Week 7 Recap: Offense Sputters, Argonauts Fall on the Road in Livingston 10-6
West Alabama Won in the Trenches
The Argonauts’ offense through six weeks looked like a freight train against D2 opponents. UWF had shown the ability to deliver the quick throws, run the ball, and most visibly throw deep to great effect. The only blemish so far to the season had been the FAMU game, where FAMU’s front seven were able to control the line of scrimmage and mostly shut down the UWF offensive attack. This game, in a lot of ways, was a replay of that contest when the Argonauts were on the field. UWF was held to just 56 yards rushing and 158 yards passing, the lowest and second lowest totals of the season respectively , and their 214 total yards were just one more than the total accumulated against FAMU. How was UWA, a team that had given up 38 vs Angelo State, 47 against Delta, and 24 just a week before against West Georgia, able to pull it off? Their Defensive Line dominated.
We knew the Tigers DL was good, and that they were part of a greater defense that was also very good, but they showed up big time Saturday. The Tigers finished with 13 TFL and 3 sacks as a team, with seven TFL and two of three sacks coming from Defensive Linemen. The DL also added a PBU a forced fumble and 2 QB hurries. The charge was lead by an emerging GSC star, Defensive End Davonta Jackson, who was a menace from the jump. He totaled 6 solo tackles, four of which were TFL, plus a sack and the forced fumble.
While the stats are eyepopping, they don’t really tell the whole story. Running lanes were jammed up, leading to just 81 net rushing yards (excluding sacks) by far their worst effort of the season. The Argos averaged a paltry 3.0 yards per carry and finished with 19 of 27 rushing attempts gaining 5 or less yards. This was what the offense relied on last week, when Shorter took the deep ball away from them, but credit the UWA front for playing gap sound assignment football around the line and not letting UWF get rich off the running game.
The other outcome of this trench battle was Peewee never looking comfortable in the pocket. The Senior QB finished with a season worst for completion percentage (13/32, 40.6%), threw for no scores for the first time this season, and tossed a game clinching INT at the end of the fourth quarter.
Defense, Jiles Shine in Loss
While the offense struggled overall, there were some really admirable Argonauts performances on Saturday, I’ll start with the defense. We knew UWA was not a very good offensive team coming into the game, they ranked near the bottom of the conference in most major offensive categories, but that doesn’t make UWF’s performance on defense any less impressive. The Tigers had 13 true offensive possessions (15 total minus kneeling out at half and end of game), of those possessions they scored just twice. A 9 play 81 yard TD drive that spanned the end of the 1st and beginning of the 2nd quarters, then a 8 play 59 yard drive to open the second half ending in a FG. In the remaining 11, seven ended in no first downs gained, five of those three and out, and 10 of the 11 non scoring drives ended with 20 or fewer yards gained. Of the three drives that gained more than 20 yards, two, including the TD drive, were extended by UWF penalties on 3rd or 4th down.
Just look at how the Argos defense rose to the occasion, after going down 10-3 following the first drive of the second half:
3 plays 0 yards punt
8 plays 43 yards punt
3 plays -2 yards punt
1 play 0 yards interception
3 plays 8 yards punt
4 plays 2 yards missed FG
The UWF defense finished with 8 TFL 1 sack 3 PBU and 1 INT, while allowing just 210 yards of offense (the best performance to date against a GSC opponent) and dismal 3.2 yards per play. The Argos held the Tigers below their season averages for yards, rushing yards, passing yards, scoring, and yards per play. It was another dominating performance, which was unfortunately overall wasted due to the offensive struggles and some untimely penalties.
Jiles shone once again, after a down week against Shorter, putting up an impressive 7 catch 147 yard performance. He was targeted 11 times, seven more than the next most targeted Argonaut Pass catcher. It was his fifth game with at least 75 yards receiving, but unfortunately was also his second game of the season being held without a score. Of his 11 targets, four went for explosive gains of at least 15 yards, two of which were 40+ yarders. He was the single most productive offensive player in the game. No other player, on either team, had more than 87 yards from scrimmage. It was a great game for Jiles, but he was really the one dimension of the Argos offense that was working Saturday night.
Quick Hitters
Despite everything that went wrong, UWF was still in the game until their last possession. The offense had three tries in the last 8 minutes of the game, but were only able to muster a FG, while turning it over on downs and throwing a game sealing pick.
The UWF offense had the ball inside the Tigers’ 20 twice on the night, but only came away with FGs both times. They had another failed drive in UWA territory that ended in a turnover on downs.
UWF only had four offensive drives that gained them more than 20 yards, leading to two punts two FG.
The Argos were cleaner on penalties Saturday night, just 5 for 55 yards, but there were a couple of critical calls, a facemask and a running into the kicker, that extended drives.
UWF Players of the Week
Offense: WR John Jiles (7 receptions 147 yards)
Jiles got it going early in the game, hauling in a 41 yarder and a 21 yarder on the Argos 3rd drive of the night, which put UWF at the UWA 10 yard line. He added 16 and 57 yarders in the 2nd half, meaning four of his seven receptions went for explosive gains (15 or more yards).
Defense: DL John McMullen (6 tackles (5 solo) 2.5 TFL 0.5 Sacks)
McMullen was so disruptive on Saturday, a theme of the year so far. He shared a sack, but he was constantly in the backfield causing issues in both against the run and the pass. He finished 2nd on the team in tackles, always impressive for a DL.
Special Teams: P Logan Gregory (9 punts 41.7 average 50 long 4 inside 20)
You never want your punter to be one of your top performers, but Gregory had a great day. He had four punts that didn’t go at least 40 yards, and two of those were downed inside the 20. He also handled kickoffs for the day, but only had three opportunities there.
From Around the League
Shorter (3-4, 1-3) won a close out of conference game at home 19-13 over Clark Atlanta.
Valdosta State (6-1, 3-1) got back on the winning track with a 21-10 win over MC (2-4, 1-3) in Clinton.
Chowan (0-7, 0-5) remains winless in their 1st season of GSC play after a 35-24 road loss to West Georgia (4-2, 3-1).
Delta State (7-0, 5-0) on the other hand remained undefeated with a drubbing of North Greenville (3-4, 2-3) 49-27.
GSC Offensive Player of the Week
RB G’Mone Wilson Valdosta State(14 carries 113 yards 1 TD 2 catches 31 yards)
GSC Defensive Player of the Week
DL Davonta Jackson West Alabama (6 tackles (6 solo) 4 TFL 1 sack 1 forced fumble)
GSC ST Player of of the Week
K/P Elijah Guyton West Alabama (1/2 FG 30 long, 1/1 PAT)
GSC Freshman of the Week
RB Lanear McCrary Shorter (16 carries 168 yards 1 TD, 1 reception 11 yards)
Coming up This Week
The West Florida vs Delta State game was one everyone should have had marked on the Calendars since the preseason. Now instead of a defacto conference championship, it has become a must win for the Argos who could be out of playoff contention with a 2nd GSC loss. Delta State comes into the game as hot as any team in the country, and boast the top scoring and total offense in the conference (46.6 ppg, 485.9 ypg). They have a stout defense to boot, maybe not as good as UWA but with dangerous weapons at all three levels. Star Cornerback Malik Jones has an interception in each of the last four games, and leads the GSC in picks, and the Statesmen boast the second best scoring defense in the conference through seven weeks. The Argonauts are going to have to find answers this weekend after two straight weeks of being knocked off of their preferred offensive strategy, luckily the defense remains a strength of the team.
