headline like that one (“Nine years after VMI retreated from SoCon, Bulldogs hold fast”). Ouch.

The Keydets had occasionally slogged through tough stretches in their history on the gridiron prior to their modern-day struggles. For example, from 1968-1971 VMI compiled a cumulative record of 3-39 (in the 1969 season, the average score of a VMI game was Opposition 41, Keydets 8). The first three of those seasons came under the tutelage of Vito Ragazzo. He was replaced in 1971 by Bob Thalman, who gradually rebuilt the program after first enduring a 1-10 campaign in 1971.

Thalman was still the coach in 1981, when the Keydets went 6-3-1. For those of you reading this who don’t know, that is the last time VMI had a winning season in football. That’s right. This year the Keydets (currently 1-6) will suffer their 30th consecutive non-winning campaign. VMI has had two .500 seasons in that span, going 6-6 in 2002 and 2003 under Cal McCombs, a graduate of The Citadel.

McCombs followed up those two years (the last season in the SoCon and the first in the Big South, respectively) by going 0-11 in 2004. After a 3-8 season in 2005, he was done as the VMI coach.

That 0-11 season in 2004 is one of two winless campaigns at the Institute since 1981. Ted Cain’s 1997 squad also went 0-11. Cain was the coach at VMI for two seasons, winning one solitary game (against Lenoir-Rhyne).

With the exception of current coach Sparky Woods, every coach at VMI since 1981 has suffered through at least one winless or one-win season. Thalman was 1-9 in his final season in charge (1984). Eddie Williamson had a 1-10 ledger in 1987. Jim Schuck (a former Army assistant who was hoped to be VMI’s version of his contemporary Charlie Taaffe) went 1-10 in his final season, 1993. His replacement, Bill Stewart (later to win a BCS bowl game at West Virginia) would field a 1-10 squad the following year.

After Cain’s two seasons (the final game of the 1998 campaign was coached by AD Donny White), McCombs would coach VMI for six years, with two 1-10 seasons to go along with that 0-11 finish in 2004. Jim Reid, who had previously been the head coach at Massachusetts and Richmond,  followed McCombs, posting records of 1-10 and 2-9 before leaving to go to the Miami Dolphins (shades of John Zernhelt). He is now the defensive coordinator at Virginia.

—

Speaking of Donny White, who coached that one game in 1998, he is still the director of athletics at VMI. In the Hartsell article, he had this to say about scheduling:

Fewer league games have helped VMI rekindle rivalries with teams in Virginia like Richmond and William & Mary, but it hasn’t done much for the bottom line. Overall, VMI has a 21-69 record since leaving the SoCon, the highwater mark a 6-6 record in 2003.

“To be fair, I haven’t done a good job of taking advantage of that flexibility,” White said. “With more flexibility, you try to schedule more appropriately for your team, so our non-conference record should have improved. But I haven’t done a good job with that.”

Well, he probably hasn’t. On the other hand, there is a reason he is still the AD at VMI despite the football team’s struggles. It seems clear that White, despite his comments, has been hamstrung a bit in his efforts to make the schedule easier.

The Big South, as mentioned in the article, now has seven teams, so that is six league games for VMI per season. In non-league play, VMI has played William & Mary every season since World War II save one (2009). The Keydets have not beaten the Tribe since 1985, and few of the contests in recent years have been close. Richmond has been an almost yearly opponent as well, but since joining the Big South VMI is 0-9 against the Spiders, allowing on average almost 40 points per contest.

Richmond and William & Mary are traditional rivals for the Keydets (they in fact are the two schools VMI has played most often in its history), but the fact is that right now both of them are on a tier well above VMI in terms of on-field competitiveness. Between playing both of them almost every year, along with a “money” game or two (VMI played both Virginia and Army last season), it makes it hard to schedule “gimme” victories for the squad.

This year VMI’s only game against an FBS team is Akron. I can’t imagine the Keydets got a large check for that one (though I have read that check may have been at least as big, if not bigger, than one for playing Army would have been).

—

In a way, it is easy to see what VMI’s administration was thinking when it elected to leave the SoCon. Richmond and William & Mary had already left the league. There were some schools still in the conference with which VMI could identify (like The Citadel and Furman), but there were other institutions with which VMI had no shared history, larger state schools that the Keydets seemingly were never going to be able to successfully compete against on the field. Georgia Southern entered the SoCon in 1993. The Eagles and Keydets met ten times. GSU won all ten games by an average score of 47-6.

By the late 1990s it seemed to be getting worse for VMI, which was losing badly every year to the likes of GSU, Appalachian State, and Chattanooga. I wouldn’t be surprised if a particular stretch in 1999 may have cast the die when it came to leaving the league. VMI was 1-10 that season, winless in the league. Starting in late September, this is how things went for the Institute: Furman leveled the Keydets 58-0. The following week, Georgia Southern traveled to Lexington and blasted VMI 62-0. The week after that, Wofford crushed the Keydets 55-10. Then Chattanooga shut out VMI 27-0.

After a non-league game against William & Mary, VMI would lose 40-2 to Western Carolina and 34-7 to App State. Even the near-miss that was the season finale (a 7-6 loss to The Citadel) wouldn’t have come close to easing the pain of that season, or perhaps the sense that VMI could no longer compete in the Southern Conference.

The problem, of course, is that recruiting to play in the Big South is not the same as recruiting for the SoCon, something the administration at VMI may not have fully realized. It may be that the VMI brass thought the school would continue recruiting the same type of athlete regardless of what league VMI called home, but that’s not the way it works.

In addition, several teams in the Big South have started to show major aspirations when it comes to football, and VMI is again faced with the problem of competing against schools with different standards (because they have different missions) and more resources. VMI is 2-7 against Coastal Carolina since joining the Big South, and 1-8 versus Liberty since joining the conference. It’s likely that competing against those schools will continue to be an uphill climb for the Keydets.

VMI is also winless against Stony Brook since the Seawolves joined the league for football. I’m guessing that most VMI alums don’t know anything about Stony Brook except that it beat their alma mater 42-14 last week.

—

I think the long losing streak has surely cost VMI victories in individual seasons, as there is no reservoir of winning built up in the program. What the folks in Lexington need to do, more than anything, is come up with a winning season to get the proverbial monkey off their back. As such, VMI should schedule accordingly. At least three “gimme” or “near gimme” games should be scheduled, preferably early in the season in order to build confidence.

Then, with hard work and a little luck, three victories in league play would give VMI that 6-5 record and end the skid. In other words, play Lock Haven and Chowan and schools like that on a regular basis in non-conference games.

The Citadel has suffered because of a long losing run of its own, only broken by the 7-4 season in 2007. When it comes to breaking a run of losing that has lasted for a generation and a half, VMI’s difficulties are exponentially greater.

—

I was at the 2002 contest referenced in Jeff Hartsell’s story. It was easily the most miserable I have been at a football game, and that had nothing to do with the outcome. That game was the first of two matchups between VMI and The Citadel played in Charlotte at ancient Memorial Stadium, an interesting idea for promoting the series that definitely did not work out.

The problem was that the weather was beyond awful that day, and the field at the stadium was simply not up to par, to put it mildly. The end result was that the two teams played in a sea of mud while the supporters who actually made it to the stadium were being absolutely pelted by near-freezing rain. It was just a mess.

I’ve still got my program from that game. It is, shall we say, weatherbeaten. For the record, the 2002 game was technically a VMI home game, so the program is actually “Keydet Gameday” with VMI defensive back DeAngello Plather on the cover. It’s probably not a collector’s item.

The weather was much better for the 1980 contest at Johnson Hagood Stadium, a tour de force by Stump Mitchell. I still remember a long touchdown run in which several different VMI players were left with pieces of his jersey (they wore tearaways back then) while Mitchell galloped down the sideline, shoulder pads rhythmically bouncing as he ran.

—

VMI and The Citadel will be meeting later in the season over the next few years. Next year’s game in Lexington is tentatively scheduled for November 10. The game in 2013 is slated to be played November 16.

VMI will also play Navy in 2012.

—

Sparky Woods is the coach at VMI. It’s his fourth season in Lexington. When he was hired I thought it was a quality move for VMI, and I still do. He’s a good coach. People sometimes forget that he did a nice job at Appalachian State, which is what led to him getting the South Carolina job.

He got the gig with the Gamecocks after Joe Morrison died. I remember when Woods was first formally introduced to a South Carolina crowd; it was at the 1989 basketball game between The Citadel and South Carolina, at Frank McGuire Arena. Gamecock officials literally rolled a red carpet (it may have been garnet) to center court and led him out for a quick wave-and-leave moment. The crowd stood and gave him a standing ovation.

Of course, that night the Bulldogs beat the Gamecocks on the hardwood for the first time since 1943. Perhaps it was an omen for his worst moment as the football coach at South Carolina, the 38-35 loss to The Citadel in 1990…

—

This is going to be yet another game in which neither The Citadel nor its opponent is known for committing penalties. The Bulldogs have the fewest penalties (and penalty yardage) in FCS football. VMI is tied for seventh in fewest penalty yards. Amazingly, the Keydets have played four teams in the top six in this category — The Citadel, Richmond, William & Mary, and Charleston Southern (CSU being the lone victory on VMI’s schedule to date).

VMI has struggled on offense all season. It ranks very low in the FCS in several offensive categories, including total offense (112th), pass efficiency (113th), and scoring offense (115th).

Starting quarterback Eric Kordenbreck has thrown four touchdown passes while being intercepted seven times. He has only completed 48% of his passes. His backup, Adam Morgan, has posted good numbers in limited duty. I wouldn’t be surprised if he played against The Citadel.

VMI is only averaging 3.4 yards per rushing attempt. Chaz Jones is a redshirt senior who has received the bulk of the carries for the Keydets. He has seven rushing touchdowns. Jones also has thirteen pass receptions.

Another redshirt senior, Tracy Hairston, is VMI’s primary receiving threat, leading the team in receptions. He is also the Keydets’ regular kick returner.

Defensively, the Keydets are allowing slightly over 30 points per game, although that is partly a result of the problems on offense (including a time of possession differential of over five minutes versus its opponents). The one area VMI is weakest on defense, pass efficiency, is not exactly a strength for The Citadel. VMI has only intercepted one pass all season, which doesn’t help its turnover margin (-8).

Opponents are averaging a shade over 175 yards per game on the ground against the Keydets. The goal of Triple O’Higgins for the game on Saturday should be to try to double that total, at the very least.

VMI’s two top defensive players are linebacker A.J. Gross and strong safety Byron Allen, both of whom were pre-season all-league picks in the Big South. Unfortunately for the Keydets, promising defensive back Demetrius Phillips left school earlier this week.

VMI’s numbers in the punt game are not good, a major issue for a team as offensively challenged as the Keydets. VMI is not winning the battle of field position in most of its games. The Keydets have had three punts blocked this season. I bet Domonic Jones is interested in that statistic.

—

Last week, I called the Western Carolina game a “must-win” game for the Bulldogs, and they won it. This Saturday’s game against VMI is also a “must-win”, and not just because it’s a rivalry game.

It’s a game The Citadel is expected to win. There really aren’t a whole lot of games like that on the Bulldogs’ schedule in any given year, and when there are, the team must take full advantage.

Having said that, I don’t think it’s going to be easy. VMI is not a good team, but it’s a team that is going to play hard throughout. It will match The Citadel in that respect in a way that few other squads do.

Also, a win over The Citadel would make VMI’s season. The Bulldogs in the past have struggled with some very poor VMI teams; it’s important that The Citadel does exactly what it did last week in Cullowhee, namely start strong and not let up. The longer VMI stays in the game, the more the Keydets will start to believe they can win it.

Bobby Ross will be at Johnson Hagood on Saturday, having the honors at the pregame coin toss. I think that’s really cool.

I’ll be in the stadium too. I want to see the coveted Silver Shako in person again, and I want to see The Citadel retain the precious trophy for another year. It’s important.

Filed under: Football, The Citadel | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

College Football TV Listings 2011, Week 9

Posted on October 25, 2011 by Sandlapper Spike

This is a list of every game played during week 9 of the college football season involving at least one FBS or FCS school.  All games are listed, televised or not.  For the televised games (only live broadcasts are listed), I include the announcers and sideline analysts/reporters (where applicable).  I put all of it on a Google Documents spreadsheet that can be accessed at the following link:

College Football TV Listings 2011, Week 9

Additional notes:

— I include ESPN3.com games; they are denoted as “ESPN3”.

— I’ve listed the satellite affiliates for the SEC Network “national” game of the week (Arkansas-Vanderbilt) in a comment on the document.  There are numerous local affiliates, a listing of which can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the ACC Network “national” game of the week (Virginia Tech-Duke) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the Big East Network game of the week (Syracuse-Louisville) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the Southland TV game of the week (McNeese State-Stephen F. Austin) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the SoCon Network game of the week (Georgia Southern-Appalachian State) can be found here:  Link

— Affiliates for the Montana Television Network (televising Weber State-Montana) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the WAC Network game of the week (Nevada-New Mexico State) can be found here:  Link

— The local affiliates for the MAC Network game of the week (Central Michigan-Akron) can be found here:  Link

— The Texas-Kansas game will be carried by the Longhorn Network and the Jayhawk Sports Network; affiliates for the Jayhawk Sports Network can be found here:  Link

— Also listed on the document in comments are the regional nets carrying the following games:  Rice-Houston (Thursday night), Washington State-Oregon, SMU-Tulsa, Iowa State-Texas Tech, Arizona-Washington, Boston College-Maryland, and Mississippi State-Kentucky.

— There are comments in the document with additional information for several other games.

— ABC/ESPN2/GamePlan coverage maps for the 3:30 pm ET games (Illinois-Penn State, West Virginia-Rutgers, Baylor-Oklahoma State) and the ABC/GamePlan coverage maps for the 8:00 pm ET games (Clemson-Georgia Tech, Stanford-Southern California):  Link

— BTN (formerly Big Ten Network) “gamefinder”:  Link

— BCS Standings:  Link

— FCS Coaches Poll:  Link

—

A lot of the information I used in putting this together came courtesy of Matt Sarzyniak’s alarmingly comprehensive and completely indispensable website College Sports on TV, a must-bookmark for any fan of college sports.  Also to be credited, as always, are the indefatigable information gatherers (and in some cases sports-TV savants) at the 506.com.  I am also assisted on occasion by helpful athletic media relations officials at various schools and conferences.

Filed under: Uncategorized | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

« Previous Page — Next Page »