Week 6 Recap: Dominant night in Tigerville, UWF routes Crusaders 52-10
After a battle on the road in Cleveland, MS a week before, where the Argos squeaked out a 39-33 win against Delta State, UWF hit the road once again to try and take down another GSC opponent. This time, Coach Shinnick and the guys left no room for doubt, Smoking the North Greenville University Crusaders 52-10 Saturday night on a well rounded team victory. I think this is the most complete game UWF has played this season, offense and defense were clicking from the first drives and played four commanding quarters of football. UWF did get a little tight in the 2nd quarter scoring just once, punting twice after two three and outs, and having the half expire in four possessions, but still lead by 18 at the break. They kept the foot on the gas in the 2nd half and closed the game on 38 unanswered points (which started in the 2nd quarter). The defense forced a couple of INTs, one which was returned for a TD by Anthony Johnson Jr., and stopped the Crusaders on two 4th down attempts while allowing less than 300 yards of offense on the night.
It was a fun game to watch as West Florida made explosive plays all game long, starting with a 69 yard TD throw from Reed to Coates on the 2nd offensive play, a 75 yard throw and catch to Durden (which was called back due to a procedural penalty) with some fantastic running after the catch, Johnson Jr’s 40+ yard INT return TD, and Shomari Mason finally breaking loose in the 4th quarter for his first long touchdown of the season on a 57 yarder up the gut. The defense shored up Dre’ Williams allowing just 10 attempts 39 yards 1 TD 2 catches 14 yards, up to the point that he was knocked out of the game on a 4th down attempt in the 2nd quarter. Williams came into the game averaging over 160 yards of offense per game in 9 career appearances with NGU. After Williams left the game, whatever ability to create offense the Crusaders had mostly evaporated until late in the game. West Florida was able to close out the game with backups on the field for the second time this season.
Austin Reed Starts Hot
A laser fast start last week (90 yard first play TD), Reed suffered through a 0-10 stretch for the rest of the first half against Delta State. As we discussed last week, it wasn’t all on Reed, a number of balls were dropped or batted down by opportunistic defenders, but 1-11 90 yards and 1 TD was not the start the Argos hoped for. Different week, different story. On his first 10 attempts he went 7-8 116 yards 2 TDs, with a 10 yard gain being brought back 10 yards on a hold. He had a 75 yard TD called back on an illegal man downfield and threw a ball that drew a pass interference in the end zone. After his first true incompletion of the night, Reed completed his next 5, and finished the first half 13-19 193 yards and 3 TD and just over 10 yards per attempt. Although he didn’t need to even take the field in the second half, he got a few more drives in before turning the reins over to Wyatt Eget in the 4th quarter.
Not only was Reed dealing in the first half, but he was spreading it around his plethora of targets. In the first half alone Reed completed those 13 attempts to six different receivers, including completions to two different Running Backs. He hit three more pass catchers by the end of the game, finishing with 21 completions (season high) to 9 different offensive skill players. As has been the case this year, teams have generally chosen to try and shut down either Durden or Coates, and inevitably the other breaks loose. That remained the case this week with Coates putting up his second 120 yard 2 TD performance of the season.
The Argos have been able to lean more on the run game early in the season than may have been expected, but the offense will live and die with the pass game, that is just the identity of this team. It was really good to see Reed build on a solid second half from last week when he finished the game 16-20 195 yards 3 TD 2 INT. This was his second best game of the season for yards (289), percentage (63.6%), and tied for best in TD (4) and TD:INT ratio (4:0). UWF is going to need Austin Reed to be on his A game this weekend in what is shaping up to be a QB duel.
End of a Well Traveled First Half of 2021
I want to divert away a little from what the Argonauts did in this game, and talk more about what they did in the first half of this season in these next two sections. They were supposed to have had six games now, with only two of those scheduled to take place in Pensacola. Playing four of six on the road is brutal in any circumstance but it got worse for the Argos when the Ft. Lauderdale game was unceremoniously canceled late in the week. That canceled game meant that 80% of those games have been on the road, and not only on the road, but LONG trips on the road.
Week 1: McNeese State (42-36) UWF travels 383 miles and 5 hours 56 minutes (one way, estimated based on google maps)
Week 2: SBU (63-14) UWF plays their only home game, but not a typical home game, hosting SBU on campus rather than at Blue Wahoos Stadium
Week 3: TAMU Commerce (35-17) UWF travels 615 miles and 10 hours 12 minutes
Week 4: UFL Canceled
Week 5: Delta State (39-33) UWF travels 366 miles and 6 hours 27 minutes
Week 6: North Greenville (52-10) UWF travels 481 miles and 7 hours 49 minutes
What this adds up to is a 5-0 UWF team is outscoring opponents 231-110 and traveled 3690 miles and 60 hours 58 minutes round trip (assuming no stops and traffic) by bus over the course of just 6 weeks. I don’t have the time to quantify how that compares to other top teams, but sufficed to say not many have traveled more to play a more difficult schedule in their opening half of the season. And remember, all this without playing a regular home game by the bay which was canceled. A battle tested UWF now returns home for a well earned two game home stand, but are rewarded with a top 15 matchup this weekend against West Georgia.
Continuing Excellence: Second Half Football and Offensive Line Play
Another week, another section dedicated to what the Argos have done well all season. I don’t watch any D2 regular season football except in the GSC, but I can’t imagine there have been many more dominant second half teams in the division this season. Overall, the Argos have outscored opponents 124-30 (for reference UWF has only allowed 110 total points this season) in the second half. They have outgained their opponents 1060-761 in the second half, and most impressively 586-244 in the 3rd quarter, a 2.4x advantage. Simply put, UWF has shut down everyone in the second half except for McNeese State, who the Argos outscored just 21-20 in the second half. When looking at just D2 opponents, UWF is out gaining their last four opponents in the second half by an average of 84 yards (858-521) and outscoring them by a staggering 103-10. The schedule, somehow, gets harder from here so this second half dominance will be put to the test, but the early returns are the Argos are one of the best out there at making and executing adjustments at halftime.
There are no readily available stats to demonstrate how well the OL is playing as individuals, in general stats analyzing explicitly OL play are hard to come by, so we really rely on the eye test, relative performance of the fronts they face, and sack rates or success in the run game. By whatever metric you want to look at this group, they’re one of the best units in all of Division II football. So far, through 5 games, the starting line have still allowed just one sack. Austin Reed has taken 159 official drop backs (158 attempts 1 sack) good for about a 0.6% sack rate. For comparison, there are only two FBS teams (SMU and Michigan) who have sack rates under 1% through the first 6 weeks. UWF has only taken 3 sacks this season, two of which came in mop up duty against the backup OL and QB, and three is still good for 3rd nationally in D2. Only Valdosta State has allowed fewer (1) in the GSC. The Line hasn’t allowed more than 1 recorded hurry in a single game since SBU, and if you combine all of the hurries and sacks together West Florida has only been officially pressured on about 8% of all drop backs this season, although total QB pressures aren’t really tracked. The run blocking has also been great, UWF leads the nation in TFL allowed (8) and TFL allowed per game (1.6). The starting unit, which appears to now feature Oake Stipe as the full time RG due to an injury to 3 game starter Juac Angoi, who was starting because staring Center Zac Elam is still missing with an injury in week 2. Not only has the Line been excellent, but they’re also working with their 7th man on the field and still producing a quality product.
Mid Season Stats Breakdown
Austin Reed is off to a great start, picking up where he left off in 2019. Reed leads the GSC in passer efficiency (170.3) by 15 points over UWA’s McDaniels, and is 2nd in yards per game (297) which is 14th nationally for D2. He has the 2nd best TD:INT ratio in the GSC at 6:1 and leads the league in TD passes with 18 through 5 games. The West Florida passing offense is 11th nationally in passing efficiency and Reed ranks 9th nationally as an individual in efficiency.
Shomari Mason leads the way running the ball for the Argos and has been one of the best backs in the GSC through the first half of 2021. He is currently on pace for 832 yards and 10 TDs rushing in a 10 game regular season. That wouldn’t quite eclipse the overall contribution Chris Schwarz’ 874 yards and 8 TD over 15 games in 2017, but it would undoubtedly be the best overall regular season by an Argonaut RB (Schwarz also had 838 yards in 2018 but only 2 TD in 11 games). Mason is 3rd in the league in rush yards per game (83.2) and tied for 2nd in TD (5). He has kept pace with his blazing 7.7 yards per carry average from 2019, currently at 7.6 for ‘21, which is good for 6th in the league and 5th among RBs. UWF cumulatively is 7th out of 8 in the league for rush yards per game (146), but tied for 4th in rushing TDs (13) and holding down third in yards per carry (5.2).
The WR room has been mostly a two man show this year, with David Durden (20 receptions 441 yards 7 TD) and Rodney Coates (22 receptions 382 yards 5 TD) both having multiple 100 yard and multi score games. Neither ranks in the top 50 in the nation for yards, but are tied for 5th and 7th most receiving TD, respectively. However, they are 2nd and 5th in conference for yards, and 1st and 3rd for TD. Durden (6th, 106.8/game), along with Shomari Mason (9th, 99.2/game), are among the top players in the conference for all purpose yards. Program vet Ka’Ron Ashley has pitched in 206 yards 2 TD, and newcomers Jared Smith and Larry Rembert are both over 100 for the season, each with at least 1 score.
On defense a surging TJ Limehouse Jr. leads the team with 32 tackles on the back of 14 tackles against Delta State, he was a major contributor in 2019 before being lost to injury for the season and looks to be back to form in ‘21. Limehouse Jr is also tied with fellow Safety D’Anthony Bell with 17 solo stops. Newcomer Stephon Williams has been a force in the front for UWF, playing SLB, and racking up a team best 5.0 TFL and 3.5 sacks, which are t-5th and t-2nd in the GSC, despite playing one fewer games than many in conference. The Argonauts are absolutely hassling opposing QBs this season, leading the league with 23 sacks in just 5 games, which is 4th nationally and leads Valdosta for 1st in the league by 4 sacks (UWF is averaging 4.6 per game). They have at least 3 sacks each outing this season and a season high of 7 against Delta State and their 7.8 TFL/game is good for 39th nationally (18th most in D2). They have 19 players with at least 10 tackles on the season, 24 with at least 0.5 TFL, and 19 who have contributed 0.5 sacks or better. Other major contributors on the defense Shea Campbell, Trent Archie, and D’Anthony Bell all top 30 tackles on the season and rank in the top 20 among GSC defenders in tackles per game, while Archie, DJ Artis, Campbell, and Brandon Penerton all have 2.0 sacks.
The defense is giving up just 2.5 yards per carry, which is the league leader, and is 23rd nationally in rushing yards allowed per game (94). Passing defense has been less good ranking near the bottom of the league in completion %, average per attempt, and yards per game, but they are 3rd in the league in interceptions (5), lead by Anthony Johnson Jr (2).
Final Thoughts and Players of the Game
As fun as it is to watch blowouts from a fan perspective, you just don’t learn as much about the team. I’d love all the games to be 40 point wins, selfishly, but I’m looking forward to stiffening competition in the coming weeks. There was some good stuff in this game though. Will Breland (7 tackles and GSC Freshman of the Week) and Anthony Johnson Jr. continue to make meaningful impacts on this defense, despite the talent and experience at their respective positions. Austin Reed, like we talked about at the top, got right at a good time going into a tough game. The run game keeps working, and provides a really dangerous compliment to the passing attack. UWF has stars at all three levels on defense, and has the flexibility to play them in different roles and in deep rotations. And maybe most importantly this was a confidence builder, NGU was a winning team, a GSC team, still has a winning D2 record, and will probably win a couple more wins before the season is over, if Williams returns from injury. Coming off a really emotional win last weekend, the Argos didn’t come out flat and went for the kill early. This team has to be able to put teams like this away, because everyone in the GSC can beat you if you don’t bring it on Saturdays.
This week kicks off the real season, UWF has to run the gauntlet of three ranked GSC opponents in the next 5 games, including a road trip to currently undefeated West Alabama. The matchups this weekend will really start to shed light the GSC championship race, as the four ranked teams square off on Saturday. It’ll be great for the guys to finally get back to the Bayfront and play in their normal home game environment, plus it is homecoming and a green-out, so Blue Wahoos stadium is bound to be rocking.
Offensive Players of the Game: Rodney Coates
A tough decision in a three way battle between Coates, Reed, and Mason. I went with Coates on the basis of the 69 yard TD and scoring two scores early in the game when it was still competitive. Coates has been great this season, leading the team in receptions and second in yards and TDs, but he was the man in this game from the jump. His final stats, 6 catches 123 yards 2 TD, are arguably his best of the year and definitely against a better team than his 9 catch 126 yards and 2 TD outing against SBU. Bolstered by the big play to start the game, he caught five more passes one for a score and still averaged over 10 yards per reception, which would be a solid outing. But that big play. He lined up outside against Deandre Mack and ran a deep post, Austin Reed put the ball on the money, Coates tracked it, caught the ball in stride, and easily cruised for a score. It is going to continue to be a choice between focusing on Durden or Coates, the Argos just have to keep dialing it up for the open man.
Defensive Player of the Game: Matthew Gotel
The whole defense played well, and nobody really stuffed the stat sheet, so this one wasn’t easy to pick. I went with the guy who really stood out on first watch, and again on rewatch, Senior DL Matt Gotel. Gotel, who has been playing mostly nose tackle this year, and because of that hasn’t had a chance to put up big numbers. He has typically been occupying space and blockers on the inside, but when teams try to block him with one man he makes them pay. Gotel got home on a clutch sack late in the 1st half. UWF was up 28-10, but North Greenville had forced a punt and took over with the ball near midfield and almost 2 minutes to score. NGU threw the ball three straight plays, a 28 yard gain down to the UWF 29 yard line, incomplete, incomplete. Now on 3rd and 10 from the 29, scoring position for the Crusaders who had earlier hit a FG from the UWF 32, Gotel got the center moving right then swam across his face and right into the middle of the pocket, pulling down Riley for an 11 yard sack. A great play from a technique/strategy perspective, it looked like he set the center up with movement one direction only to counter the other way, but also situationally it kept NGU from closing the gap going into halftime. He officially compiled 3 total tackles (1 solo) and the sack, but on rewatch he probably had 5 total pressures from the nose.
