Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Congratulations to Dominick for winning the very unofficial App Trail/NCAA Football Championship Subdivision/Formerly I-AA/Actually Called NCAA Division I Football Championship/Otherwise Known as “The Playoffs” contest.
With everyone having picked ASU to win the title, scoring is complete. I disqualified myself since it was my own contest (actually, because there is no prize awarded).
Dominick does get the glory, however. He wound up with 16 points, correctly picking three of the four semifinalists and having Villanova in the final.
Thanks to everyone for participating!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
So, do they still tailgate before football games at Montana when the temperature is in the teens and the wind chill is much lower?
Absolutely.
A good number of early arrivals at Washington-Grizzly Stadium had their portable heaters blowing in the parking lots and pre-game meals were cooking. One Grizzly fan was offering hot soup, and had several takers.
Some ASU fans were in the mix exploring the surroundings. Three-hundred tickets were sold for the game through the ASU ticket office. A crowd in excess of 20,000 is expected for the game.
The temperature an hour and a half before kickoff was 16 degrees with a few snowflakes flying in a brisk wind. Some Montana players were warming up in t-shirts, some sleeveless.
It might be a struggle to get to the mid 20s as earlier forecast.
Field conditions won’t be an issue as compared to when ASU lost 19-16 in overtime in the 2000 semifinals. The stadium now has SprintTurf, similar to ASU’s field turf. In 2000, the field was natural grass and was slick and frozen after snow had been pushed away.
Wind could be an issue, although the field sits below a bowl stadium and winds aren’t as strong at field level.
Two ASU assistant coaches – Dale Jones and Mark Speir, both training for marathons – braved the elements early this morning and trained by running up a steep slope to the big “M” symbol that towers on the mountain beside the stadium.
By Tommy Bowman at 03:57 PM
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It’s 8 degrees in Missoula, Montana, this morning.
But the forecast for today’s Appalachian-Montana FCS semifinal game is for highs in the low-to-mid 20s, actually warmer than it’s been this week in Missoula. Snow is expected to begin late this afternoon, although no significant accumulation is expected until tonight.
The winner of today’s game will face Villanova, a 14-13 winner over William & Mary last night, in Friday’s title game in Chattanooga, Tenn. Villanova is in the final for the first time.
The Mountaineers will be without defensive end Lanston Tanyi, who sustained a season-ending knee injury in practice Wednesday before the team left for Missoula.
Tanyi tore a ligament in his left knee in a punt-return drill and is scheduled to have surgery Wednesday.
Tanyi, a 6-2, 250-pound junior, led the Mountaineers with 7.5 sacks and 11 tackles for loss this season. He is tied for third on the team in tackles and is second in quarterback hurries to fellow end Jabari Fletcher.
Either junior Tony Robertson or sophomore Demery Brewer will start at left end today in place of Tanyi.
One streak will end for ASU today.
The Mountaineers are 15-0 in games televised by ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU (today’s game will be on ESPN at 4 p.m. ET). They’re also 0-9 in games played west of the Mississippi River.
Expected starting lineup today for the Mountaineers:
Offense*
LT – Mario Acitelli, Sr.
LG – Pat Mills, Jr.
C – Brett Irvin, Jr.
RG – Matt Ruff, So.
RT – Orry Frye, So.
TE – Ben Jorden, So.
WR – Blake Elder, Jr.
WR – Travaris Cadet, So.
WR – Brian Quick, So.
WR – Matt Cline, Jr.
RB – Devon Moore, Jr.
QB – Armanti Edwards, Sr.
*Both four-wide and tight-end sets are reflected
Defense
LE – Demery Brewer, So., or Tony Robertson, Jr.
LT – Malcolm Bennett, Sr.
RT – Anthony Williams, Sr.
RE – Jabari Fletcher, Jr.
WLB – D.J. Smith, Jr.
MLB – Jacque Roman, Sr.
BAN – Justin Lloyd, Jr.
NICK – Dominique McDuffie, Fr.
S – Mark LeGree, Jr.
LCB – Cortez Gilbert, Sr.
RCB – Ed Gainey, So.
Wednesday, December 09, 2009
Appalachian State’s 2000 team traveled to Missoula, Mont., to take on the top-ranked Montana Grizzlies in the Division I-AA (now FCS) semifinals. Here’s what some of the players from that team recall about the game, played on a snowy 28-degree day and won 19-16 in overtime by the Grizzlies:
FIELD CONDITION
Washington-Grizzly Stadium had a natural-grass field at the time, which players said was frozen, slick and hard for the Mountaineers to get a grip on.
“It was hard as a rock, but slippery on top,” said Corey Hall, a defensive back who was drafted by the Atlanta Falcons and now lives near Atlanta.
Daniel Wilcox, a receiver also living in Atlanta who played eight seasons as a tight end in the NFL before being released by the Baltimore Ravens earlier this year, remembered:
“It was like we were on ice skates the whole game. Nobody had any footing. We were slipping all over the place. I slipped the first play and busted my knee wide open and it bled the whole game. That’s how hard the ground was. Everybody was looking at their cleats, trying to figure out how (Montana) was getting more traction than we were.
“The linemen were slipping trying to push off because they couldn’t get traction, we couldn’t get off the ball as fast as we normally would. You couldn’t cut on that stuff. We were all slipping. We had a few big plays, but we couldn’t make enough to put the game away.”
Josh Jeffries, a defensive end now living in Charlotte who played five seasons of Arena Football in Los Angeles, said: “I remember coming in thinking I’d have a pretty good pass rush game but I couldn’t do much on that field. It was awful. It was like having cleats on in the driveway.”
Jerry Moore, the coach of the Mountaineers, remembers the poor footing.
“We spent most of our time pregame looking to see what shoes they were wearing, thinking they would have the right shoes on,” Moore said. “We knew we had the shoes, we just didn’t know if we had the right ones on. We had taken every kind of shoe you can imagine out there.
“Now they have the synthetic turf and you know a little bit more what to wear as footing.”
LARGE MONTANA LINEMEN
“Those boys were big,” Jeffries said. “I remember those offensive linemen. They were 6-6 and 6-7 and all of them had those Grizzly Adams beards. They were big ol’ boys.”
Wilcox said: “Our guys were decent size, but not huge. Their linemen were huge.”
The Grizzlies are still big.
This year’s ASU team that will play at Montana on Saturday in the semifinals will see an offensive line that has starting guards that are 6-7, 305 and 6-7, 320; tackles that are 6-7, 315 and 6-8, 297; and a tight end that is 6-5, 246. Four of the five are seniors.
THE FANS
Washington-Grizzly Stadium seats 25,200 and is renowned for crowd noise. The Grizzlies are 155-20 at their home.
“It was like a bowl-type stadium, and you could see the mountains behind it and the big ‘M’ on the side of the mountain,” Wilcox said. “When we got there, I remember signs all over towns, on the store windows, banners across the road, everybody supporting that team. Those fans supported that team like it was their NFL team. Their fans were like professional fans. It was like it was the only thing they had to do there besides go hunting.
“The fans were absolutely amazing. It was one of the most intense places I’ve ever played at. It was my first experience playing in front of a really disciplined crowd. When their offense was on the field, you could hear a needle drop in the stadium. When their defense was on the field, it was so loud you couldn’t hear the quarterback call the play in the huddle.”
Jeffries said: “That was probably the best atmosphere I experienced in college football, especially at our level. Their fans were sitting right on top of you. It was loud.”
Hall said: “The main difference was that the fans were so close to the sidelines. It felt like the fans were right on top of you. It kind of reminded me of Lambeau Field on a smaller scale.”
THE WEATHER
“I remember hearing, ‘You boys aren’t ready for the cold,’” Jeffries said. “It was cold, the river was frozen so it had to be, but it was a different kind of cold. We were out there in t-shirts and stuff. I don’t think it would have affected us anyway. It was like negative 20 the week before when we practiced in Boone. That was worse. I don’t think the weather was a factor, not like that field was.”
Wilcox said: “Montana was cold, but it was a dry cold and it really didn’t seem as cold as it was in Boone. You get that wind in Boone. Man, that’s cold. It’s ridiculous.”
Wilcox said the Mountaineers should be prepared, but not to make weather an issue.
“I believe that’s why it didn’t bother us,” he said. “We didn’t have that indoor facility then. It was real cold all week. It was freezing. We were in hand warmers, thermals, hoodies under our shoulder pads. We prepared all week in the cold and when we got out there for the game and it wasn’t as cold as it was when we left.”
THE GAME
ASU surged from 10 points behind in the fourth quarter, getting a 40-yard touchdown pass from Joe Burchette to Troy Albea and game-tying field goal in the final 8:28 to force overtime.
The Mountaineers had to settle for a field goal on its overtime possession, and the Grizzlies won with a 15-yard touchdown pass from Drew Miller to Jimmy Farris that just missed being deflected by defender Hall.
Hall and Farris both wound up in the NFL.
“I guess you could say we were literally a couple inches away from playing for a national championship,” Hall said.
“I think about it every now and then. (Farris) ran a fade route and I had good position on him. I won’t make any excuses, but it was slippery, and I guess when I went up to defend the pass it just barely skimmed right over my hand. The guy just made a great catch.”
Wilcox said: “It came down to a perfect throw and a perfect catch. It was a finger-tip pass, beautifully thrown. I think Corey Hall’s fingers were probably an inch off. It was a helluva game.”
FINAL THOUGHTS
“I remember I cried at the end of that game because we knew we had beaten them physically,” Wilcox said. “I feel like we beat them across the board, I didn’t feel they were as physical as we were. But they were fundamentally sound. They didn’t make any mistakes.”
Had ASU won, it would have faced a rematch with Georgia Southern in the championship game in Chattanooga, Tenn. The Mountaineers had lost 34-28 to Georgia Southern in the regular season. Georgia Southern, coached by Paul Johnson, beat Montana 27-25 in the title game in Chattanooga.
“I think we could have won it all,” said Joe Burchette, the Mountaineers’ quarterback in 2000. “We had everything we needed – great receivers, a great offensive line and the defense was as sound as we’ve had.”
Jeffries said: “We had a lot of guys that went on to play pro football while I was there. I don’t feel like we underachieved, I remember we played our butts off in that Montana game, and I feel like if we had won that game we won have won a national championship.
“It’s hard to give Appalachian any advice now on big games. Every team that is left is a great team. It’s just that team that has a little extra, like what happened Saturday (in ASU’s win over Richmond), just calm and collected going down the field and making plays. That’s what a championship team does, on any level, and it’s extremely hard to do.”
Hall said: “It didn’t turn out like we wanted it to, but it was a good experience for all of us to get to go out to Montana. The atmosphere was great, they had great fans. Hopefully this group will go up there this time and get to the championship game.”
FOR MORE: Joe Burchette recalls the 2000 semifinal game at Montana in Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal.
By Tommy Bowman at 09:45 AM
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Monday, December 07, 2009
There is a mystique to Montana football.
For east-coast teams in the FCS, traveling to Missoula for a game is an experience.
A grizzly bear (stuffed, fortunately, and in a glass case) awaits visitors at the airport. It’s typically cold and snowy for December playoff games. And a mountain called Hellgate is the backdrop at Washington-Grizzly Stadium.
The Grizzly fans are ardent, and loud. The stadium itself lends itself to a big-time college football atmosphere, with fans wrapped around and close to the field in a bowl-type facility.
Appalachian State will travel there this weekend, for a semifinal game in the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs. The Mountaineers been there before, for a 2000 semifinal game that turned out to be a classic thriller – with top-ranked Montana surviving for a 19-16 overtime victory.
Following is a recap of that game, and notes from before and after, from the Winston-Salem Journal pages in December of 2000.
Check back later this week for what players from that ASU team remember about the game, and a story on what quarterback Joe Burchette recalls will be in Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal. And, of course, we’ll be making the trip to Missoula to report what happens this time around.
Dec. 8, 2000 – the day before
Snow is forecast for today. It’s Montana, and it’s December.
Coach Joe Glenn of Montana said: “We have a saying out here, `Still and clear.’ That means still snowing, clear up to your butt. I don’t know if it will snow, but we guarantee cold.”
Jimmy Freeman, a senior for the Mountaineers, said that his team will play with a mission.
“Every time we play now we can make history,” Freeman said. “This is another step closer to the big show, the big dance - the national championship.”
Game notes:
The Grizzlies are in the playoffs for the eighth straight time. They’ve reached the semifinals five times, and won a national championship in 1995. . . . The Mountaineers (10-3) are in the semifinals for the second time. They lost 24-10 to Marshall in 1987. . . . The winner of today’s game will face the Georgia Southern-Delaware winner for the I-AA title next Saturday at Chattanooga, Tenn. . . . Joe Burchette, the Mountaineers’ starting quarterback, hurt a finger in last week’s win over WKU but is fine for today’s game, Moore said. Linebacker Justin Seaverns and offensive guard Joe Patrick both are nursing sprained knees but are expected to play. The mother of offensive guard Larry Brock died earlier this week. Brock missed practice, but is planning to play today. . . . Miller passed for 381 yards and three touchdowns in the Grizzlies’ 34-20 win over Richmond in the quarterfinals. . . . Alaskan Yo Humphrey is averaging 106 yards a game rushing for the Grizzlies.
Dec. 9 – the game
Appalachian State’s drive toward an NCAA Division I-AA championship ended 2,000 miles from home yesterday.
But the Mountaineers were mere yards from continuing their journey.
The Mountaineers rallied and took top-ranked Montana to overtime, before Jimmy Farris put the brakes on by snagging a 15-yard touchdown pass from Drew Miller that lifted the Grizzlies to a 19-16 victory and into next Saturday’s title game against Georgia Southern.
The Mountaineers missed their chance at a winning touchdown in regulation.
“We were on the 8-yard line with 30 seconds left and had four downs to get it across and get to the championship game,” said quarterback Joe Burchette, recanting the final series of regulation when the Mountaineers had to settle for a game-tying field goal. “It’s heartbreaking. We were so close.”
The 13th-seeded Mountaineers, on the road for the third straight week and bidding to become the first team in 22 years of I-AA competition to get to the championship game without a playoff game at home, fell behind 13-3 in the fourth quarter in front of a boisterous crowd of 17,401.
After struggling early, Burchette led the Mountaineers back with two scoring drives in the final nine minutes. He teamed with Troy Albea, who had 11 catches for 177 yards.
On the first drive, that cut the gap to 13-10 with a 40-yard touchdown strike to Albea, Burchette nearly doubled his passing total with five completions worth 101 yards.
On the last one, another long march that took less than three minutes, a fourth-down screen pass to Albea, aided by a key block by Larry Brock, kept the Mountaineers alive and covered 38 yards. It got the Mountaineers to the 8-yard line with 25 seconds left.
“I’d rather for us to have been in front, and me handing the ball of, but I don’t mind being put on the spot,” said Burchette, a sophomore who completed 23 of 49 passes for 318 yards - the bulk of which came on the final two drives. “I think I thrive on that. It’s easier in a hurry up. You usually know where the defense is going to be.”
Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, the Grizzlies’ defense stood its ground in the final seconds, knocking down a pass and dumping Albea for a 2-yard loss. With no timeouts left, Burchette had to kill the clock on third down and the Mountaineers settled for a 27-yard field goal by Mark Wright as time expired.
“All they had to do was get a touchdown and they had it,” Joe Glenn, the Grizzlies’ coach, said. “But our defense didn’t give in. They didn’t let them have it. That’s the way it’s been with our defense all season.”
The Mountaineers had first possession in overtime, and managed just six yards on two running plays (the Mountaineers totaled just 28 yards rushing overall) before the Grizzlies’ Vince Huntsberger leaped and knocked away a pass to an open Albea in the end zone.
The Mountaineers called on Wright again. His 36-yarder was perfect and gave the Mountaineers their first lead, 16-13.
Wright had struggled early in the season and didn’t play regularly afterward, but Moore turned to him last week in the quarterfinals because of Moore’s concern over having kicks blocked and Wright’s ability to get height on kicks. Wright was a perfect 3 of 3 on a snowy day that left the turf slippery, and with his last two attempts into a backdrop of arm-waving Grizzly fans in the end-zone stands.
The Grizzlies took six plays on their overtime possession to end the Mountaineers’ run.
On second-and-11 from the 15, Farris, the Grizzlies’ top receiver, ran a fade route. Corey Hall, the Mountaineers’ heralded pass defender, trailed him to the right corner of the end zone. Miller’s pass was perfect.
“You’ve got nothing to lose on that play,” Moore said. “You’re either going to score on it or it’s going to be incomplete. You’re probably not going to get it picked. It was a good play to call. It was very well executed and the ball was thrown perfect. The only thing it might could have been was knocked away. I don’t think it could have been intercepted.”
Farris said: “(Hall’s) got those long arms. I thought he did a good job on the coverage, but the pass was just on the money.”
Hall said: “The only pass (Farris) really caught on me was the last one of the game. It was a good throw. It was just out of my reach.”
Glenn, in his first season at Montana, rushed to the celebration in the end zone.
“I was one of the first ones in the dogpile,” said Glenn, who took over a program that won a I-AA title in 1995 and was runner-up in ‘96.
“I had always wanted to do that and I knew they couldn’t call a penalty on me with the game over.”
For the Mountaineers, in the semifinals for the first time since losing there in 1987, their season ended 10-4.
“This was a well-played game between two good teams,” Moore said. “I’m proud of our perseverance in a hostile environment. This is a tough place to play. It’s a great atmosphere. To fight back and get it to overtime and then lose, it just hurts.”
The Mountaineers trailed 256-90 in total yardage in the first half, but stayed within a touchdown until the Grizzlies (13-1) drove 78 yards to take a 13-3 lead with 10:49 left.
“We gave up a couple of plays, but our defense played well in the first half,” Moore said. “Montana’s probably used to getting touchdowns on things they got field goals on. We hung in there.”
Dec. 10 – the day after
With snow flying at the base of Hellgate Canyon, a sold-out stadium full of triumphant Montana fans made plans for a trip south to play for the NCAA’s Division I-AA championship.
While the Grizzlies celebrated a 19-16 overtime victory, Appalachian State’s players began packing for home after three weeks on the road and three straight three-point games. Their season had ended, one week earlier than planned.
Joe Best, the Mountaineers’ top tackler this season, looked dejected as he forced down a post-game sandwich and tried for the right words.
“Any loss is disappointing, but this one hurts a little bit more,” he said. “We were so close to the national-championship game.”
The Mountaineers stormed back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter and took the lead in overtime before the top-ranked Grizzlies persevered with a decisive 15-yard touchdown pass from Drew Miller to Jimmy Farris.
“We as coaches will get another shot at it, but you hurt for the players,” said Coach Jerry Moore, whose team was the first at Appalachian to reach the semifinals since 1987. “These guys really laid it on the line. Sometimes when we’ve been in the playoffs we haven’t played that way. This time they did.”
Before the season began, Moore said his senior-led team had as much or more experience and potential than any in his 12 years at Appalachian, and said that leadership and chemistry would be the key.
“We overcame some things to get here,” Moore said. “I’m proud of this team, but the only way you’re going to end the season totally happy is to win the playoffs.”
Playing on the road finally caught up to the 13th-seeded Mountaineers. Adding to injury for players was news of Georgia Southern’s road win against Delaware.
A victory by the Mountaineers would have set up an all-Southern Conference final and rematch with the Eagles, a team that beat them earlier this season. The Mountaineers avenged a regular-season loss to Troy State in the first round of the playoffs and had hopes of returning to Chattanooga for the championship game and atoning for its other loss, which came in a game at Chattanooga.
“Our main goal was to win it all,” said Corey Hall, who said he didn’t play as well as he would have liked after switching from safety to cornerback, but will have a chance to impress NFL scouts in the Blue-Gray game later this month. “We’ve talked about doing that ever since we lost to Florida A&M in the first round last year. We almost pulled it off.”
And the Mountaineers almost did it without some key players. Starters Jamie Lovern, Bryan Metts and Joey Gibson all had their season cut short because of injuries.
“I think about those seniors that got hurt,” said Albea, one of eight senior starters, including Best and Hall, that finished the season (the Mountaineers started the year with 12). “I know how much they wanted to play. That kind of motivated me. I knew they really wanted to be out there and I wanted to win for them as much as me.”
Best tried to look at the bright side.
“It was still a good season,” he said. “Hopefully, we set the standard for teams to come. Maybe these guys next year can take it on from here.”
By Tommy Bowman at 06:50 PM
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Friday, December 04, 2009
Some significant changes for the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs are planned for next season.
The field will expand from 16 teams to 20 teams, and the championship game will move from mid-December to the first week of January on the eve of the Bowl Championship Series national title game.
The venue for the FCS championship game could also change. Frisco, Texas, a suburb of Dallas, is a finalist along with Chattanooga, Tenn., which has played host to the title game since 1997. A decision on the site is expected next March.
Coach Jerry Moore of Appalachian State, whose team has played in three FCS title games, isn’t an advocate of the move of the title game to January.
“I like it like it is,” Moore said.
His concern with the move has to do with the one-month gap between the semifinals and championship game, and the fact that the title game could be overshadowed by the BCS title game scheduled the night after.
“What are you going to do with those players after the third round?” Moore said. “You have to wait a month to play…. There’s a lot of expense involved in that, and players have to come back for another three weeks.
“Then we’re going to be matched up the night before the (BCS) championship game. It’s kind of like the show before the show.”
Moore isn’t against expansion of the field, but likes the fact that the FCS title game is now played in mid-December without a gap between rounds.
“It’s better than going to a small bowl game, I think,” Moore said of the title game. “I see us losing that and getting caught up in the stuff the night after. That’s just my take on it.
“I think we’ve got a great situation just like it is where we’re the only game in town.”
Wednesday, December 02, 2009
Armanti Edwards, limited since spraining a medial-collateral ligament in his right knee against Elon on Nov. 14, says his knee is a lot better now.
“Definitely,” Edwards said Wednesday morning. “We get to run any play in our offense this week. I ran the ball yesterday in practice and cut on it with no problem.”
Appalachian State will play at Richmond Saturday in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs.
Edwards said that he could have run the ball more last week in a first-round victory over S.C. State if he had needed to, although no plays were called designed for him to run.
“One time there was a big hole and I took off running and it didn’t bother me,” Edwards said. “After that I told the coaches I could run if I needed to.”
Edwards apparently is in much better shape than he was a year ago when the Mountaineers played Richmond in the quarterfinals. He was hampered with knee and hip injuries then, and said he was basically unable to run in that game. Edwards rushed for just three yards in that game and the Mountaineers, also hampered by injuries to running backs, totaled just 39 yards rushing.
Edwards passed for 323 yards last season against Richmond but threw a career-high five interceptions in a 33-13 loss that ended the Mountaineers’ three-year national title streak.
He ran for a school-record 313 yards in a semifinal win over Richmond in 2007.
“He’s such a tough kid, no one knew how bad he was hurt last year,” Coach Jerry Moore of the Mountaineers said Tuesday. “He had to have that knee scoped after the season was over, and he also had a hip pointer that hurt him just as bad as that knee. We didn’t really know that. He’s not a guy that’s going to go hang out in the training room.
“In some ways, I’ve thought if we had known that we might have been better to play (backup DeAndre Presley) last year…. We could have spotted him in there, we could have done some things with DeAndre to relieve some of the pressure.”
It doesn’t sound as if Moore will face that dilemma this time around.
“There’s no question Armanti is better than he was this time a week ago,” Moore said.
Edwards said that last year’s loss, and given that he wasn’t at full speed and threw five interceptions, adds personal motivation for this year’s game.
“It’s going to play a lot into it,” Edwards said. “(It’s) a playoff game, we don’t want to go home, and at the same time we get to face the team that put us out of the playoffs last year. There’s a lot of motivation for those two things.”
By Tommy Bowman at 11:42 AM
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Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Blake Elder, former walk on, had a career-best day against S.C. State.
His top performances have been in the playoffs, and Saturday’s game continued that tendency. Elder, helping fill a void left by CoCo Hillary, who is out for the season with a knee injury, had five catches for 57 yards against the Bulldogs.
“I stepped into CoCo’s position for the first time since he’s been down,” said Elder, a junior from Duncan, S.C. “They asked me to make plays and I went in there and tried to do that.
“And I kind of live for the playoffs. You either make it happen or you don’t have a next week, and I want to know we have a next week. I love knowing at the end of the day that I get one more chance to play with these guys.”
Elder played in pain for much of the game. He took a hit in the early stages that left him down on the turf for a while.
“I came across the middle and when I reached up for the ball their outside linebacker just drilled me straight in the stomach,” Elder said. “It was a good, clean hit but it knocked the breath out of me. I have a rib injury and it kind of re-aggravated that a little bit. But as soon as I got up, I was ready to go.”
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Give him a “10” for the flip.
Actually, Dominique McDuffie got 15 for the penalty that followed his post-touchdown exuberance, but that fact seemed to be a mere footnote as Appalachian State celebrated a 20-13 victory over S.C. State in the first round of the NCAA Football Championship Subdivision playoffs on Saturday.
McDuffie picked up a fumble after S.C. State’s center prematurely snapped the ball past an unsuspecting holder on a field-goal attempt that could have given S.C. State a 16-13 lead midway through the fourth quarter. Instead, McDuffie won a race to the ball, scooped it up, and his 50-yard return for a touchdown provided the Mountaineers with the decisive touchdown.
“I saw the ball back there loose and said, ‘I’ve just got to get it.’” McDuffie said.
He celebrated with the flip in the end zone, which drew the attention of officials and resulted in the Mountaineers kicking off from their 15-yard line.
Coach Jerry Moore called McDuffie an “acrobat,” and did give at least a wink to the fact that celebration penalties could be detrimental to a one-touchdown lead.
“He gets a ‘10’ today, a zero tomorrow,” Moore said.
McDuffie was a hero Saturday, turning a potential first-round exit into extended life in the playoffs. The game-changing play was reminiscent of the Mountaineers’ first-round victory in 2007 when all James Madison needed was a chip-shot field goal but fumbled away its chance. The Mountaineers’ Pierre Banks gave chase and recovered, preserving a 28-27 victory.
“I feel like it was kind of like a James Madison experience,” McDuffie said. “Me and Pierre were talking about that in a meeting yesterday. Good teams find a way to win. We found a way to win.”
Moore said: “When you’re in the playoffs, you’ve got to be good enough but somebody could say you’ve got to be lucky enough to win a ballgame like today.”
Thursday, November 26, 2009
Armanti Edwards, renowned as a great runner, has perhaps become an even better passer as his career has progressed.
Consider these statistics:
>His best two seasons running the football were in 2006 and 2007. His best two seasons passing are 2008 and 2009.
>Rushing yards in his first two seasons: 2,741 (6.5 per carry). His last two: 1,516 (5.3 per carry).
>Passing yards in his first two seasons: 4,199 (8.5 per attempt). His last two: 5,406 (9.5 per attempt).
One of the most significant figures in regard to Edwards’ passing proficiency is the reduction of interceptions. He dropped the total from 17 in 496 attempts his first two seasons to 12 in 567 attempts the last two (and the reduction would have been more dramatic if not for a five-interception game against Richmond last season, when Edwards was playing with knee and hip injuries).
Edwards had just two interceptions during the regular season last year. He has just three this year. Over the last two years, Edwards has had strings of 176 and 141 consecutive attempts without an interception.
And perhaps the most impressive fact is that Edwards ranks No. 1 among all Football Championship Subdivision players this season with a completion percentage of .724.
Edwards has been on the money.
“We had a play last year against us where he’s throwing off his back foot and he hums it 65 yards and drops it down a stovepipe into the receiver’s hands, and we’ve got him bracketed.” Coach Mike Ayers of Wofford said earlier this season.
Coach Jerry Moore of the Mountaineers said: “I think everybody got caught up in his running ability and ability to escape, they get caught up in the running part, but he’s always thrown the ball well. He threw the ball well in two-a-day camp coming in as a freshman.”
Now he throws it even better.
NOTE: For more on Edwards and his career, see Friday’s Winston-Salem Journal.
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