Smoky Mountain State University V2 | Teambuilder Dynasty (NCAA 14)

[orlegend0208]

2019 | Week 7 | @ Middle Tennessee State

Ross Newberry.jpg
Sophomore DT Ross Newberry celebrates after his 2nd sack of the game

Game Summary

Our guys were excited for this one. And the Southern Miss game definitely played a part in it (if you haven't seen that game post, check it out!).

This game had big time rivalry game written all over it. Two C-USA teams from the state of Tennessee facing off for the first time.

So I figured going up against an in-state, conference opponent was a great time to break out our alternate uniforms!

Anyway, the physicality on defense showed early. Neither team got anything going on offense as punts dominated the 1st Quarter.

However, MTSU finally broke the scoreless game with 54 seconds left in the Quarter. QB Asher O'Hara found Senior TE Josh Fannin on the out route. After catching the ball, Fannin absolutely bulldozed his way into the end zone. He wasn't going to be denied on the play... Probably has something to do with me leaving him off the roster preview......

But, we responded in about 45 seconds with a TD of our own. Tauren Peters broke his lone, long run of the game. A 23 yard pass to Nick Brewer set us up in the red zone. And Tony Amos followed up that with a 19 yard dart to WR Stewart Mason who ran a perfect post route. That score tied the game up at 7-7 heading into the 2nd Quarter.

MTSU definitely watched film of last weeks game, because they gashed our defense with a series of well executed passes and some more read options. In fact, their next TD came as a result of a read option as QB Asher O'Hara kept the ball and ran it into the end zone for the 4 yard score. The Blue Raiders had taken the 14-7 lead with 2:52 left in the 1st Half.

And thanks to a great, but timely drive, Tony Amos helped us find the end zone once again. With 11 seconds left, Steven McDaniel caught an 11 yard TD pass from Amos that tied the game up at 14 as it's surely going into half time like that, right?

Wrong.

MTSU proceeds to return the kickoff 99 yards for a TD on what would be the final play of the 1st Half. They made the extra point and took a 21-14 lead going into halftime... And they received the ball to start the 2nd Half.

And on that first drive, they scored on yet another read option keeper by QB Asher O'Hara. MTSU had increased their lead to 28-14 as I'm blowing a gasket on the sidelines. These damn read options are KILLING us.

But thank God for Tony Amos. Because he marched the team right down the field and we scored a TD on a 1 yard catch from Freshman TE Joe Bush. We put Bush in the slot and gave him a crossing route hoping it would throw the defense off. Worked like a charm and we were now down 28-21.

However, that would be our final score of the game as we just couldn't seem to muster anything on offense.

MTSU only scored one more time, but it came with 38 seconds left. And let me tell you, that pissed me off. The entire drive did if I'm being honest. There was 54 seconds left, we were out of timeouts, and they're still throwing passes on first down trying to drive down the field and score. All they have to do is kneel it once and you have the game won. They didn't kneel it once that entire drive. It was offense as usual and they scored on a 1 yard TD with 38 seconds left as HB Chaton Mobley plunged into the endzone to increase their lead to 35-21.

Yep, you got yourselves a rivalry. I PROMISE you, I will remember this. You can push us around for now... But give me a couple of recruiting classes full of guys that have the same heart and determination as this group and we'll run you out of the damn state.



Anyway, our great effort fell short in a 35-21 loss. The kickoff return for a TD at the end of the 1st Half gave them all the momentum, it carried into the 2nd half, and their first TD of the 2nd Half really just put it out of reach.

I was extremely pleased with the offense up until the 4th Quarter. Any time they scored, we matched it. We just need to execute more consistently.

On defense, we have a lot to work on. There were less missed tackles than the previous few weeks. But coverage wise, we have to improve. From our DB's to our LB's, they had too many receivers with a step or two on our player covering them. Our pass rush improved a lot though. So that's a great thing that I'm hoping we can build off of. Because the coverage will get better if our pass rush can continue to get pressure on the QB.

We have to regroup and prepare for another C-USA battle next weekend as we take on Marshall (0-5) at home. And it's going to be a huge recruiting weekend as well. So it's a very important game... Not only for our obvious aspirations of competing for the C-USA Championship, but also for the future of our program with all the recruits on campus.

SMSU Kodiaks at Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders
Oct 12, 2019	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
SMSU Kodiaks (2-3)	7	7	7	0	21
Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders (2-4)	7	14	7	7	35

Team Stats Comparison
	SMSU	MTSU
Total Offense	336	294
Rushing Yards	115	36
Passing Yards	221	258
First Downs	18	12
Punt Return Yards	10	59
Kick Return Yards	44	138
Total Yards	390	491
Turnovers	0	0

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		SMSU	MTSU
0:54	(MTSU) TD: J. Fannin, 9 yard pass from A. O'Hara	0	7
0:09	(SMSU) TD: S. Mason, 19 yard pass from T. Amos	7	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		SMSU	MTSU
2:52	(MTSU) TD: A. O'Hara, 4 yard run	7	14
0:11	(SMSU) TD: S. McDaniel, 11 yard pass from T. Amos	14	14
0:00	(MTSU) TD: R. Garnett, returned kickoff 99 yards	14	21
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		SMSU	MTSU
3:41	(MTSU) TD: A. O'Hara, 1 yard run	14	28
1:37	(SMSU) TD: J. Bush, 1 yard pass from T. Amos	21	28
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		SMSU	MTSU
0:38	(MTSU) TD: C. Mobley, 1 yard run	21	35

SMSU Kodiaks PASSING C/A YDS TD INT T. Amos 14/21 221 3 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD T. Peters 14 80 5.7 0 N. Blalock 8 41 5.1 0 T. Amos 3 -6 -2.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD G. Wood 4 72 18.0 0 S. McDaniel 3 35 11.6 1 K. Meeks 2 42 21.0 0 N. Brewer 2 38 19.0 0 S. Mason 2 33 16.5 1 J. Bush 1 1 1.0 1 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD R. Newberry 7 2 0 0 K. Fordinal 6 0 0 0 C. Neal 5 0 0 0 E. Charles 4 1 0 0 R. Bellamy 4 0 0 0 S. Thompson 4 1 0 0 J. Durbin 3 0 0 0 K. Turner 2 0 0 0 J. Flanagan 2 0 0 0 J. Jenkins 2 0 0 0 C. Franklin 2 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG T. Livingston 0/0 3/3 3 --

Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders PASSING C/A YDS TD INT A. O'Hara 18/24 258 1 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD C. Mobley 10 32 3.2 1 A. O'Hara 10 4 0.4 2 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD C. Windham 5 106 21.2 0 J. Fannin 5 36 7.2 1 T. Lee 4 42 10.5 0 C. Mobley 3 51 17.0 0 J. Pierce 1 23 23.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD R. Blankenship 10 0 0 0 K. Brooks 7 0 0 0 M. Manciel 7 1 0 0 C. Smith 5 0 0 0 T. Render 4 2 0 0 G. Grate Jr. 3 0 0 0 T. Philpots 3 0 0 0 D. Thomas 3 0 0 0 B. Shepherd 2 0 0 0 J. Ferguson 1 1 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG C. Holt 0/0 5/5 5 -- KICK RETURN RET YDS AVG TD R. Garnett 3 138 46.0 1

Stewart Mason.jpg
WR Stewart Mason hauls in his first TD of the season on this 19 yarder in the 2nd Quarter

Scott Thompson.jpg
Freshman MLB Scott Thompson records the first sack of his collegiate career

Steven McDaniel.jpg
Freshman WR Steven McDaniel hauled in his team leading 5th TD catch of the season

Joe Bush.jpg
Freshman TE Joe Bush catches this 1 yard pass that resulted in the 1st TD catch of his collegiate career

[ThatBritishGuy]

That Southern Miss game sounds like a cracker to have played!!! Speed kills, especially down in the bottom conferences where it is often lacking but to one play, deep bomb and score with no time left hardy, it's what the game is about.

Shame about the next game against Mid Tenn State, could have seen the team really rolling if they had won that one but again, the talent level is not that far away from the rest of the C-USA already!

Amos seems to be pretty good at not turning the ball over through the air which is hugely pleasing to see, let's hope he can keep that up in the home stretch!

[orlegend0208]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThatBritishGuy

That Southern Miss game sounds like a cracker to have played!!! Speed kills, especially down in the bottom conferences where it is often lacking but to one play, deep bomb and score with no time left hardy, it's what the game is about. Shame about the next game against Mid Tenn State, could have seen the team really rolling if they had won that one but again, the talent level is not that far away from the rest of the C-USA already! Amos seems to be pretty good at not turning the ball over through the air which is hugely pleasing to see, let's hope he can keep that up in the home stretch!

Oh man, the ending to the Southern Miss game was absolutely incredible! I've NEVER done anything like it! I was PUMPED! Like, I'm not sure I've ever gotten into a video game more lol! Not gonna lie, if I can land a couple of these receivers in this upcoming recruiting class, we're going to bring even more guys with similar speed to McDaniel. If Amos' accuracy can improve, this will be an extremely fun offense to run!

And the MTSU game was frustrating. We outplayed them and I can't say that about our other losses. That kickoff return for a TD was an absolute killer and then they came out of halftime and just drove it right down the field for another TD.

I meant to comment on this in the MTSU post... But I'm REALLY pleased with Amos not turning the ball over. Not gonna lie, we've gotten lucky with some wildly erratic throws... But it helps that I got a little cautious after the WVU game where he threw 3 picks. So if a play obviously isn't there, I NEVER force anything anymore. That's also in part to our receivers dropping the ball lol. Drops have been an absolute killer at times this year.

But overall, I like the progress I've seen from the entire team, despite just coming off a 14 point loss.

Thanks again for following along and for all the comments!

[orlegend0208]

SMSU Dynasty Header.jpg

2019 | Week 8 Preview

NCAA Football Rankings - AP Top 25 - Updated: Oct 14, 2019
RK	LW	TEAM (VOTES)	W	L	POINTS
1	1	Oregon (35)	6	0	1499
2	3	Auburn (24)	7	0	1352
3	4	Michigan State (1)	6	0	1318
4	2	Clemson (1)	6	0	1307
5	6	Nebraska	7	0	1225
6	5	UCF	5	0	1200
7	12	West Virginia	6	0	991
8	7	Ohio State	4	1	926
9	11	Georgia	4	2	881
10	9	Texas A&M	5	1	865
11	13	Michigan	4	2	714
12	18	Florida State	5	0	667
13	17	Oklahoma	4	2	652
14	15	Alabama	4	2	621
15	8	Texas	3	2	600
16	10	Missouri	5	1	568
17	19	Stanford	5	1	496
18	14	Washington	4	2	463
19	20	Minnesota	5	1	454
20	23	Notre Dame	3	3	341
21	--	Florida	4	2	328
22	24	Iowa	4	2	322
23	25	Wisconsin	4	1	309
24	--	Arizona	4	1	252
25	--	Memphis	4	1	245

C-USA East Standings - Updated: Oct 14, 2019
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
Old Dominion	4-1	0.800	1-0	143	100	W1
Western Kentucky	3-2	0.600	2-0	124	97	W3
FAU	4-2	0.660	2-1	168	153	W1
MTSU	2-4	0.330	1-1	148	170	W1
SMSU	2-3	0.400	1-1	154	163	L1
FIU	3-2	0.600	0-2	143	76	L2
Marshall	0-5	0.000	0-1	109	151	L5

C-USA West Standings - Updated: Oct 14, 2019
TEAM	REC	PCT	CONF	PF	PA	STRK
North Texas	5-1	0.830	2-0	198	125	W5
UAB	4-2	0.660	2-0	107	131	W3
UTEP	5-1	0.830	2-1	191	138	W2
Rice	1-6	0.140	1-2	89	261	W1
Southern Miss	2-3	0.400	0-1	120	157	L1
Louisiana Tech	2-4	0.330	0-2	169	147	L4
UTSA	1-5	0.160	0-2	146	172	L1

Marshall.png

Official Visitors For Marshall Game
NAME	POS	CLASS	HOMETOWN	HT	WT	CALIBER
Caleb Finley	#48 OLB	HS	Toccoa, GA	6'5	229
Nick White	#61 DT	HS	White Oak, MD	6'4	291
James Woods	#135 WR	HS	Johnson City, TN	6'6	236
John Heffner	#50 OLB	HS	Lancaster, PA	6'5	218
Cedrick Lewis	#62 QB	HS	Oak Ridge, TN	6'3	235
J.J. Jordan	#26 FS	HS	Teaneck, NJ	6'4	196
Van Peoples	#163 WR	HS	Winnfield, LA	5'11	177
Justin Dixon	#116 DE	HS	Palm Coast, FL	6'4	235
Brandon Rowe	#72 T	HS	Clarksville, TN	6'5	288

[ThatBritishGuy]

Damn Marshall, what is going on with that record and that team?? Never seen them in the pits like this before!

Time to go and get some of them recruits, tasty looking 6'4 FS there in J.J. Jordan! The two outside linebackers have some serious size, lining up with some tall old boys back there if you get them all!!

[Deuce2223]

Tough loss, looking forward to seeing future matchup's. I agree with British, Marshall in most dynasties I have played has done pretty well. Hopefully they don't use you as a turn around game. You need to do some butting whooping in front of all those recruits.

[orlegend0208]

2019 | Week 8 | vs. Marshall

Matt Chase.jpg
Freshman LE Matt Chase celebrates following his 2nd sack of the game

Game Summary

This was a huge game for us.

We really needed to get back in the win column following last weeks frustrating loss at MTSU. We also needed to make a great impression for the 9 Official Visitors that were in attendance.

Thankfully, we jumped out to a fast start. But first, Marshall drove down the field, only to have the ball intercepted around the 30 yard line by Freshman MLB Scott Thompson. We proceeded to drive right down the field and eventually scored on a 3 yard TD run by Norris Blalock. That was the only score by either team, so we took a 7-0 lead into the 2nd Quarter.

And shortly after the 2nd Quarter began, Marshall responded with a TD of their own. QB Alex Thomson threw a couple of his best passes all day as he connected with WR Obi Obiallo for gains of 35 and 31 yards. The drive was capped off on a 3 yard TD run by HB Knowledge McDaniel. We were all tied up at 7 all.

However, we'd go on a 10-0 run to end the 1st half. Tyler Livingston made his 29 yard FG attempt to put us up 10-7. Then on the Thundering Herd's next possession, Thomson pass was picked off by Freshman CB Jamaal Jenkins.

We scored two plays later as Tony Amos hit Freshman Steven McDaniel on the curl route. McDaniel turned, broke the would be tackle, and sprinted to the end zone. The play covered 37 yards and it gave us a more comfortable 17-7 lead going into halftime.

After our first drive of the 2nd half resulted in a punt, Marshall took full advantage by scoring a TD to close their deficit to just 3. Alex Thomson found Senior WR Tavin Richardson open over the middle of the field for the 15 yard scoring strike. The score was now 17-14 in our favor.

Not to be outdone, we responded right back with a TD of our own. Tony Amos led a great drive as he converted two 3rd Downs. Junior HB Tauren Peters eventually capped our drive off with a 2 yard TD plunge through the heart of the Marshall defense.

On the Herd's next drive, Thomson threw his 3rd interception of this game. This one was picked off by Freshman CB Corey Neal. And on the first play from scrimmage, we scored on the game's most exciting play.

Tony Amos broke out of a would-be sack and rolled out to his right. He fired a bullet down field to Junior WR Grant Wood. Wood caught the ball and managed to stay in bounds despite his momentum carrying him towards the sideline. Wood then cut up field, got a great block from WR Nick Brewer, and managed to score untouched on the highlight reel play that covered 41 yards.

Heading into the 4th Quarter we held a commanding 31-14 lead.

Marshall drove down the field on their next possession, only to have it prematurely cut short once again as Thomson threw his 4th interception of the game. This time, FS Jamal Flanagan intercepted the pass around the 30 yard line. And we managed to score one final time as Tony Amos drove our offense down the field and he scored on a 12 yard scramble. That increased our lead to 38-14.

Marshall scored one final TD on a 10 yard slant pass from Thomson to Obi Obiallo as Obiallo put the final touches onto a fantastic performance. Marshall attempted to go for two but Knowledge McDaniel was stuff at the 1 yard line, so the 2 point attempt was no good.

We would go on to run the clock out and win our 2nd C-USA game by a score of 38-20 over the winless Marshall Thundering Herd.

Marshall put some really solid drives together on offense, but Thomson's inaccuracy resulted in 4 interceptions... And we took advantage by scoring a TD off of all 4 of the interceptions. Which is honestly incredible.

All in all, our offense played extremely well outside of the drops from our receivers. And our defense was just absolutely lights out. The 4 interceptions has set a program record. And we also set a record for most sacks in a game with 6. Freshman DE Kenny Cannon recorded 3 sacks, Freshman DE Matt Chase recorded 2 sacks, and Freshman SS Kris Fordinal recorded 1 sack.

This was exactly the type of win we needed in order to get our confidence back up... As we'll definitely need it as we head down to Miami, FL next week to take on a tough FIU squad.

Marshall Thundering Herd at SMSU Kodiaks
Oct 19, 2019	1ST	2ND	3RD	4TH	SCORE
Marshall Thundering Herd (0-6)	0	7	7	6	20
SMSU Kodiaks (3-3)	7	10	14	7	38

Team Stats Comparison
	MRSH	SMSU
Total Offense	208	433
Rushing Yards	35	152
Passing Yards	173	281
First Downs	8	18
Punt Return Yards	13	11
Kick Return Yards	58	59
Total Yards	279	503
Turnovers	4	0

Scoring Summary
FIRST QUARTER SCORING		MRSH	SMSU
2:46	(SMSU) TD: N. Blalock, 3 yard run	0	7
SECOND QUARTER SCORING		MRSH	SMSU
4:03	(MRSH) TD: K. McDaniel, 3 yard run	7	7
1:56	(SMSU) FG: T. Livingston, 28 yard FG	7	10
1:06	(SMSU) TD: S. McDaniel, 37 yard pass from T. Amos	7	17
THIRD QUARTER SCORING		MRSH	SMSU
3:07	(MRSH) TD: T. Richardson, 15 yard pass from A. Thomson	14	17
1:37	(SMSU) TD: T. Peters, 2 yard run	14	24
0:32	(SMSU) TD: G. Wood, 41 yard pass from T. Amos	14	31
FOURTH QUARTER SCORING		MRSH	SMSU
3:01	(SMSU) TD: T. Amos, 12 yard run	14	38
1:46	(MRSH) TD: O. Obialo, 10 yard pass from A. Thomson (2-pt failed)	20	38

Marshall Thundering Herd PASSING C/A YDS TD INT A. Thomson 13/34 173 2 4 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD A. Thomson 9 -23 -2.5 0 J. Kirkendoll 1 55 55.0 0 K. McDaniel 1 3 3.0 1 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD O. Obialo 7 108 15.4 1 T. Richardson 2 28 14.0 1 K. McDaniel 1 15 15.0 0 W. Johnson 1 13 13.0 0 T. Keaton 1 7 7.0 0 A. Levias 1 2 2.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD R. Hunter 7 0 0 0 E. Neal 7 1 0 0 N. Johnson 7 0 0 0 J. McClain-Sapp 5 0 0 0 K. Merrell 4 0 0 0 T. Beckett 4 1 0 0 J. Morrow 3 0 0 0 C. Jackson 2 0 0 0 D. Hodge 2 0 0 0 M. Lanier 2 0 0 0 C. Hames 2 0 0 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG J. Rohrwasser 0/0 2/2 2 --

SMSU Kodiaks PASSING C/A YDS TD INT T. Amos 16/31 281 2 0 RUSHING ATT YDS AVG TD T. Peters 20 104 5.2 1 N. Blalock 5 35 5.8 1 T. Amos 2 9 4.5 1 S. McDaniel 1 4 4.0 0 RECEIVING REC YDS AVG TD N. Brewer 6 92 15.3 0 S. McDaniel 5 104 20.8 1 G. Wood 2 56 28.0 1 K. Meeks 2 11 5.5 0 J. Bush 1 18 18.0 0 DEFENSE TACK SACK INT TD M. Chase 4 2 0 0 C. Franklin 4 0 0 0 C. Neal 4 0 1 0 R. Bellamy 4 0 0 0 K. Cannon 4 3 0 0 K. Fordinal 2 1 0 0 J. Durbin 2 0 0 0 S. Thompson 1 0 1 0 J. Jenkins 0 0 1 0 J. Flanagan 0 0 1 0 KICKING FG XP PTS LONG T. Livingston 1/1 5/5 8 29

Grant Wood.jpg
Junior WR Grant Wood crosses the goal line during his 41 yard TD in the 3rd Quarter

Jamal Flanagan.jpg
Junior FS Jamal Flanagan makes this leaping INT early in the 4th Quarter

Steven McDaniel.jpg
Freshman WR Steven McDaniel scores on a 37 yard play in which he broke a tackle before sprinting to the end zone

Tony Amos.jpg
Tony Amos sets his feet and fires a pass to Grant Wood after avoiding a sack. This would end up being the most impressive offense play today from either team

[orlegend0208]

Quote: Originally Posted by ThatBritishGuy

Damn Marshall, what is going on with that record and that team?? Never seen them in the pits like this before! Time to go and get some of them recruits, tasty looking 6'4 FS there in J.J. Jordan! The two outside linebackers have some serious size, lining up with some tall old boys back there if you get them all!!

The only thing I can think of it terms of how Marshall doesn't have a win is Alex Thomson literally just had the worst game I've ever seen from a CPU QB on Heisman. He overthrew numerous wide open receivers. Like, if he had better accuracy in the game, first of all, he wouldn't have thrown 4 picks. But he also would have had 250+ passing yards because his receivers were legit.

J.J. Jordan looks like he could be a star for us... But TCU is really coming after him. So, that'll be one to watch. I looked at Caleb Finley's scouted attributes (one of the 6'5" LB's) and he only has 76 speed. That doesn't meet my LB criteria, so I'm going to move him to DE. I figured 6'5", 229 lbs. with 76 speed is a solid starting place for a Freshman DE. His strength is high enough to where I don't think he'd really regress with a move from OLB to DE. However, he'd definitely get redshirted though so he could gain some weight, along with getting his awareness/pass rushing attributes up before he gets thrust into playing time. But, the other OLB Heffner, he could play a lot as a true Freshman.

I'll make a recruiting post when I get up today talking about some of the players and possible position changes and what not! Recruiting is fun this year and the commitments should (hopefully) start rolling in shortly!

Thanks again for the comment!

Quote: Originally Posted by Deuce2223

Tough loss, looking forward to seeing future matchup's. I agree with British, Marshall in most dynasties I have played has done pretty well. Hopefully they don't use you as a turn around game. You need to do some butting whooping in front of all those recruits.

Oh I'm looking forward to MTSU as well. They'll have a pretty decent team returning next year. So depending on how my guys progress in the off-season, that might be another uphill battle.

And I'm with you guys. Typically, Marshall is consistently a top C-USA team in the Dynasties I've done on here. But, I think they'll turn it around this year and pull out 3-5 wins... because they do have one of the higher rated teams in the C-USA.

Thanks for another comment!!