Each Tuesday, I’ll pen my musings from the previous weekend’s games, and hopefully provide some food for thought going forward. Why Tuesday? Well, Monday provides an extra 24 hours for reflection, and makes my attempt to copy Peter King’s Monday Morning Quarterback column slightly less apparent. Without further ado – or failed attempts at humor – here are a few notes from the Bucs’ 14-7 loss at Gardner-Webb, plus some reaction to happenings around the Big South.
Missed opportunities cost Bucs’ in difficult road defeat
Fifty-two underclassmen populate the 2011 Charleston Southern football roster, making Jay Mills’ squad one of the younger squads in the Big South conference, if not the country. It is often said that young teams have to learn how to win, and it appears CSU is doing just that. For the second time in three weeks, the Bucs had a road victory in their sights, but could not seal the deal. Here’s a look at a few reasons why that was the case.
• Heading into the Liberty game, Charleston Southern ranked second in the Big South in turnover margin. That has changed in the last two weeks, however, as back-to-back negative outings have dropped the Bucs to fifth at a -4 margin. To add insult to injury, both turnovers came on fourth quarter interceptions with CSU driving for potential game-tying scores. In the interest of fairness, neither was particularly egregious as one pick came on 3rd-and-13, and the other on an all-or nothing 4th-and-17 play with 36 seconds left. What was more probably more disappointing was that despite another stellar statistical defensive performance, no takeaways were produced for a second consecutive week…
• Of course, that could have been different if a key fourth-quarter forward progress whistle had not been blown. Runnin’ Bulldogs running back Ricky Rhodes was stripped of the football near his own 15-yard line, and returned for a touchdown that would have put the Bucs’ an extra point away from forging a 14-14 tie. Instead, the officials ruled that forward progress was stopped and Gardner-Webb was able to punt the football away with a seven-point lead in tow, and a long field to defend. Another key call went against CSU late in the first half, when Charles James ripped off a big punt return down the left sideline which brought the ball inside the G-W 15-yard line. James’ return could have given quarterback Richard Mounce a shot or two at the end zone and at least a field goal opportunity before intermission, but a block-in-the-back call on Mike Davis wiped out the big play and forced Coach Patrick Nix’s unit to take a knee and go into half knotted at 7-7.
• While those two whistles negated potential game-changing plays, the CSU offense had a couple of chances at momentum-swinging big-hitters that slipped just past their fingers. Mounce had several good throws dropped, and narrowly failed to hook up with Nathan Perera and Corvaughn Archie on second half deep balls which had the potential to be touchdowns. Gardner-Webb, conversely, had limited scoring opportunities but were able to punch the ball across the goal line with the help of the wild cat formation. Some good fortune – which Charleston Southern is still in search of – aided Ron Dickerson, Jr.’s cause as well, particularly on Rhodes’ decisive touchdown pass which was tipped by a Bucs’ DB only to sail right into the hands of tight-end Treymaine Schley.
• The biggest reason Mounce and company tallied only 7 points was the Gardner-Webb pass rush. In reigning Big South freshmen of the year Preston Pemasa and Matt Goods, Charleston Southern’s offensive line knew it would be tested. Back-up Maurice Dickson wreaked the most havoc, though, recording 4.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks as part of a swarming defensive showing which brought down Mounce behind the line of scrimmage seven times. While the final line was not pretty (14-of-39, 169 yards, TD, 2 INT), Mounce’s outing was one of the positives CSU fans can take out of the latest hard-fought defeat. Starting his first game in over four years, the redshirt junior took a beating but kept coming all day, racking up 56 yards on 28 carries. A telling statistic of Mounce’s durability was this: of the 82 plays the Bucs ran, 67 relied on the Columbia native’s right arm or legs.
• Gardner-Webb’s defensive line stole the headlines with a seven-sack afternoon, but Charleston Southern Defensive Line Coach Rashan Frost’s unit was pretty stout as well. A week after scampering for 143 yards to win Big South Offensive Player of the Week honors, Rhodes accumulated only 52 yards on 22 carries, 32 of which came on a single rush. A big and experienced offensive line yielded 2.5 tackles for loss to freshman defensive tackle James Smith, who spearheaded an effort which held the Runnin’ Bulldogs to 84 rushing yards on 41 attempts – including just 7 on 17 first half carries.
Stony Brook coasts over Coastal, PC proves a tough out against Liberty
Coach Chuck Priore’s Stony Brook Seawolves moved to 3-0 in Big South play for the third straight year with a 42-0 rout of Coastal Carolina. While the Chanticleers’ struggles have been surprising (since entering the national rankings at #20 three weeks ago, Coastal has been pounded by Liberty and Stony Brook, sandwiched around a home loss to Gardner-Webb), the Sea Wolves old-school running attack has been even more impressive. It’s not often that a team wins a game in which it goes 0-for-6 passing, but Stony Brook accomplished just that with a ground game which churned out 446 yards and five touchdowns. Miguel Maysonet scored three TD’s as part of 191-yard effort, and Brock Jackolski chipped in 193 yards and another score Coach Priore’s club thrived in the elements on the snowy afternoon. The defense was not half bad, either, yielding only 73 total yards to an explosive Coastal offense.
Presbyterian College is now 2-6 and 1-2 in league play following a 27-20 overtime loss @ Liberty on Saturday, but the Blue Hose have signaled that they are now a player in the conference after going a combined 2-20 (1-11 Big South) the previous two seasons. Playing its second contest of the year against a ranked opponent, PC was once again on the doorstep of a breakthrough win, having fallen to #9 Wofford by a 35-28 count to start the year. Wins are the ultimate objective, but there appears to be plenty of reason for optimism in Clinton.
All that sets the stage for a home bout with Stony Brook this Saturday. Tune in to the Coach Jay Mills Show tonight at 7 p.m. on ESPN 910 to get reaction to the Gardner-Webb game, and a preview of a good Stony Brook team embedded in the conference title race.
