http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W
Hi Tops fans, just a quick post with the Monday presser with Coach Bobby Petrino.
As he points out, the issue of scoring touchdowns has been the achilles heel of the Toppers all season long. In fact, when you look at the stats in every game, the Toppers have won that battle, unfortunately including the most turnovers.
While it is true that the defense has allowed too many points, Petrino’s teams have been historically able to outscore the opponents, so even if the defense fails to get off the field, the offenses usually are able to win anyway.
I like this team. The team has a good personality, gone are the undisciplined penalties of late hits and cheap shots. Obviously, Andrew’s success at the running back position is the high point of the team, but there are many aspects of the team that are compelling, if not under used. Tight end play is exceptional, hard to know which guy is best at that position, the receivers have done a good job. Even Doughty’s numbers are impressive if he would stop giving the other team the ball.
Excuse the armchair, Monday morning QBing here…but just to put it out there…
Troy replaced Robinson with their back up QB inside the red zone, and this is something that may be a good idea for the Toppers, because Doughty has been effective, everywhere EXCEPT the Red Zone, in fact, he has been more or less a disaster there.
Bringing in Fishback in the Red Zone, would give the Tops an extra weapon to run the ball, and he doesn’t have to throw the long ball, so it is all about short yardage success. Maybe the athleticism of Smith or Porter would give the Tops more power inside the 10 yard line.
Clearly, the play calling in the Red Zone must improve, which is a bit of a surprise, because the Toppers have had little success smashing it up the middle for whatever reason.
This team “should” and “could” be in the driver’s seat to win the conference, but failure to score touchdowns and turning the ball over are the culprits.
The Toppers have 3 away games that are anything but a walk in the part, Georgia State in Atlanta, Army at West Point, Texas State in Texas before returning home and facing rival Arkansas State.
It is crunch time for the Toppers, but the main thing to consider when a season goes like this, is that the end of the season is the most important part of the season, and while a Sun Belt title is unlikely, or next to impossible at this point, a bowl game certainly can be achieved.
If the Toppers can stop turning the ball over, score in the Red Zone then they can win out, I have no doubt about that. But, up till now, those two factors have not necessarily improved this season. Plus, the defense could help a bit by getting some turnovers and stop the opposition from converting big plays. It is this writer’s humble opinion that in the big plays, the Topper defense over-commits itself in trying to make a big play, when all they really need to do is get a stop. The 3 and 24 conversion that Troy executed came from Topper’s overzealous attempt at making a big play, and Troy took advantage of it. All they needed to do is simply stop them from making 24 yards. This was the key play of the game at Homecoming, if you ask me.
So, great things can happen for the Toppers yet this season and 8-4 would be an improvement over 7-5 the last two years. The level of competition in the Sun Belt has improved over the past couple of years, and while the teams of the Sun Belt have had limited success over the BCS teams, they are better than many. Going into Conference USA next season for a team competing at this level only for a short period still, will lift the level of competition and should improve the quality of Hilltopper athletics in general.
The question is, what will the Topper’s record be when they host Arkansas State on November 30th at 16:00, which is Thanksgiving weekend, as in, the students will not be in town, as in what kind of attendance can we hope to have at that game?
Mark it on your calender and make plans to attend. If the Spirit Makes the Master, then wrap up good and come to the game!
Go Tops!