Today's matchup is against the Albany Crows (3-11). Their record is atrocious, but don't let that fool you - they've got some good talent on that team. Most notable is the #1 overall pick in the 2009 draft, Norm Fisk. He's a green rookie who has been thrown into the fire, but he is developing and looks to be a franchise QB in a few years. Albany also picked a gem in the 3rd round this year in RB Archie Chasser, who is already over 1200 yards on the season. They have great talent on the O-line and some good players on defense. However, they've also had some pretty bad luck in the injury department, with their two best wideouts done for the year, two of their best O-linemen out, and their two top secondary players out. That's tough to overcome, especially with a rookie QB at the helm.
This situation would seem to favor Your Beloved Toros, but I'm always leery of games in which we're favored. We've also not had good luck against green QBs this season, so I fear a Santa Cruz-type situation all over again. We need a win here, though, to maintain our 1-game lead for best record in the conference (and thus homefield advantage). So we won't be holding back any starters here.
Code:
Box Score: Tucson at Albany (NY)
Albany (NY), NY.
Week 16, 2009
Attendance: 67,900 (75,000).
Weather: 19 degrees, snow.
1Q: 05:28 TUC - Anthony Torres 5 pass from Milan "Colonel" Hogan.
1Q: 05:28 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
2Q: 13:20 TUC - Drew Holliday 3 run.
2Q: 13:20 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
4Q: 09:05 TUC - Corwin Jeffries 2 pass from Milan "Colonel" Hogan.
4Q: 09:05 TUC - Rubin Castorena extra point.
4Q: 07:38 ALB - Archie Chasser 74 pass from Norm Fisk.
4Q: 07:38 ALB - Dexter Calvin extra point.
Game MVP: TUC 4 Milan "Colonel" Hogan
Tucson 7 7 0 7 - 21
Albany (NY) 0 0 0 7 - 7
Team Statistics TUC ALB
First Downs 17 11
Total Rushes 44 22
Rushing Yards 133 67
Yards Per Carry 3.0 3.0
Pass Attempts 27 28
Completions 20 12
Passing Yards 152 180
Yards Per Attempt 5.6 6.4
Sacked 0 1
Yards Lost 0 8
Interceptions 0 1
Fumbles/Lost 0/0 2/1
Total Plays 71 51
Total Yards 285 239
Yards Per Play 4.0 4.6
3rd Down Plays 10/19 2/11
Avg. YTG on 3rd 5.8 7.2
4th Down Plays 0/0 0/0
Penalties 2 3
Penalty Yards 10 30
Avg. Drive Start OWN 38 OWN 17
Time Of Possession 37:25 22:35
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
42 Holliday 30 98 3.2 25 1
26 Jeffries 13 37 2.8 10 0
4 Hogan 1 -2 -2.0 -2 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
4 Hogan 27 20 152 5.6 21 2 0 0
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
26 Jeffries 9 51 5.6 4 15 1
89 Armitage 4 43 10.7 3 16 0
82 Torres 3 21 7.0 12 9 1
80 Higginbotham 2 28 14.0 11 21 0
87 Sheehy 1 6 6.0 0 6 0
42 Holliday 1 3 3.0 3 3 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
22 Bradley 2 35 17.5 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 9 359 39.8 46 4
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
13 Castorena 0 0 0 3 3
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
93 King 5 4 0.0 0 0 0
40 Biggs 4 2 0.0 0 0 0
31 Enoch 4 1 0.0 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 3 4 0.5 0 0 0
72 Bernard 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
55 Trujillo 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
75 Grier 2 2 0.0 0 0 0
73 Smith 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
90 Jarrard 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
29 McCloskey 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
33 Mirer 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
74 Cochrane 1 0 0.5 0 0 0
25 Minahan 1 1 0.0 1 2 0
32 Hartung 1 1 0.0 0 0 0
26 Jeffries 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
85 Garcia 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
59 Buckley 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
45 Bennett 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
97 Horn 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
63 Pitman 0 0 0 0 4 0
59 Buckley 0 0 0 0 4 0
64 Connell 0 0 0 0 3 0
71 Franck 0 0 0 0 2 0
73 Smith 0 1 0 0 0 0
90 Jarrard 0 0 1 0 0 0
72 Bernard 0 1 0 0 0 0
Albany (NY) Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
31 Chasser 15 47 3.1 10 0
27 Spencer 6 15 2.5 8 0
1 Fisk 1 5 5.0 5 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
1 Fisk 28 12 180 6.4 74 1 1 1
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
82 Carnahan 3 30 10.0 0 13 0
31 Chasser 3 93 31.0 89 74 1
36 Moss 2 7 3.5 2 5 0
80 Hutchens 2 22 11.0 0 15 0
84 Burks 2 28 14.0 4 19 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
48 Clayton 1 15 15.0 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
84 Burks 3 40 13.3 0
48 Clayton 1 13 13.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
10 Gohn 8 300 37.5 42 1
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
17 Calvin 0 1 0 1 1
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
54 Bryan 8 5 0.0 0 0 0
91 Aguilar 7 4 0.0 0 0 0
94 Hinson 6 1 0.0 0 0 0
70 Gunn 6 1 0.0 0 0 0
50 Mathis 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
22 Durham 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
25 Andersen 5 2 0.0 0 0 0
44 Hopper 4 6 0.0 0 0 0
75 Colburn 4 4 0.0 0 0 0
78 Alston 3 0 0.0 0 0 0
26 Callis 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
42 Farmer 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
43 Boyd 1 4 0.0 0 0 0
76 Anelli 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
37 Franklin 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
27 Spencer 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
31 Chasser 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
10 Gohn 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
Miscellaneous Fumb FForc Recov MiscTD KeyRBlk SckAlwd
31 Chasser 2 0 0 0 0 0
72 Duffy 0 0 0 0 0 1
79 Claypoole 0 0 0 0 4 0
66 Walters 0 0 1 0 1 0
86 Burgess 0 0 0 0 1 0
71 Vance 0 0 0 0 1 0
Tucson Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 15:00 0:35 OWN 20 3 0 Punt
1 12:11 2:17 OWN 20 3 9 Punt
1 9:44 4:16 OPP 34 8 34 Touchdown
1 2:48 4:28 OWN 37 10 63 Touchdown
2 8:24 3:38 OWN 40 6 20 Punt
2 1:52 1:52 OWN 25 5 36 Half
3 10:35 3:43 OWN 23 8 34 Punt
3 5:20 1:24 OPP 47 3 4 Punt
3 2:43 1:50 OWN 47 3 6 Punt
4 14:52 1:24 OPP 49 3 -3 Punt
4 12:17 3:12 OPP 38 7 38 Touchdown
4 7:38 5:42 OWN 5 10 46 Punt
4 1:47 1:47 OPP 45 3 3 Punt
Albany (NY) Drive Chart
Quar Began Poss From Plays Yards Result
1 14:25 2:14 OPP 48 5 10 Punt
1 9:54 0:10 OWN 33 1 1 Fumble
1 5:28 2:40 OWN 22 4 0 Punt
2 13:20 4:56 OWN 13 11 54 Missed FG
2 4:46 2:54 OWN 20 7 24 Punt
3 15:00 4:25 OWN 15 7 32 Punt
3 6:52 1:32 OWN 9 3 9 Punt
3 3:56 1:13 OWN 5 3 9 Punt
3 0:53 1:01 OWN 1 3 6 Punt
4 13:28 1:11 OWN 20 3 3 Punt
4 9:05 1:27 OWN 19 3 81 Touchdown
4 1:56 0:09 OWN 3 1 0 Interception
Tucson Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
3 3 0
Albany (NY) Red Zone Profile
Visits TDs FGs
0 0 0
It is clear to me that Albany is a team on the rise. With another season under his belt Norm Fisk will be a very good QB, Archie Chasser will continue to be a monster, their O-line will get healthy, and they'll have another high pick in this year's draft. Look out, Great Lakes division!
But that's next year. This year, we beat them in a somewhat ugly game. I just
love eeking out wins when we are clearly not playing our best football, as was clearly the case today. On offense Holliday again had an unspectacular day, but was able to pound away and eat up the clock. Hogan had another efficient day but his yardage was a bit disappointing, especially considering the sorry state of the Crows' secondary. Our defense again did an exceptional job, forcing two turnovers and holding the Crows to just 239 yards. In fact, our defense would've done an
awesome job had it not been for their surrendering a screen pass in the 4th quarter that Archie Chasser ran for 74 yds and a TD. Take that fluke play away and we held them to 165 yds and 0 points. I'll take that.
One of our best performances today came from punter Edward Winters. He only averaged 39.8 yards on his 9 punts, but four of his punts were nailed inside the 20. In fact, they were downed at the 5, 9, 3, and 1 yd lines. Beautiful stuff.
Perhaps more beautiful was the fact that we suffered no new injuries. Daryl Bradley and Joseph Watford are now back and fully healthy, and C Steven Odum is just two weeks away from resuming play. A few other guys should at least be healthy enough to play come playoff time.
Next week we finish the regular season at home against Arizona. If we win that game we'll have home field advantage locked up throughout the playoffs. Stay tuned!