Week 5 Recap: What a Comeback, Argos win 39-33 in Cleveland
On Saturday the Argonauts faced the most adversity they have seen all season, hitting the road against a very game Delta State team. While the second half went about how I expected it would, with West Florida outscoring the Statesmen 29-3 and outgaining them by 93 yards. It was a first half that got out of hand that set the stage for that 26 point second half advantage to be a comeback effort, rather than salting away a comfortable win. Coach Shinnick’s guys got going eventually, putting away Delta 39-33 on two 4th quarter scoring drives, but how did it get there?
The big issue early for the Argos was time of possession, where Delta State absolutely clobbered them 21:29 to 8:31 in the first half, and 13:00 to 2:00 in the first quarter. The Argos ran just 24 plays in the first half, and that stretch included a 0-10 run in the passing game (more on that below). And they weren’t just grinding UWF down to a nub 3 yards and a cloud of dust style, they averaged a hot 7.1 yards per play in the 1st half while taking 56 total offensive snaps. The first half passing numbers, 288 yards 2 TDs 65% completions, would have been DSU QB Patrick Shegog’s best game of the season so far. He then went on to add another 171 yards in the 2nd half, but no more scores. Usually the TOP doesn’t hurt UWF too badly, because they score efficiently, but when the offense couldn’t get much going in the first half, it spelled a 20 point halftime deficit.
The way the Argos clawed back into the game has been true to form for this team in the second halves of games this year, they had a 7 drive sequence that went DSU punt, UWF TD, DSU downs, UWF TD, DSU fumble, UWF TD, DSU INT. Delta only ran 18 plays during the stretch, gaining just 66 yards from 5:11 in the 3rd quarter until 4:52 in the 4th. Bracketing that stretch were two Austin Reed INTs near midfield, otherwise the outcome of the game could have gotten lopsided in the final frame.
The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly
The Good
Red Zone Defense: The defense struggled at times on Saturday, but when it mattered most the Argos came up big. In six red zone trips, the Statesmen scored just two TD and a FG, conversely West Florida snagged an INT in the end zone, punched the ball out and recovered in the end zone, and got a sack on 4th and goal inside the 5. Getting out of those situations ended up being the difference in the game and credit the D for timely situational football. The FG, too, was forced by a red zone stand at the 11 yard line.
Running Game: The Argonaut running game had it going all night, the RBs and Austin Reed combined for 184 yards on 22 attempts on the ground (excluding sacks, the special teams safety, and the knee to end the game). That is an average of 8.3 yards per carry, they scored a TD, and only had one run for a loss. For a pass first team, getting that kind of production on the ground is huge. At times the Argos just lined up and ran it right at the Statesmen over and over. It seems like a matter of time before one of the backs gets loose for a big TD run.
The Bad
The 1st quarter: It is hard to get much of anything going when you only run 6 plays in a quarter and your opponent runs 33. The defense couldn’t get off the field, suffering through two 12+ play drives in the first period alone. They also had drives extended on a 4th and 11 conversion and a personal foul on a 3rd down stop, and played 13:31 minutes of defense. The offense had the 90 yard TD, then 13 yards on the remaining five plays. This continued in the second quarter where UWF averaged just 3.1 yards per play, but it was an absolutely brutal opening 15 minutes for West Florida.
1 of 11: After going 1-1 90 yards 1 TD on his first drive, Argos QB Austin Reed didn’t complete another pass (0-10) for the remainder of the first half. There was a hold called on one of those incompletions, at three were drops on catchable balls, and four passes were broken up. Two of the breakups were near interceptions. It wasn’t really inaccuracy that, just couldn’t connect and credit DSU for getting their hands up all game at all three levels, finishing with 7 PBUs on the game. Reed came back strong in the second half though, completing 12 of 20 with and leading 4 TD drives, including 3 TD passes.
The Ugly
Penalties: Some of this has been discussed already, but the Argos gave up 9 penalties for 102 yards, and some of them came in huge spots. Two personal fouls on 3rd down stops in the first half were huge miscues. The Argos also set themselves back in the red zone with a costly false start, and gave the Statesmen a free first down on a hold on the second drive. Not to mention some pretty heated exchanges in the 2nd half that lead to offsetting personal fouls. There was also a questionable call on a kick catch interference, which would have resulted in a fumble recovered by the Argonauts. The Argos hadn’t struggled with penalties much this year, averaging 6.7 and 63 yards per game before Saturday.
4th Down Conversions: On Delta State’s second TD drive, the Argos gave up a 4th and 11 and a 4th and goal from half a yard. DSU converted two more on four attempts in the game bringing their average to 67%. The Argos had to run 102 defensive plays and these conversions lead to 12 additional plays of offense and one TD. This is a continuing issue for the West Florida defense (12 of 18 allowed), and might eventually bite them in a critical situation.
Running Backs Running Wild
This RB room is fun. Shomari has clearly been the lead guy this season, and rightfully so, but they really can run a bunch of different guys at you. It seems like they’ve got a good handle on what style of back is going to make a bigger impact, because we have seen Jervon Newton and Anthony Johnson Jr. as the second guys this season, but it was Hargrove who got the most touches behind Mason on Saturday. Despite the size of the two, both listed at 5’6” Mason 170 and Hargrove 180, they ran it mostly between the tackles, often on a delayed hand off. The duo are extremely explosive, so giving them just a small seam on a draw can mean a 8+ yard gain. They also break tackles and make guys miss near the line, racking up solid yards after contact. Jervon Newton was the only other back to get a touch, one carry for 5 yards, but RB group combined for 156 yards on 18 carries (8.7 yards per carry) and combined for 8 1st downs, 1 TD, and only one stop behind the line.
In the passing game, these guys also shined this week. Mason was tied for the team lead in receptions with 3, and 3rd with 54 yards. He caught the game sealing TD in the 4th quarter, and a 32 yarder on the drive before that that helped set up Hargrove’s 10 yard TD run. For his part Hargrove had just 1 catch, but it went for 20 yards, that on UWF’s second scoring drive of the second half. Combined Mason and Hargrove had 230 yards from scrimmage (over 50% of UWF’s yardage production), on 22 touches, 2 TD, and averaged 10.5 yards per touch. The rest of the offense ran 34 plays for 205 yards (6.0 yards per play).
On the season, Mason has been fantastic 45 attempts for 309 yards and 3 TDs rushing along with 8 receptions for 75 yards and 1 TD. He has one more carry than the next three leading rushers combined with 58 more yards and is the 5th leading receiver on the team through 4 games. His yardage is currently good for 5th in the GSC and 7.2 yards per carry is 8th in conference.
Quick Notes on the Offensive Line
It seems like I write about the OL after every game, but they keep playing at an extremely high level. Austin Reed dropped back 35 times (31 attempts, two scrambles, a deflection back to Reed, and 1 sack), and the Line only allowed 1 sack 1 hurry and 3 or 4 total pressures. That sack in the 2nd quarter was the first on Austin Reed all season, the backup O Line giving up one other sack on QB Wyatt Eget in the SBU game. On the season the starting line has allowed 9 hurries and 1 sack on 125 pass attempts, or less than 1% sack rate across over 4 games of play for a team that is throwing the ball 30+ per game.
This was also one of the best run blocking weeks for the Argos as well, for total rushing yards, including the special teams flub, sacks and kneels, the Argos still averaged 6.0 yards per carry, when you remove all of those non-running plays the entire team (Austin Reed included) averaged 8.4 yards per carry. That is absolutely gashing the defense every time they line up.
But it isn’t just that the line is having good games, they are holding their opponents to their least productive games up front pretty much every week. Coming into this game DSU was averaging more than 8 TFL and 3 sacks per game, and had at least 9 TFL in each game. Against UWF, 1 sack 2 TFL. The Argos are the only team to hold both McNeese State and TAMUC to no sacks, and gave both of those teams their lowest TFL totals (1 and 2 respectively) about halfway through this season.
Star Outside Linebacker Marvin Terry was held to just 4 tackles (2 solo), and the vaunted DSU DL of Talley, Samuel, and Williams Jr had just 6 tackles but did account for the sack and TFL.
Run Defense is a Strength of the Team
Yes, they have given up over 100 yards in 3 of 4 games, but West Florida’s run defense has really set the tone on that side of the ball this season. Most of their issues have come in first halves, including this one where they yielded over 100 yards in the first half alone, but as games settle in UWF has been putting the clamps on just about everyone. They allowed only 45 yards rushing, excluding sack yardage, in the final two frames against DSU, and just 39 yards in the second half against Commerce two weeks ago after 73 in the first half. SBU had a total of 70 yards rushing all game, and McNeese had 151 yards rushing but needed 38 carries to get there.
You could see a noticeable uptick in run defense as the game progressed as well, with LBs filling gaps better. The DL, which missed some tackles at the line and in the backfield early in the game also stiffened up, and all the sudden the DSU rushing attack had nowhere to go inside. UWF was forcing Shegog to run it wide, and using their back side athleticism to keep him from turning the corner. When they couldn’t just clip away in the run game consistently, the rest of their offensive production slowed significantly, and that is when we started to see drives stall out.
On the season West Florida has allowed just under 500 yards rushing (124 per game), excluding sack yardage, on 138 attempts, for a stingy 3.6 average. When you start to factor in the yardage lost to sacks, the Argos have only allowed 94 yards per game and a 2.4 yard per carry average. That is the kind of play up front they are going to need against good rushing teams coming up like Valdosta State, MC, and North Greenville.
Final Thoughts and Players of the Game
This week was not pretty but the Argos did what champions do and found a way to keep winning ball games. Delta State, to their credit, is just three scores away from being undefeated. That 2-3 record is pretty misleading because they’ve already played a one loss FCS program in JSU, who they took down to a last second pass attempt in the red zone, a top 15 UWG team, who they lost to by just 1 point on the road, and #1 UWF, who they lead by 20 at half, and outgained by nearly 150 yards. This Statesmen team is legit, and will almost definitely bounce back from this loss with home games against NGU, Shorter, and MC still on tap, but some more tests on the road against VSU, UWA, and a season ending, non-conference rematch with UWG. All that is to say, they could be a playoff team by the end of the season, especially if they bring this level of play to every game remaining on their schedule.
As for UWF, they’re certainly happy to get out with a win, but have to know that first half effort, on both sides of the ball, isn’t going to cut it with matchups looming against three top 15 foes remaining on the schedule. Luckily for the Argonauts, they get UWG and Valdosta at home, in games that are sure to be rocking at Blue Wahoo. This has been a tough stretch for UWF, losing a home tune up game before GSC play on short notice is hard to absorb, add to that the amount of travel they have had to do for their 3 road games so far 380 miles to Lake Charles, 620 miles to Commerce, and 360 miles to Cleveland. They hit the road again next week for another long trip 480 miles to Tigerville to take on the Crusaders of North Greenville (3-2, 0-1). They’ll get three home games in their last five after NGU, so the Argos just have to weather this one big last trip before getting a little reprieve from the road.
Offensive Players of the Game: Shomari Mason
Mason was fantastic Saturday Night. He had two runs that netted 1 yard a piece, and every other time he touched the ball it went for 7 or more yards. He had a long run of 15 and a long catch of 32. He just consistently is able to gain 5+ yards on practically every carry. Some of this is owed to another strong OL performance, but Mason is so explosive he turns small creases into big gains. He is also tough to bring down for a smaller guy, routinely breaking tackles and dragging defenders for a couple extra steps. His final cumulative offensive stats 13 touches 140 yards 1 TD were 32% of the total offensive output for the night. I don’t know if we will ever see a 20+ touch night for Mason, it just isn’t the way this offense is designed, but just about every time he gets the ball good things happen.
Defensive Player of the Game: TJ Limehouse
The GSC DPOW was Shea Campbell (11 tackles 7 solo 2.0 sacks), a fine pick for the award, but I am going with Safety TJ Limehouse (15 tackles 8 solo 1 TFL 1 FF). Not only did Limehouse lead the team in tackles and solo tackles, but he had two clutch plays in the red zone. The first was punching the ball out of WR Edmonds hands just before he crossed the goal line (the official box score says Whetzel, but it was definitely #31). That stymied a potential scoring drive that was set up off the kick catch interference call. The other big play was once again in the red zone, Limehouse came down from his safety spot and tracked Shegog perfectly for a 3 yard loss, on the kind of QB scramble that had hurt the Argos all evening. It was just enough to keep Delta out of the end zone for two more plays before Trent Archie and Co. came up with the goal line sack on 4th down from the 2 yard line.
