The Career of J.D. Clark (NCAA 14)

[Hellisan]

Denton, TX - In their first game under Coach J.D. Clark, the Idaho Vandals secured the early momentum with a pair of touchdowns and then weathered the storm the rest of the way to come away with a 37-34 victory.

The play calling worked to perfection on the first two drives as Idaho systematically moved the ball down the field and scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, sandwiched around a North Texas punt.

Signaling the game wouldn’t’ be easy, North Texas responded with a 6 play, 74 yard drive that took just 40 seconds as Reggie Pegram followed perfect blocking around the left for a 31-yard touchdown.

Quarterback Chad Chalich was cool-headed throughout the game and made nary as mistake in this one. He responded by floating a 21-yard touchdown pass over blown coverage to give the Vandals a 21-7 lead. Chalich gave the Mean Green trouble all day with his quick feet and good decision making. He ran the read option about five times in the game and was successful in making the right play four times. Chalich ended up with 9 carries for 75 yards, and went 17-25 through the air with 243 yards and 2 touchdown passes.

North Texas was fully untracked by this time and Brock Berglund put the team on his back on the following drive, rushing four times including gains of 20 yards and a 16-yard touchdown run to pull North Texas right back into the fight.

Freshman kicker Austin Rehkow’s howitzer leg was useful in maintaining the lead through the half, as Rehkow the Toe hit a 56-yard field goal, and followed it up with a 55-yarder just before the half; but not before North Texas scored yet another touchdown. They would enter the half trailing by a score of 27-21.

North Texas opened the second half with a methodical drive that resulted in a 4-yard touchdown run by Pegram. Middle linebacker James Randall was trucked on the play, prompting Clark to sub in sophomore Broc Westlake, who fared better than the other middle linebackers at picking through traffic and shedding blocks.

“For a while there our defense was just embarrassing,” noted Clark after the game. “We played much better in the second half.”

Following the second-half opening touchdown, Idaho held North Texas to a pair of field goals the rest of the way as they were able to make some key stops when it counted. The Vandals gave up 376 yards of total offense. Not ideal, but not atrocious.

The Vandals needed points to secure the win and were able to put together a 7 play, 61 yard drive opening up the fourth quarter. After a pair of runs, Chalich faked a handoff as Dezmon Epps made a hard cut to the corner of the end zone. Epps lost his man and Chalich was right on the money

After forcing a field goal with 2:46 to go, they were able to pick up a key first down on a Chalich scramble and run out the clock.

[kswgrad2012]

Glad to see you got the win. Gotta get those rushing numbers up though. 216 rushing? Let's go, lol.

I like your balance on offense. In my dynasty I usually average 40-50 runs & 10-20 passes myself. Are you building a run-heavy attack?

[Hellisan]

[LopaKa]

With a team like this you don't really know beforehand how long it will take to get that first win, so nice job doing it in your first attempt!!

[Matt10]

Love this, Helli. Great layout, man! Berglund was 21/28 ? Dang!

[Hellisan]

Moscow, ID – In an interview with ESPN 1400, Coach Clark and offensive coordinator Derek Frazier answered questions about the first game and the offense in general. They talked about where the offense was in the first game, where it will likely be henceforth, and where they would like to see it go in the future.

ESPN 1400: That couldn’t have gone much better, could it?

Clark: Absolutely not. We are very pleased.

ESPN 1400: Chad Chalich looked well prepared and poised in his first game, considering it was on the road. Talk about his strengths and weaknesses and his role in the offense at this time.

Frazier: He’s a smart kid with good athleticism. He can quickly get up to speed and he’s fast. Not a great arm. Not a kid you’re going to be dropping back 7 steps and throwing the ball 50 yards down the field very often. That’s one way you will see our offense change in the future is we like to throw the ball deep a couple of times a game. Not that Chalich can’t do that, but his strength is in quick reads. He’s intelligent for a freshman. He’s already running a lot of the offense.

ESPN 1400: Coach, what is the goal for Chad going into each game? James Baker works the middle of the field for a nice gain

Clark: Take care of the football, that’s number one. Make plays with his legs when he has to a few times a game, just to keep the defense honest. Don’t audible out of our calls unless that’s something we have setup in advance. Be a leader for his teammates. Bring stability to the position. We’re not looking for big stats. We’re looking for him to complete 60% of his passes or better, and to either tuck it and run or take the occasional sack, or better yet throw it away if he can get outside the pocket when things don’t look right. Shorten the game by not making the huge mistake and keeping the chains moving. Keeping his composure is essential.

ESPN 1400: How would you classify this system?

Clark: It’s a west coast hybrid offense. We have a huge playbook but right now it’s really dialed back. For now you will see a lot of dinking and dunking, a lot of handoffs. We’re going to rely heavily on #1 (Dezmon Epps) to catch a lion’s share of the passes we throw because he’s good at getting open and knows what to do with it. We’d like to find a fullback that can catch and you’ll see us throw the ball to the fullback on play action, even run screens to him, and then we’d like to have a halfback that can do some of those things as well.

ESPN 1400: What formations are the core of this offense, and what do you expect will be the run/pass percentages?

Frazier: Coach Clark and I will tweak the offense to suit our team on a year-in, year-out basis. What we want is to have a west coast offense with timing routes, quick passes, and utilizing every position on the field. We want recruits to know that they will be versed in NFL style offenses after they have played here for four years. With our ideal team that can attack in any way, we’d like to have a 50-50 run to pass spreading the ball around and having 8 to 10 players or more handle the ball every single week. With a young quarterback and limited receivers, you will see us do things a little differently. Our base formations include I-Form (Normal/Twin TE/Tight/Hulk/Slot/Twins), Singleback (Big/Bunch Base/Slot Wing/Twin TE Flex/Twin TE/Slot/Trips 4WR), and Shotgun (Normal HB Wk/Normal Y-Flex/Normal/Split Offset). We also have Weak I and Strong I Normal, a pair of Pistol formations, and Power I.

ESPN 1400: Thanks for your time.

Clark, Fraizer: Thank you.

Quote: Originally Posted by kswgrad2012

Glad to see you got the win. Gotta get those rushing numbers up though. 216 rushing? Let's go, lol. I like your balance on offense. In my dynasty I usually average 40-50 runs & 10-20 passes myself. Are you building a run-heavy attack?

I wouldn't call it run heavy, I'd call it "whatever matchups we like heavy." I won't run for as many yards as you. Tried to answer some questions about offense above.

Quote: Originally Posted by LopaKa

With a team like this you don't really know beforehand how long it will take to get that first win, so nice job doing it in your first attempt!!

yeah agreed, the last attempt is still fresh in my mind. And yet, you need that struggle to establish something real and worthwhile. I was happy to get that win.

Quote: Originally Posted by Matt10

Love this, Helli. Great layout, man! Berglund was 21/28 ? Dang!

Hey coming from the graphics master I'll take it. Thanks... Yeah, my settings are pretty offense friendly to the cpu and I do struggle to hold passers under 65-70% completions. I will never be confused with a graphic designer but I want something simple that gets out of the way and lets the photos and storyline take over.

[Hellisan]

[kswgrad2012]

Quote: Originally Posted by Hellisan

I wouldn't call it run heavy, I'd call it "whatever matchups we like heavy." I won't run for as many yards as you. Tried to answer some questions about offense above.

Cool with me. That Coach's Interview answered it all. Hope it works out for you. Chalich looks like he'll be a solid fit in the offense.

FYI, FB's can be absolute gold in this game. I seem to find a good one every year.