The Morning After: Argos Send a 49-21 Statement Against West Georgia
UWF got back on the winning track last night running away from the West Georgia Wolves at PenAir field and securing their first GSC win of the season. A game that was a 7-7 tie late in the 1st quarter never really seemed close, as the Argos cruised in the first home team win in the UWF-UWG series, and what could be the last time these teams play for the foreseeable future.
Linebacker Group Shows Depth
Coming into the season I had pinned the LB group as the best position on the team. This was mostly based on the fact that all three 2022 starters (Will Breland, Willie Jordan, Kode Lowe) and three primary backups (Gael Laurent, Onelio Rios, Walker Robinson) were returning, which is a huge amount of returning production and experience. Flash forward four weeks into the season and Willie Jordan and Kode Lowe have yet to play a snap while Will Breland has missed the last two weeks with an injury sustained against McKendree, and will continue to miss at least some more weeks. What has been the outcome of all the missed time by last year’s starters?
Next man up. So far in 2023, Laurent leads the team in tackles (16) and added a TFL and has been good with pressure off the edge, even though he had a relatively quiet night Saturday tallying 2 tackles. Robinson got his first career start at MLB against the Wolves, finishing the game with a team high 6 tackles and 1.5 TFL and adding 0.5 sacks 1 PBU and 1 QB hurry. Meanwhile, Ralph Ortiz has been maybe the breakout player of the defense this year, and had the defensive highlight of the night picking off Cameran Brown and returning it 27 yards for a TD. He also added 3 tackles and and 1 TFL on the night. Starting every game at OLB, Ortiz currently is tied for 2nd on the team with 13 total tackles and 2nd in TFL (4.0), plus 1 sack, and the one INT. If Breland and Jordan eventually come back onto the field this fall we are two deep at all three spots with starter quality players. Impressive group for first year LB coach and Defensive Coordinator Kavell Conner.
UWF Continues to Dominate D2 Opponents
This isn’t to ignore the FAMU game, because every game counts, but UWF is a D2 team and they’re judged, both in the polls and in the regional ranking calculations, based on their performance against D2 teams alone. The Argos are crushing D2 opponents, and I mean CRUSHING. The three game score total 119-27, the three game yardage total 1411-608, average yards per play 7.0-3.6, turnover differential +3, first downs 78-40, 3rd down conversion % 53-32, 4th down conversion % 80-29, I could go on, but you get the point. The 1st team defense has yet to allow a TD against a D2 opponent, after holding KWC and McKendree to 6 total points, UWG did score three times, but they came on a fumble return TD, and two scores in the fourth quarter against backups in garbage time. In fact of the 27 points and 608 yards allowed, 14 points and 127 yards came in the final frame Saturday while the Argos rested most of their starters on both sides of the ball.
Individually, the Argos keep being powered by a trio of star seniors. WR John Jiles and Senior DL John McMullen have been absolute gamebreakers so far this season out of the transfer portal. Jiles is in the top 10 in receiving TDs (5), top 20 for yards per reception (23.1), and top 25 in yards per game (92.2), while scoring in three of four games with two multi TD games so far. Not only has he been really impressive statistically, he makes an eyepopping play just about every game, this week was a double clutch-toe tap TD in the back of the end zone. McMullen has been equally dominant, currently 4th in D2 for sacks (6.0) and 14th in TFL (7.5), and this while being part of a very deep DL rotation that cycles in about 10 guys every game. Meanwhile, Peewee has taken his game to another level he is 31st in the country in passing yards per game (247.8), 16th in completion % (66.7%), tied for 23rd in passing TD, and 28th in yards per attempt (8.7). All three of these guys showed up Saturday, with Jiles 175 yard 2 TD performance, McMullen adding another sack to his total, and Peewee throwing his a 3 TD-0 INT game and his third game over 70% completions of the season.
My First Game in Person
What a game it was for my first trip down to see the Argos play. We decided to post up on the home side corner of the south end zone, and it ended up being a great spot. The first passing TD to Leggett came right at us, so did Ortiz’s pick six, and we had an up close and personal view of Jiles’ tip ball TD. It was so busy that I didn’t get a chance to hook up with a lot of people I wanted to meet but was able to meet some of you. We chopped it up with equipment assistant Samuel Scobie and had a chance to talk to a few of the newer Argonauts DLs Joel Vargas and John McMullen as well as RB Jalen Bussey after the game. The stands were PACKED in the first half, shout out to both the Argos’ fans as well as the visiting Wolves faithful for providing a really exciting game environment. Hopefully I’ll be able to make that a yearly pilgrimage going forward.
