Kentucky Wildcats

‘Tail of the Tape’ – BCU at CCU – 2013 FCS 1st round

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Credits BCU Athletics Instagram

Credits BCU Athletics Instagram

Coastal Carolina

2013 Record: 10-2, 4-1
Coach: Joe Moglia

Big Wins: 9/7 Furman (35-28), 9/14 at Eastern Kentucky (51-32)
Bad Losses: 11/9 at Charleston Southern (26-31), 11/23 at South Carolina (10-70)

Strengths:
Coastal Carolina is paced on offense by stud running back Lorenzo Taliaferro.  The Walter Payton Award Finalist has gained just under 1,500 rushing this season while accounting for 23 touchdowns on the ground.    As a unit, the Coastal ground attack averages 283 yards per contest and ranks 3rd nationally in that department.

Quarterback Alex Ross may not be as elusive as last year’s signal caller Aramis Hillary but he seems to be more accurate delivering the ball.  Add in the formidable pass catching trio of Matt Hazel, Niccolo Mastromatteo, and DeMario Bennett and it is easy to see why the Chants are 3rd in the nation in scoring offense averaging just over 42 points per game.
Weaknesses:
Coastal’s defense has been less than stellar (at least statistically) for the duration of the season.  CCU’s defense is allowing 435 yards per game to opponents including 210 yards on the ground.  What’s difficult to determine is whether or not Coastal’s defensive statistics are an accurate reflection of the unit’s overall talent level or merely a consequence of their opponents having more opportunities considering the frequency at which the Chant offense scores.

Statistical Leaders:
Rushing: Lorenzo Taliaferro, RB, 1,487 yards
Passing: Alex Ross, QB, 2,450 yards
Receiving: Matt Hazel, WR, 817 yards
Tackles: Quinn Backus, LB, 111
Sacks: Colton Blackburn, LB, 3.0; Roderick Holder, DE, 3.0
Interceptions: Quinn Backus, LB, 3; Johnnie Houston, DB, 3

2013 Team Stats:
Rushing Offense: 283.9 (3rd in nation, 1st in conference)
Passing Offense: 228.6 (47, 3)
Total Offense: 512.5 (8, 1)
Scoring Offense: 45.5 (3, 1)
Rushing Defense: 198.2 (88, 4)
Pass Defense: 219.8 (61, 5)
Total Defense: 418.0 (83, 4)
Scoring Defense: 25.5 (57, 4)
Turnover Margin: 0.7 (17, 3)
Sacks: 1.55 (94, 4)
Sacks Allowed: 1.36 (30, 4)

Bethune-Cookman

2013 Record: 10-2, 7-1
Coach: Brian Jenkins

Big Wins: 9/1 at Tennessee State (12-9), 9/14 Florida International (34-13), 10/26 South Carolina State (14-3)
Bad Losses: 9/21 at Florida State (6-54), 11/9 Norfolk State (24-27)

Strengths:
The Wildcats get things done through the efforts of a dominating defense and a physical running game. Only Florida State scored more than 27 points on the Wildcat defense this season. BCU has held their opponents to 10 points or fewer in seven of their 12 games.  Defensive ends LeBrandon Richardson and Dyron Dye are strong against the run and pass. Linebacker Jarkevis Fields is a tackling machine and defensive backs Nick Addison and Tim Burke are ball-hawks.

The Wildcats rank in the top ten nationally in total defense, scoring defense, and rushing offense.  Isidore Jackson is the team’s top rusher.  Cary White and Anthony Jordan are more physical, downhill runners who both see a ton of action and quarterbacks Quentin Williams and Jackie Wilson are also capable of making plays with their feet.

Weaknesses:
BCU is the most heavily penalized team in the country averaging 10.50 penalties per contest.  Possessions and hidden yards are precious in postseason play meaning the Wildcats will need to find a way to limit un-timely penalties while still maintaining their aggressive style of play if they are to move on in the tournament.

Bethune’s passing game has all of the pieces needed to be successful but the air attack has sputtered at times this season.  BCU quarterbacks have thrown more interceptions (12) than touchdowns (9) this year and the Wildcats have finished four games with less than 100 yards gained through the air. Ironically, BCU is 4-0 in games in which they pass for under 100 yards.

Statistical Leaders:
Rushing: Isidore Jackson, RB, 793 yards
Passing: Quentin Williams, QB, 1,068 yards
Receiving: Eddie Poole, WR, 562 yards
Tackles: Jarkevis Fields, LB, 94
Sacks: Dyron Dye, DL, 6.0
Interceptions: Nick Addison, DB, 5

2013 Team Stats:
Rushing Offense: 255.4 (8th in nation, 1st in conference)
Passing Offense: 144.4 (113, 9)
Total Offense: 399.7 (52, 1)
Scoring Offense: 30.2 (39, 2)
Rushing Defense: 99.4 (8, 3)
Pass Defense: 151.5 (3, 2)
Total Defense: 250.8 (2, 2)
Scoring Defense: 15.7 (4, 2)
Turnover Margin: 0.4 (34, 2)
Sacks: 2.36 (35, 4)
Sacks Allowed: 2.55 (84, 7)

Tampa Jefferson retires Quentin Williams’ number 3 jersey

/ J Bell / 1 Comment
BCU QB Quentin Williams

BCU QB Quentin Williams

Nobody had a season like quarterback Quentin Williams did in 2010.

Nobody broke records like Williams did when he helped lead the Jefferson Dragons to the school’s first state championship.

And now nobody will wear Williams number again.

The team retired Williams’ No. 3 jersey during a ceremony at the Dragons end of the season banquet this past Saturday.

During his senior season, Williams set new state records for season passing touchdowns (56), passing yardage (4,451), as well as career touchdown passes (109). He also broke Tim Tebow’s career passing yardage record. Williams ended up with 10,384.

The Dragons defeated Miami Norland 44-34 for the Class 3A title. The victory capped off a spectacular season for Williams, who went onto Bethune Cookman.

Last season for the Wildcats, Williams played in 10 games and threw for 1,173 yards and 11 touchdowns. He also rushed for 635 yards and three touchdowns.

Full Story: BayNews9 Sports

Wildcats remain perfect in MEAC with 21-16 Florida Classic victory

/ J Bell / 1 Comment

2012 MEAC and Fla Classic Champs

ORLAND, Fla. – Bethune-Cookman held off a late charge from Florida A&M to secure its second straight victory in the Florida Blue Florida Classic. The Wildcats, who are headed to the FCS playoffs,  have now won 7 consecutive games and 13 straight in MEAC play. 

Quentin Williams threw for 120 yards and one touchdown on 12-18 passing.  Williams also rushed for 86 yards including a 51 yard scamper in the first quarter which helped setup Bethune’s first score of the afternoon. 

After trailing 10-7 at halftime, BCU scored on a 34-yard Isidore Jackson touchdown run with 3:13 remaining in the third quarter.  Jackson ended the afternoon with 77 yards rushing leaving him just 8 yards shy of reaching 1,000 on the season. Andronicus Lovette added a 1-yard rushing score with 11:30 left to push BCU’s lead to 21-10.

Florida A&M made a contest of it after Damien Fleming eluded a certain sack and connected with Dewayne Harvey for a 37-yard score to cut the lead to 5 (21-16) with 8:04 remaining.

Fleming had a final opportunity to work his magic when the Rattlers took over possession on their own 47 with 3:49 left in the contest.  However, it was the BCU defense that made the game defining play.  On 2nd down and 17, Harold Love III chased down Fleming forcing a fumble with 1:17 seconds left in game.  Tevin Toney recovered the fumble and raced 47 yards for an apparent BCU touchdown but the officials (who did not have a particularly great day at the office) initially ruled that the runner was down on the play but reversed the call after a booth review.  The touchdown did not stand, but BCU was able to take over possession and run out the clock.

Jarkevis Fields, who stated that he had quite a few family and friends in the house screaming go #1 and Go Wildcats, led the Wildcats with 11 tackles including 2 for loss.

The playoff bound Wildcats will now await word on their next opponent.  The FCS playoff field of 20 will be revealed Sunday afternoon at 1:30 p.m. on the ESPN family of networks.

Wildcats fall to Tenn State 21-14

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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

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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.