Will Webb: A Coaching Legend is Born

[jayenomics]

Season Preview | Posted by Webb 7.26.09

I know it's been a while since the last update here on Webb Rant, but pardon me if I've been too busy to get on here. A lot has happened. I am very excited about this team, and our recruiting class that we brought it. We won't have a lot of freshman starting, but I know a lot of them will be contributing this year, and down the road. The main purpose of this post was to provide a copy of the ESPN Conference Outlook for the Sun Belt. I'm pretty disappointed with it.

Conference | Sun Belt

Florida Atlantic 9-3 7-1
Troy 8-4 6-2
Arkansas State 7-5 5-3
Mid Tennessee State 7-5 5-3
UL Monroe 6-6 5-3
North Texas 5-7 4-4
UL Lafayette 5-7 3-5
Florida International 4-8 2-6
Western Kentucky 1-11 1-7

As a football coach I obviously don't see my team going 4-8, but it's good bulletin board material for my squad. This is what people think of us, and we need to prove them wrong. Our biggest rival is picked to win the conference, and we can't allow that to happen.

[jayenomics]

@

14-7-7-7-35
0-21-0-0-21

The game didn't start out to well for us as Ty Hilton was knocked out of the game after the first play. He's fine, but having him not in the lineup really hurt us. Our play calling changed from get Ty the ball and let him work, to control the clock and wear them down. The game got worse for us in the third quarter when Daunte Owens went down with a torn bicep. He could be back towards the end of the season, but Darriet Perry stepped up big after Owens went down.

As far as the gameplay action, I was very pleased with the way we handled ourselves today in holding off the big second quarter comeback by Buffalo. We got out in front 21-7 and it looked like we would run away with it, but they fought back to tie it up. Not for one second did they get discouraged, and responded in the second half by shutting the door and putting the ball in the end zone.

I think we've found a leader in Paul McCall, he is a redshirt senior, so he's been around the program for a long time, but I didn't know how he'd respond in game situations this year. He was 17 of 27 for 257 yards, which is a great yards per completion for us. He kept getting the ball in deep, and the running game kept punching it in, with 5 touchdowns.

Darriet Perry really surprised me with how well he performed. Daunte Owens had 13 carries for just 40 yards, but with 3 touchdowns. When he touched the ball it just seemed as if he was brought down pretty quick despite his speed, but Perry carried 15 times for 84 yards and a touchdown, which was a great pick up after Owens went down.

First Quarter
TD FIU Owens 4 Yard Run 7-0 FIU
TD FIU Owens 2 Yard Run 14-0 FIU
Second Quarter
TD BUFF Rivers, 11 Yard Pass from Maynard 14-7 FIU
TD FIU Owens 7 Yard Run 21-7 FIU
TD BUFF Thermilus 1 Yard Run 21-14 FIU
TD BUFF Hamlin, 22 yard Pass from Maynard 21-21
Third Quarter
TD FIU Perry 5 Yard Run 28-21 FIU
Fourth Quarter
TD FIU Turner 15 Yard Run 35-21 FIU

Statistics

FIU McCall 17-27 257 Yards 1 Interception
BUFF Maynard 23-49 326 Yards 2 Touchdowns 1 Interception

FIU Perry 15 Carries 84 Yards 1 Touchdown
BUFF Thermilus 14 Carries 60 Yards 1 Touchdown

FIU Dix 5 Catches 62 Yards
FIU Mertile 2 Catches 70 Yards
BUFF Roosevelt 7 Catches 146 Yards 2 Touchdowns
BUFF Hamlin 6 Catches 121 Yards 1 Touchdown

FIU Willis 8 Tackles 2 Tackles for Loss 2 Sacks
BUFF Newton 12 Tackles 1 Forced Fumble

[kobe360x]

nice win

[jayenomics]

Thank you for the comments. It felt good to get our first win in week 1, and with a solid performance. There are some things to work on, like our pass defense, but everything else worked really well for us. It will only help that we get Hilton for a whole game next week against Rutgers, but they are by far our toughest out of conference opponent.

[jayenomics]

1-0 @ 1-1

10-7-6-3-26
10-0-0-7-17

Our second straight week in the north east. It's a lot different up here. College football isn't a main priority here as it is in the south, where college football is really meant to be played. Rutgers is the birth place of college football though, and with their program on the right track over the past couple years, they've really been able to fill out a stadium. The surrounding area of New Jersey doesn't have much to offer the team, but we came a night early and took them into New York City, the first time for a lot of the kids.

The rain started falling an hour before game time, and I really was wondering how our players would react to it. We practice inside, and haven't seen much poor weather in our preseason, so I knew we'd be in for a challenge.

It made a huge difference having Ty Hilton back. After going down 73 on a great drive by Rutgers, Ty took the ensuing kickoff back to the Rutgers 2 yard line where Perry punched it in for the early lead.

I hate to say an injury is a positive thing, but when Jabu Lovelace went down in the second quarter, the Rutgers offense died for a while. With him in, they were consistently moving the ball up and down the field on us, but with him out our defense really clamped down.

The turnover battle is always important to win, and that really showed true tonight. Rutgers fumbled five times on our side of the fifty, two of those inside our red zone. It was a huge win for us, being able to hold on and play such solid defense against such a good team.

The biggest loss of the game came when we got the news Ty Hilton would be out for two months with a fractured forearm. Before he got injured he had 3 catches for 96 yards and a touchdown, and really provided a huge spark to our offense.

First Quarter
FG FIU Rivest, 43 Yards 3-0 FIU
TD RU Brown, 8 Yard Pass from Jefferson 7-3 RU
TD FIU Perry 2 Yard Run 10-7 FIU
FG RU Te, 38 Yards 10-10
Second Quarter
TD FIU Hilton, 74 Yard Pass from McCall 17-10 FIU
Third Quarter
FG FIU Rivest, 43 Yards 20-10 FIU
FG FIU Rivest, 40 Yards 23-10 FIU
Fourth Quarter
TD RU Rowe, 63 Yard Interception Return 23-17 FIU
FG FIU Rivest, 27 Yards 26-17

Statistics

FIU McCall 11-25 168 Yards 1 Touchdown 1 Interception
RU Jefferson 24-43 263 Yards 1 Touchdown

FIU Perry 20 Carries 54 Yards 1 Touchdown
RU Young 17 Carries 92 Yards

FIU Hilton 3 Catches 96 Yards 1 Touchdown
FIU Kirchenberg 2 Catches 25 Yards
RU Brown 7 Catches 96 Yards 1 Touchdown
RU Graves 5 Catches 47 Yards

FIU Clawson 12 Tackles Forced Fumble Fumble Recovery
RU Kitchen 10 Tackles 3 Tackles for Loss 1 Sack 1 Forced Fumble

[Sanchez_Mareno]

Keep on going for that undefeated season

[jayenomics]

2-0 v 0-3

14-21-7-0-42
0-6-0-0-6

After two big wins in a row to start the season we all feel very good about the team we have. Ty Hilton being for at least two months hurts, Junior Mertile will miss just as much time, so we are pretty thin at wide receiver for now. Daunte Owens is making progress with his torn bicep but we don't expect him back before Hilton or Mertile. Our offense has been hit pretty hard by injuries, but the kids keep stepping up.

We got some great news on the recruiting front, as we landed our first recruit for next season. Steve Chase from Anniston, Alabama will be joining us next season. He's a 6'2 220 pound fullback who excels at blocking. He is rated a 1 star recruit by rivals, but we are a small unknown school, so we take what we can get basically.

This being our first home game was extremely nerve-racking. We played so well on the road to start 2-0, and coming home to play in front of our own fans was something we've been looking forward to since the beginning of training camp.

We couldn't have started off any better, forcing a punt, then Darriet Perry took the first offensive play of the game off the right side untouched for an 80 yard touchdown. The crowd went crazy.

We gave them plenty to cheer about early, as Paul McCall started off blazing hot. His favorite target was definitely tight end Eric Kirchenberg. Kirch has good hands, but hasn't been used much by McCall all season. On the first three possessions he had 4 catches and 2 touchdowns, which really helped keep the Toledo defense off balance.

Toledo came in with one of the worst pass defenses in the country, and we thought that was something we could exploit. So we aired it out early, mixing in the occasional run to keep them off balance, and it really seemed to work out.

It was just one of those games where everything goes right. We had big plays on offense, defense, and special teams. Toledo really seemed to get nothing going all day, and seemed as if they were fighting themselves as much as they were fighting our defense. The two kickoff returns were really the nails in the coffin. They seemed to just die after that.

I hate the second half of blowouts. I don't mind getting to see my backups do something, and show they can play, but I feel like we just have to dumb down our offense and run run run. It becomes boring, but it doesn't dull the shine of a victory.

First Quarter
TD FIU Perry 80 Yard Run 7-0 FIU
TD FIU Kirchenberg, 7 Yard Pass from McCall 14-0 FIU
Second Quarter
TD FIU Kirchenberg, 4 Yard Pass from McCall 21-0 FIU
TD FIU Perry 7 Yard Run 28-0 FIU
FG TOL Steigerwald, 27 Yard Field Goal 28-3 FIU
TD FIU Ellingson 95 Yard Kickoff Return 35-3 FIU
FG TOL Steigerwald, 29 Yard Field Goal 35-6 FIU
Third Quarter
TD FIU Gaitor 88 Yard Kickoff Return 42-6 FIU
Fourth Quarter
None

Statistics

FIU McCall 11-12 124 Yards 2 Touchdowns
TOL Opelt 11-27 143 Yards 1 Interception

FIU Perry 24 Carries 174 Yards 2 Touchdowns
TOL Collins 11 Carries 35 Yards

FIU Kirchenberg 4 Catches 33 Yards 2 Touchdowns
FIU Dix 3 Catches 25 Yards
TOL Page 3 Catches 42 Yards
TOL Cortazzo 2 Catches 40 Yards

FIU Clawson 5 Tackles 1 Tackle for Loss 1 Sack
FIU Johnson 5 Tackles 1 Forced Fumble 1 Fumble Recovery
TOL Robinson 12 Tackles

[jayenomics]

Quote: Originally Posted by Sanchez_Mareno

Keep on going for that undefeated season

In the Sun-Belt I really feel that's possible. I am really enjoying myself here in Miami, but would love to move on in a few years to a bigger program or to the NFL.