The SMSU athletic department announced future Out-of-Conference matchups and future home and home series'. Of those matchups announced, all 4 2018 Out-of-Conference games were announced.
In 2018, the SMSU Kodiaks will play road games at Vanderbilt and Virginia Tech. They will play home games against Cincinnati and Temple.
Now let's breakdown all of the home and home series that were announced.
The Kodiaks' game vs. Virginia Tech will be the first game of a home and home series with the Hokies. The first game will be played in Blacksburg next season. The Hokies will travel to Gatlinburg in the fall of 2020.
Starting in 2019, SMSU and Tennessee will begin playing each other on a yearly basis. The game in 2019 will be played in Gatlinburg.
Vanderbilt and SMSU agreed to a home and home series prior to the start of the 2016 season. So, in 2016, Vanderbilt came to Gatlinburg to play SMSU. So, in 2018 SMSU will travel to Nashville to take on Vanderbilt.
SMSU and Oklahoma agreed to a home and home series beginning in 2020. The first game will take place in 2020, the second game will take place in 2021.
Finally, SMSU and Ohio State agreed to a home and home series beginning in 2022. SMSU will play at Ohio State in 2022, then Ohio State will travel down to Gatlinburg to play SMSU in 2023.
These are some HUGE matchups for the up-and-coming Kodiak football program. The SMSU athletic department must really like where this program is headed if they're scheduling home and home series with some of the elite programs in College Football.
It will be interesting to see where SMSU football is in a few years when the majority of these home and home series will begin to take place.
Steve Porter TD vs. GSU.jpg Freshman Steve Porter celebrates after opening the game off with a 47 yard TD catch. Porter had a huge game catching 6 passes for 123 yards with 2 TD's.
This year vs. Georgia State, revenge was on our minds.
Week 10 of the 2016 season, we played at Georgia State. We held the lead for most of the game, but two quick GSU TD's late tied the game and sent us into overtime.
The Panthers eventually came out on top, as they won 44-38 in 3 OT's.
So not only did we seek revenge, but we wanted to start off Sun Belt Conference play with a perfect 2-0 record. And it sure would be nice to have a solid win in front of the 6 elite recruits who are visiting for the game.
Just like last week, we struck early. On just our 3rd play of the opening drive, we scored. Tony Amos fired a 47 yard pass deep down the right sideline to Freshman Steve Porter. Amos' pass hit Porter right in the hands, as Porter got behind the Panther secondary. We were 23 seconds in to the game and already had a 7-0 lead.
Georgia State responded on their first drive with a TD of their own. Panther QB, Conner Manning, threw a 15 yard bullet to slot receiver, Bryson Duckworth, who found himself open in the middle of the field. Duckworth caught the ball at the 4 yard line and then was tackled forward into the end zone. The game was tied at 7 a piece.
But, that was the last time the Panthers would score a point as our defense absolutely took over the game.
We ended up punting on our ensuing possession. Then, just 3 plays into Georgia State's next possession, we forced our first turnover of the game. Manning dropped back to pass, but was sacked by LE Matt Chase. Manning fumbled the ball and Freshman DT Travis Royal scooped it up. 23 seconds later we were in the end zone as Norris Blalock scored on a 1 yard run, right through the heart of the Panther defense.
Heading into the 2nd Quarter, we were up 14-7... And it would only get worse from here.
Our 2nd forced turnover set up our next TD. This time, Manning dropped back to pass, fired a ball deep down the right sideline, but our #1 CB Jamaal Jenkins picked off the pass. The receiver ran a vertical route and Jenkins blanketed him every step of the way.
With 3:26 left in the half, we scored once again. Tony Amos fired an 11 yard bullet over the middle of the field to Redshirt Freshman Terrence Cole. Cole was running a vertical route as it looked like the GSU defense didn't have the middle of the field covered very well... And they didn't. It was an easy pitch and catch for Amos and Cole. That score extended our lead to 21-7.
After GSU's next drive stalled they punted and we took advantage by scoring another TD. With 1:17 left in the half, we got on the board again thanks to a 2 yard run by Senior HB Tauren Peters.
On the very first play of GSU's ensuing possession, we forced our 3rd turnover of the half. The Panthers were trying to run the clock out and get to half time. They ran an option which brought RB Glenn Smith to the outside. Slot Corner, David Haynes, absolutely trucked Smith and he fumbled the ball. Haynes recovered the ball and was tackled immediately.
But, we were set up with great field position.
4 plays later, we were in the end zone once again... But it didn't come without some drama.
2 plays into the drive, Tony Amos avoided a sack and scrambled out of the pocket. Just before going out of bounds he took a big hit and would leave the game with a mild concussion. He would not return.
So, our True Freshman backup, Brandon Lewis, would take over for the rest of the game. And honestly, I was quite impressed with the poise and decision making of Lewis. For a True Freshman, he really played well.
Lewis capped off our short drive with a beautifully placed jump ball in the back of the end zone to fellow True Freshman WR Steve Porter.
Heading into halftime, we were up 35-7.
On Georgia State's first drive of the 2nd half, we forced our 4th turnover of the game. This time, Conner Manning decided he wanted to test our #2 CB, Jason Durbin, deep down the left side line. But again, Manning just didn't put enough into the pass, and Durbin was blanketing the receiver. Durbin made a leaping INT and once again, we had great field position to start our drive.
However, our drive stalled and we settled for a 43 yard FG. The FG increased our lead to 38-7.
I'm not even joking. The very first play of GSU's next drive, we forced ANOTHER turnover. GSU QB Conner Manning decided to throw the ball over the middle of the field now. But, another under thrown ball went straight into the hands of SS Kris Fordinal. That was GSU's 5th turnover of the game and we were set up with great field position again.
1 minute didn't even go off the clock in between scores. With 2:25 left in the 3rd Quarter, Brandon Lewis found our #1 WR Nick Brewer open off of the slant route. The TD covered 3 yards and we extended our lead to 45-7.
In the 4th Quarter we tacked on 10 more points and forced 1 final turnover. We scored on a 12 yard run by Senior HB Tauren Peters and on a 25 yard FG by K Tyler Livingston. The turnover was forced on GSU's first drive of the 4th Quarter as FS Jorge Flanagan jumped the slant route and picked the pass off. It was our 1st team defense's last drive of the game and they went out with a bang.
Thanks to our defense forcing 6 turnovers, we easily got our revenge on Georgia State, winning by a final score of 55-7.
After the game, a recruit came up to me and said, "Coach, I love it here. I love your staff, the play style, the atmosphere, and I think you have the program heading in the right direction. I want to play football here at SMSU."
It took a while, but we finally got our first commit of the 2018 Signing Class.
Isaac Hollis is a 6'4, 280 lbs. Defensive Tackle from Oxford High School in Oxford, AL. Hollis is rated as the #28 DT in the country and the #404 overall player in the country. He is also rated as the #22 player in the state of Alabama.
Hollis falls under the new category on 247 which we call a "Gem Prospect". Basically, that means that we feel the prospect is much better than his Composite Rating suggests. And we feel like Hollis is severely underrated in the Composite.
All you have to do is just look at the teams interested in him to know that he is much better than his Composite rating suggests.
Hollis didn't have any other offers at this time, but here were the other schools with interest in him: USC, Florida State, Clemson, LSU, Stanford, Texas A&M, Auburn, and Alabama.
That is one amazing list and for the SMSU staff to get him to commit, despite some interest from those prestigious schools, is nothing short of remarkable.
Now, Hollis is considered a Pass Rushing DT. And here are the areas of his game that are considered to be his strengths: 82 Play Recognition, 81 Strength, 80 Pursuit, 80 Tackle, 79 Power Move, 79 Finesse Move, 79 Acceleration, 68 Speed.
There is no other way to word it. This was an absolute game changer for the SMSU Defensive Line. Hollis is definitely the most talented High School DT that has ever committed to the Kodiaks' and there's a good chance that he'll be in the two deep next season as a True Freshman.
Steven McDaniel TD.jpg Steven McDaniel makes a spectacular, diving TD catch as time expires in the 2nd Quarter.
Our guys have been playing some great football over the past few weeks.
During our two wins over Sun Belt Conference rivals, we have outscored them 104-21. And this UL-Monroe Warhawks team is worse than both Troy and Georgia State. So, we were feeling really confident going into this game.
That confidence definitely showed in the 1st Quarter of this game as we jumped out to a huge, early lead.
After UL-Monroe's drive stalled after 2 first downs, we quickly capitalized with a TD. Tony Amos kicked off the scoring on a beautiful 6 yard TD pass to #1 WR, Nick Brewer. The Warhawk corner covering Brewer was playing press coverage. Brewer easily made a quick move to the inside and was wide open in the end zone as he had a good 2-3 steps on the UL-Monroe corner.
On the first play of UL-Monroe's ensuing possession, Senior LB Atari McLaurin jumped the pass intended for the Tight End, and ran the ball 20 yards for the Pick Six. It was the first Defensive TD of the season for us and the first TD of McLaurin's career. In 17 seconds, we scored 14 points to take an early 14-0 lead.
Once again, on the first play of UL-Monroe's next possession, QB Garrett Smith's pass was picked off by SMSU's top corner, Jamaal Jenkins. There were two Warhawk receivers in the area that Smith threw the ball to. Jenkins literally slid right between both receivers and made a nice leaping grab on the INT.
That set us up with great field position on the 14 yard line. After a 13 yard run by HB Norris Blalock, we were set up on the 1 yard line. Tony Amos then scored on a Read Option keeper from 1 yard out. So within one minute, we scored 21 points.
We scored once more in the 1st Quarter, as HB Norris Blalock scored from 5 yards out on a very impressive run. Blalock received the ball on the HB Counter and was immediately hit in the backfield. However, he bounced off the would-be tackle, made a cut back towards the middle of the field and then dove forward into the end zone. What should have been a 4 yard loss, turned into a 5 yard TD run.
Heading into the 2nd Quarter, we had a 28-0 lead.
We scored first in the 2nd Quarter as Kicker Tyler Livingston just barely made a 48 yard FG as he had to kick into the wind. We now held a 31-0 lead on the road.
The Warhawks finally responded on their ensuing possession as QB Garrett Smith threw a beautiful touch pass to #1 receiver, R.J. Turner in the back right corner of the end zone. The Warhawks' first TD covered 24 yards and the score was now 31-7 with 50 seconds left in the half.
We received the ball and after a couple solid gains through the air, we found ourselves at the 36 yard line with 3 seconds left in the half. We figured, might as well try a Hail Mary.
Well, this is where UL-Monroe f***** up.
They played press coverage on our receivers again. I'm not even joking when I say all 3 of our receivers on the field were faster than the 3 corners they were lined up against. Tony Amos literally could have thrown the ball to any of the receivers because they all had at least 2 steps on the corner covering them.
However, slot receiver Steven McDaniel had the most space in between him and the corner. Tony delivered an decent deep ball, but he led McDaniel a little too much. That didn't matter though. Because McDaniel laid out in the end zone to make a spectacular diving catch as time expired in the first half.
We were now up 38-7 going into the locker rooms at halftime
We picked up right where we left off as Norris Blalock scored on our opening possession of the 3rd Quarter on a 6 yard TD run. This time he just followed his blocks and ran those 6 yards untouched.
UL Monroe responded on a 3 yard TD run by 3rd string HB Thomas Koufie. The 3 yard TD was Koufie's only touch of the game. In fact, it was the only snap he played all game. His TD cut the lead to 45-14.
However, we scored once more in the 3rd Quarter as Tony Amos again kept the Read Option, and scored on a 3 yard TD run. Just like Blalock 3 minutes before him, Amos also ran untouched into the end zone.
After Amos' 4th total TD of the game, we had a 52-14 lead heading into the 4th Quarter.
But, that is what the final score of the game would be as neither team scored in the 4th Quarter.
Following the game, we learned that Tony Amos won Sun Belt Conference Offensive Player of the Week and Sophomore MLB Scott Thompson won Sun Belt Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Amos finished 15/23 for 300 passing yards and 2 TD's. Amos added 17 rushing yards and 2 rushing TD's. Scott Thompson finished with 9 Tackles, 2 Sacks, and 2 TFL.
This was the first time in our program's history we had players take home both the Conference's Offensive and Defensive Players of the Week Award, in the same week.
We were on a roll. We had won 3 in a row in dominating fashion, had players win Offensive and Defensive Player of the Week Awards, and then we even picked up a commit following our victory.
Nick Brewer TD.jpg Nick Brewer hauls in this 6 yard TD catch in the 1st Quarter.
Atari McLaurin INT.jpg Senior LB Atari McLaurin intercepts this pass and would take it 20 yards to the house for his first career Pick Six.
Jamaal Jenkins INT.jpg Sophomore CB Jamaal Jenkins splits two UL-Monroe receivers to intercept this pass in the 1st Quarter.
08-13-2017, 12:36 AM
