First Reaction TAMU Commerce
Offensive Line Winning the Battle
UWF is 3-0 for the first time in program history (more program firsts!) following a 35-17 win on the road against Texas A&M Commerce, that wasn’t as close as the score seems. While the high flying skill players get so much of the attention, the Argos strength on offense continues to be the line of scrimmage. West Florida started the game a man down on the Offensive Line, with Freshman Zac Elam presumably out with the injury that knocked him out against SBU last week. Dalton Simpler instead started at Center and Juac Angoi and Oake Stipe rotated at Left Guard. Man down, man up.
The OL was great in the run game, minus two knees at the end of the game the Argonauts had 168 yards rushing on 33 attempts and scored a trio of TDs. The Backs ran well in the middle and on the edge, and the offensive line allowed no TFL against a Running Back. Shomari Mason flirted with 100 yards this week, finishing with a team high 17 attempts for 94 yards 1 TD. The thunder to Mason’s lighting, Jervon Newton also had an excellent game finishing with 9 carries 44 yards 1 TD while Anthony Johnson Jr went 6 for 31 1 TD.
As good as the OL has been in run blocking the last two weeks, they have been just as good in pass protection. The starting unit once again allowing no sacks and gave up just one QB hurry. That takes the streak to 94 drop backs for Austin Reed this season without a sack and only 9 hurries. This week was probably the most Reed has been moved off of his spot, but none of the Lion pass rushers could get to him. If the Line keeps playing at this level, it is going to be tough for anyone to stop this Argo offense.
Creating Chaos on Defense
The Argonaut defense couldn’t get off the field in their first two drives of the game, yielding two 75 yard TD drives in the 1st quarter, but tightened up after that, allowing only a FG off good field positioning in the 2nd quarter. After a relatively quiet start to the season Senior Trent Archie had a fantastic outing, finishing tied for the lead in tackles (8 (4 solo)) and adding 2 sacks. He was explosive looking coming off the edge on blitzes, and came up with one particularly hard takedown of Lions QB Magalei. The LBs showed up big time, combining for 4.5 sacks between Archie, Stephon Williams, Kee Whetzel, and Derontae Jordan.
In the 2nd half the Argos really turned it on, sacking the QB 4 times, allowing just 69 total yard and 5 1st downs. The defense held TAMUC to two punts, turned the over twice (1 INT 1 fumble), and a missed FG. Anthony Johnson Jr has really emerged as a shutdown corner for the Argonauts. He had a great coverage on 3rd down earlier in the game and then came up with a clutch INT in the 4th quarter. Overall the West Florida defense finished with 5 sacks 9 TFL allowed only 231 yards on 61 plays (3.8 per play) turned the Lions over twice, a strip sack by Kee Whetzel along with the previously mentioned Johnson Jr INT.
A Team that Never Feels Behind
Maybe it was because the Argos outgained the Lions almost 2:1 (434 to 231) or maybe it was because West Florida was a couple of miscues away from two more scores, but this team just doesn’t feel like it is ever behind. UWF and Commerce were pretty evenly matched in the first half, but the Argos missed a FG, leaving a score on the field trailing at half 17-14. Despite the deficit I really felt they would come out and set the tone in the 2nd half.
When they received the opening kick of the 2nd half, West Florida took an unfamiliar strategy, bleeding the clock. The usually up tempo Argos went 10 plays 54 yards 4:22 second off the clock, but came away empty at the Lions 23 on a 4th down attempt. It worked for the Argos though, who only took 9 defensive snaps in the 3rd frame. After that Coach Shinnick’s team got three straight stops, while scoring three straight TD. In the stretch the defense allowed only 25 yards on 12 plays, forced two punts and got an INT. Complimentarily, the offense racked up 170 yards on 18 plays (9.4 yards per play) scoring 3 TD in about 10 minutes of game time. That six dive sequence was ultimately the difference in the game.
The Argos also pulled off the throttle late in the game, when they could have easily punched in another TD late in the 4th quarter, but opted to take a knee and run out the clock in scoring position. Next week the Argonauts have a home contest against Ft Lauderdale back home at Blue Wahoo stadium.
