Eagles expect to cover ground in playoff opener
Ask Paul Wulff and he will tell you that college football, especially at the Football Championship Subdivision level, isn’t played exactly the same in every section of the country.
Eastern Washington University’s eighth-year head coach seems convinced teams that play in the Midwest and Deep South are more apt to emphasize the running game than teams based out in the pass-happy West.
That’s why Wulff and his staff are spending extra time discussing ways to defend the run this week as they prepare for Saturday’s first-round FCS playoff game against second-seeded and unbeaten McNeese State in Lake Charles, La.
Kickoff is set for 5 p.m. (PST) in McNeese’s 17,410-seat Cowboy Stadium, and Wulff expects the Cowboys (11-0), who breezed through its Southland Conference schedule, to challenge his Eagles (8-3) on the ground.
“Teams in the southern and mid-western conferences all seem to play a similar brand of football, where they really are run-first teams for the most part,” Wulff said. “And their team speed – especially down in the south – always seems to be phenomenal.
“Unfortunately, McNeese State is no different. They’re a run-the-football-first type of team with a big, physical offensive line. And their overall team speed is really, really good.”
Of major concern to the Eagles is quarterback Derrick Fourroux, a 6-foot-2 sophomore, who can hurt teams as much with his feet as with his arm.
During the regular season, Fourroux completed 113 of 194 passes for 1,878 yards and 16 touchdowns, while finishing second on the team in rushing with 522 yards and six more touchdowns on 103 carries.
“He’s an athletic kid who runs very physical,” Wulff said of Fourroux, who was an all-state performer at Erath (La.) High School and threw for 1,490 yards and 10 TDs as a freshman at McNeese State last fall. “And he can throw the ball, too.
“When they throw it, though, their big thing is play-action, so we’re going to have to be very aware of that.”
Cowboys all-league picks
McNeese State placed seven players on the All-Southland Conference team that was announced on Tuesday.
Heading the list is senior defensive lineman Bryan Smith, a 6-foot-3, 206-pounder, who was named the league’s player of the year after registering 10.5 sacks among the 51 tackles he made this fall.
Among the other McNeese State players joining Smith on the first-team all-SLC defensive unit were lineman Vaalyn Jackson, linebackers Trey Bennett and Allen Nelson and cornerback Jonathan Walker.
Named to the first-team offensive unit were wide receiver Carlese Franklin and lineman Eman Naqhavi.
Cowboys head coach Matt Viator was named the league’s coach of the year.
Soft schedule?
There have been some doubts raised about the loftiness of McNeese State’s No. 2 playoff seeding, considering the Cowboys got drilled by Montana 31-6 in last year’s playoffs and then played a 2007 schedule that was perceived by many to be a bit soft.
The Cowboys beat only one team – Sam Houston State (7-4) – with a record better than 6-5 and beat two teams – Stephen F. Austin and Southern Utah – that finished 0-11. The combined record of the 11 opponents McNeese State faced during the regular season was 42-79.
In contrast, the combined record of Eastern Washington’s 11 regular-season foes was 56-65.
Longetivity rewarded
When McNeese State’s sports information director Louis Bonnette starts handing out press releases and updated statistics prior to Saturday’s first-round FCS playoff game against Eastern Washington in Cowboy Stadium, it will mark the 470th consecutive college football game he has worked.
No other member of the College Sports Information Directors of America (CoSIDA) can match that record.
But then, not many have been in the business as long as long as Bonnette, who is in his 42nd year as McNeese’s SID.
In honor of his longevity and outstanding service to the university, McNeese officials will name the new artificial playing service in Cowboy Stadium – which will be installed during the off season – after Bonnette.
Grizzlies face foreign foe
Big Sky Conference champion Montana (11-0) will host Wofford (8-3) in Washington-Grizzly Stadium in Missoula in the opening round of the FCS playoffs on Saturday.
Grizzlies’ coach Bobby Hauck admitted earlier this week that he knows very little about the Terriers, who were recipients of an automatic playoff berth after beating defending FCS champion Appalachian State during the regular season and winning the Southern Conference.
“I have not seen anything,” Hauck told the Missoulian last weekend. “I’m hearing they’re option-based. I know they’ve got some big wins. Beating Appalachian State is huge. Beating Furman is a big win.
“And of their three losses, one it to North Carolina State, which is a pretty good football team.”
Hauck and his staff have undoubtedly familiarized themselves with the Spartanburg, S.C.-based Terriers since then. But it they feel the need to learn more, they might ask wide receiver Matt Troxel, who played with Wofford’s backup junior quarterback, Ben Widmyer, at Lake City High School in Couer d’Alene.
Widmyer has played in nine games for the Terriers this fall and has completed 27 of 60 passes for 325 yards and four touchdowns while backing up senior starter Josh Collier.
UM coach tabbed best
Montana’s Bobby Hauck, for the second-consecutive season, has been selected Big Sky Conference Coach of the Year by his peers.
The Grizzlies (11-0), who are seeded No. 3 in the upcoming FCS playoffs, completed their fourth undefeated and untied regular season in school history last Saturday by spanking arch-rival Montana State 41-20 to claim at least a share of the Big Sky title for a record 10th consecutive year.
Hauck has compiled a 53-13 record in five seasons as the head coach at his alma mater, and had led the Grizzlies to 21 straight regular-season wins and five consecutive playoff appearances.