Week 2 Preview: Southwest Baptist

Southwest Baptist, Great Lakes Valley (D2)

Broadcast: FLOSPORTS, 7 PM EST/6 PM CST

When We Last Saw Southwest Baptist

2021 Spring Record 1-2 (1-2)

2021 Fall Record (0-1)

Last week: Lost 24-16 @ University of Texas Permian Basin

SBU played a three game Spring season, losing to Truman State and familiar UWF foe Missouri S&T while beating William Jewell. The Bearcats had a potent passing attack in the Spring lead by Cooper Callis, averaging 372 yards per game through the air. Callis’ primary targets Jordan Kent (15 313 4) and Curtis Cuillard (22 298 4) both return. In Week 1 of the Fall the Bearcats traveled to UT Permian Basin and fell 24-16, but played pretty well against a team on a tear after an undefeated Spring. Callis threw for almost 300 yards and 1 TD 1 INT, completing 68% of his passes. Two Wide Receivers topped 100 yards in the game, Preston Carson (7 108) and Curtis Cuillard (9 103 1). The Offensive Line did allow 4 sacks and the running game wasn’t asked much, 14 72 1 excluding sacks. Callis also lead the team in rushing yards with 53, excluding sack yardage. On Defense the Bearcats mustered 7 TFL and 3 sacks but gave up 433 yards on 5.7 yards per play. The Defense was lead by Senior Linebacker Coleton Smith with 20 tackles (3 solo) 1.0 TFL 0.5 sacks 2 hurries and Spring leading tackler Aaron Harris’ 12 tackles (4 solo) 0.5 TFL 0.5 sacks.

Three Players to Know

Senior Curtis Cuillard, Wide Receiver 6-4 208

Spring Stats: 22 catches 298 yards 4 TD 99.3 YPG 13.5 YPC

Fall Stats: 9 catches 103 yards 1 TD 103 YPG 11.4 YPC

SBU threw for 3x as many yards as they gained on the ground this spring, and Cuillard lead the team in receptions as well as leading the team in all receiving categories in 2019 (61 607 3), earning him 3rd Team All-Conference. The Senior caught a touchdown in all three games this spring, and toped 100 yards twice. A steady presence, at 6-4 he will provide a big target for an offense with an emerging passing game. Cuillard continued his strong play from the spring with a 100 yard 1 TD outing in the Week 1 loss.

The Argonaut secondary played well to open the season, but the defense did give up 360 yards through the air against McNeese State. SBU is going to be a pass first team, and the Argonauts don’t have a ton of height on the outside to counter a big body like Cuillard. The best defense the Argonauts have for the steady Senior is pressure up front, and not allowing plays to develop for the big man, because he isn’t going to get open on quick routes.

Junior Cooper Callis, Quarterback 6-3 210

Spring Stats: 76-120 1106 yards 10 TD 4 INT 63% 42 rush 106 yards

Fall Stats: 30-44 289 1 TD 1 INT 68% 10 rush 31 yards 1 TD

Callis is returning as the starter after taking over the position in the Spring 2021 season. In the Spring he averaged 372 yards per game and threw for 300 yards 3 TDs in all three games. He is the only QB to average 300+ yards per game for the Bearcats, albeit on a small sample size. This is particularly interesting because SBU had averaged less than 200 passing yards per game in 2018 and 2019. The beginning of the Fall 2021 he continued his hot streak with 289 yards and 1 TD plus a rush TD against a solid UTPB team that has won 7 straight games dating back to the end of 2019 and averaged 12.2 points per game allowed in a five game Spring season.

This is a passing offense on the rise and they have a QB who can sling it and completes at a good rate. They are a volume passing offense, so the Argonauts need to be prepared for a lot of short to intermediate routes. This is somewhere that McNeese State succeeded against the Argos, especially situationally, completing passes of 13, 14, 6, and 16 on converted 4th down attempts. The underneath coverage is going to have to be sound, and Callis is also a credible enough running threat that he can make you pay on scrambles.

Senior Coleton Smith, Linebacker 6-2 230

Spring Stats: 12 tackles (9 solo) 1.0 TFL 1.0 sacks 1 hurry

Fall Stats: 20 tackles (3 solo) 1.0 TFL 0.5 sacks 2 hurries

Smith, who was 4th on the team in tackles in the Spring and was 6th on the team in TFL in 2019 with 4.5, is part of a Linebacker group is the best unit on this SBU defense. He was all over the field in the season opener accounting for 20 of the 94 total tackles made in the game. Smith was named GVLC Defensive Player of the Week for the performance.

If the Argos are looking to establish some more ground game this week, they’re going to need to key #4 because even if he isn’t making a lot of TFL, he is cleaning up everything near the line.

Matchup of the Week

UWF Pass Rush vs SBU OL and QB

UWF was effective in the pass rush against McNeese State in their 42-36 Week 1 victory, with 4 sacks and 4 hurries on 52 drop backs. On the flip side, SBU gave up 4 sacks and 4 hurries on 48 drop backs. The level of competition for SBU gets better, and the level of competition for UWF drops substantially, so this matchup could wind up pretty lopsided. This problem is exacerbated by the fact that SBU is about 3:1 pass to run, and they’re going to have to throw the ball to keep up with the Argonauts’ powerful offensive machine. The Argos got sacks from four different Defensive Linemen, Brandon Penerton, Michael Police, and Aidan Swett with one each, and Pooda Walker with a shared sack with MLB Will Breland, but this defense is typically known to bring blitzes off the edge and gets a ton of production from the Outside Linebackers. Watch for Kee Whetzel, who seemed to play most of the game at WLB, and veteran Nickel Trent Archie to possibly get more involved with quick blitzes to disrupt a volume passing game.

Prediction

Argos win big, 45-20. The offense is way too much to handle for SBU, Austin Reed has another stellar Saturday, but the run game ends up stealing the show. I think at West Florida has a 100 yard runner this weekend for the first time in the last five games, when Anthony Johnson Jr. had 109 and 1 TD against Wingate in round 1 of the 2019 playoffs. On defense, the Argonauts use another deep Defensive Line rotation and best their Week 1 TFL and sack performances. This week we start to see more UWF defense we have come to know, with more production from the Outside Linebackers and forcing some turnovers, which the Argos did not do against McNeese.