Sunday, September 20, 2009

Central Arkansas 24, OSM{WKU} 7

Last year, Western Kentucky's only two victories came against I-AA opponents. This year, they only scheduled one such opponent, and they didn't get the victory they were hoping for. Central Arkansas was 10-2 last year and lost 25-20 at Hawaii in the first week of the season, and so they are no pushover. Their quarterbacks Robbie Park and Nathan Dick combined to complete 20 of 24 passes for 214 yards, and their running backs tallied 193 yards rushing, including a career 51-yard TD for Leonard Ceaser at the beginning of the second quarter.

Next week, Western Kentucky takes their Shame Mask to Annapolis to take on Navy.

Troy 27, GGSM{UAB} 14

September 19, 2009--UAB won their first game of the year, beating Rice 44-24. In that game, QB Joe Webb threw for 221 yards and ran for 194 yards and had two touchdowns of each variety. The next week, Webb rushing totals were cut exactly in half and he threw four interceptions as the Blazers lost to SMU and were saddled with the Golden Gopher Shame Mask. This week, he declined in both facets, rushing for 76 yards and throwing for only 114. He had only one passing TD and none running.

The Blazers' pass defense, however, allowed Levi Brown 413 yards passing, the second highest game in Troy history. Although it seems to me that 413 yards passing should lead to a greater defeat than only 27-14. UAB did hold Troy to 4-12 on third downs. I guess this is good, I suppose.

Next week, UAB travels to College Station to take on Texas A&M.

South Florida 35, OSM{Western Kentucky} 13

September 12, 2009--South Florida came into Bowling Green, a sign that Western Kentucky is indeed now fully a part of I-A, or whatever they are calling that classification nowadays. Now, they just need to start beating teams at that level. They are now 1-17 against I-A teams since 2007.

The Hilltoppers did fair better than they did the previous week against Tennessee. A field goal at the end of the first half cut the USF lead to only 14-6 at halftime, and a touchdown at the end of the third quarter brought their deficit down to eight again before USF took control in the fourth quarter.

GGSM{SMU} 35, UAB 33

September 12, 2009--The be-Shame Masked Mustangs of Southern Methodist stumbled a bit, but they managed to hang on and get their first victory against a I-A team since September 8, 2007, a span of 21 games. SMU scored a rushing touchdown early in the first quarter set up by a 59-yard punt return by Emmanuel Sanders. Sanders found the end zone himself a few moments later on a 44-yard TD catch from Bo Levi Mitchell. Sanders ended the day with 9 catches for 148 of Mitchell's 353 yards.

Leading 21-7 near the end of the first half, SMU intercepted a pass with 55 seconds left and two plays later found the end zone to extend their lead to 28-7. Life is good.

Okay, well, their third play of the second half was a fumble, and a few plays later, UAB scored a touchdown. Then a few moments later, UAB's Mark Ferrell scampered 80 yards for a touchdown to cut the lead to only 28-21, and then on the very next play from scrimage, UAB's Brandon Carlisle intercepted a pass and returned it 12 yards before fumbling it to his teammate Andre Hicks who found the end zone for a touchdown.

All must be lost for SMU, I hear you saying. However, you'd be wrong. After giving up two touchdowns in less than 30 seconds, the Mustangs managed to block the second extra point to preserve the lead 28-27. Then they had a five-minute drive in the fourth quarter capped by a 19-yard TD run by Shawnbrey McNeal to give them an 8-point lead.

However, UAB's Joe Webb got the two-minute offense in gear and drove his Blazers down the field, converting a 3rd and 12 for a 14-yard TD pass to Jeffery Anderson with only 13 seconds remaining. Unfortunately, his run on the two-point conversion attempt failed to tie the game, sealing the SMU win.

Congratulations to SMU on your victory and starting the season 2-0!

Wednesday, September 09, 2009

Tennessee 63, OSM{Western Kentucky} 7

Western Kentucky celebrated their full promotion to Division I-A with a trip to Knoxville. For the first quarter, things weren't looking so terrible. Tennessee's first drive ended in an interception, and their second ended in a fumble. It wouldn't last. The Vols scored touchdowns on their next four drives before the end of the first half. They had five more in the second half.

It was a rough day all the way around for the Hilltoppers. They only managed 83 yards of total offense, 49 passing and 34 rushing. They gained just six first downs converted on only one of their 11 third downs. Tennessee, however, was 7-9 on third down and got 34 first downs. They had 657 yards of total offense, with 277 yards passing and 380 yards rushing. Jonathon Crompton's five TD passes were more than he had all last season. Montario Hardesty had 160 yards rushing and freshman Bryce Brown contributed 104.

Next up for the newest member of the Sun Belt conference: South Florida comes to Bowling Green.

GGSM{SMU} 31, Stephen F. Austin 23

Southern Methodist's only win in 2008 came against I-AA Texas State, and so the Mustangs chose to start the 2009 campaign with I-AA Stephen F. Austin. While they got the final result they were hoping for, it wasn't as easy as they would have liked. The Lumberjacks took a nine point lead at the end of the third quarter on their second 5-yard touchdown drive of the game. Both were set up by long interception returns. Stephen F. Austin's two interception returns totaled 130 yards, but SMU's five interception returns totaled only four yards.

However, shortly after taking that lead, Stephen F. Austin fumbled and threw an interception, leading to two Mustang scores to start their season with a win for the first time since 2000.

The brightest spot for the Mustangs was junior running back Shawnbrey McNeal. After playing sparingly at Miami (FL), McNeal transfered back to his native Dallas to be closer to his ailing mother and young child. He carried the ball 19 times for 158 yards, including a 49-yard TD. SMU was last in the nation in rushing in 2008, rushing for only 497 yards in the entire season.

Next week, SMU puts the Shame Mask on the line when they travel to UAB.