We are at the midway point of the season and it is time to get to work. It has been an up and down season for the Mountaineers and in some ways, I'm not sure how much more I know about this team than I did before the season began. The team was overwhelmed and mistake prone in a blowout loss in Blacksburg to kick off the season, did some tune-up work against inferior competition in easy wins over A&T and Savannah State, relied on defense and special teams to pull out a heart-stopping win over Chattanooga in the SoCon opener, then followed that up with another flat offensive performance in Spartanburg. The black and gold now sit at 3-2 overall with a 1-1 conference record and plenty of opportunities to get the 2011 campaign back on track.
That starts this weekend when the boys (and myself) travel down to Charleston for a match-up with The Citadel. The Bulldogs are a tough team to figure out as well. They opened the season with an impressive 31-9 win over Jacksonville, then lost tight games against Furman and Elon to start their conference slate. This team seemed dead in the water and destined for another season in the cellar when they stood at 0-2 in conference play and trailed 27-0 on the road against Chattanooga, until they staged a furious comeback to score 28 unanswered points and rally to a 28-27 victory. A road win against a quality team like UTC initially altered my opinion of this team drastically, but that triumph was followed up with a 43-14 home loss to Wofford. As we know, there is no shame in losing to the Terriers but the game was even less competitive than the score would indicate. Only a couple of late TD's in garbage time prevented an embarrassing shutout at home. This Saturday, will we see the team that fought back to beat Chattanooga or the team that laid down against Wofford?
In my opinion, it does not matter. If ASU plays their game, they should escape Johnson Hagood Stadium victorious this weekend. Appalachian will enjoy the full-time return of 3 defensive starters as Jeremy Kimbrough, Ed Gainey and Lanston Tanyi all return from suspension. Their experience against the triple option should allow the defense to get The Citadel offense off the field, as they are one of the worst 3rd down teams in the country. As important as it is to get a win in this game and not fall any further behind Wofford and Georgia Southern in the standings, it is equally important for a strong defensive showing against an option attack before the Eagles come to town in two weeks. Struggling to stop The Citadel offense could foreshadow serious struggles on Black Saturday, as Jeff Monken and the Georgia Southern triple option have far superior athletes at their disposal.
The offensive output this weekend will go a long way to showing what type of team we will have in the second half of the season. DeAndre Presley injured his shoulder in the Wofford game and has not practiced since. There has been no official statement from the staff, but it sure looks like Jamal Jackson will be making his first career start for the Apps. Coming off a bye week and having two weeks to work out with the first team is the best possible way to put Jamal in a position to succeed. We have seen Jamal in very limited game action but from what I have observed in the small sample, he throws a very tight ball, is deceptively quick and seems very confident on the field. Also, having a taller quarterback in the pocket should reduce the amount of balls batted at the line. My hope is that some time to observe from the sidelines will help DeAndre get a fresh perspective and regain his confidence, because he has not looked like the same player to me since the second half of last season. An impressive enough performance by Jamal could force a difficult decision for the coaching staff next week.
Of course, there will be much more to the offensive success than quarterback play. The young offensive line needs to come together and hold a pocket in order for anybody to have success in the passing game, which has been a problem to this point. The bread and butter of the ASU offense has always been the ground game, and a strong performance from the offensive line and running back corps will be essential. The Citadel is not as strong defensively as Wofford or Chattanooga, but is good enough to shut us down if we become one-dimensional. I hope to see the coaching staff incorporate some swing passes to the tailbacks and quick slants to Ben Jorden, Brian Quick and the other ASU receivers to keep the Bulldogs' defense honest and take some pressure off of the young offensive line. The speed advantage should be decidedly in ASU's favor, so pitches to the outside to allow Travaris Cadet, Cedric Baker Boney and Steven Miller to hit the edges could result in big plays or at the very least, spread out the defense and create openings for big plays over the middle as the game progresses.
This is a young, inexperienced team learning as they go but this bye week could not have come at a better time. The defense is as healthy as they've been all season and has had two weeks to watch tape of the Wofford game in preparation for more assignment football against a disciplined option team. The offense has also had time to correct mistakes, make adjustments and get acclimated to the idea of a new signal caller. It is crunch time and the margin for error is now very small. In my time watching ASU football, this staff and team always seems to come ready in conference play when it has it's back against the wall (remember the 0-2 start in '09?) and I expect more of the same this weekend. I think the Apps come out focused, hungry and ready to take care of business. The Bulldogs keep it close early until ASU pulls away in the 2nd half.
My prediction:
Appalachian State 31
The Citadel 17
*image courtesy of the Winston-Salem Journal
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