Fourteen different players have caught passes for the East Carolina
football team this season, but only four of them have found the end zone, and
head coach Ruffin McNeill would like to see that change.
At the top end, sophomore superstar Justin Hardy not only leads ECU in
catches (57) and receiving yards (780), but his nine touchdown receptions
account for roughly 65 percent of the Pirates’ total. Although distribution
certainly isn’t a problem, only Hardy, junior Justin Jones (three TDs), senior
Andrew Bodenheimer and running back Tay Cooper (one apiece) have taken a pass
to the end zone.
Saturday’s noon Conference USA showdown with Houston should be a game
of many passes, and McNeill hopes to see some new faces celebrating touchdowns
and big days like Hardy has all season.
“Inside, Danny Webster and Derrick Harris, outside you’d like to see
Andrew get more involved on our Z, and at X you’d like to see Reese (Wiggins)
get more involved and Jabril (Solomon) become more involved … and Justin Jones
is a guy we’ve got to get the ball to,” McNeill said.
Houston:
When does a 45-35 win over a conference foe not feel like a win? The
Houston Cougars weren't too happy about their 45-35 win over UTEP on Saturday
night. The fans weren't too happy either. So the Cougars might now be 4-4 on
the season. Their bowl hopes are still viable. But getting the win just didn't
feel like a win.
The Cougars were up 45-7 early in the third quarter. They seemingly had
the game under control. But Charles Sims left the game not long after scoring
his third touchdown of the day. And from that point on, things started to fall
apart. UTEP scored the next 28 points, most of those behind the team's third
string quarterback, red shirt freshman Blair Sullivan.
Marshall:
HUNTINGTON, W.Va. -- Marshall University's football team will be
without defensive captain Devin Arrington for Saturday's 2 p.m. game versus
Memphis -- and likely longer, Marshall Coach Doc Holliday said Tuesday.
Holliday said the knee injury Arrington suffered in the Thundering
Herd's 54-17 loss to the University of Central Florida last Saturday will
probably keep him out of action for two to three weeks. Arrington, a fifth-year
senior, spent most of the second half of the UCF game on the sidelines without
a helmet and with a brace wrapped around his right knee.
Deon Meadows played in Arrington's stead. The 5-foot-11, 223-pound
sophomore recorded seven tackles, four solo, forced and recovered a fumble and
blocked an extra point.
"When somebody gets hurt, somebody else has to step in and get it
done," Holliday said. "Deon did and did some good things and that was
good to see."
Arrington is fifth on the team with 47 tackles, 31 solo, with two for a
loss. He also has one 18-yard interception, a pass breakup and a quarterback
hurry.
Memphis:
MEMPHIS — The University of Memphis football program gets another shot
at a Conference USA road win this week when the Tigers travel to Marshall.
Tigers head coach Justin Fuente said Marshall’s offense will be a good
one for his team to try to stop.
“We’re looking forward to going to play Marshall this week in West
Virginia,” Fuente said. “They’ve done a great job offensively.
“They’re another one of those teams that tries to run 100 plays a game.
They’ve got really good skill players on offense and they’re scoring points by
the bunches.”
The Tigers are trying to bounce back from a loss at SMU in which a
close game at halftime got out of hand quickly in the third quarter before
Memphis found itself on the short end of a 44-13 result.
Rice:
FACTS & STATS: Site: Mercedes-Benz Superdome (72,208) -- New
Orleans, Louisiana. Television: None. Home Record: Rice 2-2, Tulane 2-3. Away
Record: Rice 1-3, Tulane 0-3. Neutral Record: Rice 0-1, Tulane 0-0. Conference
Record: Rice 1-4, Tulane 2-2. Series Record: Rice leads, 18-15-1
GAME NOTES: The Rice Owls target their first road victory of the season
when they visit The Big Easy for a Conference USA battle with the Tulane Green
Wave at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome.
Rice has elevated its play in recent weeks. After a 1-5 overall start,
the Owls handled Texas-San Antonio, 34-14 at home. They followed their win with
a heartbreaking, 28-24, loss to Tulsa on the road after allowing the Golden
Hurricane to retake the lead in the final two minutes. However, coach Dave
Bailiff motivated his team to a 44-17 rout of Southern Miss at home, which made
his squad 3-6 overall and 1-4 in C-USA games. A loss this week will prevent
Rice from reaching bowl eligibility.
Southern Methodist:
SMU coach June Jones' team held a 28-point lead last year in Dallas
with just more than five minutes to play when the Knights sent out a redshirt
freshman to lead their offense.
Six plays and less than two minutes later, UCF redshirt freshman
quarterback Blake Bortles had taken the Knights down the field for a score. It
was a two-yard toss to J.J. Worton — the first touchdown pass of Bortles'
collegiate career.
SMU would go on to win, 38-17, but Jones was impressed with Bortles,
who finished 9-of-12 for 118 yards.
"I said, 'Man, I'm glad they didn't put that guy in the [darn]
game earlier,'" Jones recalled Wednesday.
On Saturday night, the Mustangs visit Bright House Networks Stadium in
a crucial Conference USA game for both teams. SMU (4-4, 3-1 C-USA) is in a
must-win situation, needing to win out in order to finish atop the Western
Division and play for a conference championship.
Southern Miss:
HOUSTON – Southern Miss football coach Ellis Johnson is well aware that
an 0-8 start in his first year as the Golden Eagles head coach has not sat well
with the Golden Eagles’ fans.
But Johnson said he will continue to do what he thinks is best for his
football team and the program.
“Your fan base and your supporters, that’s a part of your program,”
Johnson said. “The team is the team, but the program is anyone who supports
Southern Miss, and this is hard for everybody.
“But, you don’t make decisions based on that. You don’t call plays, and
put the game plans together and do practice organization and discipline and all
the other things that go into building a football team, you don’t do that based
on that.”
The Golden Eagles (0-8, 0-4 Conference USA) head into the final third
of their season still seeking their first victory.
Tulane:
Tulane's new on-campus stadium will be named Yulman Stadium announced
President Scott Cowen today.
The new on-campus stadium name will recognize the generosity of Richard
and Janet Yulman says Tulane Spokesman Mike Strecker. Richard Yulman is the retired chairman and
owner of mattress manufacturing giant Serta International as well as a member
of the Board of Tulane, the university's main governing body. Yulman donated
$15 million toward construction of the $55 million facility, which will open in
time for the 2014 football season.
The Yulman family wanted to make a transformative gift Cowen said at
today's news conference. "Their
investment in the new stadium, by providing a home field advantage for the
football program, along with recreational opportunities for the Tulane student
body and members of the community, will signal a metamorphosis in Tulane
Athletics," according to Strecker.
At today's news conference, the university also announced two
additional major gifts to the stadium project.
Tulsa:
Tulsa travels the road to play at Arkansas this Saturday after a bye
week.
The Golden Hurricane (7-1 overall), coming off a bye week, will aim to
extend a win streak that currently spans seven games while the Razorbacks (3-5)
are enduring a struggling campaign.
Before losing 30-27 to Ole Miss on a last second field goal, Arkansas
had previously won two games after a 1-4 start.
The Tulsa-Arkansas game is the renewal of an old rivalry. The two teams
first met in 1898 and played almost annually until 1990.
The Golden Hurricane beat Arkansas at what was then known as Skelly
Field, by the score of 44-34 back in 1952. The Hogs have not been back since.
UAB:
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama - UAB's senior players won't finish their careers
with a winning record, but they'll be front and center when the Blazers are
celebrating success down the line, head coach Garrick McGee said.
UAB (1-7, 0-4 Conference USA) won't go to a bowl game, but the Blazers
have four games left to finish the season on a high note, beginning Saturday at
6:30 p.m. at Southern Miss (0-8, 0-4).
Regardless, the culture has been changed for the better, McGee said,
and the seniors play a big part in that.
"They know that they're a huge part of what's going to
happen," McGee said. "They do know this is going to turn and that
we're going to have success as a football program around here. They know,
regardless of what our record is right now, the standards that have been set.
UCF:
We've lauded the 2013 Central Florida recruiting class as one for the
ages in the Orlando area. More than 60 players had already been offered
scholarships by major-college football programs before the season had even
started.
And now, here we are eight weeks into the season, and more and more
players have turned in impressive performances. Players such as Shadon
Seabrook, a gifted athlete who had been a standout cornerback for the past few
seasons at Orlando University High. He has taken on the role of running back
for the surprising Cougars this year, and what do you get? A Class 8A, District
3 title, that's what.
Seabrook has now rushed for more than 1,000 yards on the season after
posting 317 against favored Timber Creek this past Thursday night, and he has
his eyes on the University school record now, which is 1,775 yards. He is just
one of numerous players who have played themselves into our most recent update
of the Sentinel's 2013 Central Florida Super60, which is the ranking of players
we think will have the most impact, at the highest level of college football in
the future, and not necessarily the best high-school football players in
Central Florida.
UTEP:
HOUSTON -- To answer the obvious question, "Where on earth has
freshman Blaire Sullivan been the past nine weeks?" -- he was at the end
of UTEP's bench, the third of three active quarterbacks in a two-quarterback
rotation.
After engineering four second-half touchdowns in Saturday's 45-35 loss
to Houston that got more interesting and lively with each possession, the more
pressing question is, "Where will Blaire Sullivan be in two weeks when
UTEP hosts UCF?"
That certainly beats the firing squad UTEP was starting at for the
first morbid 35 minutes when it utterly collapsed, digging a 45-7 hole that led
to Plan C at quarterback.
No comments:
Post a Comment