Sunday, December 06, 2009

OSM{Western Kentucky}: A long season

I think the Hilltoppers would prefer that I be short on the details of their 2009 season. It was their first as a full fledged member of I-A, having been a reclassifying member the last two seasons, and the first playing football in the Sun Belt Conference.

After losing their first three games, the rest of the year went like this.

September 27--Lost 38-22 at Navy.

October 10--Lost 37-22 to Florida International.

October 17--Lost 30-22 to Louisiana Lafayette.

October 24--Lost 62-24 at MTSU.

October 31--Lost 68-49 at North Texas. The game was tied 49-49 at the end of the third quarter.

November 7--Lost 40-20 to Troy.

November 14--Lost 21-18 at Louisiana-Monroe. WKU led 12-7 thanks to four second quarter field goals by Casey Tinius.

November 28--Lost 29-23 at Florida Atlantic.

December 3--Lost 24-20 to Arkansas State. The Hilltoppers started strong with two long touchdown drives to open the game, and after recovering a fumble kicked a field goal on the final play of the first half to go to the locker room leading 17-3. They took the opening kickoff of the second half and got another field goal to lead 20-3. Arkansas State scored a touchdown at the very end of the third quarter, but then midway through the fourth, they missed a field goal. So WKU gets the ball back leading 20-10 with 7:02 to play. After two 2-yard runs, WKU's QB Kawaun Jakes throws an interception that was returned to the 4 yard line, and punched in for a touchdown on the next play. No problem. WKU still has a three point lead with 5 minutes left. After Jakes rushes for 3 yards, he was sacked for a 9-yard loss, and he fumbled. It was thankfully recovered by the Hilltoppers. However, on the next play, he was sacked again, but this time, his fumble was recovered by Arkansas State's Alex Carrington, who returned it 27-yards for the go-ahead touchdown with 3:49. Jakes tried to lead them back, but in their last two drives, he was only 3-6 for 14 yards and a sack for a 6-yard loss.

However, Jakes is only a freshman, and he was second on the team in rushing. And he had a higher passer rating that UNC's T.J. Yates. Perhaps they have something to build on in the offseason.

Western Kentucky ends the 2009 season with a 20-game losing streak, the nation's longest. Their two victories in 2008 were against I-AA teams, and so they have lost their last 24 games against I-A opponents with their last win over a I-A opponent coming on September 20 at MTSU.

Saturday, December 05, 2009

GGSM{Memphis} 10/17-present

The loss at Southern Miss ran the Memphis Tigers recond to 2-5 on the season, with the victories over UT-Martin and UTEP.

October 27--Memphis had 4 turnovers against East Carolina. The Pirates scored two first quarter touchdowns and never looked back. ECU won 38-19.

November 7--While UT's QB Jonathon Crompton had struggled earlier in the season, he had worked the kinks out of his system by the time the Memphis Tigers visited Knoxville. Crompton was 21-27 for a career high 331 yards and tied his career high with five touchdowns. The Vols led 42-7 at halftime. Memphis held their own with the second- and third-team Vols in the second half en route to a final score of Tennessee 56, Memphis 28.

November 14--UAB led 31-7 at the end of the third quarter at Memphis. The Tigers tried to rally, scoring two fourth quarter touchdowns, but UAB held on to win 31-21.

November 21--Houston's QB Cotton Turner was 13/16 for 173 yards and a touchdown against Memphis. The problem for Memphis was that he entered the game early in the third quarter. In the first half and one drive in the third quarter, Houston's other QB Case Keenum was 29/39 for 405 yards, and his 5 touchdown passes gave him 94 for his career, breaking David Klingler's school record. Houston won 55-14, which was the score with five minutes left in the third quarter.

November 27--Memphis really did not want to end the 2009 campaign with a six-game losing streak and a 2-10 record. Their final game took them to Tulsa, who was riding a six-game losing streak of their own and assured of their first losing season since 2004, and coming off two straight seasons with at least ten victories. Each team got a first quarter touchdown and a second quarter field for a 10-10 halftime tie. In the third quarter, Tulsa got a field goal and touchdown to go up 20-10, but Memphis counterpunched with a 77-yard TD run from Curtis Steele on the very next play. After another Tulsa field goal, Steele struck again early in the fourth quarter from 27 yards, but this time the extra point was blocked leaving the score even 23-23. Then a quick interception set up Steele for another touchdown to give the Tigers a 30-23 lead with four minutes remaining. Tulsa's QB G.J. Kinne drove his team down the field and hit Trae Johnson for a 2-yard TD with 32 seconds lieft to send the game to overtime. Memphis got the ball first in overtime, but they quickly threw an interception. Tulsa then kicked a 37-yard field goal to win 33-30.

It will be a shameful offseason in Memphis.

GGSM{Southern Miss} 10/1-10/17

October 10--While there is nothing good about getting the shame mask, Southern Miss did get to face Louisville, losers of eight straight to I-A teams, in their first chance to get rid of it. And for a while, things looked good. Southern Miss lead 16-7 at halftime, but then Louisville got a 13-yard TD run and a 92-yard TD pass plus a two-point conversion. The Cardinals now led 22-16 at the end of the third quarter. However, Southern Miss found their feet again in the fourth quarter with a 12-play, 89-yard, 6:16 drive with ten rushes, the last of which being a 13-yard touchdown scamper for Tory Harrison. The extra point put Southern Miss up 23-22 with 2:13 left. However, Louisville's Daniel Hrapmann returned the following kickoff for 64 yards to set up a game-winning field goal, which Louisville kicked with 30 seconds left to win 25-23.

October 17--Memphis came south to Hattiesburg for a Shame Mask battle with the Golden Eagles. The first six drives each lasted at least 10 plays, but with a missed field goal and an intereception, they only resulted in a 10-6 Southern Miss lead. However, a 50-yard punt return by Southern Miss's Tracey Lampley for a touchdown early in the third quarter broke the game open for the Golden Eagles, who didn't look back on their way to a 36-16 victory.

GGSM{UAB} 9/12-10/1

After getting the Golden Gopher Shame Mask by losing to SMU, the UAB Blazers lost to Troy, and then found their way to College Station to take on Texas A&M.

September 26--You have to admire this. UAB tried to onside kick on the opening kick off, and they recovered. Seven plays, and 2:05 later, UAB took a 3-0 lead. And then they held the Aggies to three downs and a punt. What's going on here? Texas A&M turned things around quickly with a 14-play, 5:10 touchdown drive, and they never looked back. Aggie QB Jerrod Johnson was 23/29 for 290 yards and 3 TDs in the air, and he rushed 14 times for 61 yards and 3 more TDs. The first Aggie to get six TDs in a single game. When the final gun sounded, it was Texas A&M 56, UAB 19.

October 1--The Golden Eagles of Southern Mississippi came to Birmingham next. UAB owned the first quarter and took a 10-0 lead; however Southern Miss controlled the second quarter, going to locker room tied 10-10 at half-time. UAB took a 20-10 lead early in the fourth quarter, but midway through, Southern Miss cut it to 20-17. After UAB countered with a field goal, Southern Miss tried to rally, but with 1:05, UAB's Hiram Atwater returned an interception 40 yards for a touchdown to seal UAB's first every victory over Southern Miss.

Shame on me

I've neglected this site this season. Sure, I've been travelling, but that's no excuse. My apologies, dear reader.