Our 4-game homestand ends this week with the arrival of the Honolulu Bloodthirsty Beagles (7-6). They've only had a few changes since our earlier tango - Ronnie Tu has claimed the starting QB job, starting safety John Murguia is out for the year, as is former Toro C David Pless (serves him right, the traitor). Honolulu is struggling a bit more this year than last, which is a bit of a surprise. With two franchise QBs I had assumed they'd be in the driver's seat again this year, but for whatever reason their QB play hasn't been as good. Their defense continues to overachieve, however, so this'll be yet another tricky matchup.
Stoltzfus is still probable, but we're going to unleash him for this game.
Code:
Box Score: Honolulu at Tucson
Tucson, AZ.
Week 15, 2011
Attendance: 68,400 (69,800).
Weather: 57 degrees, fair.
1Q: 13:56 HON - Matt Brunner 36 pass from Ronnie Tu.
1Q: 13:56 HON - Frederic Swallow extra point.
1Q: 11:28 TUC - Corwin Jeffries 4 pass from Kent Goodwin.
1Q: 11:28 TUC - Hugo Eckard extra point.
1Q: 00:27 HON - Jody Beech 12 pass from Ronnie Tu.
1Q: 00:27 HON - Frederic Swallow extra point.
2Q: 12:34 TUC - Sydney Armitage 10 pass from Kent Goodwin.
2Q: 12:34 TUC - Hugo Eckard extra point.
2Q: 09:40 TUC - Demetrius Higginbotham 6 pass from Kent Goodwin.
2Q: 09:40 TUC - Hugo Eckard extra point.
2Q: 00:18 TUC - Hugo Eckard 19 field goal.
4Q: 11:13 TUC - Mitchel Enoch 38 interception return.
4Q: 11:13 TUC - Hugo Eckard extra point.
4Q: 02:09 TUC - Corwin Jeffries 2 run.
4Q: 02:09 TUC - Hugo Eckard extra point.
4Q: 01:04 TUC - Corwin Jeffries 1 run.
4Q: 01:04 TUC - Hugo Eckard extra point.
Game MVP: TUC 19 Kent Goodwin
Honolulu 14 0 0 0 - 14
Tucson 7 17 0 21 - 45
Team Statistics HON TUC
First Downs 13 30
Total Rushes 21 35
Rushing Yards 34 185
Yards Per Carry 1.6 5.2
Pass Attempts 36 45
Completions 14 17
Passing Yards 217 232
Yards Per Attempt 6.0 5.1
Sacked 2 2
Yards Lost 9 8
Interceptions 4 2
Fumbles/Lost 2/2 2/1
Total Plays 59 82
Total Yards 242 409
Yards Per Play 4.1 4.9
3rd Down Plays 4/14 8/15
Avg. YTG on 3rd 9.9 8.4
4th Down Plays 0/0 0/0
Penalties 10 6
Penalty Yards 57 45
Avg. Drive Start OWN 22 OWN 42
Time Of Possession 25:56 34:04
Tucson Individual Statistics
Rushing Att Yards Avg Long TD
26 Jeffries 19 59 3.1 10 2
42 Holliday 12 106 8.8 20 0
19 Goodwin 2 10 5.0 6 0
4 Hogan 1 3 3.0 3 0
47 Hodges 1 7 7.0 7 0
Passing Att Comp Yards Yd/Att Long TD Int Sckd
19 Goodwin 45 17 232 5.1 39 3 2 2
Receiving Catch Yards Avg YAC Long TD
26 Jeffries 5 27 5.4 12 12 1
80 Higginbotham 4 63 15.7 17 20 1
89 Armitage 3 52 17.3 8 30 1
82 Torres 3 35 11.6 10 20 0
81 Hodges 1 39 39.0 12 39 0
85 Garcia 1 16 16.0 2 16 0
Punt Returns Att Yards Avg TD
42 Holliday 2 28 14.0 0
85 Garcia 2 11 5.5 0
Kick Returns Att Yards Avg TD
35 Giles 3 93 31.0 0
Punting Punts Yards Avg Long In20
15 Winters 6 228 38.0 46 6
Kicking FG FGA Long PAT Att
12 Eckard 1 2 19 6 6
Defense Tackle Assist Sack Int IntYds IntTD
40 Biggs 7 1 0.0 0 0 0
52 Wash 4 2 1.0 0 0 0
31 Enoch 4 1 0.0 1 38 1
55 Trujillo 3 1 0.0 1 0 0
25 Minahan 3 2 0.0 0 0 0
45 Stine 2 3 0.0 1 23 0
35 Giles 2 1 0.0 1 14 0
93 King 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
95 Stoltzfus 2 1 0.0 0 0 0
75 Grier 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
21 Stallings 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
34 McGarrity 2 0 0.0 0 0 0
70 Neubauer 1 1 0.5 0 0 0
73 Smith 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
58 Watford 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
47 Hodges 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
26 Jeffries 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
82 Torres 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
65 Lyle 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
85 Garcia 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
60 Poplawski 1 0 0.0 0 0 0
97 Horn 0 2 0.5 0 0 0
32 Hartung 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
94 Van Brocklin 0 1 0.0 0 0 0
Well, Honolulu certainly scared the crap out of us in the 1st quarter, scoring two easy TDs and putting a lot of pressure on our offense to keep pace. Goodwin didn't respond especially well, but he got enough offense going to keep us in the game until our defense took over. And boy, did they ever take over. Tu was just 13 of 35 for 202 yds, 2 TDs and 4 INTs. And anytime you can hold an opponent to 1.6 ypc you've had a great day. Actually, anytime you can snag a 31 point win over a division rival you've had a great day, right?
Well, not entirely. You see, all-world RB Drew Holliday developed this little problem where his wrist stopped working. He claims it to be "broken" or something. The doctors say he'll be Out for five weeks. That's not so good, as we've only got two weeks left in the regular season. If we're fortunate enough to get a 1st round bye he'll get three weeks to rest. That will have to be good enough, as I'm fully intending to use the bastard the moment he's cleared to play. The nerve...up and getting hurt right as we were clinching our division and stuff.
Oh, and by the way we clinched our division. And stuff. We're 12-2 now, and are tied with Boise for best record in the conference (but they'd win a tiebreaker due to Conference Record). Denver (10-4) and Seattle (10-4) could also catch us, but we've beaten them both this year and thus own the first tiebreaker over both. So, I guess that means we've actually clinched a first round bye. I think.
Regardless of our 1st-round-bye-clinching-status, we need to keep competing because we'll have a chance to get homefield advantage throughout if we keep winning and Boise manages to trip up (they continue to be without the services of Branden Lin). That means that we'll be going full-bore next week at Memphis.