Week 5 Recap: UWF Gets Big Win Over North Greenville on the Road
Notes from Rewatch
Second week in a row that UWF has had the starting OL lineup of Bruce, Beesley, Stipe, Doucure, Freeman (L to R).
OL was solid again, allowed two sacks, but they were both more coverage sacks than a win on the DL. Also allowed 2 hurries, 4 total pressures on 35 drop backs. The Argos have only allowed 7 sacks this season, only 4 in their four D2 contests.
CJ Wilson is still such a weapon despite the Argos running the ball less, he runs hard but has quick feet, very hard to tackle.
Speaking of RBs, Jalen Bussey finally got to show his speed, busting a 57 yard TD in the 4th.
UWF’s pass catchers were lead by John Jiles, but Caden Leggett had a great game, looked very quick with the ball in his hands.
Jiles is surprisingly nimble for a guy his size, very capable after the catch.
Peewee was dealing early in the game connecting on 12 of his first 15 for 3 TD and over 200 yards. He hit five different pass catchers in that span, Jiles, Leggett, Jackson Blaylock, Jared Smith, and KJ Franklin.
After not going deep much in the first three weeks, the last two the deep ball has been working.
The Argos have run a four-wide slot motion presnap look a bunch this season, and run a bunch of different plays out of it. Really good design to create space especially when the defense doesn’t know what is coming.
UWF currently ranks as the 4th best offense in the D2 SP+, 17th in total offense, 31st in scoring offense, and 10th in passing offense.
Defensively, Argos had the same starting unit as last week. Still without Jordan, Breland, Lowe, or Swett.
The LB group continues to impress regardless of missing players, Walker Robinson and Gael Laurent combined for 19 tackles 1 TFL 1 sack, 3 PBU, and were very active all game in the middle of the defense.
Ralph Ortiz had his second straight game with an INT. The RS Freshman LB was GSC Freshman of the week (again) and has really taken command of the OLB spot.
The story of the defense continues to be a deep, dominant rotation of DL. You can see over the course of a game how they wear out opposing teams.
John McMullen is a bad man, still easily leading the GSC in sacks with 7, four more than West Alabama’s Jamal Ellis in 2nd.
The defense held North Greenville to 170 yards passing, about 80 yard below their per game average coming into the contest. Dylan Ramirez had < 100 yards passing until his 19th attempt, early in the 4th quarter.
A lot of this was pass rush, which got home 6 times for sacks and hurried Ramirez another 3 times.
A lot of it was excellent coverage on the back end, accounting for 3 INT and 8 PBU against some very productive WRs.
Defense has been doing a little more with the front seven lately, sometimes going three down, allowing pass rushers to move around the front more, and subbing a LB for a Slot Corner in certain situations.
Other than at DL, there isn’t a lot of rotation on defense anymore. Corners Elijah Williams, Virgil Lemons, and Safety DJ Barnes along with Laurent, Milhomme, Ortiz, and Robinson play the vast majority of snaps for their positions.
I did see Justin Mathieu come in and play the Slot Corner in a sub package.
The penalties were really bad again, 17 for 164 including an ejection. While some of it has to get cleaned up internally, the Refs Saturday really seemed to have it out for the Argonauts. Two of the Crusaders’ scoring drives were extended by 3rd down penalties on plays that would have otherwise resulted in a fourth down.
Defensive Coordinator Kavell Conner has really turned that unit around in a short time, UWF has allowed the fewest TDs of any GSC defense through 5 games (8), with four of those coming against FAMU.
The Argos are currently allowing less than 100 yards per game on the ground (1st in GSC) and 176 yards per game through the air (2nd in GSC). They’re ranked in the top 25 nationally in total defense, scoring defense, and TFL.
The pass rush has been ferocious, they’re 3rd nationally for team sacks (21) and John McMullen is also 3rd nationally as an individual.
UWF Players of the Week
Offense: WR John Jiles (11 catches 277 yards 3 TD)
Another week, another Jiles standout performance. This week he broke the UWF single game receiving yards record, previously held by Quentin Randolph (254 yards in the 2019 National Championship). He did it in dramatic fashion too, with explosive receptions of 45, 20 (TD), 18, 21, 20, 51 (TD), and 44 (TD). The highlight of the night was an amazing leaping 45 yard catch on the sideline, where he was able to keep a foot in and secure the reception to the ground. 277 yards is the 4th most ever by a GSC receiver and the highest single game receiving total in NCAA D2 this season.
Defense: S Quincy Milhomme (5 Tackles 5 Solo 2 INT 1 PBU)
Milhomme has intrenched himself as a starter at Safety over the last couple of weeks, and he put on a clinic this past weekend. He picked off two passes in UWF territory, showed sound tackling, and was generally solid in pass coverage all night, often matching man to man with the slot WR for the Crusaders. Both of his picks resulted in TDs on offense for the Argos.
Special Teams: P Logan Gregory (4 punts 166 yards, 41.5 average, 1 inside 20, 1 50+)
Gregory has been a weapon for the Argonauts so far this year in his sparing usage. This week he averaged over 40, had a 52 yard long, and dropped one inside the 2o yard line.
From Around the League
Mississippi College (2-3, 1-2) got past Shorter (2-3, 1-2) 30-14 on the road.
Valdosta State (5-0, 3-0) played it close with Chowan (0-5, 0-3) 45 minutes but pulled away 51-36.
Delta State (5-0, 2-0) crushed West Alabama (2-3, 1-2) 47-17 in Livingston.
GSC Offensive Player of the Week
WR John Jiles West Florida (11 catches 277 yards 3 TD)
GSC Defensive Player of the Week
Safety Quincy Milhomme West Florida (5 tackles 5 solo 2 INT 1 PBU)
GSC ST Player of of the Week
K Ben Pledger K (3-3 FG long 43, 3-3 PAT 7 kickoffs 440 yards 2 touchbacks)
GSC Freshman of the Week
LB Ralph Ortiz West Florida (3 tackles 2 solo 1 INT 2 PBU)
Coming up This Week
The Argonauts head back home this weekend to celebrate homecoming and welcome the Hawks of Shorter. So far this season, Shorter has been pretty good on offense, averaging 26.6 ppg (4th in GSC) but struggled greatly on defense, 36.4 ppg allowed (8th in GSC). UWF has never lost to Shorter (6-0) with an average margin of victory of 27.8 points, and based on how both teams are playing so far this year, I dont expect that to change. But a GSC opponent can’t be discounted, and the Hawks have a dangerous multi threat DB/KR/PR in Trey Thomas who has a KR, PR, and INT return TD so far this season.
