The journey to Texas has 11 pre-scheduled stops with only one break between now & late November. There will be twists, turns & trouble along the route but through it all the Herd will progress. As great as the destination is, enjoy these weekly pit stops along the way!
God bless them but non-scholarship Pioneer League teams would have to have everything go right to beat the top teams in the Valley once out of a 100 tries. In going against the creme de la creme of the Subdivision that 1% estimation may even be extremely generous. Considering how today went Drake had much less than that amount of a chance to keep the score close, let alone succeed.
On the flip side though that meant pretty much everything went to expectation - after the first drive that is. The effectiveness that the Bulldogs showed to open the game could be chalked-up to underestimating them too much. It could have just been some offseason cobwebs had not yet been expelled. Perhaps the one punch that they had planned out just landed the right way. However you want to spin it, whatever the reasons are that the coaches will get into during film sessions this week, they buttoned it up until the game was way out of reach.
At the risk of North Carolina A & T proving this wrong, the team won't have as much condensed success putting up points as they did today. Started by Zach Mathis getting his first career score they put 21 on the Dogs in less than 5.5 minutes. And for good measure the Human Rhino (Hunter Luepke) broke lose to make it 28 unanswered a mere three minutes after Jayden Price's 67-yard punt return TD.
The edible gold sprinkles on top of the sundae would have been Cole Payton coming in for the entire second half & the offense continuing to hum along. Considering how little game experience he has no one should hold it against him that there were multiple misfires. However, finishing a mere 2 of 4 for seven yards does not inspire confidence should Cam Miller go down. Could spend several paragraphs considering factors as to why he didn't do better (lefty, cold off the bench, limited practice reps, etc.) but it also should be noted that he didn't mess anything up. Even at "QBU" that is priority #1, with the rest of the positive qualities he brings to the field in reserve for future situations.
When a main concern coming out of a game is how the backup quarterback did as a non-emergency replacement, it was a great stop on the journey! With another game to get tuned-up before the late-night national audience the play will get even better, so enjoy it!
Σχόλια