From the other side, Part 11
Drew Champlin
Thanks to Adam Sparks of the Daily News Journal for his help
1. What happened in the ULL game?
MTSU was tired and hurt, and it ran into a team that relies on physical play. Louisiana-Lafayette hasn’t done a lot well — hence the 2-8 record — but the Cajuns can run the ball. MTSU would’ve had a better chance of beating a finesse team in its current state of health. A few key players were out with injuries, but it was the players with nagging injuries that crippled the team in that loss. About one-third of MTSU’s roster had some ailment that game. Nevertheless, I think ULL played with more passion, especially in the second half. I also thought MTSU lost some of its juice when freshman quarterback Dwight Dasher showed he couldn’t run well (due to knee and ankle injuries). It was a game MTSU should’ve won but didn’t, and it took most of the meaning out of this game against Troy.
2. Which QB do you expect to see vs. Troy, and what are the similarities and differences between Joe Craddock and Dwight Dasher?
I think both quarterbacks will play. Both are dual threat QBs in every sense of the term. Dasher is the better runner, but he’s got a cannon for an arm and his passing skills are underrated by most who haven’t seen him play in person. Dasher isn’t a typical speedy breakaway runner like ULM’s Kinsmon Lancaster, but more like ULL’s Michael Desormeaux. He’s strong and physical — built like a fullback — but also has the wheels to break one a long one like he did against Memphis.
Craddock is a more polished passer and understands the offense more, but he can also run. He won’t break off a 50-yard run, but he’s shifty enough to pick up 10 yards and buy himself some time in the pocket.
Both QBs can (and have) put up 400-plus yards of total offense in a game. Troy has perhaps the fastest defense in the Sun Belt, so both QBs will need their wheels Tuesday night.
3. How much sting is there still from last year’s last-minute loss to Troy?
I think it still stings the older players, especially those returning starters on defense who allowed the two late TDs. I think a lot of Blue Raiders thought a trip to New Orleans was in hand until that late flurry. Going to the Motor City Bowl helped ease that pain a bit, but the frustration is still there. Usually these kind of things are overblown, but I think in this situation most players are still recalling the effects of that loss. I don’t think it will affect this game much, though. Any emotion will be spent in the first five minutes of the game. From there, it’s just another football game.
4. What areas of MTSU can Troy exploit?
Two things. Although Troy is not a run first team, MTSU has shown lately that it has a weakness to power running attacks. That may come in handy in short-yardage situations or around the goal line. Troy’s underneath passing attack should also be effective. MTSU’s secondary has an extreme focus on limiting big plays, and so underneath routes are sometimes open. With Troy’s athletic wideouts, YAC (yards after catch) could pile up.
5. What areas of Troy can MTSU exploit?
While Troy is fast defensively, MTSU has a knack of using that strength against some teams through over-pursuit and misdirection. MTSU’s best weapon may be the screen pass. DeMarco McNair and Desmond Gee have both broken screen passes for the team’s longest gains of the year.
6. Make a prediction
MTSU holds its own. The Blue Raiders have been a great road team under second-year coach Rick Stockstill, but Troy is still a better team. Troy 31, MTSU 23
Posted by Drew Champlin on 11/18 at 01:23 PM
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For your Saturday viewing pleasure
Drew Champlin
Some of our coverage in last year’s 21-20 win by Troy at Middle Tennessee. It’s a long blog entry, but I’m sure you guys want to read (again) how we covered it - with three stories and a column
Drew Champlin / Dothan Eagle - GAMER
November 26, 2006
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Omar Haugabook pointed to the sky and got ready to take the biggest snap of his life.
Fourth-and-17 at the Middle Tennessee 22, with Troy down 20-14. Fourth-and-17 because Haugabook took a sack with 27 seconds left for a loss of 11, forcing the Trojans to burn their last timeout.
Fourth-and-17, and he hit Smokey Hampton for a gain of 19. One play later, a 3-yard touchdown pass to Gary Banks.
A Greg Whibbs extra point later and a desperation Hail Mary pass by MTSU - ball game, a 21-20 win by the Trojans that will go down as one of the greatest in Troy’s history.
One more win over a winless Florida International team, and the Trojans are going to the New Orleans Bowl.
“It’s amazing,” Banks said. “I don’t believe there’s enough words in the dictionary to describe the feeling we have right now.”
It wasn’t supposed to happen this way for Middle Tennessee, the surprise of the league who had jumped out to a 6-0 conference record.
It probably shouldn’t have, after Haugabook was stuffed two drives prior on a fourth-and-short at the MTSU 3 with the Blue Raiders leading 20-7.
But the Trojans held on and took over with 3:33 left. Four plays later, Haugabook hit Hampton for a 19-yard touchdown pass. Whibbs’ extra point cut the lead to 20-14.
Whibbs then had the second-biggest kick of the ball game. His onside kick bounced off MTSU’s Clinton Corder and was eventually recovered by Troy’s Henry Chubb.
“It was a do-or-die situation,” Chubb said. “We had to get the ball back and give our offense a chance to score again.
“When I saw the ball, winning was all that was on my mind.”
With 2:19 left, Troy took over on the MTSU 42 and scored the touchdown that kept their season alive.
Brannon Condren broke up a last-ditch Hail Mary pass from MTSU backup quarterback Joe Craddock and the celebration was on - just minutes after chants of “Troy sucks” and “Goalposts” came from the MTSU student section, situated behind the Troy bench.
This was when the Blue Raiders held a 20-7 lead as the game wound down. No doubt the students were ready to storm the field and pull down the goal posts in celebration.
“Maybe we should have pulled it down,” Troy defensive end Shawn Todd said.
MTSU finished the regular season with a 7-5 record under first-year head coach Rick Stockstill, though the Blue Raiders can hold out hope for an at-large bowl berth or a Troy loss next week.
“We are disappointed,” Stockstill said. “It was a heart-breaking, gut-wrenching loss.”
Troy’s Haugabook hit 30-of-40 passes for 235 yards and two scores. Hampton caught seven passes for 104 yards. Kenny Cattouse led the ground game with 83 yards on 18 carries.
The Trojans held Eugene Gross, a probable first team all-conference selection, to 13 yards on 17 carries.
Troy plays at FIU next Saturday at 6 p.m. With a win, the Trojans would tie MTSU with a 6-1 conference record and would go to the New Orleans Bowl by the head-to-head tiebreaker.
Troy Football: Hampton comes up big (SIDEBAR)
Drew Champlin / Dothan Eagle
November 26, 2006
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - It hasn’t been a dream senior season for Smokey Hampton.
But Saturday night was a dream for Hampton, who had the game of his life.
Hampton caught seven passes for 104 yards and a score, but his 19-yard reception on 4th-and-17 from the Middle Tennessee 22 set up the game-winning score in Troy’s 21-20 win over MTSU.
Troy’s leading receiver last year, Hampton was only fourth on the squad this year with 17 catches for 199 yards. He had lost his starting spot midway through the season.
“It hasn’t been a great year for me,” Hampton said. “I haven’t had the year everybody expected me to have.
“I have a chance to play at the next level and I didn’t have the year I was supposed to have.”
But Hampton had the game Troy needed Saturday. His 19-yard touchdown catch was set up by a 19-yard reception.
“Thank God we didn’t give up on Smokey,” offensive coordinator Tony Franklin said. “He responded and we’re proud of him.”
It was Franklin who had a gut feeling this week that Hampton would have a big game. The two had a long conversation this week, as Franklin did with all of his receivers, about what this game meant.
“I knew he could make the plays,” Franklin said. “He proved me right. I’m so happy for him.”
Hampton went over the 1,000-yard mark in his career with a 14-yard reception early in the game. The last two weeks, it was sophomore Mykeal Terry who stepped up. For the whole season, it’s been Gary Banks.
Saturday, it was Hampton.
“Smokey had a hell of a practice (this week),” quarterback Omar Haugabook said. “His best practice of the year, and he showed it today.”
Haugabook, who said the 4th-and-17 defensive formation “looked like it was drawn up in the sand” and he “could have ran for the first down” saw Hampton cut in, then briefly out and back in before putting it right over his shoulder.
“He made a hell of a catch,” Haugabook said. “I knew he was holding on to it.”
Hampton took a shot on the play from a Blue Raider defender but wasn’t about to let go of the ball.
“I felt like their whole team was around me,” Hampton said. “I just had to block it out.”
Then, Hampton went off the field and watched his teammate Banks score the game-winner.
“All this week, I thought about playing for my team and getting us to the New Orleans Bowl,” Hampton said.
Troy football: Whibbs kicks the winner (NOTES)
Drew Champlin /
November 26, 2006
MURFREESBORO, Tenn., - It was like any other kick. An extra point.
But it turned out to be the biggest kick of Greg Whibbs’ life.
Whibbs, a junior kicker, hadn’t always been automatic leading into the kick (7-of-14 FG, 27-of-29 XP), and had a kick blocked earlier in the game.
But after Gary Banks scored a touchdown with 14 seconds left, Whibbs lined up and toed the kick after holder Jason Wright got the snap from Zach Yenser.
“I knew I had an opportunity to win the game,” Whibbs said. “I just took a deep breath and made sure I got it up because I had been kicking it low.”
“I’ve kicked 100 of them in my career. It was just like every other one of them.”
Earlier, Whibbs had kicked the onside kick that Troy’s Henry Chubb recovered, setting up the game-winning touchdown.
“They had a lot more people on the front line than you’d normally see in that type formation,” Chubb said. I hoped to get it behind them and let our speed get to it and it took a lucky bounce.”
It was a little bit of atonement from missing an extra point last week against Arkansas State and missing a field goal in overtime last year at UL-Lafayette.
“People will remember you for the last kick, whether you make or miss,” Whibbs said. “If you make one, you’re great, if you miss, you’re not. That’s part of being a kicker.”
Cain gets first start: Senior defensive tackle David Can got his first career start at defensive tackle, moving past junior Marcus Pittman and sophomore Steve McClendon on the depth chart.
Review hurts Troy: Late in the second quarter, Troy’s Shawn Todd hit MTSU quarterback Clint Marks and the ball came out. Troy recovered at the MTSU 4, but the play was reviewed and overturned in MTSU’s favor, as Marks’ arm went forward.
However, Troy did force a punt on the next play.
Milestone: Smokey Hampton’s first catch, a 14-yarder, gave him more than 1,000 yards for his career. Hampton finished with a season-best seven catches for 104 yards.
Keep on’ sackin: MTSU entered the game with 29 sacks, a school record and a No. 21 national ranking.
The Blue Raiders sacked Troy quarterback Omar Haugabook four times, with Erik Walden being credited with two and a half.
Captains: Troy captains were linebacker Ryan Babb, center Zach Yenser, defensive tackle Frankie Lloyd and wide receiver Gary Banks.
Column: Hard work pays off for Troy
Jon Johnson / Eagle Sports Editor
November 26, 2006
MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - Where to start in one of the most amazing finishes I’ve ever witnessed in the years I’ve covered college football.
Troy was down and out. For goodness sakes, Middle Tennessee students were hanging on the rails and preparing to run onto the field and presumably tear down a goal post or two.
The Blue Raiders led 20-7 with under three minutes to play.
It was over, we thought.
Then Omar Haugabook connected with Smokey Hampton on a 19-yard touchdown strike.
Then Troy recovered an onsides kick at the Middle Tennessee 42.
Then Troy faced a fourth-and-17 play at the 22 with just 27 seconds left and a timeout on the field.
Then Haugabook threw the ball down the middle of the field and Smokey Hampton made a spectacular catch in traffic at the 3 for a first down.
Then Haugabook threw and Gary Banks caught it in the end zone.
Then everyone held their breath as Greg Whibbs lined to kick the extra point.
Then Whibbs, who had a field goal attempt blocked on the first drive of the game, nailed the extra point off the hold of Jason Wright.
Then you could hear a pin drop among the Middle Tennessee student section.
Oh, but you could hear some foot-stomping, raucous yelling going on down in the opposite corner of the field as the Trojans supporters who made the trip went a little crazy.
Then, after a kickoff return of 34 yards followed by a last-ditch effort long bomb being knocked to the ground by Brannon Condren, the Trojans could continue the party.
They could celebrate one of the greatest wins in the storied history of the school’s football program.
They could celebrate because if a win follows next week at Florida International, they will secure a share of the Sun Belt Conference championship with Middle Tennessee.
But only one Sun Belt Conference team will get an invite to the New Orleans Bowl, and that will be Troy if it takes care of business in south Florida.
So how did all of this possibly transpire?
Because the Troy players believed it could happen. And that’s because coach Larry Blakeney and his staff instill such confidence.
“To be there at the end and show your character, it shows how they’ve been coached,” a jubilant Troy athletics director Steve Dennis said. “This is a moment in time for Troy, and we hope to have many more like it.”
As I prepared to write this column earlier in the day, I glanced back at a year-old column which was still saved on my computer concerning a season-ending 17-7 Troy loss to Middle Tennessee.
On that day, I wrote such words as whimper in describing Troy’s effort which concluded the 2005 season at 4-7.
On this day, words such as champions, character and heart come to mind to describe the 2006 team. The work began shortly after last season’s end. There was no wilting this time.
“These kids have worked so hard to get to this point,” said Richard Shaughnessy, the strength and conditioning coach who pushes them to the limit.
“What I’m going to do is keep working them in the weight room three days a week. I can’t say enough about how hard our players and coaches work.”
Such leads to rich rewards.
Posted by Drew Champlin on 11/17 at 10:40 AM
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