brock waters

Wildcats fall to Tenn State 21-14

/ J Bell / Leave a comment

Tennessee State running back Trabis Ward scored 2 first half rushing touchdowns and helped lead the Tigers to a 21-14 victory over Bethune-Cookman.  Ward (a product of Dillard High School in Ft Lauderdale) finished the afternoon with 154 yards rushing on 27 attempts. Daniel Fitzpatrick’s 2nd quarter 40 yard blocked field goal return stretched the TSU lead to 21-0 and proved to be the game winner.

Quentin Williams relieved an ineffective Brock Waters at quarterback with 2:09 left in the 2nd quarter and lead the Wildcats on their first scoring drive of the afternoon.  The drive covered 53 yards on 5 plays and ended with a spectacular 9 yard hookup between Williams and Preston Cleckley in the back of the endzone.  3 plays later, LeBrandon Richardson returned a Michael German lateral 44 yards to cut the TSU lead to 21-14 just before halftime.

But BCU’s hopes of overcoming their second 21-0 deficit of the season came up short this time. The Wildcats had several opportunities to draw even in the second half (including a drive that stalled after reaching the TSU 11 yard line) but failed to convert. “Hats off to Coach Rod Reed and Tennessee State” Coach Jenkins said.  “They beat us at every phase of the game and they kept us out of the endzone”.  “They just beat us and that’s the bottom line”.

BCU finished the contest with 196 yards rushing but only 91 yards passing.  The Wildcats fall to 2-2 on the season and will travel to Hampton, Virginia for a Saturday MEAC matchup with the HU Pirates.

Game Stats: http://www.bcuathletics.com/newLiveStats/Football/index.dbml?GAME_STAT_ID=692486&db_oem_id=23910

Week Three Wrap-Up

/ J Bell / Leave a comment

 

Photo courtesy of Yahoo Sports

The first quarter of the season is over and we find ourselves still trying to figure out just how good this team can be this year.  After stumbling out of the gates against both Alabama State and South Carolina State, the Wildcats struck first against Miami this past weekend but made far too many execution errors to give themselves any chance of pulling off an upset.

Moral Victories won’t do

It was obvious from the postgame interview that Coach Jenkins was not at all happy with his team’s performance.  In fact, Coach Jenkins’ responses and overall disposition were much more reflective of a coach who felt like his team ‘let one slip away’ as oppose to a coach whose undermanned team was within 14 points of the University of Miami with 9:00 left in the contest.  The worse part about Saturday’s contest wasn’t losing, I mean we are talking about “The U”.  They have much more overall talent, they can offer 22 more scholarships (FBS-85; FCS-63), and they had the best player on the field in running back Duke Johnson; but the volume of  dropped passes, missed assignments, poor tackling, untimely penalties and overall poor execution by Wildcat players was troubling.

The easy thing to do is to simply write this off as BCU playing against a better team and being forced into execution issues.  The problem with that logic is that BCU has not played a full 4 quarters of crisp football all season long.  And oh by the way, Tennessee State is the #1 ranked team in HBCU football and they come to town in a few days.  The Wildcats can ill-afford to go through any periods of lull or poor execution against the Big Blue Tigers if they hope to stay undefeated in FCS play.

Make the decision for the coach

Here’s the deal.  BCU has three talented quarterbacks who all offer something different.   I would give up pork for 3 weeks if one of the QBs elevates the consistency of his play, separates himself from the bunch and become the Wildcat’s sure-fire starting quarterback.  You can say that I am praying for the next Matt Johnson to arise from this bunch and to do so quickly. 

Jackie Wilson has the most in-game experience of the trio.  Wilson has started all three games this season and he has not done anything to warrant losing the starting nod.  Wilson had most of last season and the first three games of this year to claim sole ownership as THE quarterback; but like a year ago, he is again stuck in a rotating quarterback system.  Good things seem to happen whenever Brock Waters is on the field, but Waters is sometimes erratic with his throws.  Quentin Williams represented well in his first collegiate game action but the sampling is way too small to draw any real conclusions. 

Neither quarterback has played pooly, but consistency at the position is the difference between this team having a good season and making a legitimate playoff run.  Hopefully one of these three guys will have a tremendous week of practice and make the decision for the coach with his play.  

The only person that will be more excited than me if this happens is Coach Jenkins himself.  It will be the first time in a year and a half that he won’t be asked “who’s the starter at QB this week”.  That alone may be enough to allow him to finally crack a smile.

BCU rushes pass ‘Bama State

/ J Bell / Leave a comment

2012 MEAC/SWAC Challenge

Seventeen minutes into Sunday’s matchup against Alabama State, Bethune-Cookman fans were left gazing at the scoreboard and wondering if they would wind up on the wrong end of a one-sided MEAC/SWAC Challenge.

The Hornets opened the contest with a 12 play, 75 yard drive which ended with a 5 yard Greg Jenkins touchdown run.   ASU’s second and third scores were aided by a BCU fumble on a punt return and a missed field goal respectively.  With 13:45 remaining in the 2nd Quarter, ASU was defending a 21-0 lead and looking to run away with the contest. 

As dominant as ASU appeared over the first seventeen minutes, BCU was equally dominant over the final forty-three minutes of the contest.  Like ASU, BCU’s first scoring drive consumed 12 plays, 75 yards and ended with a rushing touchdown (Andronicus Lovette, 2 yards).  Sven Hurd added a 20 yard field goal just before halftime to bring the deficit to 21-10.

The Wildcat offense started to steamroll in the second half scoring touchdowns on their second (24 yd pass from Brock Waters to Jhomo Gordon), third (6 yd run by Waters), and fourth (47 yd pass from Waters to Eddie Poole) possessions after the half.  Both teams tacked on an additional touchdown before the final whistle.

Coach Brian Jenkins was quick to sing the praises of his squad.  “Alabama State is a championship caliber team; don’t let the score fool you”.  “We knew they had a high octane offense but there was no doubt in our mind that we would end up victorious.  You saw a team today that believes in the philosophy that we’re teaching (stay in the moment and play every play).  It’s just a tremendous thing to see the fight that our guys showed today”.

Thank God for the backup quarterback

Coach Jenkins revealed in his postgame interview that quarterback Jackie Wilson was unable to continue in Sunday’s contest because of conditioning/heat related issues.  Louisiana Tech transfer Brodrick Waters (who prefers to go by Brock) relieved Wilson midway through the 2nd quarter.  Waters inherited a 21-7 deficit, but led the Wildcats to 31 unanswered points.  Waters ended the afternoon with 100 yards rushing on 11 attempts (1 rushing td) and 6 of 9 passing for 110 yards with 2 touchdowns.  The second of Water’s TD passes was a beautiful 47 yard hookup on a post route to Eddie Poole on 3rd and 21.   The result of the play pushed BCU to a comfortable 31-21 lead.

Waters, who played with the message ‘RIP’— ‘TD 22’ written on his eye black, combined with Isidore Jackson (123 yards) and Rodney Scott (103, 1 td) to make BCU history as the first trio of rushers to eclipse the 100 yard rushing mark in the same game.  When asked about the significance of his Tebowesque eye black message, Waters explained that he was honoring his former La Tech teammate Tyrone Duplessis.  The 21-year old Duplessis died in his sleep in February of this year.  “He was someone that I looked up to” Waters stated.  “I decided to dedicate this game to him as well as my first touchdown.  They told me that I almost got one (touchdown) called back (for excessive celebration) because I showed some emotion towards him and that probably wasn’t the best thing to do”.

BCU finished the game with 383 yards rushing on 60 attempts for a 6.1 yard average.  Eddie Poole (102 yards, 1 td) eclipsed the 100 yard receiving mark on the afternoon and pushed his consecutive games with a catch streak to 24.  In total, the Wildcat offense racked 551 yards of offense.

Jarkevis Fields led the defensive charge with 10 tackles, 1 sack and 2 tackles for loss.  The Wildcat “D” held ASU running back Isaiah Crowell to 18 yards rushing on 9 attempts.  Crowell (formerly of the University of Georgia) is the 2011 SEC Offensive Freshmen of the Year recipient.

The Wildcats travel to Orangeburg next Saturday for an early season showdown with MEAC powerhouse South Carolina State.  Kickoff is scheduled for 6:00 P.M..

Team Stat Comparison

  ALST COOK
1st Downs 22 25
Total Yards 351 551
Passing 253 184
Rushing 98 367
Penalties 3-30 15-111
3rd Down Conversions 8-15 8-16
4th Down Conversions 0-1 1-1
Turnovers 2 1
Possession 25:05 34:55

Passing Leaders

 
Alabama State C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT
Jenkins 19/29 196 6.8 0 1
 
Bethune-Cookman C/ATT YDS AVG TD INT
Waters 6/9 110 12.2 2 0

Rushing Leaders

 
Alabama State CAR YDS AVG TD LG
Jenkins 15 39 2.6 2 17
Crowell 9 18 2.0 1 11
 
Bethune-Cookman CAR YDS AVG TD LG
Jackson 21 123 5.9 0 25
Scott 13 103 7.9 1 38

Receiving Leaders

 
Alabama State REC YDS AVG TD LG
McWilliams 6 89 14.8 1 39
Neely 5 64 12.8 0 34
 
Bethune-Cookman REC YDS AVG TD LG
Poole 3 102 34.0 1 54
Stroud 4 39 9.8 0 15

Qtr Time Scoring Play

1st 11:06 ALST – Jenkins, Greg 5 yd run (Wenzig, Bobby kick), 12-75 3:54 7 – 0
04:28 ALST – Crowell, Isaiah 2 yd run, 2-20 0:43 14 – 0
2nd 13:45 ALST – Jenkins, Greg 3 yd run (Wenzig, Bobby kick), 8-72 2:15 21 – 0
09:18 BCU -LOVETTE,Andronicus 2 yd run , 12-75 4:21 21 -7
00:01 BCU – HURD,Sven 20 yd field goal, 12-77 3:02 21 – 10
3rd 05:53 BCU – GORDON,Jhomo 24 yd pass from WATERS,Brodrick (HURD,Sven kick), 5-70 3:04 21 – 17
04:28 BCU – WATERS,Brodrick 6 yd run (HURD,Sven kick), 4-20 1:19 21 – 24
4th 10:39 BCU – POOLE,Eddie 47 yd pass from WATERS,Brodrick, 11-91 5:36 21 – 31
06:59 BCU – SCOTT,Rodney 38 yd run, 2-39 0:53 21 – 38
03:53 ALST – McWilliams, T.C 39 yd pass from Duhart, Daniel (Wenzig, Bobby kick), 9-79 2:59 28 – 38